An exclusive gaming industry community targeted
to, and designed for Professionals, Businesses
and Students in the sectors and industries
of Gaming, New Media and the Web, all closely
related with it's Business and Industry.
A Rich content driven service including articles,
contributed discussion, news, reviews, networking, downloads,
and debate.
We strive to cater for cultural influencers,
technology decision makers, early adopters and business leaders in the gaming industry.
A medium to share your or contribute your ideas,
experiences, questions and point of view or network
with other colleagues here at iVirtua Community.
The International CES features 2,700 exhibitors spanning 30 product categories from markets including audio, digital content creation and distribution, digital imaging, embedded technology, gaming (digital entertainment), high-performance audio& home theater, video, home networking, in-vehicle technology and wireless.
Stay connected with RSS
Receive news real-time from CES. Subscribe to the RSS feed.
View the feed.
More than 140,000 people are expected in Las Vegas for the start of the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday. The latest in gadgets and home electronics will be on display, as technology firms hope to ride out a global economic slowdown.
"The industry has to brace itself," admitted Gary Shapiro, president of the US Consumer Electronics Association.
Microsoft boss Bill Gates opens the show with a speech on Sunday, which will focus on social technologies.<!-- E SF -->
"My feeling is that the US is in for tough times," said Mr Shapiro.
'Technology tourists' But he said that economic slowdown and the widespreadcredit crunch could see people investing more in their homes, ratherthan buying new property.
"If we were [an] industry selling boats or travel, I'dbe concerned. In terms of consumer electronics the industry is fairlywell positioned."
He said the weak dollar had helped the US market, with many "technology tourists" visiting the country to buy electronics.
"People are coming to the US because it is such a bargain."
CES is the focus point for many technologies due to hitshops in the coming 12 months, such as OLED TVs, offering brighter,thinner displays, and a plethora of digital living room technologies,such as set-top boxes and digital storage devices.
The show will also be used as a promotion tool forcompeting technologies such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and wirelesstechnologies like Bluetooth and Wireless USB.
Mr Shaprio said: "CES is truly a convergence show. Wehave the devices, the pipes to those devices, and the content andservices.
'Converging electronics' "Calling it the Consumer Electronics Show is probably amisnomer. It should be called the Converging Electronics Show, orConsumer Entertainment Show."
Last year the event was overshadowed by an Apple event in San Francisco, at which Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone.
"It was a little bit challenging for us," said Mr Shapiro. "We handled it and survived."
The show remains a business event, not just for promotion but also for buyers and distributors.
Jeremy Fennell, international buying director for PCWorld, said: "We'll be looking at the further development of theconvergence between the consumer electronics and the IT industries.
"We're looking for products that will help people share information both inside and outside the home."
'Simple devices' He said the key questions that he hoped CES would answer would be about convergence.
"We want to know: is it going to be one box or moreboxes? Will we see data streaming through multiple PCs - or one digitalserver sending content to other devices through the home."
He added: "What I need is simple devices that allow simple movement of my content around the home.
"It is a show where anyone with an idea can sell it to the world," said Mr Shapiro.
"Anyone with an idea, with a small investment of a fewthousand dollars can get a booth; and investors, distributors, buyersand retailers from all over the world can help them get exposure.
"Every big company starts small. Even Microsoft started out as a tiny company at a trade show."
VNUNET wrote:
It's the beginning of another year and that means theConsumer ElectronicsShow in Las Vegas, and this year is looking like it's going to be one of thebiggest ever.
Consumer electronics firms from around the world will showcase the latestofferings in audio, digital imaging, emerging technology, gaming, home theatre,home networking, video, in-vehicle technology and wireless electronics.
The world of consumer electronics can always be divided into two camps:converged and independent.
Essentially there are those who prefer a plethora of electronic gadgetrywhere each device is tailored to a specific task, and there are those who prefera single device that performs a variety of functions.
It comes down to a trade-off between performance and usability, andportability, functionality and price, and for each consumer and each device therequirements will vary.
What makes this year's CES particularly interesting is that, with the marchof technology continually accelerating, this gap is growing.
Processors are increasingly more powerful and storage is growing in capacitywhile shrinking physically to power multifunctional devices.
However, there is always the question of usability. When you a design singledevice trying to perform a number of functions you either have to adorn it witha variety of buttons and options, or create a very clever interface.
This year's CES should provide an interesting insight into wheremanufacturers see the industry moving, and whether the demand for simplerdevices that perform just one task outstrips the desire for a single device thatcan do just about anything.
Of course there will always be a market for both types of consumer, but thisyear's show should provide an interesting insight into which side manufacturersare hedging their bets.
The Inquirers Guide:
1. Treat it like a military mission. You’ve probably never read this onThe INQUIRER before but: use lip balm and skin cream. You’re in themiddle of a desert after all. Keep dollar bills handy because everybodyneeds tipping but you don’t want to give a way the big folding. Don’tbe tempted to walk unless you’ve studied distances carefully as thoseconvention centres are further away than they look. Brits might want tonote that cash incentives to queue jump and share cabs aren’t frownedupon as they might be at home. Many of the drivers will be sociopathsbut laugh along at their appallingly politically incorrect tirades.It’s not like you’re ever going to see them again and your friends willnever find out. Alternatively, hop on a freebie bus for friends of somecompany you’ve never heard of. They rarely seem to care.
2. Mark out the hot products and draw a shortest-distance line. You’reprobably going to want to see the new Asus Eee PC with bigger screenand WiMax, E-Lead’s Noahpad, Microvision’s PDA-style projector andmaybe the new version of gOS, the OS that runs on Wal-Mart’s Linux PC.Have a look on the CES website and find out the rest for yourself.
3. By now the sun is appearing over the yardarm and it’s time for adrink. Don’t disgrace yourself by using an on-site venue full of largepeople staring into the middle distance. There are bars in all thehotels and a good little place opposite the LVCC. Keep your ears open.There will always be a surprise product that is the show hit, even ifit’s only shown behind the scenes, and some loudmouth is bound to beblabbing about it.
4. We know you’re flagging and we feel your pain so set a completiontime. Once you’ve combed the remaining areas of interest, you need toget moving to avoid the crowds. Don’t hang on to the bitter end,certainly not for the booth “parties” serving ice-cold Bud Lite andpretzels. Whatever they are.
5. The evening. You’ve worked and deserve a break. The tigers at theMirage are OK but most of the free outside shows are very dull indeedunless you're a child. You’re a geek and so you’re probably going toone of *those* places later. Fine, it’s your life, just make sure youask the bell hop or sociopath cab driver for inside tips in order toavoid getting ripped off/arrested. The bars in the Hilton, TreasureIsland and Caesar’s are fun for a few cocktails but, if you’re who Ithink you are, by now the sound of the slot machines is driving you madand you want a real pub.
6. Late. Don’t do it, it’s not going to be worth it and you’ll end up with a nasty little rash.
7. Getting the hell out next day. Get to the airport early because yourflight is overbooked and you really don’t want to be the kind of personwho takes a voucher in place of 24 hours of your life. But I'm not theonly Vegas vet in the world. Mail me with your ideas and I'll post yourthoughts.
Technologies at CES 2008 OLED Displays
The first thing I am going to look at closely is Sony's new 11-inchOLED TV, which will be shown in the U.S. for the first time. Manybelieve that OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes, represents thenext big trend in displays for laptops and televisions. OLEDs are"better" than LEDs in that they don't require backlighting. Though theydraw less power, the screen is brighter and the picture even sharperthan a traditional LED/TFT screen. We've actually already seen OLEDscreens in some cell phones and in devices with smaller displays.Creating them for larger displays has been a major challenge from amanufacturing perspective. Small as it may seem, Sony's 11-inch screenis a real breakthrough. (There's a rumor that Samsung will be showing a36- or 40-inch version; if it's true, I'll definitely be checking thatout as well.)
Rollable Displays
I also look forward to seeing Philips's rollable display, which willcome from its spin-off company, Polymer Vision. The rollable displaywas shown this past year as a work in progress, but this year thecompany is going to show its use in book readers as well as in otherproducts. Up to now, digital ink displays have been very rigid. Theseare the displays that are used today in Amazon's and Sony's bookreaders. Polymer Vision's vision is to have a "rollable display inevery mobile device," and while that is a stretch (pun intended), thisis a technology worth checking out.
Home-Automation Trends
Actiontec has won one of the 2008 International CES Innovations Designand Engineering Awards for its zControl home-automation technology,which will be officially unveiled at the show. Details are sketchy, butI hear that it breaks new ground in the home-automation market and isworth seeing
I'll also be looking for green-related technologies, as this, too, willbe a hot issue at the show. And I'm interested in the next generationof smartphones and anything to do with mobile computing.
Show Floor <!-- text for main page -->
Yes, CES is the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow. But moreimportantly, it's really several shows within a show. Enter one part ofthe show floor to find more in-vehicle technology exhibitors than anyother event. Step into another area to discover the world of hometheater and video. And for markets that span all others, like wirelesscommunications, the companies and products weave through every hall.Here's where to make sense of it all.
Exhibit Areas See what's happening at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton and the Sands/Venetian.
Venue Map Download and print this color location map to see the show floor's layout.
Digg Topic
Tag topic on On del.icio.us
Technorati Search
Post to Slashdot
