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Consumer show unveils frugal finds for gadget minds

When money's tight, you're probably not thinking about buying the latest electronics. But think again. Some devices can help you save money without emptying your wallet. And they're making their case

By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 5, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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This might not seem like a good time to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a technology trade show.

But bucking the trend a bit, more Colorado companies this year than last are exhibiting at this week's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The 33 exhibitors - up from two dozen last year - include the usual high-end audio companies seeking publicity and sales contracts.

They also include newcomers hoping to become commercial successes in markets that help consumers connect their home-entertainment devices and monitor their energy use.

Those markets are becoming increasingly competitive. But they also offer possible ways for consumers - who experts say are likely to stay at home more during a recession - to save money.

Take Boulder-based Bocs, a startup that makes a home entertainment control system called the Xtender. It's not cheap; a full system, which launched in August through dealers, costs as much as $500.

But it can be used in a lot of ways that might eliminate a consumer's need to buy multiple DVD players, stereos, even baby monitors.

For example, you can use it to play a DVD or your TiVo digital video recorder on all the TVs in the house simultaneously.

You can pause a program in one room and continue watching it in another.

You can hook up an iPod and hear the music in a number of rooms in the house.

One customer separately bought a night-vision camera with audio, hooked it up to the Xtender and used one of the Xtender's three audiovisual channels to watch and hear the customer's baby from other rooms of the house.

Bocs CEO Todd Beetcher said his wife calls the Xtender the "Family Peace" device because their 10- and 12-year-old daughters can have simultaneous sleepovers and watch the same movie in different rooms.

"We really do think we're on top of the next big idea," said Beetcher, while acknowledging most consumers don't know yet they really need such a device.

That's why the show is so important, he said. It's "my chance to lay the foundation for third-party validation."

In other words, Beetcher said he's hoping to get publicity from the likes of the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg or the technology blog Engadget. That, in turn, would fuel consumer interest, orders and revenue.

The Boulder startup Tendril Networks, another newcomer to CES this year, is further along, with five major utilities including Reliant Energy testing its home-energy monitoring device.

The device communicates with a utility meter to let consumers monitor in real-time how much electricity they are consuming and see how their power bills are adding up each month.

Depending on how the utility charges, consumers theoretically could save money not only by turning off appliances or turning down the thermostat, but also by using appliances when demand on the grid and, hence, energy prices are lower.

Tendril CEO Adrian Tuck, at a recent broadband summit sponsored by Gov. Bill Ritter, described the system as being "all about empowering consumers with information they need to change" behavior.

He said the device plugs into an Internet router but can work at a slow speed. Tendril has worked on applications that enable consumers to check their home electricity use on an iPhone or other mobile device and control it via their TV or laptop computer.

It remains to be seen whether companies such as Bocs and Tendril will break into what have become highly competitive markets.

Beetcher has some meetings scheduled at the show and is trying to generate media interest in Bocs. Not easy to do when you're among 2,700 exhibitors, even with the hordes of media in attendance.

But his sights go beyond the show.

He is trying to get an invitation to technology blogger Chris Shipley's prestigious Demo '09 in Palm Desert, Calif., in March.

Beetcher, a 15-year technology veteran, has some of his neighbors keenly interested in how he fares.

"We've raised $3 million, primarily angel investors all the way down to soccer moms in my neighborhood," he said.

CES by the numbers

*2,700 exhibitors will attend, about the same as last year.

*300 new exhibitors will display their gadgets.

*140,000 people are expected to attend.

*200-plus sessions are slotted, including one focused on technology for kids.

*1.7 million square feet, the size of 29 football fields, will be used for the show.