Long-time Lockergnomie Glen Farmer (who is becoming one of my favorite Gnomies with all the feedback he’s been sending us lately) wants me to look for certain kinds of consumer electronics on the floor at CES:

1. A digital camera that can stay in my pocket and automatically takes good pictures for me. I’m sure there are things worth taking a picture of where I live but it’s just too much work finding them and figuring out how my camera works.

2. A computer that is the size of a flip-phone that opens up to a full-sized computer with a full sized keyboard and at least a 17-inch monitor. And it has to automatically provide it’s own broadband connection.
3. A DVD player that automatically skips through the boring parts of movies. I am sick of fast forwarding through those long, drawn out scenes of the jilted lover driving in the mountains with sad music playing.
4. A remote cell phone exploder. For those times when I am out and the cell phone owner is annoying me with their crazy conversation. I don’t want to blow their entire head off or anything. Just their ear and lips would do.
5. A TV with an adjustable screen. So I can watch wide screen and full screen TV without the empty space. Grrrr…

I’m sure those devices exist somewhere, Glen. Finding them, however, might prove to be a challenge at CES. There are thousands of companies on the convention floor - and hundreds more waiting for me in special conference suites (not to mention all the special CES parties). Seems that nobody’s interested in developing unique products anymore - it’s easier to create something similar to what’s already out there. There are problems no matter how you slice it: (a) new product is created, nobody knows how to use it, it dies; (b) new product is cloned, everybody already has one, it dies. Consumers are a fickle lot. It took me years before I bothered to get an HDTV, and I’m still considered an early adopter (there’s not enough high-definition progrmaming to make it worth the average user’s money). I have a feeling there’s gonna be a lot of home automation at this year’s show.

[tags]gadgets,las vegas,ces,conference,technology,tech,gizmos,convention,consumer electronics,showcase,devices[/tags]