CES 2014 Best of Innovation Winners: Tech Gear, Gadgets (roundup)

aNewDomain.net — CES 2014 this year awarded dozens of innovation and design awards to new tech gear, gadgets and gizmos. Here are the CES 2014 Best of the Best in Innovations, in various categories, photos and details below.

First up, from Reebok and MC10, here’s the Reebok Checklight sports impact indicator, winner of the CES 2014 Best of Innovations award in the Health and Fitness category.

Designed for any athlete, the system comprises skullcap-embedded multiple-motion sensors. They present impact data so athletes of all levels know when to tone it down — or speed it up.

Image credit: Reebok

Image credit: Kirk H & J Corp

Check out Kirk H & J Corp’s iNPOFi foldable mobile wireless charger, below. It’s a CES 2014 Best of Innovations winner in the Portable Power category. The charger incudes a 5,000 mAh battery for wireless device power. Not only is it foldable, but judges say it also works as a 40 lumens LED flashlight when you do fold it up. It emits no radiation and specs brag 90 percent-plus power transfer efficiency for fast charging.

In the CES 2014 Best of Innovations Home Theater Speakers category, these Philips Fidelio E5 wireless surround cinema speakers take the prize. They even include a wireless active subwoofer with true 5.1 wireless surround sound system audio. Check them out below.

Image credit: Philips

Sony won two best of category awards, in the Headphones and Ultra HD Media Player categories, respectively. Below, check out the Sony PHA-2 headphone amp, designed for small, portable audio players and smart phones.

Below that, find Sony Electronics’ FMP-X1 4K Ultra HD Media Player, a portable 4K ultra HD player. Winner of the Ultra HD Media Player category, it ships with 10 feature films and a wide selection of 4K shorts. The device, of course, works with the Sony Video Unlimited 4K service.

Image credit: Sony

Image credit: Sony

From Able Planet, Inc., here’s the Linx Fusion headphones. It combines Linx audio tech with Vivitoch tech to transmit audio, inventors say, right through the skin and bones of your ears. This allows for clearer audio and less surrounding noise, reps said. The Linx Fusion headphones won the Technology For a Better World category in the CES 2014 Best of Innovations awards.

Image credit: Able Planet

The Instabeat waterproof heads up monitor won the CES 2014 Best of Innovations award in the Wearable Technologies category. It’ll track, display and store color-coded heartbeat data onto your swim goggles as you train.

Image credit: Instabeat

In the Eco-design and Sustainable Technologies category Brunton’s Hydrogen Reactor took the prize. It’s a portable power system that, inventors say, produces electricity as it combines hydrogen and oxygen. It uses rechargeable hydrogen power, so your devices will stay charged without plug-in tech. Cool.

Image credit: Brunton

The Formlabs Form 1 3D printer — it’s among the first 3D printers in the world to offer hi-res stereolithographic tech on the desktop — is a great blend of industrial design and printing tech, CES 2014 judges said. It won the 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing category in the CES 2014 Best of Innovations awards.

Image credit: Formlabs

Gadgets don’t get all the glory. This year, Novasentis’ electro mechanical polymer (EMP) actuator technology was tops in the Embedded Technologies category. It’ll show up in new ultrathin and flexible mobile devices that use localized HD Haptics, sounds, and device morphing.

Image credit: Novasentis

In the High Performance Home Audio category, Bang & Olufsen’s BeoLab took top billing. It’s a sound column that is, according to CES 2014 Design and Engineering award judges, “a refined symbiosis of form, craftsmanship and performance.” Pretty gorgeous.

Image credit: Bang & Olufsen

Topping the category of Computer Hardware & Components is the ASUS Transformer Book Trio. Truly, it’s the first three-in-one 11.6-inch dual OS Windows 8/Android laptop. This hybrid includes 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor-based dock and its tablet is powered by an Intel Atom processor. The display? Not so shabby at 1920 x 1080 IPS.

Image credit: ASUS

In the In-Vehicle Audio Video category, here’s the AppRadio 3 by Pioneer Electronics, Inc. This units brags an in-dash 7″ touchscreen DVD/CD/MP3/USB car stereo receiver w/Bluetooth, MirroLink, iPhone and Android control. Way to go Pioneer for their win at CES 2014 Best of Innovations.

Image credit: Pioneer

From Harman International, here’s the AHA Radio system. The cloud platform is capable of delivering 40K plus programs from location-based services and elsewhere on the web right to your car’s dashboard — if you’ve got the Apple iOS or Android version of its AHA smartphone app. This won the Software and Mobile Apps category.

Image credit: Harman

For aNewDomain.net, I’m Gina Smith.

Gina Smith is the New York Times best-selling author of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s memoir, ” iWoz Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Doing It” (W.W. Norton, 2005/2007/2012). With John C. Dvorak and Jerry Pournelle, she is the editorial director at aNewDomain.net. Email her at gina@aNewDomain.net, check out her Google + stream here or follow her @ginasmith888.