I hold to the belief that the coolest gadgets are probably the ones that we do not know about. I met with a lot of big names at CES today like Panasonic, Samsung, and Pioneer, but one of the most amazing devices that I found was the Cywee. The Cywee is a combination of a motion control mouse like the Logitech MX Air and a gun controller for video games. It connects to a PC by plugging in a wireless USB key. From there, the user can have a more realistic first person shooter experience using the trigger underneath.

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Look Out Motion-control, here comes the Cywee!

You may have never heard of Dual Electronics, but the firm is getting talked up today courtesy of Clear Channel Radio. You see, said outfit has launched the world’s first personal navigation device to support real-time traffic via HD Radio . The XNAV43HD can pull down up to 500 messages per minute in over 50 markets in which the new service is live, and all of the information will be continuously monitored and updated by Clear Channel’s staff. Specs on the PND itself are as follows: 4.3-inch touchscreen, text-to-speech and a multimedia player

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Dual Electronics’ XNAV43HD PND: first with real-time traffic via HD Radio

It’s been a hot minute since we saw anything fly from QNAP , but today the outfit is unveiling a NAS so intimidating, so beastly that it practically has to be locked away in a data closet. The TS-639 Pro Turbo checks in with six bays, a 1.6GHz Intel CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet and support for RAID 0/1/5/6/5+spare configurations along with built-in iSCSI target service with Thin Provisioning. There’s no mention of a price, but that’s likely because you just aren’t ready to handle the truth

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QNAP unveils stately 6-bay TS-639 Pro Turbo NAS device

Although CES is generously provided with outlets for our charging needs, I decided that the power that comes out of them, like everything else in Vegas, is dirty. So Doug and I headed over to the SkyCharger, a big solar- and wind-powered charging facility housed in a tent outside the central hall. There are dozens of tiny lockers in which charging cables of different types are hidden. You take a key out like a normal storage locker, plug your phone in, lock it back up and go get lunch.

They’ve got a set of solar panels up there providing up to 880 watts, and a wind thing that does up to 1000. Not a lot of wind between the casinos here in Vegas, but there’s plenty of sun. Doug and I saw both our phones go up about 30% in less than half an hour, so it’s not just a trickle of power. It stores power in a big set of batteries as well, so your phone won’t die if a cloud passes overhead.

The setup was branded as LG, but they magnanimously provided chargers for most kinds of phones. Probably because they didn’t build it; it’s made by GotWind, a UK company whose founder we spoke to. He’s hoping to expand the service to, for example, city parks or other areas where a quick charge would be appreciated, as long as security can be assured. It also would be a nice addition to a third world village, where power is hard to come by.

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LG and GotWind’s solar+wind “SkyCharger” at CES

Dell Canada is good for being the first to show off new LCDs, and yet again we’re getting an early look at a forthcoming monitor courtesy of the Great White North.

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Dell’s 22-inch UltraSharp 2209WA LCD monitor surfaces

Designer Effrat Gommeh sketched out a pair of scissors that slip over the index and middle fingers and actually cut when you make that cutting motion Uncle Joey loved so much on Full House. The scissors are actually a great-looking design concept, and though it seems you’d get less leverage using two fingers than with the inclusion of a thumb, I’d probably buy a pair to keep on my desk so people think I’m, you know, cultured and stuff. The finger scissors are constructed from a bunch of two-dimensional metal parts, which is pretty cool in itself. Looks like they’re just a concept for now, but a very cool little idea.

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Dave Coulier Would Love the Finger Scissors Concept [Cut. It. Out!]

Mobile applications seem to be a bit of a theme this year and Newber is joining the fray with the launch of it’s location aware business number service. The aim is to move away from dependence on a mobile by routing the calls to the nearest landline near you.

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Newber location aware phone number

You have to hold it vertically. Continue reading Crapgadget CES, round 4: kinetic energy charger Filed under: CES , Handhelds Crapgadget CES, round 4: kinetic energy charger originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

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Crapgadget CES, round 4: kinetic energy charger

Multi-touch is where it’s at, but what if you already have one of those lame, obsolete, big-screen, flat-panel displays that accept only smudges from your fingers? What you need is a Multi-Touch G2 from PQLabs, an overlay that attaches to your existing 32-inch (or larger) set with double-sided tape, adding the multi-touch sensitivity that your fingertips have been yearning for. The company has also announced its upcoming iTable, effectively a multi-touch panel with a built-in computer, having something in common with Microsoft’s Surface , but nothing with Apple’s iPhone (from which it dishearteningly takes a naming cue). We spent a few minutes with our fingers stroking both the iTable and the Multi-Touch G2 and were impressed by both; they initially seemed a bit unresponsive but, within a few seconds, we were browsing media, building grunts, and decimating forests in no time.

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Video: PQLabs iTable digits-on lets us touch orcs, movies, me-too branding

Palm’s new developer site reveals the Pre’s App Store/Marketplace challenger will be named the Palm App Catalog. It also notes that the SDK is only in private prerelease at the moment. Despite the SDK only going out to a few select partners, Palm has launched its Developer Blog to help prospective developers stay informed about the state of the handset. The SDK won’t be released to more developers until nearer release, but Palm seems very aware that a strong collection of apps will be essential to the Pre’s success.

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Palm Pre’s App Store Christened the App Catalog [Palm Pre]