Between the Shows

CES in Las Vegas is over and MacWorld San Francisco opens Tuesday.

The Consumer Electronics Show exhibited some very nice large screen TVs, and I'd be happy to own any one of them.
But most of the other goods on display were tacky. The manufacturers need to hire product design consultants (or first year design school students) to examine the aesthetics of their products. Most of the gadgets looked like shiny rubbish because of their cluttered random design and chrome plastic (including my beloved Treo 650 and 700W). Now consider the iPod. The iPod is functionally no better than the dozens of other mp3 players on the market, but we want it because it's nice to touch, and a pleasure to look at. Designers, wake-up and pay attention!


The MoGo Mouse. This Bluetooth mouse deserves mention. It stores and recharges inside your laptop's PC slot. Simple, useful.


The Sony Reader. At first glance it's just another LCD screen pretending to be a book. But read the details and you'll find it's a new type of display that is viewable in bright sunlight and uses no energy to display a page. It might succeed, but not at the projected price of $300-$400. Available in the Spring.