With less than two weeks to go, the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show returns to Las Vegas on January 11th thru the 14th. With its continuous record breaking attendance year after year, attracting 171,268 attendees in 2020, they have gotten to the point where they have simply outgrown the Las Vegas Convention center and its side venues due to lack of space.
COVID-19’s pandemic may have solved this problem temporarily, as CES had announced that the show will be completely digital and exclusively online.
It shouldn’t be a big surprise to any of us considering how COVID-19 has completely turned our lives upside down. With most of the restrictions that the pandemic has given us, it at least keeps everyone safe at home rather than to try to accommodate its massive crowds in the finite space that they have to roam around in.
This year for returning CES attendees, there will be no need to keep tabs of travel expenses. There will be no need to book a flight or a hotel in advance at absorbent rates. There will be no need to compete for limited ground transportation from hotels with other attendees who are all stressed to get to their destination on time. Nor will they need to deal with the cold freezing temperatures early in the morning to get to the convention floors before the doors open up.
With the strict stay at home in orders preventing us not to be there in person, the show must go on. In any event, the CES show will continue to thrill us with major new announcements from all the top consumer companies in the world, as well as give us a preview of their latest technological lineup of gadgets on the “virtual” showroom floor. It gives us a preview glimpse into the future.
Expect companies, such as Toyota to announce next generation vehicles and next generation cities that will be here before you know it. Photo by Marcus Siu.
Last year’s CES in Las Vegas with 171,268 attendees now seem like a blur. This year the show will be virtual. Virtually no one there to see the amazing products in person…only online. Photo by Marcus Siu
Several keynotes will be given: Hans Vestberg, the CEO of Verizon will be discussing 5G as the framework of the 21st century and how they will plan and develop smart cities into a very real possibility; Mary Barra, the Chairman and CEO of General Motors will be speaking about GM’s transformational strategy to advance mobility for communities around the world and how they are leveraging new trends to drive the adoption of next generation vehicles and next generation cities; and Brad Smith, the President of Microsoft, will be discussing “the promise and peril of the digital age”. Several other companies, such as AMD, Best Buy, and Walmart are also expected to attend.
In addition, there will be more than 90 conference sessions an incredible lineup of speakers and surprise guests.
This year, expect many of the TV manufacturers to announce their latest 8K lineup, including Sony, pictured here from the 2020 CES Show in Las Vegas. Photo by Marcus Siu.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a new wave of amazing generation of TV’s have been washed ashore in Las Vegas at the CES 2020 (Consumer Electronics Show) from the biggest global TV manufacturers. Despite the fact that the majority of consumers still don’t own a 4K UHD-TV set, TV manufacturers rolled out their 8K TV’s at CES 2020. LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony, and even TLC had their 8K sets featured prominently on display at their booths and press conferences.
Improvements in TV display technology over the past several years have been rapidly accelerating as fast as never before. It was only five years ago when 4K UHD-TV’s first became available to consumers. After being accustomed to watching standard HDTV’s over the years and that fact that there was hardly any 4K content to play or stream, the mass majority of the public was reluctant to adopt to it initially.
Now more than a third of all households who own a HDTV have a 4K HDTV with the number expected to jump to 50% this year. Initially thought of as a niche market, 4K UHD-TV’s have finally been embraced by the mainstream and is expected soon to be the new future-proof TV standard.
Walking through the floors at CES, it doesn’t take much of a genius to realize that the next generation of TV’s that only used to be only envisioned in futuristic science fiction movies are just stunning, gorgeous, and jaw-dropping technical marvels to gaze at.
What’s truly amazing is that the manufacturers all use different display technology ranging from MicroLED, Mini-LED, QLED, and OLED. With the latest breakthroughs in display technology demonstrated at CES 2020, the TV’s of the future were what dreams are made of that were made into reality.
However, dreams like this don’t come cheap, but if you have at least a spare $60,000 to a few hundred thousand dollars to spend, here is your dream come true.
LG ELECTRONICS – ROLLIN’ ROLLIN’ ROLLIN
Two years ago at CES, LG Electronics, the pioneer of OLED-TV introduced a prototype of the OLED W, (The “W” stands for “Wallpaper”). It was truly an amazing and ground breaking revolutionary technology that was able to keep the pure picture quality of OLED technology with the darkest blacks and brightest whites within its micro thin bezel frame just 2.57mm thick.
LG Electronics expanded their OLED R line, which was briefly introduced last year at CES 2019. (The “R” stands for “Rollable”). Think of these as a portable “UHD-TV in a box” in which the screen rolls up from a long rectangular cabinet that also serves as it’s own soundbar. When in use, the display rolls up through motorization and rolls back down when not in use. It’s like an all-in one projector and screen all rolled into one.
This year, they have created yet another revolutionary product which may even disrupt the need for movie projectors and movie screens in the future, just like how digital cameras eliminated the need for film cameras.
The latest version of the new LG OLED R line prototypes were shown, which is the exact reversal of the first model. Rather than being put on a flat surface, like a table, the cabinet/soundbar could be mounted upside down from the top of the ceiling like a mounted movie screen. If you want to watch, with a press of a button, the screen will roll down from the ceiling and roll back up when you are done. Even with this compact feature, you still get the best OLED quality with absolutely no loss in picture quality.
Luckily for consumers, they should be available this year. However, the price isn’t going to be cheap. Rumors are that the TV will be starting at $60,000.00.
Samsung shows off it’s 292″ inch “Wall-TV” at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. Thanks to modular technology, you can make it as big as you want. Size does not matter. Photo by Marcus Siu.
THE 292″ WALL TV BY SAMSUNG
For those who want to buy a TV and make it a permanent fixture in their living space, you can buy “The Wall” TV by Samsung. Available in sizes from 75 inches up to 292 inches, it’s the biggest TV display you can buy today, and the only set on the market to offer. There are two versions of the wall; one at 146″ and the other at 292″.
Samsung’s microLED technology, which uses super-fine LEDs instead of OLED or traditional LED delivers many of the benefits you’ll find in OLED, including perfect blacks and eye-popping colors, but the set also boasts 1,600 nits of brightness, which is brighter than today’s OLED sets. More importantly, unlike OLED, MicroLED promises zero burn-in issues.
ALL N ALL IT’S JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL...
The 146-inch size might seem random, but it’s actually just tall enough to be able to cover most home walls from the floor to the ceiling. Because The Wall is made up of borderless tiles, the modular design allows additional tiles to be added, making this even-bigger version of The Wall possible. Of course, if you live in a castle, you can double or triple that measurement, or just make it custom made. Size does not matter…if you have a deep wallet.
Just like Lego blocks can be built on each other, Samsung has the capability of building it’s displays on top of each other without any bezels showing. No borders or boundaries; just pure continuous gorgeous displays. Looking up close, I did not see any irregularities and the image looked seamless. In fact, it can blend into your living space, such as a white wall display that looks like a white wall when not in use.
When not in use, even though it wasn’t designed to turn off, “The Wall”, can blend in as part of your living space. You can make it part of the wall or you can change it into artwork or even a masterpiece painting by a world renowned painter, such as Renoir. The main point is that it doesn’t look like one massive giant TV that is showing up as an eyesore that domesticated wives are accustomed to with home theater type husbands. The wife will be much happier for it.
However, Samsung hasn’t put a price tag on this, but considering the 98″ Class Q900 QLED Smart 8K UHD TV is tagged at $59,999.99, you will probably need to take out a second mortage on your home for the 292″ model, if you have to own one.
SONY
Always thought of as the pioneering innovator of TV’s, Sony Electronics had surprised everyone at this years CES press conference by literally changing gears and announcing they are going into the electric car business by introducing their Vision S electric car prototype.
Surprisingly there was hardly any news concerning the TV side of Sony’s business except that they would be selling smaller sized OLED TV’s as little as 48″, which there is a definite need for in the marketplace. This is good news for consumers as OLED prices have come down to earth in price, thanks to the mass adoption demand for them, as well as the growing competition with LG and other brands from China who have announced they are selling in the US in the new year. Vizio plans to come out with their first OLED TV, as well as an OLED line from Phillips, Konka and Skyworth.
In the meantime at their booth, Sony displayed their latest flagship X1 Master Series, featuring the 8K Sony 98″ X1 which has already been selling at retailers listing for a mere $70,000.00. They also had the smaller 85″ line on display which retails at a more reasonable $13,000.00.
Obviously, very few of us can afford this new technology right now, but the real point here is that we have reached this point in technology and that it’s here with us to stay.
Who knows?
One day when they figure out how to mass produce these MicroLED TV’s, we all may be able to afford a Wall-TV in our home without having to take out a second mortgage.
CES 2018 will be remembered for its lights going out at the Las Vegas Convention Center filled with thousands of televisions and electronics. Those who were in the building found their ways to the exits using the lights from their cell phones. Within minutes, the blackout forced the convention center to be closed for over two hours. Although this unfortunate incident made international headlines, this year’s CES was still an exciting and stimulating event for the global tech community.
CES is a platform that allows an interaction with a new generation of technology! This year, over 170,000 attendees from 150 countries, 3,900 exhibitors presented their products and services, 7,000 journalists and bloggers all came to Las Vegas to report to a broad audience that the convention center wasn’t quite able to accommodate.
Steve Koenig, analyst and director of CTA (Consumer Technology Association) at the press meeting which took place two days before an official door opens, announced the main trends in the global tech world. His focus was on 5G and AI as the ingredient technologies for 2018 and beyond. 5G was the theme of my article in the last edition of Property Journal. It is important in the era that has a flood of automated data.
By 2020, the average internet user is going to create around 1,5 GB of traffic per day, but a smart hospital will produce 3,000 GB and an autonomous vehicle 4,000 GB per day. Today every big city has 4G and everyone who watches content on a mobile device is familiar with the buffering wheel icon which means that the operating system needs more time for downloading content. But for the consumer it means lost time for waiting. When 5G will be implemented that will no longer be the case.
How fast is 5G? Let’s use an example. How long would it take to download the two-hour-long “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie? In 3G (2001) it took 26 hours, in 4G (2009) only 6 minutes, in 5G (2020) it will be 3.6 seconds! There is no doubt that 5G is going to revolutionize everything including telecommunication, automotive, healthcare, social media, real-time GPS, mobile payments, video streaming (4K and 8K) and access to the Internet at the fingertips anywhere, anytime.
The second ingredient that will stimulate global technology is AI. Before, the abbreviation AI meant “Artificial Intelligence”, but some industry experts believe that the term is too closely linked to popular culture and has negative connotations. That is why AI is now described as “Augmented Intelligence”; to help people understand that AI simply improves upon products and services, and does not replace humans. Unfortunately, they both have the same acronym – AI.
IBM that heavily invested in Artificial Intelligence system called Watson suggested to use the term “Intelligence Augmentation” – IA. Quick note: it is not about Sherlock Holmes’s assistant, Watson, but Thomas Watson, the charismatic CEO of IBM during the years, 1914-1956.
Many companies invest in AI because they believe that Augmented Intelligence is the key to learn what humans like and dislike, perfectly suggesting the products to match their tastes. Just recently Google joined the race for more customers by using AI. For the first time, Google had a standalone booth in the middle of the convention center at the CES. Outside the convention center, they had many signs and banners on the streets of Las Vegas that was read – “Hey, Google”.
January, CES 2016 – With a theme of a summer time Beach Blowout the Pepcom Digital Experience event took place before doors officially open for CES 2016 in Las Vegas. 225 exhibitors were showcased their various products and services to the press representative hoping to attract the media eyes on their new innovation or on the update to previous version of the product. Most of their products were electronics or accessories marketplace. There were some debuts along them and some products which already got the recognition. All of them were worth to see and have the editors get a chance to put their hands on them.
The list of exhibitors held at the Pepcom Digital Experience event we stopped into along with a short description what they brought to CES 2016 in alphabetical order below:
Aerodrome – owner and operator of teaching airports for commercial drones, discussed the groundbreaking of the world’s first droneport.
Amped Wireless – showcased their latest, award-winning innovations in long range wireless solutions.
Antenna79 – showed the new one-of-kind R79X iPhone 6/6s and iPhone 6/6s Plus cases, which contain a multi-patented, micro-thin antenna that automatically couples with your phone to expand and extend your phone’s antenna.
ARM – mobile and IoT experts showcased the latest ARM-based connected devices (smartphones, wearables and IoT).
Atmel – showed the latest wearable devices to its secure, connected ZigBee-to-Wi-Fi lighting system, Wi-Fi camera, and force sensing technology on a large touchscreen.
BACtrack – showcased new developments for its award-winning BACtrack Mobile smartphone breathalyzer; featuring Bluetooth connectivity and iOS and Android compatibility.
Beddit – showed convenient and clinically proven sleep tracker that makes any bed a smart bed and helps improve sleep by combining an ultra-thin sensor placed under the bed sheet with an App on an iPhone and Apple Watch, or Android device.
Belkin- showcased a variety of new technological innovations. The Linksys brand introduced a new lineup of Wi-Fi MU-MIMO and Cable Modem solutions, while Belkin debuted new USB-C accessories and charging solutions for smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.
Bitdefender – presented its new product – BOX. As a hardware – cloud – mobile apps play, BOX is the all-inclusive cybersecurity solution packed into one smartphone controlled device that protects every device connected to the Internet.
BLACK+DECKER™ – announced SMARTECH™ Technology, which merges DIY with technology for Power Tools, Home Products, and Outdoor Products.
Bowflex – showed the first-ever smart dumbbells with advanced 3DT™ technology designed to guide users through each exercise while tracking reps and weight lifted, and wirelessly transferring data to a free mobile app.
Canon – displayed its latest products offerings in Digital Imaging solutions.
Carl Zeiss Smart Optics – launched the first curved and stylish data glass lens with unobtrusively integrated optics for augmented reality applications.
Chamberlain – demonstrated their latest strategies for creating a safer and more connected home, including the next phase in their partnership with Nest. CooperVision – believes that it’s time to change the perception that digital eye fatigue — experienced by seven in ten adults living in the United States – should be considered “normal.”
D-Link – displayed a range of exciting new products across its home networking, home security and home automation product lines.
Dell – showed the newest additions to its consumer and commercial product portfolios, including sleek notebooks, versatile 2-in-1 devices, gaming systems, and displays.
Delta Faucet Company – made its debut CES/Pepcom appearance to showcase its latest innovation as it relates to smart home technology and water.
DocuSign – showcased its smart contracts and payments prototype co-developed with Visa for its Connected Car Initiative. The payment app revolutionizes auto-leasing and buying by making it 100% digital so consumers can sign a lease, select insurance and more right from the driver’s seat in the showroom.
Epson America, Inc. – showcased the WorkForce ET-4550 EcoTank printer, which comes with up to two years of ink in the box; the Home Cinema 1040 and Home Cinema 1440, MHL-enabled home theater projectors featuring high brightness, Full HD 1080p and high contrast.
EyeLock – showcased iris identity authentication developed for end-points across the Internet of Things.
Garmin – showcased its latest GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle.
GE Lighting – showcased its Bluetooth-connected LED product family – C by GE, designed for sleep and everyday illumination.
HARMAN – JBL and Harman Kardon showed the next generation in wireless audio.
Hunter Fan Company – the manufacturer of ceiling fans, debuted two Wi-Fi enabled fans at CES: the all-new designs, named Symphony and Signal, retail for less than $400 and can be connected with other Wi-Fi enabled devices in the home.
Hyundai – showcased an augmented reality owner’s manual app called Virtual Guide.
iBaby Labs – presented Connected Home at its best with iBaby’s IoT solutions – from baby monitors and home monitors to air quality trackers.
IEEE – featured out-of-this-world technologies through truly unique AR/VR environments.
LifeProof is unveiling the newest addition to the waterproof case line.
Lutron Electronics – a leading manufacturer of energy-saving light, shade, and temperature control solutions, showcased new features of its HomeKit-enabled Caséta Wireless system, an affordable, expandable, smart home solution available in both DIY and “do it for me” options.
Master Lock – showed its new line of Bluetooth Smart Padlocks, a new level of convenience and security that turns your smart device into a key.
Moshi – debuted on-ear headphones, and presented stylish tech-savvy bags and new portable batteries.
Nest – showed it’s full family of products.
Nikon Inc. – showcased its latest DSLR, Nikon 1 and COOLPIX cameras as well its NIKKOR lenses and accessories.
OSRAM SYLVANIA – showed the newest additions to its smart connected LIGHTIFY® portfolio, including the industry-first LIGHTIFY Switch and Outdoor Flex RGBW Strips. Performance Designed Products (PDP), the #1 third party accessory manufacturer in North America introduced a new product for the gamers.
Petcube – maker of the Petcube Camera that allows owners to watch, talk to, and play with pets on their iOS and Android devices unveiled early details of Petcube Protect: a new cloud-based subscription service that gives owners peace of mind when it comes to their pets and their home property.
Plantronics – showcased its top 2015 products including the CES Innovations Award winning BackBeat SENSE and Voyager Focus UC.
Rambus – showcased its revolutionary Lensless Smart Sensors, a revolutionary new approach to optical sensing that delivers on package, power and price by replacing traditional lenses with tine diffractive optics.
Raumfeld – extends its product portfolio of WiFi speakers to include TV and movie sound with the introduction of the world’s first WiFi sounddeck for use as both a television and music sound system. A new soundbar with innovative flat wireless subwoofer was presented.
SanDisk – showed its latest mobile memory solutions with supersized capacities for fast and easy content transfer and expanded storage for all popular mobile devices and its brand new, rugged portable SSD for techies who need fast, reliable storage on-the-go.
Schlage – showed its most advanced lock system offerings to date, Schlage Control™ Smart Locks and The Schlage Sense™ Smart Deadbolt providing smart home access for both renters and home owners.
Seagate – showcased the company’s latest storage offerings from both the LaCie and Seagate branded product lines.
Shure – showcased the newest additions to its robust listening portfolio, including its exclusive innovation: the premium KSE1500 Electrostatic Earphone System—the world’s first Sound Isolating™ electrostatic earphone and amplifier system, for use with portable and traditional media players—and the new standalone Shure SHA900 Portable Listening Amplifier, designed for use with premium-quality headphones and earphones.
TomTom will be showing its new GPS fitness watch with on-board music – TomTom Spark, its action camera that enables footage editing and sharing in minutes – TomTom Bandit, and its new Golf GPS watch – TomTom Golfer.
Toshiba – showed its latest innovations in PC and Branded Storage.
TP-LINK – showcased the next evolution of 802.11ad wireless technology, products for the smart home and its comprehensive line of innovative routers.
TripIt – showed new additions to trip planner services.
TYLT – unveiled several new wireless chargers capable of charging 3X faster than the pre-2015 standard.
Wacom – showcased the power digital stationery, turning notes into text files with the brand-new ink-to-text conversion.
WD – showed new products, including the My Cloud Mirror Gen 2!
Whirlpool – showed the completely and intuitively re-imagined, pantry-inspired shelving system in the Whirlpool® Smart French Door Refrigerator that uses space more efficiently among with leading French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators
Withings – showed the connected health revolution products.
ZAGG – highlighted its latest mobile keyboards and portable power and introduced new products for audio lovers and social media users.
Zolt – featured the world’s smallest, lightest and smartest multi-device laptop charger, capable of charging today’s laptops and two mobile devices simultaneously.
January, CES 2016 – At the press day, a prelude for the Consumer Electronics Show 2016, Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist of the Consumer Technology Association presented to the media, the sales and forecast trends for the consumer electronics industry for the coming year. He presented there are five factors that were developing over the years and are now a reality of daily-life. These are: ubiquitous computing, cheap digital storage, connectivity, the proliferation of digital devices and the sensor’ization of tech. Coming to the CES ten or fifteen years ago the electronics industry was focused on what is technologically possible, how far we can push the technology boundaries. In the last few months it has changed, and it shifting from what is possible to what is meaningful. In other words, it can be described as moving forward from solving one fragmented task to the meaningful solution for the problem. Once the technology foundations were set, the door was open to having an important and useful quality and purpose. That also got us to the Inflection Point for the Consumer Tech Industry. Now, 51% of the revenue in the consumer electronics marketplace is driven by 5 categories: smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and TV. They created a little over half of the revenue in the electronics industry. But that is going to change soon. Sometime next year the revenue generated by those 5 categories will be less than half because other categories are growing on fast pace.
The Chief Economist announced the new trends that will be leading the industry in 2016. They are: Ambient Sensing, Aggregated Learning and Maturing of Nascent Ecosystems.
The Ambient Sensing trend started in early 2014 when Mimo Smart baby breathing and activity monitor was announced at CES. Mimo allows real-time monitoring of the sleeping baby by sending a message right on the phone, no matter where the parent is. It sends an alert message when the factors such as breathing, body position or temperature change. It is an example of capturing the environment of the baby sleeping, measuring it and notifying the parents. At CES 2016 as indication of more meaningful use we have: Ecoisme, a single device to track the energy usage of each individual appliance or gadget at home, DietSensor, a nutrition coach for food and Sensum, a software platform for measuring emotions and behaviors responds. This is the direction that the industry is heading.
The second trend stated by DuBravac was Aggregated Learning. The last year it was predictive customization of Netflix and its redefining recommendation. The other example of Aggregated Learning is how quickly technology advanced. It can be shown by following the history of word error rate in speech recognition. In 1995 it was almost 100%, in 2013 it dropped to 23%, and to 5% in 2015. Within 18 months the improvement that was made was phenomenal from 23% to 5%. It was possible by sharing the information in different platforms. In 2016 the picture of Aggregated Learning is the “roadway” to define what the Autonomous Vehicles are? By now Google Autonomous Cars have been driven over 1.6 million kilometers. Soon all information will be shared with all fleet of the vehicle and stop signs and traffic lights. Chief Economist pointed out 5 levels of Automation in cars: LO – No-Automation, L1 Function-specific Automation, L2 Combined Function Automation, L3 Limited Self-Driving Automation and L4 Full Self-Driving Automation. DuBravac predicted we will see full autonomous vehicles by 2020, with 1 million sold by 2030. By 2045 half of the cars sold may be fully autonomous.
The third trend Maturing of Nascent Ecosystems, is associated with the categories that growing on fast pace such as Virtual Reality, Wearables and Drones. With several notable VR headsets as such Ricoh Theta and the Panono 360 camera, coming to market in 2016, CTA expects unit sales to increase by 500 percent over the last year, to reach 1.2 million units sold. Total revenue is projected to reach $540 million, a 440% increase. Wearables that are led by the popularity of Fitness Activity Trackers and Smart Watches, unit sales among all wearables in 2016 are forecast to reach 38.4 million units. Fitness activity trackers volumes will hit 17.4 million units in 2016, a 12% increase in one year, with revenue reaching $1.3 billion. Smart Watches are expected to increase 28% to 13.6 million units sold, earning $3.7 billion in revenue, and an increase of 22%. In this category in 2016 we will see Reliefband, Oara Ring, Lumiwave, Ombra and hexoskin, that making their splash at CES. The total forecast for 2016 drone sales tops 2.8 million units, up to 149% from 2015, and $953 million in shipment revenues (a 115% increase from last year). In that category CES 2016 will show Onagofly and Fleye.
The Chief Economist of CTA also presented the forecast sales for other categories such as 4K TV and 3D Printers. After a banner year of sales growth in 2015 that saw LCD TV shipments climb 10% to top 39 million units, the TV market should reach a steady state in 2016. CTA projects revenues will reach $19 billion for all TV sets and displays in 2016, on par with 2015, as volumes drop 1% just under 40 million units. 2016 will be a phenomenal year for 4K Ultra High-Definition (UHD) TVs, driven in part by the market introduction of next-generation technologies, with shipment of 4K UHD displays projected to reach 13 million units (an 83% increase), CTA expects revenue from 4K UHD displays in 2016 to top $10 billion, marking a 65% increase. The expanding diversity of 3D Printing capabilities will drive the sector’s growth in 2016. CTA expects 3D printer sales to increase 64% from 2015, to reach 179 thousand units sold, with total revenue of $152 million, a 38% increase. CTA expects the Smart Homes technology category, including smart thermostats, smart smoke and CO2 detectors, IP/Wi-Fi cameras, smart locks, smart home systems, and smart switches, dimmers and outlets to reach 8.9 million units sold in 2016, a 21 % increase, with $1.2 billion in revenue.
It is supposed to be another great year for consumer electronics industry.
