Jan. 5, 2009
Plenty To Look Forward To At CES 2009
But Will Consumers Be Able To Afford Any Of it? CBS Tech Analyst Larry Magid Previews The Show
-
Show attendees look at Samsung's flat-panel television display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Monday, Jan. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
-
Section CNET: Best of CES The latest news, photos and advice from the convention center floor.
-
Year In Review Year In Tech Everything from the ascent of the iPhone to the debate over the future of Yahoo!
For several years, TV makers competed to see who could show off the biggest LCD or plasma display. Last year the honors went to a 150-inch plasma screen. But the size wars may be over for a while. Just as with the newly enlightened automakers, TV manufacturers are focusing on energy efficiency rather than bigness says CNET's David Katzmaier . Actually, this may be the year of the small HDTV with more 24-inch models designed for bedrooms, bathrooms and other small spaces. We'll also see TVs with higher refresh rates (the number of times per second that the image is refreshed).
Faster speeds mean less blurry images, but -- as is typically the case -- it's not clear whether most people will even notice the advantage of the superfast (480Hz) rate we're likely to see from LG and others at CES. LG's Trumotion 480Hz is likely to start shipping in the second half of 2009.
Last CES saw the demise of HD-DVD which paved the way for the domination of Blu-ray. But even with a defined standard for high-definition DVDs, consumer uptake for Blu-ray players has been tepid, probably because they're still expensive (typically around $300) and because the quality difference between standard DVDs and Blu-Ray, while noticeable, isn't nearly dramatic as the difference between standard and high-definition TV.
This year we'll see cheaper Blu-ray players as well as models that allow Internet streaming, enabling users to watch YouTube, streamed Netflix movies, Hulu, CinemaNow and other Internet programming. LG (a name that keeps popping in this and other CES preview articles) will be one of the vendors with Blu-ray players that stream internet content.
We've recently seen plenty of innovation in laptop PCs with the increased popularity of so-called "netbooks." Ultra-small, less expensive and more energy efficient notebook PCs have become the latest trend and we can expect more of them at CES. Sony, which is actually a pioneer in ultra-small notebook PCs but not yet a player in the netbook market, has teased the press with an invitation to see "the revolutionary new VAIO" that will "change the way you look at laptops." We'll find out what they're talking about when they announce it on Jan. 9.
We'll see plenty of netbooks from the likes of Dell, HP and Lenovo but we'll see an even smaller offering from OQO which, several years ago, introduced tiny hand-held Windows PCs. Mobile Magazine speculates that year's offering is likely to be equipped with an OLED display, a pull-out keyboard and 3-G connectivity.
Apple impressed the world with the multi-touch interface in the iPhone and, later with the MacBook's touchpads. Multi-touch technology allows you to use your fingers to zoom, scroll and otherwise manipulate what's on the screen. In all likelihood, CES attendees will see similar features on Windows laptops. I also expect to see laptops with WiMax wireless networking, which is much faster and more far-reaching than WiFi.
At least year's CES I got to play with a Lenovo laptop with a 64 GB solid state drive. Solid state drives use memory rather than a hard drive to store data, making them faster, more energy efficient and less vulnerable to data loss. They’re also a lot more expensive than hard drives and, at least at last year's CES, had far less capacity. This year Toshiba is expected to show off a
There will be plenty of action in the smart phone market. Rumor has it that Motorola will show off a phone running Google's Android operating system. Palm has a major press announcement on Thursday which is could be the unveiling of its long-awaited new consumer-friendly operating system. The onetime market leader has been falling on hard times lately with impressive competition from Apple, Blackberry and other phone makers.
I'm sure that there will be plenty of other great products on display, but the big question is whether people will be able to afford them. Until the economy starts to turn around, the only thing thinner than the newest HD-TVs will be consumers' wallets.
Happy New Year.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
