The Student’s Guide to the Consumer Electronics Show

The consumer electronics show (CES) kicked off with a large press day unveiling tons of new gadgets for your inner geek and all my fellow tech junkies.

Whether you’re an online student or not you’ll find a reason to use any of the great products that have been revealed. In some cases, you might even find yourself using these in the classroom.

iHome alarm clocks: I don’t know many people who don’t own an iPhone, or want one for that matter. These docking stations can be used to iPhones and iPads so instead of having to get up check what time it is you can now lie comfortably in your bed. Ah yes, the lazy college student’s dream.

Windows 7 powered tablets: Microsoft teamed up with several companies to introduce tablets that will revolutionize the way we get work done. The Samsung PC 7 Sliding Series has a slide out keyboard hidden underneath its touchscreen and weighs a little over two pounds. The dual-screen PC from Acer is two touchscreens mounted face to face; basically think about using a touchscreen as your keyboard, which equals awesome.

Intel’s Gemtek tablet: Intel designed this tablet to be a multimedia pseudo-home phone. The tablet has a front facing camera intended for video conferencing to be used with VoIP (voice over IP) phones over Wi-Fi. This tablet is a great choice for students who are busy and may need to meet with their peers about a group project or conference with their professors.

Motorola Atrix 4:  While some might consider AT&T getting into the 4G arena big news itself, the Motorola Atrix is the one grabbing all the attention. The latest gadget has two different docking stations which allow it to act like a full-blown computer. It has a dual-core 1Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, 15 GB of storage, a 4-inch “qHD” display, and fingerprint recognizer. This is definitely for the student on the go.

Other fun techie devices to watch out for this year: the Playstation phone and Nintendo 3DS. Okay, those aren’t school-related but all work and no play make Jack a crazy maniacal killer.

The 2011 CES will continue until the 9th and I’m sure there will be tons of new toys waitin’, hopin’ and wishin’ to be a part of your next wish list.