Here’s a picture of five of us outside the CES convention hall. More
than10,000 people attended the show, and funny enough there was another
show running next door, it is the Porn Show. I don’t know if there are
any vendors who showcased products on both.
One thing that deserves mention is Nokia’s announcement of the Growth
Economy Venture Challenge. Nokia is going to invest $1 million in a
developer who comes up with an idea that uses mobile technology to
improve the lives of people in the poorest parts of the world., and
that the idea doesn't even need to use Nokia technology. I wonder if
anyone would submit an iPhone-to-save-the-world idea. The winners will
be announced in June and it's going to be very interesting to see what
ideas that people can come up with.
Continuing
on my last post, TV technology pretty much dominated the show with 3D
HDTV attracting the most interest. I don’t think this is becoming
mainstream anytime soon if at all. Surround sound was first invented
and introduced 304 years ago with two key players pushing different
standards, I think they were JVC and ..I forgot the other. JVC was
pushing CD-4, a proprietary decoding technology to bring four-channel
surround sound to the living room. The buzz lasted for less than two
years. Only until home theater became popular and affordable 20 years
later that technology finally became mass market. 3D HD TV may be a
repeat story. 3D content is an issue, the other one is I cannot imagine
we are all wearing 3D glasses at home, can you? And the cost is way too
high. They are at least 5 years away.
The
adoption of innovative technologies has always been impacted by
micro-economic determinants, because it has proved to be the most
useful in explaining the broad patterns of innovation diffusion. With
the top three brands announcing 3D TVs, it is more about competing for
noise. Panasonic, which has been promoting 3D for more than a year,
expects to be among the first to launch. One of Panasonic's guest
speakers was Jon Landau, producer of the 3D movie Avatar, which
partnered with Panasonic last year to promote both the movie and 3D
technology. Samsung announced that 50% of its LED LCD TV introductions
this year will be 3D models, many using a new “inspired by nature”
design scheme. The top of the line is the ultra-slim 9000 Series. These
sets achieve their svelte profiles by housing the TV’s electronics
circuitry inside the stand and come with a unique touch-screen Wi-Fi
remote that doubles as a second display, so you can watch a TV program
on the remote while a Blu-ray movie is playing on the TV.
In
the meantime everyone is still making improvement to their LCD TVs,
bigger, thinner and sharper. The LG one has some cool technology, such
as the sound coming from the screen, although for most people, they
don’t need it as they have external speakers for that. But still a cool
innovation with sound and visual integrated from one source. Here’s
Nick in front of the slim model.
And
what is the coolest product? I think it is the Parrot AR.Drone, a
remote-controlled helicopter with a twist. It's controlled over WiFi
from an iPhone or iPod Touch, and it's got a camera in its snout that
streams to your iPhone's screen. It is perfect for domestic use to
send out to survey your neighbors to get a sense of what others are
doing. It is great way to increase your conversation capital and popularity.
The thing is computer-stabilized so not too difficult to manage and no
training required. Not sure if these are designed as little brothers of
the military ones. For $500, you can comfortably sit in your home too
fly your drone for 15 minutes before it requires recharge. It gives new meaning to "Neighborhood Surveillance". Available
this fall. Will be sharing more tomorrow.
