Hottest gadgets at CES

The next decade may be here, but so is a budget-busting worldwide recession, writes Digital Trends, as it predicts the hottest gadgets and emerging technologies it hopes to see at CES 2010.

While some naysayers already have this year's Consumer Electronics Show chalked up to a bust on account of penny pinching (there will “only” be 110 000 attendees this year), the pace of technology will still manage to yield some extraordinary gadgets.

With that in mind, a list of predictions for CES includes a truly next-generation e-reader which could feature colour electronic paper screens, or the long-awaited flexible displays, and a viable format for storing consumer 3D video.

As the economy sputters back to life, gadget makers are preparing a whole raft of hardware for 2010, according to Wired News.

Among the highlights are set-top boxes and TVs that will let users say goodbye to the cable company, 3D televisions, increasingly powerful device 'platforms' enhanced by massive app stores, e-book readers, a new crop of netbooks, and tiny projectors crammed into everything from cameras to netbooks.

And then there will be the tablets. Most industry observers, including Gadget Lab, expect Apple to release a tablet device, possibly called the iSlate or iGuide, sometime in 2010.

The route to clean energy is through small gadgets, according to fuel cell company Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, states CNN.

The company said it will show the Hydrofill, a home fuel cell suitable for charging small electronics at the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts later this week. The product will be available later in 2010.

The 'desktop' fuel cell extracts hydrogen gas from water and stores it in cartridges with a metal alloy that absorb the hydrogen. To charge electronic devices, people use a pocket-size fuel cell charger, called the MiniPak, which pulls hydrogen from the cartridges and produces an electrical current. The kit comes with a USB charger and cellphone adapter and the company offers an optional AA-battery charger.