Cool Tech at CES, But It's Useless

The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show is full of “incredible technology,” Larry Magid writes for CNET. Problem is, it’s all “in search of a practical purpose,” making this year the “year of the gimmick.” Magid runs down a few wowee gadgets of dubious usefulness.

• Casio EX-FS10 camera: Shoots 30 frames a second and superimposes the video on another picture, doing "by itself what used to require post processing." But will anyone use the feature?

• 3-D TV: A marvel that could hit stores next year. But "a lot of TV programming is nauseating enough without 3-D; with it, people may, literally get sick to their stomach while watching."
• Tiny projectors: Do people "really want to spend extra money or carry around extra devices to share their media? Huddling around an iPod or a cell phone is perhaps the closest some geeks will get to cuddling.
• Wristwatch cell phone: LG's gadget is neat, and "the touch screen does appear to be at least somewhat usable." But some have trouble with "iPhones and Blackberries that are considerably larger. Of course, you could always connect the wristwatch to a pico projector."

(More Consumer Electronics Show stories.)