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American Morning

Cool Gadgets

Aired January 10, 2003 - 09:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Listen up high-tech types, actually, anybody can appreciate some of what we might see here in the next couple of minutes. From the latest in night vision goggles to the finest in digital guitars, the Consumer Electronics show, a big deal every year, underway out in Los Angeles. Hottest gadgets around, and Daniel Sieberg is checking it out, has a live demo on some of them.
Good morning, Dan.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Jack.

I know you're kind of a tech guy at heart.

CAFFERTY: Yes, that's me.

SIEBERG: We've got a few products here. It's early here at the show, but we still got some products and some gadgets to show people, and we are going to start here with a very high-end monitor. This is a plasma monitor. We've got a high-definition TV feed coming into it right now. It's made by Zenith. It's 52 inches, which you can see right here. It's also only about four inches thick, weighs about 100 pounds.

But you are going have to pay for this quality for this crisp picture that this offers. We are talking about $9,500 for the TV, then about $500 for the tuner in order to get the TV signal, so we're talking about $10,000. That's the high-end TV.

But from the high-end TV, we're going to go to some high-end goggles. These are night vision goggles made by a company called American Technology Network. They are basically using military night vision technology, and making it commercially available. This is their very high-end version, so it goes for about $5,000, called the night shadow.

Now it's very bright in here, as you can see, so it's a bit difficult to demonstrate night vision technology, but they've created a pinhole on the front of the lens cap here so we can give you a sense what you would see if you looked through the viewfinder. I will turn it on here. It's actually got a sensor. That's something I should point out.

It was off there for a second, and that's because it's got a sensor knowing when you're holding it up to something, and that helps to conserve the battery life and other things, extend the life of the unit itself. If you can't afford $5,000 night vision goggles, they make also one here called the Night Leopard. This one goes for about $250 for the optics, and the magnification is not as high-end as the Night Shadow.

Now we're going to go over to this guitar here. This is obviously, a guitar. What's not obvious is the technology that is included in it. This is made by Gibson. People may be familiar with Gibson as a guitar maker. This is what they're saying this is the first digital guitar. Why is it digital? As you can see here, there is an input jack, an RF 45 connector, that allows you to hook it up to a computer or other type of device. You would play it like you would any other guitar. Of course, you have to know how to play the guitar a little bit first. That would help.

Once you play it, each of these strings on the bridge here will be connected to an equalizer and be adjusted when you're playing guitar on the computer, when you feed it into your other device. So this is what they're saying is the first of a digital guitar. Of course, it doesn't teach you how to play. I'm personally an air guitar specialist myself.

From there, we go to this Dick Tracy watch, made by a company called exact. If you can see it here, it offers the chance to use two-way radio to communicate with somebody else. There is a little microphone here, and you speak into this and someone else, and someone else would have to have one as well to talk to them, and it's got this little readout screen here. It's got a range of about a mile to a mile and a half. This one goes for about $50, so definitely a little more affordable to someone who wants to have a gadget of their won.

The guitar, by the way, that feature, if you want to add it to a guitar costs about $200, and of course you have to pay for the guitar itself and maybe the guitar lessons to go along with it. But this is just a sampling of some of the products here, Jack. We're almost overwhelmed by technology here in Las Vegas.

Back to you.

CAFFERTY: That set of night vision goggles, $5,000. I understand the military, for example. I can see, obviously, what they would use something like that for. My question is, what do people like you and I need with a $5, 000 set of night vision goggles? What activities, besides those you might get arrested for, are there?

SIEBERG: Right, besides stalking or something? Yes, that's a great question. That was my first little question to the company, actually, and they were saying that people who are bird watchers, for example, outdoors people. If you're out camping and you want to do a little bit...

CAFFERTY: Bird watching.

SIEBERG: Yes, bird watching, at night. There are owls and stuff that are out there at night that people might want to see using these night vision goggles. The clarity and the quality is pretty good, so you know, maybe that's something you want to use with them, but other than that, they're just cool. CAFFERTY: That's true, they are cool.

SIEBERG: If you pay $5, 000 for cool night vision goggles.

CAFFERTY: You can show to your friends. I have these. But then when you tell them you get up in the middle of the night to go sneak up on some sleeping owl, the cool factor is gone immediately.

SIEBERG: Well, I guess that is true. The cool factor, I suppose, would be telling your friends you actually own these night vision goggles and actually showing them off to everybody. That would be more of the cool factor.

CAFFERTY: Nighttime bird watching.

SIEBERG: There is a $250 model.

CAFFERTY: Nighttime bird watching is not cool, do you know what I'm saying?

SIEBERG: Well, yes, it's a stretch, it's a stretch. But if you use these, then maybe you're a cool bird watcher, because you've got these goggles.

CAFFERTY: Or if the cops come by, you can say, I was bird watching here, leave me alone, I was just bird watching. That's not against the law. Look, there's a spotted tufted whatever up there on that branch.

Daniel, it was good to see you. I got to run along here.

Daniel Sieberg, at the tech show out there in Las Vegas.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 10, 2003 - 09:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Listen up high-tech types, actually, anybody can appreciate some of what we might see here in the next couple of minutes. From the latest in night vision goggles to the finest in digital guitars, the Consumer Electronics show, a big deal every year, underway out in Los Angeles. Hottest gadgets around, and Daniel Sieberg is checking it out, has a live demo on some of them.
Good morning, Dan.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Jack.

I know you're kind of a tech guy at heart.

CAFFERTY: Yes, that's me.

SIEBERG: We've got a few products here. It's early here at the show, but we still got some products and some gadgets to show people, and we are going to start here with a very high-end monitor. This is a plasma monitor. We've got a high-definition TV feed coming into it right now. It's made by Zenith. It's 52 inches, which you can see right here. It's also only about four inches thick, weighs about 100 pounds.

But you are going have to pay for this quality for this crisp picture that this offers. We are talking about $9,500 for the TV, then about $500 for the tuner in order to get the TV signal, so we're talking about $10,000. That's the high-end TV.

But from the high-end TV, we're going to go to some high-end goggles. These are night vision goggles made by a company called American Technology Network. They are basically using military night vision technology, and making it commercially available. This is their very high-end version, so it goes for about $5,000, called the night shadow.

Now it's very bright in here, as you can see, so it's a bit difficult to demonstrate night vision technology, but they've created a pinhole on the front of the lens cap here so we can give you a sense what you would see if you looked through the viewfinder. I will turn it on here. It's actually got a sensor. That's something I should point out.

It was off there for a second, and that's because it's got a sensor knowing when you're holding it up to something, and that helps to conserve the battery life and other things, extend the life of the unit itself. If you can't afford $5,000 night vision goggles, they make also one here called the Night Leopard. This one goes for about $250 for the optics, and the magnification is not as high-end as the Night Shadow.

Now we're going to go over to this guitar here. This is obviously, a guitar. What's not obvious is the technology that is included in it. This is made by Gibson. People may be familiar with Gibson as a guitar maker. This is what they're saying this is the first digital guitar. Why is it digital? As you can see here, there is an input jack, an RF 45 connector, that allows you to hook it up to a computer or other type of device. You would play it like you would any other guitar. Of course, you have to know how to play the guitar a little bit first. That would help.

Once you play it, each of these strings on the bridge here will be connected to an equalizer and be adjusted when you're playing guitar on the computer, when you feed it into your other device. So this is what they're saying is the first of a digital guitar. Of course, it doesn't teach you how to play. I'm personally an air guitar specialist myself.

From there, we go to this Dick Tracy watch, made by a company called exact. If you can see it here, it offers the chance to use two-way radio to communicate with somebody else. There is a little microphone here, and you speak into this and someone else, and someone else would have to have one as well to talk to them, and it's got this little readout screen here. It's got a range of about a mile to a mile and a half. This one goes for about $50, so definitely a little more affordable to someone who wants to have a gadget of their won.

The guitar, by the way, that feature, if you want to add it to a guitar costs about $200, and of course you have to pay for the guitar itself and maybe the guitar lessons to go along with it. But this is just a sampling of some of the products here, Jack. We're almost overwhelmed by technology here in Las Vegas.

Back to you.

CAFFERTY: That set of night vision goggles, $5,000. I understand the military, for example. I can see, obviously, what they would use something like that for. My question is, what do people like you and I need with a $5, 000 set of night vision goggles? What activities, besides those you might get arrested for, are there?

SIEBERG: Right, besides stalking or something? Yes, that's a great question. That was my first little question to the company, actually, and they were saying that people who are bird watchers, for example, outdoors people. If you're out camping and you want to do a little bit...

CAFFERTY: Bird watching.

SIEBERG: Yes, bird watching, at night. There are owls and stuff that are out there at night that people might want to see using these night vision goggles. The clarity and the quality is pretty good, so you know, maybe that's something you want to use with them, but other than that, they're just cool. CAFFERTY: That's true, they are cool.

SIEBERG: If you pay $5, 000 for cool night vision goggles.

CAFFERTY: You can show to your friends. I have these. But then when you tell them you get up in the middle of the night to go sneak up on some sleeping owl, the cool factor is gone immediately.

SIEBERG: Well, I guess that is true. The cool factor, I suppose, would be telling your friends you actually own these night vision goggles and actually showing them off to everybody. That would be more of the cool factor.

CAFFERTY: Nighttime bird watching.

SIEBERG: There is a $250 model.

CAFFERTY: Nighttime bird watching is not cool, do you know what I'm saying?

SIEBERG: Well, yes, it's a stretch, it's a stretch. But if you use these, then maybe you're a cool bird watcher, because you've got these goggles.

CAFFERTY: Or if the cops come by, you can say, I was bird watching here, leave me alone, I was just bird watching. That's not against the law. Look, there's a spotted tufted whatever up there on that branch.

Daniel, it was good to see you. I got to run along here.

Daniel Sieberg, at the tech show out there in Las Vegas.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com