We’re barely into 2013 and the trends for the year ahead are already set! That’s just what CES (Consumer Electronics Show) does every year. It’s the tech lover’s personal crystal ball. And no, there’s no USB port on it!
The three day show that takes place in Las Vegas everyJanuary is usually a deluge of launches, announcements and enhancements toexisting products. Of course, Apple isn’t present at this event either, but therest of the tech world is! And we sift through the mountain of information tobring you the five must-know pieces of information from the event. Ready?
The three day show that takes place in Las Vegas everyJanuary is usually a deluge of launches, announcements and enhancements toexisting products. Of course, Apple isn’t present at this event either, but therest of the tech world is! And we sift through the mountain of information tobring you the five must-know pieces of information from the event. Ready?
4K TVs:Get used to this term. If the buzzwords around TVs in the past few years wereLCD, Plasma and LED (briefly 3D), 2013 will be all about 4K. What this means is4000 pixels horizontally. HD has 1080 or 1280 at most. While these are still inthe prototype or early manufacturing stages, expect these to become mainstreamsooner than later. It will be a good idea to start saving up for them now. Really.
Oculus:Big into gaming? Can’t get enough of shooting people or driving through stuff?Now do it ‘immersively’. Presenting Oculus Rift. It boasts a 1280 x 800 display(640x800 for either eye) housed in a mask. So yes, you are ‘immersed’ in the experience.While these won’t be commercially available till later in the year, gamersshould start finding out which of their favourites will be available for thisrig. It’s the future. Only, already here!
ThePebble: A small wristwatch. And why, in the era of big, bold andnext-generation does something as archaic as a wristwatch make our list?Because it’s a smartwatch. It connects with the iPhone and Android devices andwill send information back to the phone and let you control audio,notifications and whatnot. Of course, it looks cool with the E-paper display (ala the Kindle) and shows the time too (in text)!
ProjectShield: More for the gamers! If immersive seems a trite restrictive, try this.Nvidia is working on something that will ensure you can carry your games andhave a full-fledged controller to enjoy them. With a decent screen. Sound likeany other portable gaming device? It’s not because it’s running Android and hasthe most powerful chip of any portable gaming device yet.
OpenSource Cars: This isn’t exactly a product, but an idea that more carmanufacturers are willing to make their in-car entertainment systems opensource. What this will mean is a wide range of apps and services for your carand related needs can be pushed directly to your in-car system for you to use.Ford and General Motors have already gone open source. Expect others to followsoon.
CES usually is a platform for new products and ideas. Thisyear, there were more ideas than revolutionary products. It is safe to nowexpect more evolutionary than revolutionary changes in technology.Game-changers in everyday consumer technology are not everyday or even annualoccurrences. So while the show may have seemed light on new products, it wasperhaps the heaviest ever on ideas. And there just isn’t enough space to listeven a fraction of these!
Watch this space though as we highlight more of these ideasin the coming months.
