Hasta La Gadget!

The traditional mouse’s shape is ideal for the desktop, but less so for the living room. With Internet video increasingly invading the biggest screen in the house, several peripheral companies have already taken a stab at creating the ideal controller for the reclining viewer. Now GlideTV has stepped in with the GlideTV Navigator.

Using a design new for mice but old for ashtrays, the GlideTV Navigator is a shallow bowl-shaped device that combines the functions of a keyboard, mouse, and remote. The clickable touchpad lets you choose on-screen items, while the playback buttons make it easy to start and stop media. It works with a rechargeable battery, so you don’t need to constantly load it with AAs.

The GlideTV Navigator was a hit at CES this year and now it’s finally available. Pick it up for $149 (steep, right?) at the GlideTV site.

Sonos, manufacturer of the excellent-but-expensive wireless home audio system of the same name, today announced a $400 wireless speaker system. While not cheap, the ZonePlayer S5 is unlike any of the company’s other products, which sell in bundles starting at $999. What makes it unique? It’s an all-in-one system. Well, sort of. If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, then it is.

Gaming is about to change–forever. One of the highlights of this year’s newly rejuvenated E3 conference was a couple of motion-controlled gaming interfaces from Sony and Microsoft. Sony’s prototype uses ice-cream-cone-like wands, with a special camera that puts you and your actions in the game. Microsoft’s Project Natal also uses a special camera, but has dropped the controllers entirely. All you need is your body.

The videos and on-stage demonstrations from the event looked amazing. Still, I was skeptical,–until I got to try it for myself. The new gaming technology was honored as part last week’s Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards, which meant Project Natal made a rare live appearance at the pre-and post awards ceremony festivities. I lined up along with a number of children and other event attendees for a few minutes with the still-in-development gaming control system.

In a word, it’s remarkable.

Although the author isn’t explicitly mentioned, this interview appears to have been conducted by Jennifer Van Grove, an associate editor for Mashable, who indicated in the comments attached to this video on YouTube that it was conducted at the recent CTIA show. As suspected, Barnes & Noble plans to launch a color e-reader with Plastic Logic next spring. It will “run the B&N application,” according to Daniel Jorrison, an executive with Fictionwise, which was acquired by B&N in March.

Separately, The New York Times Bits blog reports that there’s an invitation to a Barnes & Noble Oct. 20 event in New York City, in addition to the earlier Wall Street Journal report.

Keep in mind that the stage for this was set quite a while back. In February, Plastic Logic announced its content partners, including Fictionwise, which signed up to supply e-books. B&N then acquired Fictionwise, which meant that, well, Barnes & Noble had its e-reader.

Between the latest Apple iPad and Microsoft Courier rumors, the race to the perfect tablet has become something of a waiting game. If last night’s Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards are any indication, however, Michael Arrington and TechCrunch just might beat all of the major tech players to the punch.

During last night’s ceremonies, PM handed out awards to the Nikon Coolpix s1000pj ad the Palm Pre, among others. One product stood out on the list, however: TechCrunch’s long rumored CrunchPad tablet, which appeared on the evening’s program but was conspicuously absent from the night’s festivities.

According to Popular Mechanics, the actual device just didn’t make it in time, which seems to suggest that while the CrunchPad does in fact exist, its creators rushed–and failed–to get it in under the wire.

Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, but this also seems to imply that we may be seeing an actual product coming to market soon. After all, the Breakthrough Awards are largely given to existing products and technologies.