Not Sexy, But Oh-So-Useful Products at CES 2008

In advance of CES, it's raining gadgets here at Yahoo! Tech. Each product announcement tries to put on its hottest/sexiest face, but how sexy can a solid-state flash drive really be?

Here are a few new products that stood out in the crowd for being solid, not sexy.

GE Premiere DECT 6.0 Phone With Home Speakerbox/Intercom and Goog 411

A new wireless phone is about as sexy as a new microwave. And while DECT (Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) phones haven't transformed the wireless phone landscape yet, they promise a cleaner, higher-quality conversation free from the hisses and noise caused when there's wireless interference. Plus, they give the wireless phone a new set of capabilities that go way beyond hello.

Catering to families in large homes with multiple phones, the GE DECT 6.0 has a dedicated two-way wireless intercom system and a portable speakerphone/room intercom. The DECT 6.0 phone can use landline, VoIP or, via Bluetooth, your cellular line, which means you'll be able to use your cell minutes on your home phone. The base station supports as many as six handsets. The design is slim, handsome—and well, yes, almost sexy. ($99.99)

At CES, GE is showing a DECT phone with a built-in Goog 411 button. Goog 411 is a free, voice-activated service that's available to any user with any phone (1-800-GOOG-411), but the DECT phones give you one-button access. As a user of Goog 411, I've had mixed and often humorous results, but it's a lot better than trying to find a 411 person that knows their way around a phone book. According to Thompson/GE, consumers can save up to $3.50 per call on 411 information calls. GE will also show the GE PhotoPhone, another DECT phone that doubles as an electronic digital picture frame and displays the image of an incoming caller.

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium

How sexy can a flash drive be? SanDisk's newest addition, Cruzer Titanium Plus, is a flash drive that gives you an online backup at the same time, no extra effort on your part. Forget to bring your flash drive with you? Just go to the SanDisk online backup site and download what you need from the site. Available this March, the Cruzer can hold up to 4GB and sells for $59.99. The backup is free for six months and then costs $30 a year.

SCOTTEVEST

Now here's a sexy product in anti-sexy clothing! SCOTTEVEST, the maker of fashion apparel for the self-proclaimed geek crowd, announced that Steve Wozniak joined the company's board of advisors. Taking geek chic to new outrages, Wozniak is now an arbiter of fashion. (He calls the clothing an iPod accessory.)

In geek circles, Scotties are becoming a status symbol, but they're also amazingly useful garments. If you carry more than two or three gadgets at once, you'll be in love. Watch the SCOTTEVEST commercial spoof that shows you the perils of being stuck in an iPod commercial without your SCOTTEVEST.