Consumer Electronics Show 2002 Report

An anonymous reader writes "I've noticed that Target PC posted their report on this year's Consumer Eletronics Show in Las Vegas. Looks like 2002 will be the year of wireless networking and recordable DVD. In the same article they cover Samsung's upcoming portable computer based on the StrongARM 206MHz processor that will be available in 2Q." Many wireless products (including 802.11a), huge LCD displays, and more -- I hope people who were at the show can comment on the things missed in this report, or in The Washington Posts's report.

Yeah ..

[hygelic]

and just how many products were shown as "new" products last year?

LCDs

[SirHalcyon]

LCD's have already come down a lot... hopefully 2002 will see them really become affordable.

802.11a.....

[wo1verin3]

and i just shelled out for 802.11b in the house :(

I'm more curious about linksys's cable modem/access point/router solution, does it depend on your cable ISP to determine if you can provide your own?

Also, if anyone has a truckload of those 23.1" lcds..please reply :)

Apple at the forefront...

[Mac Nazgul]

And how long has Apple had high-end solutions (they work) for both Wireless connectivity and DVD recording capabilities?
The PC side is only just getting around to it in consumer machines...

Re:Apple at the forefront...

[nzhavok]

Yes it's fair to say that apple actually does innovate, the shame is that most people will still stick with PC's because they are too afraid to make the paradigm shift.

Personally OSX has made it a lot easier for me to make the shift, but really I'm now faced with the choice of; should I pay an extra $500 for OSX vs linux?

Probably not until they ship a proper mouse by default at least ;-)

nice LCD

[f00zbll]

Of all the photos on that review, the LCD's are the most "drool worthy". Wasn't LEP (light emitting polymers) supposed to revolutionize the flat screen industry. I guess everyone will have to wait another 2-5 years for that to pan out and make large cheap screens a reality.

I'll be ready to trade in my 19" when I can get the same size flat screen for 10% more than what a CRT costs today.

Wearables?

[Raleel]

You know, it's funny, but there does not seem to be an expansion of wearables. Lots of personal assistant things, but all that require you to pull it out and look at it and control with a dull plastic implement. DO people feel they need to get even smaller?

Re:LCDs

[FastT]

You mean projectors? Yeah, absolutely. Some friends and I watched a couple movies on an InSync projector at work last night. The picture quality was stunning, far better than any TV I'd seen. It was even better than most movie theatres.

Apparently, at least InFocus is getting on board with marketing to consumers. Check out the InFocus ScreenPlay [infocushome.com]. Unfortunately, the home models are more expensive than some of the corporate models, but I'm hoping that volume and word of mouth will start to lower prices. At least these companies are finally realizing that they can market to the consumer.

Re:This is the year of wireless networking?

[stripes]

The fact you had to use your bosses kids as an example proves that its a niche market.

I could use my in-laws as an example (only one computer, but not close to a phone line, they decided to buy an 802.11 base station and card).

I could use myself, after using 802.11 with a laptop at work a bit I got hooked on not having to sit at my desk to use the net. I could use, um, at least 3 of my friends as an example there too (all for laptop use I think).

Of corse if everyone were like the people I knew wireless was the technology of the last two years, and has nowhere really to go :-) (at least until we buy more computers)

Re:What does CES stand for again?

[Quizme2000]

I was at CES this year and while Samsung was there, they only had sales people there (big suprise) and where right across from the MS (CE .NET) booth. Anyway, CES has thousands of exhibitors from Car Audio and Entertainment to Cell Phone Battery manufactures. The Sharp Booth was showing off the Zarus to a very positive crowd reaction and Royal was showing the Li@ux Device they had to a very mild hmmm. With the exception of the Xplode Demo booth and the Super CDs Sony was noticeably absent this year in the main halls, there was maybe 1 or 2 PS2s I saw being used in TV demos. The Coolest addition this year was the Digital Convergence Fashion Show held in the main hall. Though the models didn't er quite know what they where suppossed to do with these gadgets damn did they look good showing them off. I would say that CES has gotten too big, It was really hard to find specific catagoies of products without just walking around until you're back hurts, even with all the books and magizines it was still difficult. BTW the 20ft by 60ft. Blue Screen of Death shown at the Phillips booth Wednesday for 2 hours was cool.

ConnectedTV remote + guide + spam filter

[SimHacker]

David Levitt and I demonstrated "ConnectedTV [connected.tv]" at CES for the first time.

ConnectedTV is an online service and Palm application that functions as a universal remote control with integrated personalized TV guide, spam filtering and intelligent categorization.

We designed the ConnectedTV interface so you can hold it in one hand and easily operate it with your thumb or finger. ConnectedTV features pie menus: a fun, fast and reliable selection technique that you can do with your fingers.

Pie menus are provably much more efficient than old fashioned buttons and pull-down menus. Just as The Sims lets you use pie menus to direct the lives of virtual people, now ConnectedTV lets you easily navigate your own personal entertainment schedule, and control your TV and other devices. Because selecting entertainment should be more like playing a video game than taking the Standardized Aptitude Test.

More information about ConnectedTV including screen snapshots are available at: http://www.Connected.TV [connected.tv]

-Don

Any SACD news?

[abischof]

For those not familiar with it, SACD is similar to (and competes with) DVD-Audio, as it uses much more storage space than an ordinary CD in order to garner higher quality (while still just a single disc).

By all accounts that I've read, SACD sounds significantly better than ordinary CDs [stereophile.com], and better than DVD-Audio, even. So, I'm probably going to buy a combination DVD/SACD player within the next few months. Anyhow, has anyone heard any CES announcements on upcoming DVD/SACD players?