Watch CBS News

What's The Next High-Tech Craze?

The buzzwords at this year's electronic show are smarter, thinner and wireless, from eye-catching, flat-panel TV's called organic light-emitting diodes, or OLED's, that are nearly paper-thin…to a set-top box that sends that high-definition signal wirelessly throughout the house.

"One of the trends is cutting the cables, getting rid of the wires," says CBS News Analyst Larry Magid.

Magid says the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas offers a unique chance to see high-tech toys that will be on store shelves in the coming months.

"If it has an on-off switch or a chip in it, or a light," Magid tell CBS News correspondent Daniel Sieberg, "then it's probably here."

"Find food and drink," Sieberg asked a global positioning system or GPS device from Garmin that actually listens to what you say while driving.

Garmin also had a GPS wrist watch that can help out tourist joggers in a new city.

"Now they can go out and try to get themselves lost," said Garmin spokesman Jake Jacobson, "and then click 'head back to start' and it'll guide them right back to where they were staying."

The "Viable" acts like a high-tech hearing aid. It's a portable device that allows two deaf people to communicate by videophone. All you just need is an internet connection and it's possible to have a video conversation.

The pace of today's always-on life can wear anyone out, which is where the starry night bed comes in.

"If you are snoring," said Mark Quinn, from the Legget and Platt mattress company, "it will elevate the head of the bed seven degrees until we open up your airway, until you stop snoring, and then it will flatten the bed back into a sleeping position."

Sieberg warns though that you may lose a little sleep over the price. It starts at $25,000.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.