CES: Gadget Town

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At the annual Digital Experience showcase, dozens of electronics manufacturers big and small displayed their wares in a packed ballroom at Caesars Palace. (‘Turn left at the David statue,’ said a security guard, giving directions.) Hundreds of attendees wolfed down sausages and tater tots -- for some inexplicable reason, the theme seemed to be a football tailgate party -- while wandering from booth to booth.

If tradition holds, many of the items on display will never be seen in public again and a chosen very few will go on to be hits.

Here’s a few that were there:

Whirlpool refrigerator: For $2,800, it replaces the kitchen magnet! It’s a refrigerator with built-in dock to accept a custom-made PC. The computer screen, which hangs on the fridge door, can show a shopping list, little Sally’s soccer schedule, baby pictures and the like. All the stuff folks have been putting on their refrigerators for years with magnets they got free from their optometrists.

The refrigerator by itself costs $2,000 and the PC is $800. Extras are available, including a digital picture frame and an iPod speaker system. Only one can occupy the dock at a time.

Whirlpool says that eventually all of its refrigerators will be equipped with the docking system to accept the extras. And you thought a refrigerator was just for keeping food cold.

iRobot gutter cleaner: That’s right, a robot gutter cleaner. Laugh if you like (we all did at first -- and later too) but this gadget from the folks who gave us the Roomba robotic vacuum was truly cool. Placed in a gutter clogged with leaves, mud and other gunk, it goes back and forth as its whirling brush and blades blast out the yuk. It’s controlled by the happy homeowner, who can be standing up to 100 feet away.

According to the iRobot booth people, it was invented by a staff engineer inspired after his neighbor fell off a ladder while cleaning his gutters.

GPS dog finders: Not just one, but two of these items for finding a wandering Fido were on display at Digital Experience.

Both feature little modules that fit on a dog’s collar, then notify the owner if the pooch goes outside his or her electronically designated yard.

Neither is cheap, over time. Zoombak is priced at $199, plus $14.99 for the monthly monitoring service. PocketFinder costs $129.95, plus a monthly $12.95.

Isn’t that a bit steep, especially considering that the monitoring service is all electronic?

John Cullen of Zoombak had a ready answer.

‘What would you pay to get your dog back?’ he asked chillingly.

-- David Colker