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A View From The Road – Volume 2, Number 1
Observations on technology trends from the latest conferences
and seminars.
 In
This Edition:
• The Good Times Are
Back – CES 2008
• Very Significant
Product And Technology Announcements
• Display,
Broadcast, Communications And Infrastructure
• Things That Are
Just Plain Cool
• My Pick Hits
Breaking news from Las Vegas – the good
times are apparently upon us again.
That’s right, ignore any of the gloom and
doom you’re hearing about the economy, the political landscape or
international terrorism. I have
definitive proof that everything is hunky-dory. Manufacturers at trade conferences have
again decided to waste tons of money on stupid, ostentatious, unrelated
performances at their booths.
This week I am at
the 41st annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – the largest trade conference
in the world. (As I’ve said before,
the importance of CES to the enterprise multimedia and conferencing world
has grown tremendously. Consumers
drive the demand for change and improvements in technology,
and those changes trickle down to the enterprise users.) If I didn’t know better I might think I
was at one of the old Comdex shows of years past. On my first day walking the show floor I
had my choice of staring in a music video with a model (“Fergie”) at the Motorola booth, watching a magic show
with Eton, becoming a contestant on D-Link’s game show, working with
jugglers on Netgear’s stage or watching a very
unrelated, embarrassing fashion show at LG’s
booth. “…Here comes Tiffany…she
knows that sleek, dazzling, sophisticated designs in monitors are
good….” The manufacturers are
spending frivolously again…
On the serious
side, this CES has had much more news and product launches than we have
seen in recent years. I’ll get right
to the details:
Display products and technologies: There are some significant improvements
in display footprints, projection systems and future technology.
·
Hitachi previewed their new LCD
displays that are only 1.5 inches thick.
They are expected to be available in the US in the 2nd
quarter of 2008.
·
Sony showed their new OLED screens (Organic Light Emitting
Diodes) that are 1/8 of an inch thick.
The displays are so thin that they’re hard to see from side view
pictures. The largest model
available today has an 11” screen, but they also showed a 27” prototype.
 
·
Sanyo developed a projector that can create an 80” image when
mounted at only 3” away from the screen.
Their PLC-XL50 Ultra Short Throw Multimedia Projector will create a
revolution in education and presentation applications, mounting the engine
from the wall directly above the screen or below a translucent table.
·
3D TV images were a hot topic this year, with Spectroniq (www.spectroniq.com
) showing their new system, and Texas Instruments
showing an enhancement to 3D TV on their DLP sets that allow two simultaneous,
full size images to be shown on one screen.
(Think head-to-head gaming, or you watching the game while your
spouse watches the movie.)
·
Ad-Notam ( www.ad-notam.com ) showed their
remarkable Mirror Image product that has an LCD display disappearing and
becoming a mirror when not in use.
They can customize solutions, such as allowing a shiny black wall
surface to have a 60” display suddenly appear within it then go away when
not needed. The applications for lobby
and other informational signage are limitless.
Broadcast products and technologies: This is a significant time for the
broadcast and cable industries. In
about one year analog TV signals will go away, and many of the embedded
tuners and cable systems that integrators have installed in the past will
stop working. I expect chaos to
ensue, not from the consumer, but from businesses that have had monitors
installed that they never think about.
·
Tru2Way is the new name for the open cable technology that will
be used for the next generation of “cable ready” TVs and other
devices. Comcast and Panasonic
(amongst others) have signed on to the new standard and have announced
products with the technology embedded.
·
Broadcast International ( www.brin.com ) and ON2 Technologies ( www.on2.com ) have created a partnership to
combine and enhance their respective video codec products. The resulting combination of TrueMotion codecs with CodecSys
software will allow for very high quality video content to be delivered via
IP, truly bringing the broadcast world online.
·
SanDisk has announced what they refer to as the next video
format – the “SanDisk Video HD Line” recording up to 120 minutes of video
on either an SDHC or Memory Stick Pro Duo flash card.
Communications products and technologies: Amongst other new offerings we have yet
another new player in the video conferencing space.
·
Creative Labs has jumped headfirst into the video conferencing
industry with the demonstration of their InPerson
appliance and service. It is a wired
or wireless SIP based device that will have an MSRP of $699 and a monthly
service cost of $10. A soft client
will also be available for $100 with the same monthly cost. Creative believes they will succeed in
this niche where others before them have failed because their product will
be compatible with every one of their installed web-cams today. Subscribers to the service can create a
one time URL to invite webcam users to dial into a conference with
them. ( www.inperson.creative.com ).
·
Callpod ( www.callpod.com ) showed their Phoenix bluetooth mobile conferencing unit. Small enough to fit in your pocket, the
device connects up to five bluetooth headsets
into a conference, so they can all speak with each other. It also connects to a bluetooth
enabled phone so all five can share the same call. It works with any bluetooth
headset, but using Callpod’s Dragon headset gives
the users a 300 meter range.
·
Samsung demonstrated a tremendous breakthrough in sound
propagation called Hyper 3CH. Any
audio engineer knows that a standard left and right speaker placement
creates sound waves that intersect causing areas of constructive and
destructive interference. Samsung
has engineered a way to add a center channel speaker that preserves the
spatial audio yet removes the interference, creating a flat and even
response in both amplitude and frequency.
To the layperson, speakers are going to sound a heck of a lot more
like live audio in the near future.
Connectivity and infrastructure products: Some major advances in wireless
technologies and other conveniences.
·
Displaylink ( www.displaylink.com ) showed their
wireless technology that can send 1680x1200 images from and to any
Certified Wireless USB device. Think
of displaying your new notebook’s images on your office or home monitor
without having to connect anything.
·
D-Link showed their MediaLounge
devices that could wirelessly transmit HDTV signals from a Vista based PC or server.
·
A new company from Singapore, Eubiq,
showed a revolutionary new modular power outlet track. Called the Eubiq
GSS system, it consists of a powered strip that can have multiple different
modules connected as needed and where needed. Modules can be added for standard plugs,
USB power, mini lighting fixtures, etc.
The system is very safe (you can stick your fingers in without
exposure to power), very easy to operate (insert and twist to lock the
module you want), and very sleek looking.
I suspect we will soon see these specified for kitchens, offices,
workshops, and anywhere power is needed – and needed to look good. (www.eubiq.com
)
·
There were a number of firms showing breakthrough products and
systems that use existing AC power wiring to transport data signals
throughout a home or small enterprise.
Some of them are in an alliance to develop and maintain standards ( www.homeplug.org
), others are not. Look at the
products from Intellon ( www.intellon.com ), Corinex
( www.corinex.com ), and DS2 ( www.ds2.es ).
Just Plain Cool: OK, so we geeks like
our toys. What kind of a trade show
would it be if there weren’t products and announcements that make an
engineer smile.
·
The end of DRM audio - Sony announced, on the heels of the
closing of its Sony Connect on-line store, that it will be selling DRM free
music. Once an end user buys the
rights they can transfer content within their collections as they see
fit. By my count that’s almost
everyone down, one to go. Mr. Jobs,
are you and the Apple folks listening?
·
Panasonic showed a prototype of a new digital still camera in
their Lumix series with 802.11
connectivity. Tentatively
classified as the FX-500, this camera would transmit you your pictures
automatically when it is in range via file transfer to the server of your
choice and/or email.
·
Audio Technica demonstrated their
new ATH-ANC3 in ear active noise cancelling headphones. This is a niche need that has not been
well served since Sony discontinued their MDR-NC10 units. (Sony’s current NC11 are not nearly as
good as their predecessor.)
·
Toshiba and their HD-DVD format were dealt a severe blow by
Warner Brothers decision on Sunday to drop their format in favor of the
Sony backed Blu-Ray. When I walked into the Toshiba booth the
excitement of the show floor disappeared.
It felt like I just walked into a funeral. We may finally have a winning HD format
for consumer disks.
·
A few of the importers were showing blister packed digital
cameras and camcorders – nice ones - 10 megapixel, 4x zooms, etc. – for
retail sale at about $40. Think
about that. Forty bucks and you can
own a camera better than the first few you ever bought. This will mark the end of the disposable
film camera market. At weddings or
other events the tables will have them as give-aways. It’s coming in the next 18 months
Finally, for my pick-hit of
the show – we have a tie:
·
A company called Art.Lebedev Studio
showed their Optimus Maximus
PC keyboard. This remarkable device
uses a tiny OLED display for each key, allowing the keyboard to be set up
in infinite custom configurations.
Do you need to change languages, show fonts or special characters,
show symbols, create visual quick-launch keys – then this is for you. ( www.optimus.artlebedev.com ).
·
Adesso showed a product called CyberPad
(that is apparently not new – though I had not seen it before). This is a standard 8.5” x 11” paper
notepad attached to an electronic graphics tablet and comes with a special
pen and a software package. A person
can take handwritten notes no matter ho bad their handwriting (trust me, I
tested it with my lousy handwriting) and the device remembers everything
written on the page. Tear off the
page and press a “next page” button on the device. The next time you’re at your PC you can
connect the CyberPad to the USB port and it will
capture everything you have written and convert the handwriting into text
files. You can also create custom
forms for database input. It was
just amazing. ( www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=370
).
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That’s it for CES
2008. Look for my reports throughout
the year from the industry conferences and seminars that make the news and
set the future trends. This promises
to be an exciting year.
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A View From The Road is written by
David Danto and contains solely his own opinions. David has spent 29 years
in the audio visual and broadcasting industries. He has designed facilities
for firms such as AT&T, Bloomberg LP, FNN, Morgan Stanley and NYU. He
is currently the Director of Global Multimedia Engineering for Lehman Brothers
and the IMCCA’s Director of Emerging Technology.
Email David at David.Danto.IMCCA@Danto.com
About IMCCA
The Interactive
Multimedia & Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA) is a
not-for-profit user application and industry focused association with membership
comprised of service and product providers, consultants, and users. Members
benefit from the understanding and the use of various interactive and
collaborative communications technologies in their professional and
everyday lives.
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