Gizmo Guy's 10 favorite tech stars from CES

FROM THE coolest cars to the sexiest TVs, helpful health nudgers to smart playthings for your little ones, this year's International CES had something for every gadgeteer. Gizmo Guy is still coming down from the rush and overload - Five days! 20,000 products! - but rarin' to share my personal best discoveries at the show.

TOYOTA MIRAI: While self-driving cars garnered media attention, Toyota's hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered Mirai sedan was the real world-changer. It manages 0 to 60 mph in 9 seconds, runs 300 miles on a tank of the air-extract, refuels in four minutes and is so pollution-free you can leave it running in the garage during a power outage to supply emergency power for up to a week!

Targeted to sell for $50,000, Mirai ("the future," in Japanese) goes on sale in October in California, then moves to the Northeast Corridor - New Jersey to Rhode Island, but not Pennsylvania. To encourage other carmakers to go hydrogen, Toyota is sharing almost 6,000 patents for free until 2020.

* Also of interest: the gas-sipping (84 mpg), three-wheel(!) and tandem-seater (!!) Elio micro-car, coming at year's end for $6,800, with Pep Boys as service partner.

DISH DELIGHTS: Almost everybody was frothing about the Internet-streamed, $20-a-month Sling TV service (with ESPN/ESPN2) launching within the month from DISH Network.

APPLIANCE SMARTS: LG has a 1-cubic-foot-capacity mini-washer, Sidekick, that sits under the brand's front-loaders to handle special-care items while the main load runs above.

* Equally sweet: Samsung's new top-load washer boasting a special flip-up basin with water faucet at the top, super useful for pretreating garments in laundry rooms lacking a stand-alone sink.

REWALK: Dramatically demonstrated at CES by disabled U.S. military vets, ReWalk is the first FDA-approved wearable robotic exoskeleton, providing powered hip and knee motion to enable individuals with a spinal cord injury to stand upright and walk.

Miraculous.

VOXX CAR TECH: The brand's aftermarket Collision Avoidance Lane Departure System ($699), normally a very high-priced feature in new cars, sounds a warning when the driver gets too close to the rear of the car ahead or veers over road lane lines - a major cause of accidents. And if a crunch-up does happen, the rearview-mirror-mounted system's DVR has recorded the incident.

* Also new (and odd) from VOXX is the Baby on Board Alert System ($59.95), to remind a forgetful driver who exits the vehicle while a child is strapped into an infant seat.

ULTRA-HDTV: Much love to LG's newly perfected OLED Ultra-HDTV screens. Also impressive: Sony's ultrathin (0.2 inches at some points) X900C series UHD TVs using the Android TV platform with built-in Googlecast.

* Fingers are crossed for the year-end debut of Ultra-HD Blu-ray players that may include onboard facilities to copy purchased titles onto "secure" memory cards for play on other devices.

SMARTMAT: The first intelligent yoga mat packs 21,600 sensors to critique a yogi's moves. Training sessions and feedback emanate from a plugged-in tablet, with live events to join via remote and classes from "Yogrammers" accessible by subscription. Developer Neyma Jahan said he's already hit Indiegogo preorders of 300,000 at $297 each. Ships in July.

EDWIN THE DUCK: The world's first interactive rubber ducky turns red if the bath water's too hot, plays tunes, interacts with a connected smart device at story time and sits on his recharger at bedtime, emitting a sleep-inducing glow and soothing sound effects. Available in March for $99, from PI Lab.

VR ELEVATED: Virtual reality glasses for video-game play flourished at CES from Oculus VR, Samsung and Epson. But Virtuix stood alone with its VR-glasses-enhancing Omni gaming platform. It's a round, concave platform with circular support ring and harness that enables the VR glasses wearer to walk (in special Omni shoes) and turn in 360-degree pursuit, working up a sweat in games like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Battlefield.

Preorder at virtuix.com for $499 till Feb. 1; about $700 thereafter.

THE DIGITAL GIRL SCOUT COOKIE: What was Girl Scouts of the USA doing at CES? Showing off the first national digital platform (computer- and tablet-based) to sell their fab Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs.

Digital Cookie is introducing "vital 21st-century lessons" about online marketing, app usage and e-commerce, shared one articulate 12-year-old.

Philadelphia-area troops are participating in the new-age campaign, commencing this Thursday. Watch your email!

On Twitter: @JTakiff

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