Good ideas turned great gadgets were on display at a pre-CES reception in New York City last night, with the announcement of the CEA’s 2008 Best of Innovations Awards. Laurels were presented to a single product in each of 32 categories from a total of 850 product submissions, according to the CEA’s Jason Oxman. Among the winners:
• From WildCharger, an ultra-thin and flat, wire-free charging pad that can be made of rigid or flexible materials, and that can be enabled to power up to five small devices including cell phones ($59.99).
• From Emtrace Technologies, the PhotoSkins photo frame that is thin enough to fit in a wallet, and, when mounted in a cradle, is usable as a Widget-Player which can provide a variety of displayed information such as stock values, weather and news. ($250).
• Bowers & Wilkins’ football-shaped Zeppelin one-piece amplified speaker system and docking station for the iPod ($599.95).
• The iRobot Looj, the tractor-like sister product to the Roomba vacuum cleaner whose function is to automatically clean roof gutters ($99). A full list of Best of Innovations categories and winners, along with their Web addresses, is available at www.cesweb.org/attendees/awards/innovations/rd_2008honorees.asp
