A View From The Road – Volume 5, Number 1

In This Edition:

• CES 2011 – Bigger Bun But Not A Lot of Meat
• Tablets Are Here, But The Big Story Is Connected TV
• 3D Take Two
• The Virtual Personal Stylist
• New And Notable Products
• My Pick Hit Of The Show – A Real Breakthrough in Presence
• “i-Everything”

From a logistics standpoint CEA did a MUCH better job with the space layout and utilization than they did at last year’s “cram everything into one venue” experiment.   Exhibitors had more room to spread out – with less of the feeling that one was elbow-to-elbow in every booth.   Many of big exhibitors (such as Panasonic, Sony and LG) had their largest floor-space ever.

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Many analysts had assumed that the main story this year would be the tablet PC.  There ware indeed many new entrants in the space from a variety of manufacturers. 

On the high-end there was the Samsung Galaxy, on the low end there was Coby’s Kyros, and a whole gamut in between from manufacturers both known and unknown.  With very few exceptions though, these were all boring, vanilla products solely intended to take some market share from the iPad.  None of the manufacturers with products in the space really showed anything innovative.  What was interesting was the noticeable absence of netbook PCs.  The tablet seems to have taken its place as the portable solution of choice.

Other than the quantity of different solutions available, the tablet was really not the big theme it was expected to be this year.  Taking that spot were display products from a number of manufacturers that can roll-up into a new buzzword – “Connected Television.”   This is the concept that all your displays (phone, tablet, camera, living room TV, PC, etc.) should all be able to share access to content and control.  Programming you buy / rent / own / create should exist in a manner that allows you to access it on any device from anywhere.  In addition, all of these displays will have “smart” capabilities – applets and widgets to launch programs and services for the home, finally driving the long heralded convergence of the TV and the PC.

John Chambers kicked off this theme at Cisco’s press conference on Wednesday, introducing their new Videoscape suite of products.

Cisco’s vision is for a suite of five (mostly software) products that extend their Medianet concept of video managed over the net.  It is meant to be an open architecture ecosystem that would be coordinated by large service providers.  The Videoscape products would allow users to pay for all content once yet control it and view it anywhere on any device - and do so with consistency of quality across the platforms. 

Samsung’s called their version of this connected television “AllShare.”

Their displays showed the same content sharing features as mentioned by Cisco, but in addition they showed the use of one of their Galaxy tablets as both a remote control and a second display screen.

Sony won a “Best of Innovations” award from CES for their “Internet TV Powered By Google” and showed off all of the features that this Intel driven engine could provide.

Sony had an enormous stage and massive 3D I-mag screen behind it, pulling out all the stops on showcasing the new features and technology.  While the Sony products, demonstrations and expert guest speakers were impressive and helpful I did find the push for Internet TV a bit odd, as Google practically begged the manufacturers to downplay the Google TV products at CES late last year because of all the bad press it was getting (including a scathing review in the New York Times.)

In addition to all the display manufacturers with embedded technology, there were a number of third party products boasting the same smart connectivity.  One of the best shown was Logitech’s Revue.

This add-on box combines Google TV with home videoconferencing and enables anyone with an existing 1080P display to use smart features without the need to buy a new set.  (While the HD videoconferencing was impressive, it was odd that Logitech spent all that money for LifeSize last year and didn’t leverage any of their technology or branding in the product.)

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Speaking of home videoconferencing, there was not as much hype on the topic as I expected.  I did see Cisco’s Umi at a press event, but it was not on the show floor anywhere that I could find.  Skype had a small booth but made some impressive announcements including the purchase of Qik – a content sharing technology/firm; the availability of two way video calling over 3G on the iPhone and other platforms, and the availability of multipoint video on their service for a small monthly price.  Creative showed their new InPerson HD system.

Clearly taking a shot at UMI, the InPerson HD unit will be available mid 2011 with some impressive features in comparison – such as four way calling, full compatibility with all Creative webcams, full compatibility with H.323 commercial units and full compatibility with Skype.  All this for about half the cost of the Umi and a lower monthly cost. 

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There were signs at this year’s CES that 3D technology has begun its journey to maturity.  A number of manufacturers including LG and Vizio have abandoned the arguably better active glasses in favor of the same passive glasses that one uses at a 3D movie.  LG called theirs “Cinema 3D.” 

Home 3D screens that required you to buy very expensive glasses for everyone in your home, remember to keep their batteries charged, and then not be sure if they would work in your neighbor’s home were simply a bad idea.  Even if this passive technology has its drawbacks (it results in images that are a bit darker) its very inexpensive price point is still a big step on the way to making home 3D a more palatable purchase.

Another big step was the new small, simple 3D camcorders shown by Sony, Panasonic and JVC.  Here is a picture of Sony’s new HDR-TD10.

Giving people the ability to make their own 3D content will also go a long way toward consumer adoption of the concept. 

In addition to all these 3D changes and growth, this year a number of manufacturers demonstrated “glasses free” 3D systems.  (I took pictures I could show, but in retrospect I guess that was sort of silly.)  Sony showed a portable 3D BluRay player, LG showed a full size flat screen and CyberMedia (the makers of the PowerDVD software) showed a PC compatible playback engine.  Without getting into too much of a deep dive on the technology, all of these systems leverage lenticular glass in one fashion or another.  This is the material / technology best known for those seemingly animated cards we used to play with as kids – where movement of the card produced the illusion of the movement of the image.  The same multiple lenses that simulated the movement when viewed at different angles make 3D perception without glasses possible.

Before I leave the topic of displays I should mention how impressive LG’s products were at the show this year.  They won a number of Innovations awards, and had the best looking images of any of the displays on the show floor.  Separately, I understand they have recently hired some new people to help develop their offerings and sales for the commercial / enterprise market.  The other manufacturers should definitely be taking the competition seriously in that space.

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A consortium of companies demonstrated a new product / service concept this year that is worth highlighting – the Virtual Personal Assistant.

From TelePresence Tech’s Press release, “The new solution concept illustrates how retailers can create new business models by offering new and compelling shopping experiences for consumers. With the Virtual Personal Stylist, consumers can create a personal presence or ‘avatar’ with which to visualize themselves in the latest fashions and beauty products. The Virtual Personal Stylist demonstrates how retailers could deploy the solution to support seamless in-store and online shopping experiences. Using a tablet or mobile phone, shoppers in stores will be able to access their avatar via a full-size networked “mirror” where they can “try- on” clothes, make-up and more without time-consuming trips to the changing room. The CES exhibit showcases TelePresence Tech’s patented three-dimensional visualization technology which allows customers to appear life-size on the mirror in selected clothing, without requiring 3D glasses. Also using the Virtual Personal Stylist, customers can talk directly to a fashion consultant through the TelePresence Tech live communication systems achieving eye contact for a personal connection.” 

While virtually shopping for clothes and make-up is an interesting concept, the real win of this system is the ability to put a branded kiosk anywhere a firm wants to, extending their offerings and message to a location where it was never economically feasible to do so before.   Think shopping at Bloomingdales in a town that will always be too small to have that store; think of the suburban beauty salons that could differentiate themselves by having a virtual stylist on call from New York or Paris.  The point-of-sale possibilities are endless.  None of the technology here is new, but the combined application has never been put together like this before.  This is definitely something to keep an eye on.

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There were a number of interesting new products at the show that caught my eye which probably won’t be covered in the mainstream press:

·         Chief has a new series of articulating arm display mounts for the desktop.    

The Kontour series monitor arms are sleek, easy to move and balanced – making it possible for a user to place the display in any position and at any angle or rotation. 

·         A firm called Goscam showed an innovative inspection tool for extending the range of your eyes.   

The Explorer Premium has a video camera and light at the end of a flexible tube – and it connects the image back to a monitor that can be detached from the handle and viewed wirelessly. 

·         Onstar (You know – the folks with the radio commercials about how your mom or dad was hurt in an accident and they automatically send an ambulance and a dog-sitter for their pet) showed a modular product designed for cars that don’t have the built in system.  Their “Add-On” is an aftermarket rear-view-mirror that can go in any car and provide their service.  It represents a big expansion of their potential market.

·         A new company called EdsLab showed a series of portable Wi-Fi products. 

The Wi-Extend is a small, simple, portable, inexpensive router and WAP.  A great application for this would be when traveling to hotels with more than one internet device.  Many of the medium to upscale properties charge for internet service by the MAC address.  Think of the daily charges one could save by connecting this little device and letting everything else connect wirelessly to it.  It’s ideal for the sales professional that hosts many hotel meetings, for the connected traveler (smartphone, tablet, notebook, etc.) and for the modern family.  (On our last family vacation both my kids insisted on bringing their own notebooks.  Adding mine to the total, that was about $39 a day for internet – and this device will cost only about $50 when available later in the year. 

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My pick-hit of the show this year is not just a new product but a breakthrough in technology.  Anyone who has heard me speak about Unified Communications knows that I’m not a big fan of “presence” technologies as they exist today.  Microsoft Office Communicator (or Lync now I guess) says I’m busy when I have a meeting on my calendar even if I didn’t accept it and didn’t go.  It has no idea when I’m on a call if I’m not using the MOC client, it has no idea if I’m at my desk, etc.  The data is just wrong and misleading.

Plantronics has developed a new headset that takes the first big step toward solving these inaccuracies.  They call it part of their “simply smarter communications.”

The next generation Voyager Pro UC has “smart sensors” that know when you’re wearing it and when you’re not.  The headset and USB dongle leverage firmware that takes this information and shares it across multiple platforms.  (You can use this headset for MOC, Skype and your mobile phone SIMULTANEOUSLY.)  When you take a call on your mobile it will tell your VOIP and IM clients that you’re busy.  Your mobile phone knows when you’re not wearing it and automatically switches to non-headset mode.  You can answer an incoming call (or switch to headset mode on an existing call) by simply putting it on.  And when your systems know you’re wearing the unit it provides 100% accurate presence data (busy / on a call / available / etc.)  Kudos to Plantronics for developing and taking to market this industry first in accurate presence combined with rich features and outstanding audio.

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As I wrap up this CES 2011 report I wanted to take a moment to recognize the “changing of the gitch” at CES.  As little as five years ago you couldn’t walk the show floor for 5 minutes in any direction without running into some firm selling light-up LEDs for your mobile phone antenna. 

They’re all gone. 

“What has taken their place” you ask?

The answer is the i-anything aftermarket.   I observed iPhone, iPod and iPad third party devices that I never dreamed of around every corner on the show floor.  For some examples:

Matching iPhone cases for you and your true love…

A guitar shaped iPhone dock with guitar software and external amplifier…

“iCade” gaming console for the iPad…

There were more of these than anyone could possibly mention or cover.  I believe we need a new class of product - iGitch.

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Finally, I leave you with the following picture of a product booth that I had to walk past every day to go from my hotel to the show floor.   The owner is a manufacturer in China making cute devices that you can use to record video messages for others to play back later.  I’m pretty sure something was lost in the translation of their sign.  At least I hope I’m pretty sure of that. 

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That’s it for this edition of A View From The Road.  Look for the next report from the National Association of Broadcasters conference in April (or perhaps sooner if I wind-up going to the Digital Signage conference in February.)   

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A View From The Road is written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions. David has spent 32 years in the audio visual and broadcasting industries. He has designed facilities for firms such as AT&T, Bloomberg LP, FNN, Morgan Stanley, NYU and Lehman Brothers. He recently joined JPMorgan Chase & Company and is the IMCCA’s Director of Emerging Technology. Email David at David.Danto.IMCCA@Danto.com

About the 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.

For further information please contact Carol Zelkin, IMCCA Executive Director, at 516-818- 8184 or czelkin@imcca.org. Visit the IMCCA web site at www.imcca.org