I attended CES Unveiled tonight. It's like a mini-pre-CES just for the press. It was packed, and there was a line that seemed a mile long to get in. The event opened at 7:00, and I was in by about 7:10.
I was greeted by Little Richard and Cher lookalikes. I was then handed a deck of complimentary cards by this guy:
I guess he forgot his glove. Once inside there were some pretty cool toys to check out. My immediate favorite? Well, who couldn't use a remote control helicopter?
It's called the Blade Runner Recon and it's made by a company called Interactive Toy Concepts. It looked really cool. But here's the kicker. It's got a video camera built in. It can capture stills or video, and it can store them locally (images can be uploaded later via USB), or it can broadcast what it sees to a 2.2" video screen built into the remote control. They had other, smaller models out and flying, and they seemed by far the easiest remote control helicopters to fly, so novice pilots can get up and flying quickly without completely damaging their new toy within five minutes of pulling it out of the box.
The Blade Runner Recon is due out this fall, and will come fully assembled and ready to fly out of the box. And it will only set you back about $199.99.