CES 2010 — Real New Products You'll Be After This Year (most likely)
First up? We told you that Microsoft would come up with some sort of tablet thingy and they did. Now however (Bill Gates being mostly gone), Microsoft President Steve Ballmer is calling them "Slate" computers. Whatever. He showed off three units, one from HP (Kindle-size at approximately 9" x 6" x 0.3"), one from Archos (which looks like an oversize iPod Touch), and one huge thing from Pegatron (we couldn't find out the exact size but it looks about 8.5" x 11"), all powered by Microsoft.
Google's Android operating system is attracting some serious attention. All those touch screens on iPhone and Android smartphones enable a lot of effectively useful convergence. For example, the most obvious thing in the world is to combine a GPS with a touch screen smartphone. Navigon has done it for Windows Mobile and Android, and will release its MobileNavigator for both platforms in February and April respectively. Navigon's software already works extremely well and should be another boost for Android in its battle for market supremacy with the iPhone and BlackBerry.
Sony is showing off its 24.5" OLED 3D TV. That's right - another prediction come true. This is the biggest commercial OLED panel yet, and with the integration of 3D compliance (for at-home screening 3D blu-ray discs such as Avatar - you know they're coming), and the amazingly immersive and extremely detailed image, you know you'll be seeing even bigger panels like this when they hit stores next Fall. It's only money, man - only money. By all accounts, the Sony OLED screens are beyond stunning.
Samsung is showing off its NX10 Digital Hybrid SLR camera. It's got HD video, a really beautiful 3" AMOLED rear screen (better, significantly better, than even the very best 920K LCD found on the best pro digital SLR bodies right now), hi-speed video viewfinder (so there's no mirror hump), all wrapped around an APS-C sensor (that's bigger than four-thirds but smaller than full frame), all of which speaks to superior image quality with a long and distinguished line of lenses. We're rapidly reaching the point at which preferences for Nikon, Canon or whatever other traditionally top-of-the-line brand happens to dominate become irrelevant. Image quality (in the hands of a capable photographer of course) from all of the new crop of digital SLR cameras is so good, there's little to distinguish between them except feature and function sets.
Eye-Fi 802.11n Pro X2 SD memory cards contain geotagging capability, WiFi connectivity which helps you transfer files, and this version is class 6 which means it's had a speed improvement. It's still not as fast as the pro cards - nowhere near it actually - but Eye-Fi products have proven to be reliable performers. This one also contains something called Endless Memory which can be set to automatically delete images on the card after they've been uploaded to your laptop, PC or storage device.
Boxee is releasing its shiny new Boxee Box (by D-Link). It's the latest version of its streaming media box for the living room. We like it because the supplied remote and the user interface is so well done. Look for streaming media boxes like this to start showing up (and getting more popular as a result) quite early this year. Better than a Tivo, way better than some lame PVR from your cable provider, and way, way better than messing around with a PC in your living room running Windows Media Center. The software portion of the Box is in beta right now, so look for the new Box be early Spring.
New router (like we don't have about a zillion too many on the market already)! D-Link has released the D-Link Touch DIR-865. The Touch works at either 2.4GHz or 5GHz concurrently. It almost maintains multiple data streams which together allow a total throughput of up to 450Mbps as long as its communicating with 802.11N-enabled device. It will be really, really zippy and stable, but unfortunately carry a bit of a high price.
The Smartfish ErgoMotion Keyboard is one of the prettiest looking things at CES 2010. It's a motion-adaptable ergonomic keyboard which adjusts over time to your most comfortably ergonomic typing position. Is this (finally) a consumer-priced keyboard which will successfully displace expensive (albeit really good) ergo keyboards from Kinesis? The keyboard is sleek, looks gorgeous on a desk or keyboard tray, and most important offers excellent typing action and durability.
More to come . . .
Google's Android operating system is attracting some serious attention. All those touch screens on iPhone and Android smartphones enable a lot of effectively useful convergence. For example, the most obvious thing in the world is to combine a GPS with a touch screen smartphone. Navigon has done it for Windows Mobile and Android, and will release its MobileNavigator for both platforms in February and April respectively. Navigon's software already works extremely well and should be another boost for Android in its battle for market supremacy with the iPhone and BlackBerry.
Sony is showing off its 24.5" OLED 3D TV. That's right - another prediction come true. This is the biggest commercial OLED panel yet, and with the integration of 3D compliance (for at-home screening 3D blu-ray discs such as Avatar - you know they're coming), and the amazingly immersive and extremely detailed image, you know you'll be seeing even bigger panels like this when they hit stores next Fall. It's only money, man - only money. By all accounts, the Sony OLED screens are beyond stunning.
Samsung is showing off its NX10 Digital Hybrid SLR camera. It's got HD video, a really beautiful 3" AMOLED rear screen (better, significantly better, than even the very best 920K LCD found on the best pro digital SLR bodies right now), hi-speed video viewfinder (so there's no mirror hump), all wrapped around an APS-C sensor (that's bigger than four-thirds but smaller than full frame), all of which speaks to superior image quality with a long and distinguished line of lenses. We're rapidly reaching the point at which preferences for Nikon, Canon or whatever other traditionally top-of-the-line brand happens to dominate become irrelevant. Image quality (in the hands of a capable photographer of course) from all of the new crop of digital SLR cameras is so good, there's little to distinguish between them except feature and function sets.
Eye-Fi 802.11n Pro X2 SD memory cards contain geotagging capability, WiFi connectivity which helps you transfer files, and this version is class 6 which means it's had a speed improvement. It's still not as fast as the pro cards - nowhere near it actually - but Eye-Fi products have proven to be reliable performers. This one also contains something called Endless Memory which can be set to automatically delete images on the card after they've been uploaded to your laptop, PC or storage device.
Boxee is releasing its shiny new Boxee Box (by D-Link). It's the latest version of its streaming media box for the living room. We like it because the supplied remote and the user interface is so well done. Look for streaming media boxes like this to start showing up (and getting more popular as a result) quite early this year. Better than a Tivo, way better than some lame PVR from your cable provider, and way, way better than messing around with a PC in your living room running Windows Media Center. The software portion of the Box is in beta right now, so look for the new Box be early Spring.
New router (like we don't have about a zillion too many on the market already)! D-Link has released the D-Link Touch DIR-865. The Touch works at either 2.4GHz or 5GHz concurrently. It almost maintains multiple data streams which together allow a total throughput of up to 450Mbps as long as its communicating with 802.11N-enabled device. It will be really, really zippy and stable, but unfortunately carry a bit of a high price.
The Smartfish ErgoMotion Keyboard is one of the prettiest looking things at CES 2010. It's a motion-adaptable ergonomic keyboard which adjusts over time to your most comfortably ergonomic typing position. Is this (finally) a consumer-priced keyboard which will successfully displace expensive (albeit really good) ergo keyboards from Kinesis? The keyboard is sleek, looks gorgeous on a desk or keyboard tray, and most important offers excellent typing action and durability.
More to come . . .
Labels: CES 2010, new product for 2010
posted by Howard Carson, Managing Editor @ 6:34 PM
