Some of the gadgets from 2008 that may have flown under your radar.
Photosynth (free!): A free download from Microsoft. You feed it a bunch of pictures of an object from different angles or locations. It looks for overlapping points in the images, creates a 3D model – and makes it a whole new viewing experience. It is the coolest way to organize and share your photos.
Spore ($50): Creatiolutionism – you develop a species from a microscopic organism to its evolution into a complex animal, its emergence as a social, intelligent being, to its mastery of the planet and then finally to its ascension into space, where it interacts with alien species across the galaxy (other player’s creations).
Amazon Kindle ($350): A iPod of books. It’s an easy to use ebook that does gopes forever between charges. You can very quickly download books wirelessly from just about anywhere. The Kindle will hold about 200 books at a time. You can buy the books for about $10 for new releases and top sellers - $2 for paperbacks.
Livescribe ($150): Smart pens that digitize handwriting for use later have been around for awhile. The Livescribe Pulse smart pen goes a whole lot further. It uses an integrated microphone and a revolutionary method to record and retrieve audio. The user taps his or her handwritten notes to get the pen to play the appropriate audio.
