Last Gadget Standing

There is something called the "Last Gadget Standing" competition held each year at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Since I am a dinosaur when it comes to technology I normally don't pay attention to such things. But I did read about it and think quite a few of the new products that received votes for best will soon be produced and sold to all those tech addicted consumers soon.

'The Boxee Box', a cube like device that shares Internet content with your TV, won the competition this year. According to reports from the show the Boxee Box plugs into a TV and allows the person to search and store Web content, play it on your television and and share it with your friends on social networks via a keyboard in the device's remote control. Sounds like a version of the old Web TV in which the TV was turned into a computer, minus a hard drive to store data. But the Boxee has a hard drive. It is scheduled to go on sale this spring and cost about $200. Hmmmmmmmm Could this mean the eventual end of the desktop computer?

Plastic Logic's Que e-reader and the Intel Reader, a device that scans printed text and reads it aloud was voted as the second best new product. I am not sure I would be interested in that one. But it is the lazy man/woman's reading device and another indication that electronic gurus are trying hard to make us a part of the computer or electronic device we use. Are we being integrated into the new technology that is being produced? On the emotional level we already have, as seen by the addiction so many have to their electronic devices. It's interesting how we are first made emotionally dependent on the devices, and then gradually physically integrated into them.

Perhaps those cell phone addicts will one day have their phones implanted under their skin on their arms. Past winners at the last Gadget contest have included the OnStar vehicle security system, the Roomba robotic vacuum and Eye-Fi wireless memory cards for cameras. On that note look at the other finalists in this years competition:
*Motorola Droid, the new multitasking smartphone that runs on Google's Android system.*Que proReader, Plastic Logic's forthcoming touchscreen e-reader that delivers newspapers and magazines wirelessly.
*Haier Ibiza Trainer, a Web-enabled workout gizmo that clips on your belt and combines an MP3 player, pedometer, heart rate monitor, stopwatch and calorie counter.
*Neato Vacuum Cleaner, a robotic vacuum with a square jaw for getting into corners and a mapping system that prevents it from wandering aimlessly.
*Acer Aspire 3D notebook, which combines portable computing power with a 3D display.
*Intel Reader, a handheld device that scans text, converts text to voice and reads it aloud -- a potential aid to the dyslexic or vision-impaired
*Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer, a small, Web-enabled device that seeks to replace the bedside alarm clock by offering news, weather, video, Internet radio and other services.
*Nvidia Ultra Android Tablet, which packs a gaming PC and a multimedia player into the body of a portable tablet less than an inch thick.
Nice gadgets, but do they really improve in our lives if we use them? I still prefer the first communication device ever invented...the human voice....and all the imperfections of humanity that go with it.