Round-up ... The Gadget Show Live

Technology Writer

Saturday 14 April 2012

This week I made my annual pilgrimage to Gadget Show Live in Birmingham.

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grant gibson

Hosted across seven cavernous halls of the NEC, the show brings together the big technology manufacturers, distributors and retailers to show off their latest wares.

Volkswagen was on hand to demonstrate the Up, a new compact car that is virtually crash-proof around town. Using laser vision, it automatically applies the brakes when it detects an imminent collision at anything up to 19mph.

I took the Up for a quick spin and was very impressed. Much to the horror of my test-drive companion I pointed the car towards a wall and hit the gas. The system worked perfectly and the Volkswagen automatically skidded to a halt with just over a foot to spare.Remote control toys took up a lot of floorspace. There was nothing revolutionary this year, but everything keeps getting better, faster and cheaper. Today, £300 will buy you the Parrot AR Drone 2.0, a smartphone-controlled helicopter with a high-definition camera that beams live footage back to your handset – perfect for snooping on the neighbourhood. Home cinema speaker systems also featured prominently, with more than a dozen manufacturers touting their latest models. The notable trend here was so-called soundbars – single-box systems that produce virtual surround sound without the need for wires. This is one area where you really get what you pay for – despite a wide range of sub-£200 systems, only the top-of-the-line Yamaha YSP-2200 (£799) produced a convincing surround-sound effect.With Apple now dominating the portable music player market, everyone else has turned their attention to offering headphones for iPods.As well as the expected ranges from big names such as Sony and Sennheiser, the market has attracted a gaggle of American rappers. Dr Dre, 50 Cent and Ludacris all had bling-laden stands demonstrating their rival ranges, all of which offered style over substance.Despite the dominance of big brands at the show, there were still a number of small businesses there to show off their latest inventions, which ranged from interesting to ridiculous. The Cat Genie, a self-cleaning cat box the size of a human toilet, seemed like an over-engineered solution to a simple problem, while the iPhone bottle-opener felt like convergence gone mad.The star of the show for me was a £20,000 motor racing simulator complete with wraparound 3D screens, a hydraulic seat and even virtual wind. Expensive, yes, but breathtakingly realistic – look out for a full review in this column soon.

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Round-up ... The Gadget Show Live

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