You say you're proud that you avoid new high-tech devices, preferring instead to cling to the simpler things in life? Or maybe you think you're a techno-phobe or that the vast Tech World offers nothing to enhance your life.
To which some would say, get over it.
Some of the newest award-winning products are right up your alley if you love music, enjoy traveling or like to kick back and just watch TV. Leave anybody out?
Several of the products are available now and some are yet to come down the proverbial pike, but all are deemed to be innovative. In fact, aside from making grammarians cringe with their willy-nilly capitalization and spacing — orbiTouch, iPronto, GlobalTuner InTune200 and iQue — the products highlighted here were honored for their innovation earlier this year by the Consumer Electronics Association at the International Consumer Electronics Show.
For starters, get ready to ditch all those remote controls, even the so-called "universal" ones. Philips has an even-more-universal universal remote control. The iPronto TSi6400 — behold the powerful mother of all remotes, if you believe the hype — is a single device for controlling virtually every electronic device in that "connected home" you've heard so much about.
Think of it: one device to control the home theater, lighting, security cameras, home networks and climate control.
The TSi6400 looks like a tablet, less than an inch thick and sporting a 6.4-inch touch-sensitive LCD screen that can be customized to make it as simple or complex as the user desires.
Users also can obtain information about their favorite program with an electronic program guide or access the Internet to check news and e-mail. The iPronto has a built-in microphone and stereo speakers so folks can listen to MP3s from the Internet and eventually allow it to be used as a telephone or accept voice commands.
The iPronto uses Wi-Fi wireless technology, meaning a person can use it to control devices out of their line of sight, but also has USB connectivity for future applications that may be developed.
People looking for sound advice should realize that speaker systems have come a long way since the days of the clunky, boxy, heavy, fake-wood-sided brutes that dominated any room. A prime example of the trend toward small yet sleek styling is the Mythos line of tower loudspeakers from Definitive Technology.
The speakers are hailed as the ultimate in flexibility of use, able to be used on tabletops, on floors or on walls to go with plasma TVs.
The Mythos One is 46 inches tall with an aluminum cabinet and tempered glass base but only 6 inches wide and 6 inches deep. The Mythos Two — 24.5 inches high, 4.6 inches wide and 3.9 inches deep for optimum flat-panel plasma or LCD TV — is designed to be used as a left or right main speaker attached to a wall, cabinet or tabletop.
Both are designed to blend with subwoofers and can be used as part of home theater or surround-sound systems. A Mythos Three model is a center channel for on-wall or set-top mounting but has angled cut, meaning no tabletop mounting.
Likewise helping redefine a former home standard — in this case, TV program recording — is the high-definition television DISH Network DishPVR 921 satellite receiver from EchoStar Communications Corp.
Unlike the reliable VCR tapes that cram in maybe six hours of shows, the 921 uses a 250-gigabyte hard drive that can record up to 40 hours of high-definition programming, up to 250 hours of standard-definition programming, or any combo of the two. It has two satellite TV tuners, enabling it to record two programs simultaneously while the viewer absorbs a third pre-recorded program. Plus, it has a handy picture-in-picture feature for people who formerly channel-surfed until the remote started smoking.
Oh, and toss in a seven-day on-screen program guide, caller ID, front-panel jacks for use with still or video cameras and other features, plus the fact that, like all Dish Network satellite TV products, the 921 is software upgradeable via satellite, meaning consumers instantly get updates as they become available.
And you'll have to have something to play stuff on, right? Get away from thinking a TV is a TV is a TV. Philips has developed a line of Liquid Crystal On Silicon TVs that it says offers enhanced viewing because drive circuitry is hidden behind pixels, thus not blocking light. (You could follow that, right?) Also, space between pixels has been reduced, to further sharpen the image.
One feature is a natural-motion processor that is designed to calculate motion trajectories of moving picture elements and then correct any jerky movements in studio programs and movies. Another feature is supposed to enhance luminance and color for a crisp, natural picture from any source.
And, of course, there is the styling: silver finish, matching swivel base, matching stand that can hold additional audio and video components.
Honored for one of its two 44-inch models, the company also offers two 55-inch versions, but all are relatively shallow. The 44-inch versions are a mere 14.5 inches deep. The 55-inch models stick out 18.1 inches.
The award winner, the model 44PL977S, or Cineos, also has "Pixel Plus" technology that enhances images to create pictures similar to high-def from any input source.
Despite having all that technology packed into your home, maybe — just maybe — you might want to venture outside. If so, you can take along an iQue 3600 from Garmin International Inc. to stay entertained and/or not get lost.
The iQue 3600 is the first personal digital assistant to include integrated GPS technology, giving a user the ability to look up appointments or contacts and get routed there with voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions.
When the street data is downloaded into the iQue 3600, users can look up addresses, restaurants, hotels, local attractions, transportation hubs, emergency services and more. Once the user has identified an address, he or she can navigate to it with a simple tap of the stylus, and the iQue will guide the user along the shortest or fastest route based on researched traffic patterns. An optional car kit comes with a mount and speaker system to amplify the voice guidance feature.
Between trips, the user can look up contact information, jot down notes, record a personal memo, listen to MP3 music files or set an alarm to be sure they are on time to their next destination.
If you're not going far from home, you can still take Internet music with you. The GlobalTuner InTune200 from Promotion and Display Technology Ltd. is the world's first portable Internet radio player, allowing a person to hear Internet audio while roaming as far as 300 feet from the sound-supplying PC.
Yep, hear Internet radio stations or audio streams while relaxing in the garden rather than perched atop a rickety ol' chair at the computer workstation.
All that's needed is to plug the base unit into a free USB socket on the PC. Like a car radio, the player has preset keys allowing users to save their six favorite Internet radio stations.
The player looks like a typical boombox, and an LCD displays data from the PC, such as the radio station and track name.
Even while supplying the music to the player, the PC remains free to do other tasks. For example, a person could watch a DVD and hear the soundtrack on the PC's internal sound card while someone listens to Internet music elsewhere in the house at the same time.
The player also can handle standard music CDs or MP3 collections when not connected to the Internet.
Targeted more to a special group of consumers is the orbiTouch Keyless Keyboard, which the company says can allow a person to type while wearing boxing gloves — if a person was really into that.
The device, from Keybowl Inc., instead has a serious purpose. It has no keys or separate mouse but allows computer access and use by people who have limited use of their hands because of repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, neuromuscular control problems, accidents and limitations from other injuries.
The idea is to rely on movements of the entire hand rather than fingers, using hand motions similar to those used on a traditional QWERTY keyboard.
The orbiTouch sports a pair of ergonomically sculpted domes. Each can slide just a bit in eight positions (think in terms of a compass), and the combination of directions creates different letters and numbers.
Complete with an integrated mouse, the device is even easier to use than a traditional keyboard, the company says. Testing by Keybowl indicates that experienced typists can quickly regain over half of their original typing speed using the orbiTouch.
The orbiTouch connects to any PC without special programs or drivers.
E-MAIL: bwallace@desnews.com