Jumat, 03 Januari 2014

8 Trends to Look for at CES 2014 - PC Magazine

Technology will continue its creep into your car, your home, and you.

CES logo

Right after the first of the year I will trek to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Considering that I've been going since 1975 when I was in my 20s and made my first trip to Las Vegas, I think I can be called a veteran. That first trip was an eye opener about the city and the show.

At that time, video recorders were a big deal and CES actually hosted a section for the adult film/VCR industry since it had a connection to the world of consumer electronics. Surprisingly, even after the adult section was escorted out of CES in the mid 1990s, its stars, who came to be known as "booth babes," would show up to sign autographs and serve as a way to get people to come to vendor's booths. By the early 2000s they were also banned from the show.

Today the products are the star attraction at what's now the most important consumer electronics show in the world. Although a lot of us complain about having to go to Vegas to cover this event, the geek inside us wants the chance to play with the coolest tech gadgets on the market and be among the first to see products that will be out in the new year.

CES 2014 Bug

I also follow this show carefully as I often get to see trends in the works or developing and this helps give insight to what type of technology we will see in the marketplace in the relatively near future. Keep in mind that CES is specifically timed to show retailers the products that vendors plan to have in the market by the end of the second quarter, in time for the next year holiday season. With this in mind, here are the eight trends I see emerging during CES for 2014.

1. The car becomes a node in the Internet of things.
All the major automakers will be at CES this year showing off their connected car projects. While some have been at the show before, this is the first year I see them really trying to make a strong statement about smarter cars and their connection to the Internet either directly via an embedded 4G radio or through a smartphone. This is actually a big deal and a highly competitive advantage for those that get it right. The more upscale cars will probably be the smartest, with smartphones figuring in to how they'll deliver a lot of top-notch services. However, Ford, Chevy, and other mid-range cars will also be adding Internet-connected intelligence.

2. 4K TVs and monitors will be cheaper.
At Dell World last week, Michael Dell said the company would have 4K monitors on the market sometime in 2014 for around $1,000. Its cheapest model now is $3,495. At least one television manufacturer is said to be launching a 4K TV at around $1,000 at the show, and I expect to see others that will probably be priced around $2,500. That's well below at the range of $3,500 to $12,000 that they go for today. I realize that there is very little programmed content available to take advantage of 4K, but I expect personal content will get quite a boost as I hear digital camera vendors will show 4K products at the show at much lower prices than we have today. Meanwhile, many studios are moving to the 4K format, so we could finally see some trajectory of these Super HD products starting in 2014.

3. Digital health moves to the forefront.
This part of the market is really poised to take off. There are already dozens of health-related products like Nike's FuelBand, Jawbone's UP, Fitbit, and Misfit's Shine that can be used as part of a personal health-monitoring system. iHealth has a digitally connected glucose testing kit and its digital blood pressure cuff uses the iPhone for controlling the cuff and delivering the data to a user.

4. 2-in-1s take off.
Intel has new ads out pushing 2-in-1s. Their theme is a tablet when you need it and a laptop when you want it. Some folks think these 2-in-1s represent the future of laptops and I tend to think this might be the case.

In a sense, CES will be the big coming-out party for 2-in-1s since we should see about 50 new models launch at the show. Intel, Microsoft, and pretty much all of the vendors will be showing new models in this category and although I don't think we will see huge volume in 2014, this campaign from these folks is a multiyear one since they are very bullish on this concept. Worth checking out if you are at CES or watching from the sidelines.

5. Curved televisions pull people in.
LG's 105-inch curved TV that will be introduced at CES is stunning. Samsung will also show off its version of a curved TV. This will be a big issue at the show as the TV makers strive to try differentiate themselves in a very crowded market. Although curved TVs are more about innovation, they could represent a new angle on the future of televisions themselves.

6. 3D printers revolutionize manufacturing.
While 3D has not caught on in TVs there is real interest in 3D when it comes to printers. We will see 3D printers as low as $499 at CES and many in the $999 to $1,299 range for what you might call a prosumer interested in 3D printing. Although these will really still be used for consumer experimentation, I see them as important to drive the learning curve within the prosumer and professional markets. I kind of liken the intro of low-cost 3D printers to the early days of desktop publishing (DTP) when it came on the scene in 1985. In the way DTP revolutionized the publishing world, 3D printing could become an important tool for visualization and light manufacturing.

7. Smart home and smart light bulbs come home.
We have been talking about smart homes for almost two decades now but only recently have we seen this area really become interesting. Products like Nest's thermostat and smoke alarm and the many new smart light bulbs and other home devices with Internet connections are finally giving us a glimpse of what a smart connected home can be. This will also be a big theme at this year's show and another thing that will be interesting to follow.

8. Wearables continue trending.
While Google Glass had the big buzz in 2013, the concept of wearables is still in its early stages. The most successful wearables so far are ones used to monitor health, walking, pulse, and more. This year we saw some smartwatches hit the scene but they have years before someone brings the right form, function, fashion design, and technology into a smartwatch that really gets traction from mainstream consumers. CES has a dedicated education track on wearables this year as well as a small section focused on wearables. 2014 won't be a big year for wearables, but we will see some new and innovative products in this space and the products we see at CES could give us more insight on what wearables will mean to the tech market and their direction.

I am sure there will be a lot of other products that get attention, such as new consumer-related robots, Android running on Windows PCs, new digital cameras, and smarter digital video recorders. However, as I have surveyed the pre-show material and looked into my own research on CES trends, the areas I shared above I believe will represent most of the news coming out of CES 2014.

30 Dec, 2013


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