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CES 2008 Las Vegas , NV The numbers are daunting - .140,000 attendees, 25,000 attendees from 140 countries, and 1.8m sq ft of exhibit space. The market numbers for consumer electronics were announced today.
From the Floor D-Link The booth is promoting D-Life. Another theme is connecting people. The booth includes Medialounge, a means to show PC contents on the TV, self configuring technology which allows multiple products to automatically configure using a number association technology. This is accomplished with the web site D-Life.com. The power of the technology extends beyond the one home but to homes with friends and family. Shown in the booth is securespot 2.0 which protects the home network and computers with a set of controls based, in part, on managing the home router. There are parental controls, firewall protection, spam control and identity protection. There is also a software security component which securespot 2.0 does in conjunction with MacAfee. There is 3 layers of protection: computer layer, router layer and web services layer. The managed service begins at $15/year per computer and there are multiple bundles. securespot 2.0 is a partner company with D-Link and its strength comes with the integration with D-Link home networking products. One of the most interesting products are multiple WiFi enabled photo frames. D-Link has created a Widget which allows the photo frames to be managed from the PC. This includes sending RSS feeds to the frame. From the D-Link perspective the photo frame is just another node on the network. One of the frames is also D-Life supported which means that the product can be fully integrated with the rest of the D-Life products inside and outside the home. For example, the photo frame can be easily set up with the video security camera, as both are D-Life products. D-Link, has for many years a home video phone solution, i2eye. This is still a set of products but not shown in the booth. Last year a SIP product was announced. When asked about a Skype product it was stated that something different is coming as a video solution. Logitech The theme of the booth is “Making Life Better.” There are“rooms” which depict home office, kids room, game room,
living room and bedroom. A circular table at the center of
the booth holds most of the products. The keyboard and mouse
are present but overall a small element. Of the five
products announced at CES, .two are not related to the PC,
one – diNovo Mini – is PC related but is focused on use in
an entertainment environment. The other two are speakers and
a laser mouse. The new Harmony One is an all-in-one hand
held controller. The product catalog is promoting “notebook
essentials” which includes its notebook stand. Squeezbox has
now gone wireless with the newly announced Duet product.
WiLife video security products make the home safer. Netgear Netgear is more communications focused. It has dual mode cordless phones with Skype. It bridges CE with the IT infrastructure using Digital Media Receivers. These include the following:
The booth had multiple flow diagrams of how the products are connected together to form a home infrastructure. SanDisk SanDisk gets an A for breakout – its ability to go beyond the traditional end-use flash products to mainstream consumer products. TakeTV is unique in that it allows one, in a very small form factor, to record television programs and carry then with you for later playback on any television. But SanDisk also announced upgrades to its Sansa Clip and Sansa View digital media players. Sansa View now supports up to 32GB of storage. A new product Cruzer Titanium Plus puts SanDisk in the services business. It links a 4GB USB drive with an automatic online backup. One can access the files either online or via the device. The content is AES protected. Belkin Belkin has a digital media bridge which connects the HDTV to the home wireless network. Belkin has a strong emphasis on mobility with Tunebase FM, a car docking station for the iPod and iPhone, Rockstar, which allows the output of an iPod to be shared with multiple listeners, and Backpack, a carrier of personal electronics.
Digital Frame Update Digital photo frames are everywhere here at CES. Conversations here at CES illustrate how complex this category is becoming. Consider the following early market segmentation:
The dynamics of the 2007 market was characterized in various booth discussions.
The WAVE spoke with Digital Foci.
Sandio Technology Game O2 Mouse Sandio Technology has come up with a 6 DOF navigation device which integrates 3D navigation into a standard mouse form factor. It has 3 joy stick type devices embedded into the mouse. This is a credible product at a credible price - $80. The Logitech 3D Connection requires this product and another mouse to do full navigation in 3D but the Game O2 by Sandio Technology does it all in one device. Built on the Avago 6010 chip the Game O2 boasts on the fly DPI performance of 400 to 2000. The 3 joystick devices are integrated into the top and sides of the mouse. On first glance the mouse looks just like any other mouse but the additional controls add a whole new dimension – pun intended. There are 16 programmable commands. Support for 40 PC games is already present. Availability is via the web site for $80. It just works. Optimus Maximus – Every key a Display Every key is an OLED display of 48 X 48 pixels. Each key can even support the display of video. The keys can be adapted to show any character and are fully programmable. The ID is excellent. The black framed keyboard outshines the white in terms of visual appeal. To some it may strain credibility to call the keyboard stunning but the crowds around the booth indicate others agree. There is one problem – how could one justify $1,500 for keyboard? From the Art.Lebedev Studio in Moscow. PS Is this the ultimate digital photo frame on the real desktop?
Video and Accessories 3M Mobil Projection Engine The demo projector was the size of a cell phone. Out of the bottom of the unit was light that projected a VGA image on a surface. The unit even had a SD slot for content and one projector was showing a PP deck. One could not help but be impressed and the booth crowd reflected this. 3M is showing this to sell its IP as a product – the light engine based on an LCOS imager. The light source is LEDs. No power requirements would be quoted. Products are projected in 2008. The cell phone market is one target, We found it difficult to evaluate the image quality given the poor lighting conditions in the hall. The colors seemed soft but the PP projection had sharp edges on the characters. It was stated that the image could be projected beyond 20’ but the projection distance is related to light output. TI DLP Enabled Miniature Projectors Shown in the TI DLP booth were two miniature projectors - Samsung Pocket Imager and the LG HS101. Both support 800 X 600 resolution. The Samsung has 150 lumens output at 1000:1 contrast while the LG has 2000:1 at 100 lumens. The innovation here is not the DLP chip, which is the same as the one used in large projectors, but the light source – LEDs. This allows for the smaller form factor, no warm-up time and a more conventional projector design. Lifetime was claimed by LG to be 20,000 hours. Sanyo HD Digital Camcorder The HD1000 Xacti fits in the palm of ones hand. It has full HD capability. Recording media is SD with the MPEG-4 format. On sale since the fall of 2007 for $799. Impressive. Sony Selling OLED Television The price is $2,500 and the same unit as seen at CEATEC. It is personal television with a 11” diagonal. The booth was packed around the display. Slingbox Goes Mobile and More The Slingplayer Mobile is software which runs on cell phones that allows watching TV from ones cell phone. Supported are Windows Mobile Smartphone, Palm OS and Symbian OS. Slingcatcher is a bridge device between the PC and the television. It allows:
Resolution supported is up to 1080i. The Slingbox Pro-HD is the next generation Slingbox. Extends the Slingbox to HD quality on any device at any location. Supportive of Slingplayer on cell phones. Gelaskins – Personalization of my devices The concept is simple – stick on art work for iPods, iPhones and notebooks. The designs are high quality and artistic. It makes devices personal. The booth was packed.
Touch Technology LG Viewty Cell Phone 2” full touch screen but with many other interesting features including direct up load of recorded video to YouTube. 5Mp camera with image stabilization. The touch interaction seemed clumsy. LG Voyager Cell Phone Dual screen 2.8” display with external touch screen. Flip phone with 2nd same size display below a full QWERTY keyboard. Keyboard makes the phone much more usable for web browsing. 2Mp camera. Value of touch on the external screen is questionable with the ability to flip and gain access to a full keyboard and other interactive controls. LG 42” LCD Touch Monitor M4210D for Signage The touch technology is based on the 3M DST overlay. It is not a multi-touch display. Marginal performance and capabilities. LG.Philips LCD Technology This is where the interesting touch technology was. A very interesting table was shown which outlined 4 generations of touch technology. These are classified as“outer”, “inner” and “in-cell” types. The attributes of the table included size of display, applications, input modes and reliability. The in-cell type is based on a photo sensor within the LCD cell and represents the highest level of integration. Only one panel was on display which used this technology but it was not multi-touch. The functionality and size was too limited to form an assessment. The largest panel, at 52”, used the IR outer cell. It specifications included:
The WAVE spent some time with the 52” display. Shown was a Google Earth image of the south part of Seoul. Having some familiarity with the area it was instructive to locate sections of town, recognize landmarks, use Google Earth to locate places using Korean search and manipulate the image with the Google Earth functionality. In terms of simple touch manipulation we were favorably impressed with the speed and functionality. There were some glitches in the zooming and “double click” but these were more HCI issues and not the display.
Interesting Products Eye-Fi The demo is impressive. Take a picture and it is automatically downloaded to a PC on the wireless network. The amazing part of this product is that the WiFi capabilities are embedded into a standard form factor 2GB SD memory card. It is possible to send pictures as they are taken to photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking sites. Priced at $99. ASUS EeePC ASUS EeePC comes in 4 models with the 4G Ultra 7" display Linux Micro priced at $399. It features a 4 GB SS HD and 512MB of memory. The display is 800 X 600. The shipping units come with a suite of Linux applications. It is stated that the computer is Windows XP compatible. But early reviews are critical of the performance in spite of the price. http://eeepc.asus.com/global/ My.vu Called a personal media viewer these are head mounted displays in a stylish package. The concept has been tried by many companies before. The models are crystal for $295 and shades and edge for $199 each. Crystal is called high resolution with VGA. The WAVE experience was marginal. Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Mini-Notebook At 1.5 lbs. with a 5.6” display suitable for one hand holding for nearly 5 hours this PC got oohs and aahs. Based on an Intel A110 it runs a complete version of Windows Vista Tablet. The display is WSVGA and there is a integrated webcam. Memory is 1 GB DDR2 400 MHz SDRAM memory and a 40 GB (4200 rpm) hard drive. Prices begin at $999. Wireless is built in including Bluetooth and a fingerprint sensor. It was interesting to hear the booth discussion on how to avoid Windows Vista which is preloaded. Panasonic 150” Plasma Display The hit of the show. Stunning display. Great news item but little else.
WAVE Comments In spite of all the talk the PC and CE industries these are still technology islands in the home. Yes, there are bridges with physical connections of the PC to the television and content connections to the PC but overall the integration of the technology and seamless products users can buy has not happened. In many respects the cell phone comes closer to bridging personal electronics with IT and communications. The advantage is that it is portable, affordable and ubiquitous. At CES 2008 we saw important trends. The WAVE found it interesting that there are signs of home solutions by the PC/IT industries. These are starting to bridge between CE and PC. The PC industries cannot continue to hold out that only it provides access to the Internet, it has the only home network and all computing is done on the PC. But much more is required – the same bridges must extend to retail where the consumers see real benefit. When it comes to mass market migrations CES has significant holes in its coverage. This is directly related to its function – connecting sellers of hard products with retailers. What is missing is:
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