Many people--including us--left Apple’s keynote at Macworld Expo on January 6 feeling underwhelmed. The iLife ’09 demo was neat and all, but nothing life-altering. If you felt the same way, don’t forget that more than 500 other exhibitors showed off their wares as well--everything from $7,000 interactive tables for elementary-school classrooms to thumb drives that look like Chewbacca. Here’s what impressed us the most on the Expo floor, motivating us to present our first (and probably only) totally informal Best in Show accolades for Macworld Expo 2009.
The K272 HD headphones are like buttah.
AKG High-Definition Headphones
Known for pro mics and headphones, AKG is entering the U.S. consumer market with a wide range of headphones, from $17 earbuds to fancier canalphones, DJ headphones, and four gorgeous HD models, which felt like angels perching on our heads when we tried them on. The ear cups surround your whole ears (the closed-back K172 HD, $169.99, and K272 HD, $379.99, are best for listening in public), the self-adusting headband rocks, and the rich sound makes them worth the price.
All together now.
Pinger Phone
If you’re a chronic communicator sick of clicking between the SMS, phone, Mail, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace apps on your iPhone, Pinger Phone (free, ad supported) combines them all with a smart interface. You can see your friends’ status updates, plus call, email, text, or IM them all from one contact list, where icons show you who’s online at any given moment. iPod touch users can do everything except make calls--even send IMs directly to their friends’ mobile phones as SMS text messages.
Sling Media’s much-anticipated SlingPlayer Mobile should be in the App Store any day now.
SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone
Perhaps our favorite thing hadn’t even been released yet: SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone, which lets Slingbox owners watch live TV streaming to their device over 3G or Wi-Fi. The smooth video made our jaws drop--live TV, or TiVo-ed shows, on our iPhones? Yes, please! Sling Media also showed the upcoming SlingPlayer for Mac HD, a Web app that shows HD video in your browser, if you’ve got a Slingbox PRO-HD. Both should be out in the first quarter.
A hard drive and media player in one.
LaCinema Classic
LaCie’s latest external drive is ready to take on your whole digital library--and even bring it to your TV--for less money than the Apple TV. LaCinema Classic is a 500GB or 1TB USB 2.0 drive with HDMI and composite video outputs, plus stereo and coaxial SPDIF audio outputs, for connecting to your TV or home entertainment system. Built-in software with a Front Row–esque interface and included remote control let you play your MPEG-4, DivX, and Xvid videos in 1080p HD, plus music and photos too. It’s not connected to your network like the Apple TV is, so you can’t stream from a computer, but it starts at just $169.99 and dwarfs the Apple TV in storage capacity (an extra USB port even lets you expand).
