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CES, The Economy & 2010
We recently returned from CES, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. As always, too much to see and not enough time to see it. The show was a somewhat smaller this year by a few hundred thousand square feet, but exhibitors and content still greatly outnumber the time available to take it all in. CES is always a great opportunity to preview the technologies we'll be seeing this year, and how the economy is affecting all of it.
The buzz words at CES this year were 3-D TV, e-Readers, Slates and smart books, smart phones and video conferencing. We're going to take a brief look at these different categories and give you our impressions.
3-D TV
As if CES wasn't "in your face" enough, this year they had 3-D everywhere just to make sure it was really in your face. Actually in the case of 3-D, it's more like on your face. That's because the technology that has been most universally adopted uses the shuttered LCD lenses in those always interesting looking 'sunglasses'. In all fairness, the 3-D demonstrations we saw from LG, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and others was very very impressive.
Content will be increasing constantly with not only Blu-Ray 3-D DVDs and games, but also broadcast programming. The Discovery channel announced that in 2011 they would launch the Discovery HD 3-D channel.
3-D, in various incarnations, has been around for a long time. With the release of such movies as "Avatar" it has been catapulted into the mainstream consciousness. However, 3-D is still what I would consider "bleeding edge" technology. This is not because it doesn't work well, but because there are still several little flies in the ointment.
The first is standards and interoperability. Just because two manufacturers choose to use the shuttered LCD glasses does not mean that they are interchangeable. What does this mean to the consumer? If for instance, you buy a Samsung LED flat-panel TV with 3-D capabilities, you won't be able to use the glasses with your next-door neighbors Sony 3-D TV. The basic tech might be the same, but the communications parameters between the TV and the glasses will not necessarily sync as there is no standard. This first glitch means that instead of one or two pairs of 3-D glasses, you will need to purchase four or five or six or more depending on how many people are in your family or how many guests you intend to invite over to enjoy it with you. A little extra bonus in the expense column.
The second problem is one of usage and adaptation. There is a term in French, "Trompe l'oeil", which literally means to fool the eye. It is a term and form in the art world used to describe extremely realistic paintings that are so lifelike so as to fool the person into believing the objects are real and touchable. Todays 3-D technology uses shuttered lenses to fool the brain's perception of the image being received as three dimensional. The good news is it works pretty well. The bad news is you still have to deal with wearing the glasses, which always has mixed reactions, and the fact that they have been known to cause the occasional headache or vertigo when removed.
This won't stop the early adopters and the avid gamers. The visual effect is a magnitude above what is available in any other format and content providers (movies, games and future broadcast) will be offering more and more titles for our consumption. It will set you back several thousand dollars to ante up in the 3-D game and I can't promise you won't have to spend it again in a couple of years when 'version 2.0' emerges, but you'll certainly enjoy it if you can afford it.
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Perspectives 
