From Deseret News archives:

Power at your fingertips: Latest tech devices creating buzz with shocking size, capabilities

Published: Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 12:08 a.m. MDT
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Years ago, when Jim Barry traipsed across the country to show off the latest and greatest consumer electronics gadgets to the news media, he needed at least two large bags and sometimes a box or two to carry it all.

But during a recent visit to Salt Lake City, the spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association toted nine devices, including a pair of computers and two camcorders, all in one bag.

Digital technology has allowed Barry, and consumers worldwide, to do more with less.

"It's giving the capability of having smaller, lighter, more-mobile and less-expensive stuff," he said. "Notebook computers for under 400 bucks? I mean, come on."

In a goodie bag that would make even the Wizard of Oz feel inferior, Barry toted not just individual techno gizmos, but representatives of consumer electronics trends.

For example, the Digital Foci Pocket Album OLED 1.5, is a $50 keychain photo display with a 1.5-inch color LCD screen able to show 120 snapshots. It's just one way for folks to show off all their digital photos.

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"The typical household now takes about 60 pictures a month with digital cameras and has about a thousand stored on computers, so you want to get those out — print them, put them on photo frames to put on the desktop, and from keychains to desktop ones that you can update regularly hooked up to the Internet or wirelessly," Barry said. "You've got a million ways to do that."

Folks who like the Internet for snatching TV shows but hate watching them on a computer screen might consider the SanDisk Sansa TakeTV, a three-piece device that lets people download videos from the Internet with one unit and watch them on TV with a component that remains plugged to a TV. Control is with a small remote.

Five hours of video can be stored on a $99 version, 10 hours on a $149 model.

"What that represents is the merger of the Internet and television. And it's kind of a 'sneaker' way of doing it, carrying it from one place to the other," Barry said. "You take your TV from the computer. Say you want to download your favorite TV programs or YouTube clips. Instead of watching them on your small computer screen, you can watch it on your big-screen TV.

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Image

Jim Barry of the Consumer Electronics Association shows off (from left) the Vestalife Ladybug, Sylvania Meso, Kodak Zi6 and Funkwerk Ego Cup.

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