Last night I attended The Digital Experience! Expo in New York City. The event featured new and recent technology from 60 global companies. With everything from connected doorbells to interactive board games to anti-smartphone-theft devices, the event was a who's who and what's what for tech junkies.
I've compiled a list of Best in Show devices from the event. These devices meet no specific criteria, they aren't bucketed into a particular type of technology, and they aren't necessarily even that new – they're just the coolest gadgets I played with last night and I wanted to share them with you.
The Kodak Pixpro SL25 Lens
For those of you who crave the zoom capabilities of SLR and high-end point-and-click cameras but would rather take photos from your smartphone, the light-weight Kodak Pixpro SL25 Lens is an ideal device.
Announced in March, the SL25 offers a wireless 24mm wide-angle lens that easily attaches to your mobile device. It features 25x mega zoom, a 16MP BSI CMOS sensor, and it's capable of recording full HD 1080p video.
The lens is Wi-Fi and NFC compatible, so you can easily upload and share photos (immediately after your friends approve of how they look in them). Perhaps my favorite feature: the SL25 wirelessly connects to your phone, which means you can record photo and video on the lens without having to maneuver the phone itself. This enables you to preview tough angle photos on the smartphone's display while attempting to reach over someone's big head at your child's kindergarten graduation.
The SL25 will set you back $299 (about £175, AU$318), but if you plan to use it as your primary camera it's well worth the cost. The lens will be available to the general public in autumn.
Blue Goji
Blue Goji is an interactive fitness app developed by Kai and Charles Huang, co-founders and inventors of Guitar Hero. Blue Goji combines an activity sensor, proprietary software and your Apple devices to create an interactive cardio challenge for people of all athletic pedigrees (yes, even you).
Blue Goji features a selection of 20 games available for download on the iTunes app store, each of which challenges users to accomplish feats, such as boxing, racing and zombie evasion, by increasing the intensity of their workout. You can use Blue Goji on treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, steps, or even while running in place (you lazy so-and-so).
The tracking software enables you to store, monitor and share your accomplishments once your workouts are complete.
Blue Goji is a steal at $99.99 (about £58, AU$105), especially if you consider how much your local gym costs annually. It is currently available at bluegoji.com or Amazon.com.
LEGO Fusion
Built by everyone's childhood favorite, The LEGO Group, LEGO Fusion merges its traditional brick building with digital gaming. The four LEGO Fusion games demoed at the event allow children (and grown-babies like me) to build cars, houses and other structures, and then witness these structures functioning in a virtual environment.
Each LEGO Fusion box comes with a set of 200 bricks (the kind you used to throw at your cousins), a free downloadable app game and a Fusion capture plate that enables mobile and tablet cameras to identify the size and colors of the bricks in order to insert them accurately into the app.
The LEGO Fusion collection consists of four games:
- LEGO Fusion Town Master – build and run a town from scratch
- LEGO Fusion Battle Towers – build and defend your tower from invaders
- LEGO Fusion Create & Race – build a car from scratch and race it against your friends' ghost cars
- LEGO Fusion Resort Designer – build and manage a resort without going bankrupt
Town Master, Battle Towers and Create & Race launch in August. Resort Designer launches in September. Each will be available for $34.99 (about £20, AU$37).
