I am about to hop on a flight to Las Vegas attending CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and meetings a few clients, this is a record year from the number exhibitors perspective and expect to see many huge innovations, and there are several brand new technologies to be launched during the show. There are quite a few of us going and hopefully next year we can assemble a bigger group from our offices to attend. I think it is an excellent opportunity to get a pulse of the industry. But industry can be wrong and sometimes very wrong. This is a very hot growth industry and it is interesting to see how it is dominated by US and Asian companies.
3D seems to be one of the big stories. I am not prepared to get rid of all 8 LCD TVs in my house let alone rebuild my movie library. And I only have one blueray movie disc in the house. Now we are taking about replacing LCDs with HD3D Plasma. Panasonic is demoing their new 152" HD3D Plasma, not sure what is the retail price but expect to see forward to see the first full HD 3D Viera's in stores this Spring. They are not cheap, but they will throw in a pair of 3D glasses for every TV sold.
And there are 3D ready TVs, I am very skeptical of what “ready” means, because often they are not quite ready and needed serious upgrade. Even if you get into the first of the line to get one to take home, you will have a tough time actually appreciating its 3D features because there are any 3D contents out there.
When I first graduated from college (long time ago) one of the few jobs I went for interview was 3D camera design and manufacturer. You know one of those 3D postcards, that was some 28 years ago and the technology never took off. I didn’t get the job but they let me played with the camera for half-a-day, it was an innovative technology then and they thought they would revolutionaries the photo industry. They never made it to the market other than Universal Studios Amusement Park.
Many of us have experienced the 3D version of Avatar the last two weeks, that is a good start. Three big playes are going to be presenting new 3D HDTV's (Sony, LG, and Samsung). This is going to be another serious technology and market share war all over again. Will report more tomorrow for the latest and the coolest.
One product I really want to try out this week is Directed Electronics' Viper SmartStart app for BlackBerry. It is a remote control app for the Blackberry to lock and unlock the car, pop the trunk, trigger the panic siren, and yes, start that engine remotely and may be even send out a message to confirm that I am en route. That’s a good idea. The problem is if you lose your phone, you'll also lose your ca.
A new product from Blackberry is the projector. It is called the BlackBerry Presenter. It works with BlackBerry systems running version 4.6 or higher. It is supposed to work seamlessly when presenting with the Showmate. You don't need a computer to deliver a presentation with the BlackBerry Presenter, but you do need a monitor or projector to connect it to. Once it is connected and turned on, you can wirelessly present PowerPoint presentations stored on your BlackBerry. I am not sure I trust my Blackberry to deliver my presentations, at least not now.
Will report more tomorrow for the latest and the coolest.
