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CES 2010 - Viva Las Vegas, Netbooks and 3D HDTV - Part I
January 12, 2010
Growing up in the 80s, I always wondered what the future would bring. Interstellar travel? Flying cars? Lunar colonies? Well here we are in the future, and we have none of that. Fuel economy hasn’t improved much, it still takes light years to journey across the country, and we’ve forgotten how to travel to the moon. But CES 2010 has proven one thing – that the technology that existed back in the 70s and 80s is still very much alive and well, just a whole lot smaller, faster, thinner and WIFI enabled. Oh, and computers are much more awesome.The big show cases this year, and probably just like every year, was Microsoft and Intel. Microsoft didn’t have anything too groundbreaking to display – just exhibitions on Office 2010 and Windows 7. Intel had a few fascinating displays – mostly small netbooks pimping their Atom processor. I really had no idea just how small the Atom chip was. Take a peek below. According to the Intel representative, there are about 45 million transistors crammed into a sliver of silicon much smaller than a dime. These powerful chips make it possible run most applications on machines that fit in the palm of your hand, like the pink ultra-tiny netbook. It's also touchscreen enabled, so the keyboard isn't terribly critical.
Yes, netbooks were a key part of CES 2010. When they first went mainstream with Acer’s EEE PC, they caught a lot of flak for being underpowered and criticized for their crammed keyboards. This year’s convention showed that netbooks have matured greatly over the last year, especially Acer’s lineup. Samsung had quite a few nice products, but they wouldn’t let me take pictures so I just won’t bother reporting on them.
You may recall the T91 series of Acer netbooks that went on sale earlier in 2009. They were highly anticipated convertible netbooks that turned into a tablet-like device. Unfortunately the software that accompanied them, namely Windows XP with a funky Acer touch screen software overlay, fell flat with reviewers. The chunkiness was coupled with another drawback – the lack of multitouch.
But the T91 series has rapidly evolved into the T101 series. Thanks to Windows 7, the T101 now readily supports multitouch, which most iPhone or Android user will tell you is critical in today’s mobile computing. Having to resize a window manually is soooo 2006. The plethora of netbooks and tiny computing devices tell us that the future belongs to mobility. The fly in the ointment is Apple, who is expected to start competing with netbooks with the launch of the iSlate, iJesus or iGod...or whatever portable contraption Jobs & co. are expected to launch later this month. Pricing will be an important factor in determining whether the iJesus/God makes headway into the mobile computing market, since a good quality netbook can be purchased for less than 400 bucks.
Another big theme of CES 2010 was not just HDTV, but 3D HDTV. Love that big beautiful 1080p display you just bought? Well sorry, it’s already obsolete. If you’ve watched Avatar, you know how impressive 3D technology has become. Forget about the cheesy 3D movies you may have watched in the past. Avatar truly set the bar somewhere in the stratosphere for 3D movies, but we’re happy to report that this technology will be coming to a living room near you.
At this moment in time, you still need glasses in order to experience the 3D effect. But like Avatar, within a few moments you’ll forget they‘re even on. I was thoroughly engaged by the technology and we’re willing to bet this becomes the standard of watching TV and movies within the next 2-5 years. There seems to be an attempt to eliminate the need for glasses, and saw a display produce 3D imaging without them, but the technology has a ways to go – but we’re looking forward to it.
Ultrathin HDTVs were also a big item at CES, led by LG. One particular model we saw was only 6.9 mm thick, but the picture it produced was amazing. Check out one of LG’s thinnest models below, compared to the width of a cigarette.
Oh, did you think your 1080p monitor was the best thing since sliced bread? Well we’ve got some bad news for you. Toshibas' Cell TV has several very cool product lines, like Super Resolution (3840x2160p!!!!) and 3D motion gesture. Need to fast forward? Change the channel? Forget about that silly remote. Just wave the hand. We realize there are no movies (yet) filmed at this resolution, but much like how your upconverting DVD player mathematically calculates a 1080 image for you, these impressive TVs turn your HD collection into a badass super resolution image.
Let’s talk about Sony TVs for a moment. Most of Sony's upcoming HDTV lineup is WIFI enabled. That means if you have a wireless router and a nice fat hard drive, you can stream your movies from one end of your house to another without the hassle of wires. And not just any move, but full HD movies too.
Considering that file-sharers are typically ahead of the technology curve, I can’t help but think that Blu-Ray is all but unnecessary. With USB 3.0 technology around the corner, what possible need is there for an optical drive in the modern home entertainment center? Simply plug in your HD movie from your USB drive (or from your hard drive) and stream it to your HDTV or monitor. I really don’t see where Blu-Ray fits into the future of home entertainment, unless you’re also the type of person that also buys music from iTunes.
Hardware manufacturers appear to be accepting of this fact. Most of the car stereos we saw were USB/iPhone compatible, with CD support a vestigial remnant from the 80s and 90s. And I don’t think I saw a single mobile computer with optical drive support. Thanks for the memories CD, but go back to the 2000s where you belong!
Stay tuned for Part 2 - Videos from CES!
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