Wearable computers - Is this the future?
It’s nice to have friends in high places. High-rolling places like Las Vegas are even better. I have one who is attending this year’s Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Sin City. He has his ear to the ground, his eye on the ball, and his nose in the air. Very hard to do simultaneously, but he’s a pro. And he has a twitter account…my own personal ‘inside’ guy. The event kicks off this Thursday and the buzz word is Microsoft. That’s because there’s been a paradigm shift in the electronosphere from hardware to software…making this the season of the app. Yep, staid old Microsoft may be the game changer and they’re barely making an appearance at the show. In fact, many big name companies are keeping a low profile because the show timing doesn’t gel with their product release dates. Having said that, 2700 exhibitors will be there with 140,000 attendees. And that in itself makes C.E.S. 2012 a very B.F.D.!
How thin can they go?
Microsoft, after some brutal attempts at cracking the smart-phone market, has finally scored. They’ve teamed up with Nokia and HTC with their paned platform that works seamlessly with AT&T’s rapidly improving 4G network. The phones are the first to be designed exclusively for a North American market and are reported to be blazingly fast and insanely simple to use. Replacing icons with panes and creating a universe of productive business apps could very well make it a must have. Critics are raving, but nothing will ever match the consumer tsunami that accompanied the release of Apple’s first iphone. C.E.S. 2012 is also displaying 75 new Windows based ultra notebooks. Many as thin as, if not thinner than, the MacBook Air. One is even purported to be made of glass. At this show thin is in! LG’s 55″ OLED TV is only 4mm’s thick and wieghts just 7.5 kilograms – wow! They also have a voice recognition device so you won’t have to fiddle with a remote, unless you’re chowing through a bag of chips. LG is also working on a refrigerator that will communicate with you while your grocery shopping. “Dude, we’re almost out of yogurt and the lettuce is looking skanky…and don’t forget the beer!” Awesome.
LG...Wow TV
Other fun stuff includes Samsungs latest generation of TV’s which will offer face-recognition that will bring up your favorite apps when you turn on the set. They will come pre-installed with Angry Birds, giving you a chance to kill life-sized green pigs on the larger screens. Panasonic and NBC have announced they will broadcast this years Summer Olympics in 3D…giving you a unique look at athletes long-jumping right into your living room. Cobra iradar Detector is offering up new apps to blend your car and blue-tooth smart phone into a hands-free invisible speed-trap locater which can be shared with family and friends. Available now on iphone and later this spring on Androids. (This will be huge for my pirate mates who will be gunning for their driver’s licenses a little over a year from now). OnLive, a new start-up company, is also demonstrating a new app that will allow you to run a Windows desktop on you Apple ipad, including an office suite of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel with 2 gigs of storage provided by OnLive. Ford and Mercedes will be there exhibiting the future of the well-connected car. And be on the lookout for some annoucements about credit card thin computing smartphones.
The future of gadgetry is alive and well at C.E.S. 2012. But nothing excites this closet geek more than Chaotic Moon Lab’s 30 mile-per-hour skateboard, powered by Microsoft Kinect technology. You use your hands and a built in Kinect screen to stop/start and steer. I would so want to challenge my pirate mates on this one, especially the competive Rock. (you’re going down, kid!!) It would be so cool zipping around the forest trails on our pirate treasure hunts. And then breaking away for an ice cream run. Take a look at the video and dream on.
#1 by Raoul on January 10, 2012 - 5:12 pm
I’m new to your blog but I agree that C.E.S. is still huge for the smaller exhibitors. I attended last year and it was amazing. One of the new products that intrigues me is the Guitar Apprentice and companion Piano Apprentice. It uses tablet technology and special apps to open up a universe of music by simplifying the learning process. Teaching is frequently the impediment to learning and this removes that blockade.
#2 by plas on January 10, 2012 - 5:17 pm
I think everything is leaning towards face and voice recognition. And the sooner thats perfected the less frustrated consumers will be with their new products!
#3 by kendo on January 10, 2012 - 5:19 pm
We have a 3D capable Sony TV but there is not a lot out there to watch so I’m excited about seeing the Olympics!
#4 by link on January 10, 2012 - 5:23 pm
Maybe with Steve Jobs gone the whole proprietary battle will subside and shared technology will advance connected devices in quantum leaps. Thats good for business, consumers, and the economy.
#5 by summer on January 10, 2012 - 5:25 pm
Its all geek to me!
#6 by maria on January 10, 2012 - 5:27 pm
If I had to shave my head to wear a computer cap count me out!
#7 by Sicc on January 10, 2012 - 5:31 pm
The idea of being able to run a windows desktop and office suite on ipad is very appealing. Windows software hasn’t always been compatible on Apple hardware, or at least glitch free. Using a third party interface like OnLive with cloud storage might be the answer.
#8 by Jon on January 10, 2012 - 5:33 pm
Beer alerts from the fridge? I like!
#9 by danielle on January 11, 2012 - 5:54 am
I saw the demo of the paned phone and if it works I’m good for that. For those of us who have to put on glasses to work the phones panes would be far better than icons.
#10 by salsa on January 11, 2012 - 5:58 am
My brother is already drooling over the skateboard…I want to see the Mercedes!
#11 by coldstream on January 11, 2012 - 5:59 am
Rock and roll…I wish I was there!
#12 by Starr on January 11, 2012 - 6:01 am
If smart phones got that thin everyone would be losing them, but its nice when they don’t bulge in your pocket.
#13 by Cisco on January 11, 2012 - 6:07 am
Every day with every advance brings us that much closer to the eve of electronic singularity, where every device is connected to every other device and the evolution of digital self-aware and self-directing artificial intelligence begins. Perhaps “The Terminator” series was predictive rather than fictive imagination?
#14 by ryder on January 11, 2012 - 6:11 am
wow tv is right! that lg would be awesome for gaming!
#15 by pepper on January 11, 2012 - 6:13 am
Angry Birds and Words on TV would be so cool. So would voice recognition.
#16 by chazz on January 11, 2012 - 6:16 am
1) pass my drivers test 2) get the cobra radar detector 3) get my own car with blue tooth capability 4) get courageous and ask Carly on a date!
#17 by erin on January 11, 2012 - 6:21 am
A friend of our family is beta testing windows 8 and windows phone and says both will be kick-ass.
#18 by pixie on January 11, 2012 - 6:23 am
A brave new world, eh? I hear the best part of ces are the parties.
#19 by cam on January 11, 2012 - 6:25 am
If you’re looking at the screen on the skateboard doesn’t traffic become a problem?
#20 by rosie on January 11, 2012 - 6:28 am
That’s the trouble with buying anything. It’s outdated before you get it out of the box.
#21 by les on January 11, 2012 - 6:31 am
My dad is planning to get a new tv this month while prices are low…3D would be perfect for superbowl and olympics!
#22 by ellie on January 11, 2012 - 6:33 am
They need to come up with self-charging devices or batteries that only need to be charged once a year. That would be the real revolution!
#23 by terri on January 12, 2012 - 5:42 am
Life size green pigs? they taunt me enough already on my iphone.
#24 by jimbo on January 12, 2012 - 5:45 am
Theskate board is still on the works right? I can’t figure out exactly what powers it? The Kinect would only operate the steering.
#25 by sapphire on January 12, 2012 - 5:47 am
apps apps apps…i’ve got so many and i never use them…voice recognition is the only way to make sense of it.
#26 by kat on January 12, 2012 - 5:49 am
I was watching the news on CES and to me it seems like the digital age has hit a brick wall. I mean you’re going thinner and faster but what’s truly next?
#27 by jammer on January 12, 2012 - 5:51 am
Okay dude, where do I find the board and how much is it?
#28 by tony on January 12, 2012 - 5:54 am
Christmas in January? They shoud do this in June, not right after everybody has run out and gotten what they thought was the latest and best. Bad timing.
#29 by barry on January 12, 2012 - 5:57 am
So basically that skateboard would be a skinny segue with an invisible handlebar? Cool!
#30 by slipper on January 12, 2012 - 6:00 am
One of the videos on the show that I saw had a booth demonstrating bioluminescense sleepware and bedding. Makes you feel like your sleeping in an aurora boreallis. So boss!
#31 by nikki on January 12, 2012 - 6:03 am
I know its a brave new world but I would rather sleep in and read my books and fish around on my phone.
#32 by kea on January 12, 2012 - 6:06 am
I think that guy who said Terminator is getting closer is right, or maybe I Robot. At school no one looks at each other at lunch – everyone is hunched over playing games or texting with people who are right across the table!
#33 by Moira on January 12, 2012 - 6:09 am
I like popping in once and a while and seeing all the changes. I liked your movie post…can’t wait to see Loosies! And Happy 2012.
#34 by Danny on January 12, 2012 - 6:10 am
I wonder if they can do that with a snowboard? It would be fun to go uphill without getting off!
#35 by OMalley on January 12, 2012 - 6:15 am
Okay, imagine this. Big electronics show…Vegas…new technology. Might be a good time to introduce the ‘Slotbuster’. This could make for a cool movie. Startup company breaks the house!!
#36 by dewdrop on January 12, 2012 - 6:17 am
Be nice to have a skull cap computer for tests!
#37 by mercy on January 12, 2012 - 6:22 am
On one of the videos they showed how you could use an app to remotely start a connected oven baking, or a vacuum cleaning, or laundry going or just check to see if you left anything on that shouldn’t be. This guy was calling it the living house in which everything you own is connected to each other 24/7.
#38 by flip on January 12, 2012 - 6:25 am
They need to invent stuff my parents can figure out so I don’t to explain everything ten thousand times to them!!!
#39 by snake on January 12, 2012 - 6:29 am
Amen to that brother! They also need to invent a way to do a post on electronics shows so that your inbox doesn’t get flooded with electronic companys advertising spam!
#40 by Pish on January 12, 2012 - 6:32 am
I attend the University of Virginia and the campus is so huge a motorized skateboard would make perfect sense. I’m out breath trying to get from end to the other to catch a class.
#41 by Callie on January 12, 2012 - 6:34 am
CES…didn’t they make a movie about this? Get me to the Geek?!