5 Top Consumer Devices for 2008

We’re nearing the half-year mark of 2008, and, technology-wise, most homes are starting to adapt to whatever the “it” thing is in the market. So, I’m wondering if its too early, but for me, the 2008 home can’t be complete without the following inventions. (I mean I’ve already written about future technology — but the amazing thing is, the following consumer electronics are already available, or merely months away.)

HD Pictures. Still taking pictures with your camera phone? By last year’s standards, 5 megapixels on a camera phone was a pretty big deal, ‘cept for the fact that camera phones don’t do pictures very well. I myself prefer a separate camera on the side, for those moments that needed to be saved. But what of picture quality? Available by June 2008 (this month!) Kodak’s EasyShare V1253 boasts true HD-quality photos and videos. It features the ability to take 12-MP photos in 16:9 aspect ratio. (That’s widescreen format, yow!)

Video Resurrection. Okay, so we’re all moving to larger displays, higher quality formats, but what about old footage? The DVD transition had us leaving behind a pretty sizeable collection of VHS tapes, and, while most movies are being stamped out into DVD format, it just didn’t make sense for me to buy DVD versions of VHS movies that I don’t really like, or, what of old family videos? Or, the hard-to-get-your-hands-on-tape you found in Japan a couple of years back? Panasonic’s DMR-EZ48VK solves that — it easily converts VHS to DVD formats. (But is not limited to.) It’s also a digital tuner, for those HD TV moments, and, besides transferring your favorite home movies to the new stuff, it also up-converts them to 1080p x 1920p, the standard resolution for HD nowadays.

Stealth Surround. Not bigger than a block of wood, the Yamaha YSP-3000 Digital Sound Projector delivers complete surround sound without having to connect any other subwoofer or speakers. Coming from a single box, it beams the sound in different directions to emulate the feel of surround sound.

Beautiful Display. Seriously, it’s the perfect time to own an HDTV monster — with Blu-Ray coming into the scene, that monster has to be something of the plasma sort. Some will cry, “but it’s expensive!” Vizio displays fix that. With a wide-range of models whose prices are a fraction of the other brands, Vizio is now head-to-head with giants like Sony for sales on HDTV displays.

For Quick, On-The-Go Action. Anybody who owns a cell phone (or three), a PDA, an mp3 player, a digital camera and a portable gaming console knows the importance of charging. But there are only so much sockets in a house, and besides, there’s never enough time to figure out which charger goes to which, and having docks for the rest of your toys is just silly. Now comes the innovation that is the WildCharge — it’s a pad that wirelessly charges your devices by simply putting your gadgets on top of the pad, assuming that the device is WildCharge-enabled first.