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Best of CES

There were televisions and tablets, phones and cars. The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the biggest event of its kind in the world and was as big as ever this year.
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There were televisions and tablets, phones and cars. The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the biggest event of its kind in the world and was as big as ever this year. Tech geeks waiting to see the next best thing were not disappointed.

But sometimes the real charmers of CES are the dreamers, the inventors, the innovators — the small start-ups with neat little ideas that are looking for investors and distributors, buyers and buzz. Some of these companies attract the attention of the big companies who break out their checkbooks knowing it's sometimes easier to buy a company and all of its patents than to try to copy them.

Here's a list of some of the non-mainstream technologies to come out of the show this year:

SpareOne showed off a cell phone with a 15-year battery life. No, really — it's just a phone (no screens, no music players, no anything), but it can reportedly go for 15 years on a single AA battery (assuming they make an AA battery that can last that long). The phones are not meant for general consumption, but for emergency use in cars and boats, within hotels, with sponsored events and so on.

The Tobii Gaze is a laptop with a weird middle section that actually tracks your eye movements, and lets you navigate by adjusting your gaze. It's a new technology, but it's potential was obvious according to reviewers — in particular for people with disabilities and users such as doctors or musicians who might have their hands full when using a computer.

The Tamaggo is a new camera that can take 360 degree photos, taking photos as it tracks your movement and stitching those images together.

The Warpia Connect HD is an accessory that unites your television and computer to allow you to video conference through your TV. There's also some talk of using it to play PC webcam-based games, whatever those are. (While it seems like an idea with potential, Samsung showed off a line of televisions with built-in cameras and apps, and sound and gesture-based navigation.)

The Wikipad is a pair of analog controllers and detachable tablet for hardcore gamers, and includes glasses-free 3D and a 1080p high definition display. Razer's Project Fiona is a similar concept, although it was hinted that the version released in 2012 would be a tablet running Windows 8 with enough hardware for serious PC gaming.

BlueStacks is an app that will run Android apps on Windows Phone 7/Windows 8 devices, set to flood the market in 2012.

The I'm Watch is a smart watch that runs a stripped down version of Android 1.6 that can talk to your phone, play music, give updates from Facebook and Twitter, and run native apps.

OnLive, the company that made it possible to play games on your television over the Internet, signed an agreement that would bring the service to Google TV players and Google-ready televisions.

The Powerbag includes a powerful battery that lets you recharge a wide variety of devices on the go. The bag will tell you by signal or voice when your devices are charged.

A company called G-Force makes cases for iPads, iPods, tablets, cameras, etc. that can survive insane pressures, using molecules that harden under sudden stress. Their demo involved dropping a bowling ball about three feet onto an iPad.

A lot of the technologies were featured at the CES website, www.cesweb.org, but every tech magazine and blog had a presence as well.

Some of the mainstream companies released niche products as well. Panasonic showed off a new line of Viera televisions and while the TVs were impressive what got the most attention was a new touchpad remote control device with a handful of buttons and big oval area that will allow users to take control of their televisions as well as the new user interface and apps.

On the software side, reviewers got to try the most up-to-date build of Windows 8 on a variety of tablets, and were blown away. The beta should be out in the next month and I expect the release to follow in the summer. Based on reviews it can't come out soon enough.

RIM worth another look?

The update to the RIM Blackberry Playbook operating system was a long time incoming, but the phrase "too little, too late" doesn't really fit — it is a lot, not a little, and only time will tell if it's too late to matter.

The new update includes all the things that were missing — email, address book and calendar without requiring a Blackberry phone — and adds a lot of different things that should sweeten the offer (on top of the low sale price following dramatic price drops in late 2011).

The new operating system improves tethering options and transition between devices. It has a new store with thousands of movies and television shows, plus native apps. As well, Blackberry can now run Android apps and access the Android market for over 100,000 different apps.

While it's unlikely most people will dump their iPads and grab Playbooks, if you like the 7-inch form factor, the onboard features, the screen, the camera and being able to read Flash websites, the Playbook is a pretty good option. The business market — already hooked on RIM because of the security and email — will love it.