The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is wrapping up after a week or so of excitement* (*YMMV). This is the main event for all the major electronics manufacturers to show new products. The result this year was a flood of Tablet and E-Book readers. Although there has never been a hit product in this space - with the possible exception of Amazon's Kindle (for which Amazon refuses to release any sales numbers) - a lot of people are betting 2010 is the year.
But do we really need small devices that are too big to put in a pocket, and lack keyboards? Steve Jobs famously (and unattributedly) wondered what they could possibly be good for other than surfing the web from the bathroom. I was long a skeptic as well, thinking there just wasn't any room between a good smartphone and a small notebook. But now I've changed my mind. I think most of what was shown at CES in this category will fail, but I think something in this space will succeed. By "this space" I mean a lightweight portable device with a 7 to 10 inch diagonal screen and no keyboard.
And unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard the speculation that Apple has an entry ready to be shown at the end of January. Has Apple found a use outside the bathroom? I think so. We'll see in just over 2 weeks.
I thought the ebook readers were useless too until someone pointed out the physical book burdens of students.
D loves her kindle. She reads daily ... er ... nightly.
I tend to read a lot on the interwebs, and those devices aren't very helpful there. When I read stuff that was traditionally found in books, I like using an actual book. When the "e ink" displays get better, I may be willing to make the move.
Funny, I barely noticed the e-reader/tablet stuff at CES. But I was on a video-centric mission.
Yeah, I'm sure it's just what I read giving me that slant. But that includes mainstream stuff like the NYTimes and the WSJ.
Did you see anything impressive you can talk about?
Pixel Qi is one of the couple new e-ink screen technologies. I'm not too impressed by the Kindle screen (b has one) - looks nice, but the slow refresh is annoying.
I spent a lot of time looking at 3D TV. DirecTV will offer three channels of 3D. S/W upgrade to existing boxes ... plus a new display is needed. 3D blu-ray discs are coming also. Whether or not 3D movies are sufficiently compelling to trigger an upgrade, I suspect the gamers will go crazy on it. I saw demos of about 5 different games at the Sony booth. A couple were ho hum, but some were pretty cool. If it gives an edge in first person shooter games, it will sell. For the PS3, it's just a S/W upgrade (for 3D games and BRD movies). Then a new display is needed.
I didn't stick around to see what the AVN expo is doing with the technology, but I'd expect that to come soon. I've already seen rule 34 comments about Avatar.
I saw a 4kx2k displays, not coming to retail any time soon. But pretty cool. Panasonic had a 152" plasma display. That's getting silly. Just build a frickin' room already and use a projector.
Also, several companies had 2D-to-3D synthesis. They aren't perfect, but the truly amazing thing is that they work at all. Overheard comment: "It's like a talking dog. The dog may not be very articulate, but it's a TALKING DOG!"
More rule 34 ... Let's just say it outright: This is a movie about alien porn.
Someone had a "DSLR-like camera w/o the mirror" to get the small body advantage of micro four thirds while using the same lenses as DSLR. I don't recall who, though.
this one?
Yeah, that's the one Linda. I googled around a bit for that Pentax you mentioned and people really seem to love it. Not trying to confuse things, but at this point I'm not really sure which one I'd buy.
i think i'm going to get it. nostalgia, plus i think i read somewhere any lenses i have here from my old pentax will work with the new one. plus, like you said people like it. plus it's a good price. now i get to go to b&h!
Because the body is flatter (flange-back distance is short) compared to SLRs, there's plenty of room to accommodate an adapter. Micro 4/3 camera flange-back + adapter = SLR flange-back. Pretty cool.
Ruh-roh ... jello effect. I mentioned on the other thread that I was intrigued by micro 4/3 for video. Given that I'm interested in fast moving stuff, I should stick to using a video camera for shooting video.
Sadly, I didn't have much time to browse the camcorders at CES.
By the way, someone announced a 3D camcorder. Don't remember who.
Yeah, the 3D camcorder is from Panasonic. Is this going to be big? I'm not really seeing it yet.
$21k? Ouch.
I think 3D for the home will make a splash in 2010, primarily for movies and for video games. 3D camcorders not so much.
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But do we really need small devices that are too big to put in a pocket, and lack keyboards? Steve Jobs famously (and unattributedly) wondered what they could possibly be good for other than surfing the web from the bathroom. I was long a skeptic as well, thinking there just wasn't any room between a good smartphone and a small notebook. But now I've changed my mind. I think most of what was shown at CES in this category will fail, but I think something in this space will succeed. By "this space" I mean a lightweight portable device with a 7 to 10 inch diagonal screen and no keyboard.
And unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard the speculation that Apple has an entry ready to be shown at the end of January. Has Apple found a use outside the bathroom? I think so. We'll see in just over 2 weeks.
- jim 1-11-2010 4:45 pm
I thought the ebook readers were useless too until someone pointed out the physical book burdens of students.
- L.M. 1-11-2010 5:07 pm
D loves her kindle. She reads daily ... er ... nightly. I tend to read a lot on the interwebs, and those devices aren't very helpful there. When I read stuff that was traditionally found in books, I like using an actual book. When the "e ink" displays get better, I may be willing to make the move. Funny, I barely noticed the e-reader/tablet stuff at CES. But I was on a video-centric mission.
- mark 1-11-2010 10:54 pm
Yeah, I'm sure it's just what I read giving me that slant. But that includes mainstream stuff like the NYTimes and the WSJ.
Did you see anything impressive you can talk about?
Pixel Qi is one of the couple new e-ink screen technologies. I'm not too impressed by the Kindle screen (b has one) - looks nice, but the slow refresh is annoying.
- jim 1-12-2010 12:15 am
I spent a lot of time looking at 3D TV. DirecTV will offer three channels of 3D. S/W upgrade to existing boxes ... plus a new display is needed. 3D blu-ray discs are coming also. Whether or not 3D movies are sufficiently compelling to trigger an upgrade, I suspect the gamers will go crazy on it. I saw demos of about 5 different games at the Sony booth. A couple were ho hum, but some were pretty cool. If it gives an edge in first person shooter games, it will sell. For the PS3, it's just a S/W upgrade (for 3D games and BRD movies). Then a new display is needed.
I didn't stick around to see what the AVN expo is doing with the technology, but I'd expect that to come soon. I've already seen rule 34 comments about Avatar.
I saw a 4kx2k displays, not coming to retail any time soon. But pretty cool. Panasonic had a 152" plasma display. That's getting silly. Just build a frickin' room already and use a projector.
- mark 1-12-2010 2:29 am
Also, several companies had 2D-to-3D synthesis. They aren't perfect, but the truly amazing thing is that they work at all. Overheard comment: "It's like a talking dog. The dog may not be very articulate, but it's a TALKING DOG!"
- mark 1-12-2010 2:32 am
More rule 34 ... Let's just say it outright: This is a movie about alien porn.
- mark 1-12-2010 7:26 pm
Someone had a "DSLR-like camera w/o the mirror" to get the small body advantage of micro four thirds while using the same lenses as DSLR. I don't recall who, though.
- mark 1-12-2010 7:42 pm
this one?
- linda 1-12-2010 11:28 pm
Yeah, that's the one Linda. I googled around a bit for that Pentax you mentioned and people really seem to love it. Not trying to confuse things, but at this point I'm not really sure which one I'd buy.
- jim 1-13-2010 12:01 am
i think i'm going to get it. nostalgia, plus i think i read somewhere any lenses i have here from my old pentax will work with the new one. plus, like you said people like it. plus it's a good price. now i get to go to b&h!
- linda 1-13-2010 12:17 am
Because the body is flatter (flange-back distance is short) compared to SLRs, there's plenty of room to accommodate an adapter. Micro 4/3 camera flange-back + adapter = SLR flange-back. Pretty cool.
- mark 1-13-2010 2:23 am
Ruh-roh ... jello effect. I mentioned on the other thread that I was intrigued by micro 4/3 for video. Given that I'm interested in fast moving stuff, I should stick to using a video camera for shooting video.
Sadly, I didn't have much time to browse the camcorders at CES.
By the way, someone announced a 3D camcorder. Don't remember who.
- mark 1-13-2010 3:11 am
Yeah, the 3D camcorder is from Panasonic. Is this going to be big? I'm not really seeing it yet.
- jim 1-13-2010 1:48 pm
$21k? Ouch. I think 3D for the home will make a splash in 2010, primarily for movies and for video games. 3D camcorders not so much.
- mark 1-13-2010 7:33 pm