2010 CES Highlights

By Jon Kenton

It’s that time of year again when the world’s leading electronics manufacturers get together to show off their latest products. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is held in Las Vegas every January. Approximately 110,000 visitors had the opportunity to meet with 2,500 exhibitors, featuring a whopping 20,000 new products. We obviously don’t have room enough to discuss them all, but here are a few highlights.

With the huge success of Avatar this holiday season, undoubtedly helped by stunning 3-D showings, a new breed of 3-D–enabled TVs was very popular at the show. CNET (cnet.com) sponsors the Best of CES awards and Panasonic’s Full HD 3D VIERA Plasma television took both the Best in Television and the coveted Best of Show categories. Panasonic’s Full HD 3D technology delivers a full 1080p-resolution image to each eye, offering viewers the highest possible visual experience. Panasonic will ship four 3D models in the spring of 2010 in 50-, 54-, 58-, and 65-inch sizes. All four 3D VIERA televisions feature Panasonic’s VIERA CAST(TM) IPTV functionality, and all models are THX certified for the best sound reproduction possible. Many other manufacturers announced 3-D technology, including Sony, JVC, Samsung, and Toshiba.

Not surprisingly, the trend toward connecting everything to the Internet continues. A big buzz at last year’s CES, Yahoo’s Connected TV initiative has moved a step closer to us all having Internet TV by adding several new companies to its cache of developers and adopters. Yahoo has software called the Yahoo Widget Engine that will run programs called (not surprisingly) widgets. Along with existing partners such as Samsung, LG Electronics, and Sony, manufacturers Vizio, Viewsonic, and Hisense have announced new products that will ship this spring. Widget partners include Amazon, USA Today, eBay, Twitter, Facebook, CNBC, NBC, Napster, RadioTime, Dailymotion, and The Weather Channel.

Speaking of the Internet and linking to phone services, there was some very interesting and controversial news relating to a new product by Magic Jack—yes, that’s the very same company you have heard on TV promoting their Internet phone gadget. YMax Corp., the company behind Magic Jack, announced a new gadget that will allow you to use your cell phone at home for free calls. Essentially, this new device acts as your own private cell tower in your home. It then connects to your computer and sends your call over the Internet. There has so far been a muted response from the cell phone network operators, who have paid billions for the rights to the radio frequencies, as questions were asked about the legality of the setup. The bottom line is that if this product goes to market, it will allow users on GSM networks such as AT&T or T-Mobile to reduce the minutes they are charged for while making calls from within the home.

Got a digital camera and can never find the cable to get the photos onto your PC, or you can’t remember how to upload to your photo-sharing site? Checkout the wireless memory cards from Eye-Fi. Yes, that is just what it sounds like: an SD memory card with built-in Wi-Fi. At CES, we saw the new Eye-Fi Pro X2 wireless SD card. Store up to 4,000 photos or three hours of video with 8GB SDHC capacity and then upload photos and videos directly from your camera through your Wi-Fi network. The X2 has unprecedented wireless performance built in as it implements the latest technology standard (802.11n). There is a comprehensive list of features, including the ability to share your JPEG photos and videos on popular Web sites like Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, MobileMe, and YouTube.

If you want to display some of those photos and want to automatically jazz them up a little, you may like Casio’s new Digital Art Frame. With in-built automatic Photoshop-like software, this digital photo frame “transforms ordinary digital photographs into works of fine art,” as several reviews state. Users can create up to eight different authentic styles of art from a single photo at the push of a button: watercolor painting, color-pencil sketch, pastel painting, pointillism, airbrush, and oil painting, Gothic, Fauvist, or otherwise. The frame has a 10-inch LCD display, supports SD memory cards, and has WiFi capability.

If you like gadgets and can stand to be in Las Vegas at capacity attendance, then add CES to your calendar next January. If not, look for my highlights here in North Valley Magazine!