Stuff that makes you go gaga—that's always the goal for makers of high-tech gadgets and apps heading into the holiday season. Here's our sneak peek at some innovative new products coming your way this summer and fall.
Kinect
Expect a big marketing push for Microsoft's Kinect—a new hands-free game system for the Xbox 360 with a camera eye that monitors your every move and reacts accordingly. Coming in November. $150 (Xbox and games not included).
PlayStation Move
Sony debuts its own motion-controlled game system, the PlayStation Move, on September 19, but unlike Kinect it’s not hands-free. Hold a small light in each hand and suddenly you're playing golf with Tiger Woods or drawing a bead on a target with bow and arrow. $140 (PS3 and games not included).
Logitech Revue
This slim box is the first device that can bring the Internet—YouTube videos, Web browsing, video calling, as well as all your current TV channels—to any set sporting an HDMI port. Launch-date and pricing announcements should be this fall.
HTC Evo 4G
Sprint’s just-released smart phone is the first to take advantage of 4G ("fourth generation") networks—meaning data should move faster than it does in 3G. 4G service remains patchy. Price: Approximately $199, plus service plan.
3-D Cameras
These new 3-D cameras, coming from Sony in September, are described as the smallest ever made. Both the DSC-TX9 and the DSC-WX5 take panoramas by sweeping a lens across a scene, then stitching 15 separate shots together digitally into one smooth 3-D image. WX5: $300; TX9: $400.
Google Goggles
Google Goggles is a free app that allows you to take a picture of a building, a work of art, a menu in Rome, and after a bit of processing, Goggles returns a Google search-result page.
Echo Smartpen
Livescribe redesigned its Smartpen (released July 19) for a more comfortable feel, bigger file storage, and more convenient audio and video output. With a tiny video camera in the tip of the pen and a microphone on the side, it records your jottings as you write, along with whatever you say, turning your notes into a digital movie. $170 with 4 GB storage; $200 with 8 GB.
Ford's MyFord Touch
Ford has revamped its voice-activated and touch-screen controls this fall in models such as the 2011 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX. You can change the radio, make a phone call, or hear the latest Twitter tweets by using your voice and a button on the steering wheel.
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