Sony Xperia Z
World war Z
Price: $795
Website: sonymobile.com
Sony
Xperia Z
It used to be that when the going got
tough, the Tough got going. We’re not sure who the Tough were or where they
went, but they were definitely en route. Now, the Tough stay right where they
are, because they’ve found something even tougher and more mobile than them.
Tough to kill, with a screen made from the awesome-sounding ‘Dragon tail’
glass, a build quality that laughs at knocks and environmental sealing that
chuckles in the face of dust and water. Tough to resist with a frighteningly
smart 13MP camera, quad-core CPU and absolutely superb 1080p 5in screen. And
now that the Tough spend their time watching movies in the bath on the Xperia
Z, they’ve probably softened right up.
As hot as… a tiny HD cinema in your pocket
Samsung and LG curved OLED TVs
Going on a bender
Website: lg.com
Samsung
and LG curved OLED TVs
OLED TVs might by and large be too
expensive to appear on the shopping lists of even the most reckless Vegas high
rollers, but that hasn’t stopped LG and Samsung from getting so bored with the
tech that they’ve felt the need to tinker with it. Both of the Korean companies
have launched the world’s first curved OLED screen. Which one was actually the
first? Who cares? The important thing is that the curved screen gives a more
cinematic, immersive feel… and looks awesome.
As hot as…curved walls to put them on
Lego Mindstorms EV3
We, for one, welcome our new robot brick
overlords
Price: $350
Lego
Mindstorms EV3
Lego’s laying the building blocks for a new
generation of hackers and programmers, bringing its robot-controlled building
platform up to speed with a world in which smartphones reign and the kids all
want a slice of Raspberry Pi. The Linux-based EV3 is the first Mindstorms brick
that can be programmed without a PC but more importantly, it adds an array of
sensors to your robot army, plus Android and iOS compatibility. Meaning you can
now control Lego via a smartphone app which is pretty much the most exciting
thing in the world, ever.
As hot as… going to the doctor and finding
out you’re a battle droid
NVIDIA Project Shield
Android-Powered 4k Gaming Monster
Website: shield.nvidia.com
Android-Powered
4k Gaming Monster
Give a snot-nosed 13-year-old some pencils,
paper (OK, an iPad) and instructions to design the ultimate gaming machine.
Have they just stuck a 5in, 720p, Android Jelly Bean phone with a Tegra 4 chip
on to an Xbox controller, and invented bonkers tech so that the handheld can
stream games from your PC, or output 4K vids to your TV? They have? Right then,
Nvidia – now we know there’s a hyperventilating, snotty teen pulling Project
Shield’s strings. Pass him a tissue. He’s done well.
As hot as… a pile of burning Ouyas
Fitbit Flex
Say hello to your little friend
Price: $100
Website: fitbit.com
Activity trackers are all the rage, but
they’re not all practical. Especially if he’s some bloke called Steve who has
to follow you around watching what you do. Then there’s the Fitbit Flex, which
is light enough to wear in bed and can track your sleep patterns without having
to sit in the corner all night, unlike Steve. Wristbands are swappable and
multicolored, and you can pop the tiny sensor out of the band and into a pocket.
It syncs to your smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0, so it’s always monitoring what
you’re doing. Steve, you’re fired.
As hot as… being stalked by Scarlett
Johansson
Vuzix M100
You hud to be there
Website: vuzix.com
Vuzix
M100
Sick of waiting for Google Glass? Well,
you’ll have to wait for the M100, too, but only a few months. A full Android
4.0 computer, the M100 places a tiny screen in front of your right eye,
conjuring up brilliant possibilities for AR games, apps and video recording –
and also making you look like every sci-fi police dispatcher in the history of
cinema. Vuzix’s previous headputers have been for the military, so it has form,
but hopefully the M100 will do more than just slap a crosshair over everyone
you look at.
As hot as… molten (Google) glass
MindMeld
The app that eavesdrops
Price: $1,035
Website: expectlabs.com
An app makes it into the CES Hot Stuff
awards for the first time, but it’s a worthy entrant, and here’s why. MindMeld,
running on your tablet, listens in to conversations happening in the room, or
that you’re having over VoIP. As you natter, it speech-to-texts key words it
hears, using its brainy Nuance software, before bringing up relevant links,
text and photos. In a way it’s kinda creepy, but as is usually the case with
things that are Kinda Creepy, it’s also all kinds of awesome. Expect Google to
be taking note…
As hot as… realizing you can read people’s
minds, but they can’t read yours
Pure Jongo T640B
Home sweet multi-room home
Price: $375
Website: pure.com
Pure
Jongo T640B
Multi-room audio is not a recent invention.
Find the ‘volume’ control on any hi-fi and give it a healthy twist. Hey presto!
True multi-room is better but, until recently, expensive. Then along came
Pure’s affordable, beautiful Jongo range: the original, smaller S340B ($225,
left), is perfect for the kitchen and the larger 100W T640B (rear), with its
two 5.25in full-range drivers, is ideal for the lounge. Either can be
wirelessly twinned to work as a stereo pair, or form part of a multi-room system.
Want to use your existing hi-fi? The A140B ($150, center) makes it all
wire-free.
As hot as… setting up Jongo in a condo in
the Congo
Parrot Flower Power
Lean green growing machine
Price: parrot.com
It’ll
ping updates and alerts on how your foliage is faring to a companion app, which
lets you pick out your plant from a database of thousands
No, we’ve not embraced the hippie
revolution – this magic wand will turn you from a herbicidal maniac to a
green-fingered Gadgeteer before you can say ‘chrysanthemum’. Stick it in your
plant pot and its battery of sensors will measure sunlight, humidity,
temperature and even fertilizer levels. It’ll ping updates and alerts on how
your foliage is faring to a companion app, which lets you pick out your plant
from a database of thousands. Blooming marvelous.
As hot as… wasabi mouthwash
Scosche Boombottle
Block Rockin’ Beats thirst
Price: $150
Website: scosche.com
Yes,
its 10-hour battery is ideal for pumping out tunes as you ride but can it pump
out Olympians?
It’s a good job Bradley Wiggins didn’t grow
up in California. Because rather than riding around Herne Hill Velodrome as a
kid, he’d have been cycling along Venice Beach on a low-rider, calling himself
‘Wiggzle B’. And instead of an isotonic drink in his bottle cage, he’d have
slotted in one of these ruggedized 2.1 Bluetooth speakers from Cali’s own
Scosche, which uses two 40mm drivers and a passive bass section to make your
Raleigh burner sound like one of the cars from Pimp My Ride. Yes, its 10-hour
battery is ideal for pumping out tunes as you ride but can it pump out
Olympians?
As hot as… cycling in triple Lycra
