Thursday, January 10, 2008

Same Old Electronics Show, With Some Intriguing New Ideas

From the NY Times:

C.E.S. 2008 offered few big announcements that got everybody buzzing. Part of the reason may be that some of the most interesting players — the cellphone makers, the camera makers and Apple — have their own trade shows in the next month or two.

In any case, this week’s show looked and felt pretty much the same as always: hundreds of big flat-screen TVs, glass display cases gleaming with shiny cellphones and a whole building filled with car tech.

In fact, it would probably take you at least half an hour to realize that you were not attending C.E.S. 2007. (One giveaway: last year, Panasonic claimed that its 103-inch plasma set was the world’s largest TV. This year, Panasonic took that honor with its 150-inch model.)

Still, if you wandered around and asked enough questions, you might have learned that a number of great ideas wait in 2008’s wings. In order to spare you the $350-a-night hotel bills and 25 miles of walking, here’s a summary of some of the most interesting developments-in-waiting that I had the chance to play with.

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