Sendero Group Travel Blog

It is amazing to me how many companies have some sort of GPS device here at the Consumer Electronics Show. It used to be that I could visit a couple companies and know what was happening. Most of the products I have seen have nothing exciting. There was one designed specifically for bike riders. It had no maps and it really meant to replace the traditional bicycle odometer and trip recorder.

There was a fun product in the form of a football or soccer ball remote control. Picture your typical squishy kid's football with a remote keypad embedded in it. They only cost $4. That was probably the distributor price but even the ball might cost that much. At least you wouldn't have to worry about it breaking. In fact, you can toss it around the room.

The Monster Cable Beats Studio headphones sound really good. They have some noise canceling but unlike the Bose products, the music quality is not compromised by the noise cancelation. You can purchase an add-on controller so you can use them with your phone to listen and talk.

For those who prefer stylish earbuds, check out Monster's Lady Gaga diamond shaped earphones. Pretty cute!

How about a Schlage electronic key lock for your house with a wireless connection to a security camera or house lights or even a thermostat. You can control it all from your cell phone. You can even view the camera's video online when you are away assuming you can see these things.

Several years ago, I reported on the Motorola Blue Mini bone conduction earphone. It never came out. They have a version finally shipping called the Endeavor HX1 for $149.You can use it either like a normal noise canceling Bluetooth earphone or you can use the bone conduction mic. It picks up your voice through your head and not through a microphone which would also be picking up background sound. You can whisper and be heard when using this but presumably the sound quality is a bit restricted.

Motorola also has two new Bluetooth speakers meant for the car but they can be used as a pedestrian as well. The T215 is $69 and is rectangular and the T325 is square and runs $89They both have a 2 wat amplifier and are pretty light but not super small, say 10 square inches or so.

This only scratches the surface of what I saw today with 3 days to go.

Mike