2008 CES Continues – The 2008 International Consumer Electronic Show began officially today in Las Vegas and continues thru Thursday. During Press Day on Sunday, a dozen exhibitors held press conferences about new products, including LG, Pioneer, Philips, Sharp, Monster Cable and Toshiba. Microsoft’s Chairman Bill Gates gave his last keynote address Sunday evening, which included a humorous sketch featuring Al Gore and Bono. Gates said the next digital decade will have displays everywhere, all devices will be service-connected, and we will be seeing touch technology and speech recognition in more products.
Warner Bros. Drops HD DVD in Favor of Blu-ray – A Warner Bros. announcement just before CES has the electronics industry abuzz. They have decided to back Blu-ray Disc exclusively with all their hi-def DVD releases and to no longer offer the HD DVD format. This move means that five of the seven big Hollywood studios now back Blu-ray, with only Paramount and Universal backing HD DVD. Warner’s President said in a statement, “A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology for reaching mass adoption…” Well, isn’t that what many of us had been saying even prior to the launch of both competing formats? Toshiba, the main supporter of HD DVD, canceled a scheduled CES news conference. For many, Warner’s decision marks the end of the hi-def format battle. Sony’s move to include Blu-ray playback in their PlayStation3 is regarded as one of the factors in winning the content war for Blu-ray, even though it contributed to a high price that put off many consumers from buying the game console.
Flash-based Memory Replacing Hard Drives in Super-Portables – The whole category of portable digital electronic products is seeing a trend away from damage and breakdown-prone small hard drives to solid state flash memory. It has the additional advantages of being silent, generating less heat and thus requiring no cooling fan, and due to small size and lightness it fits well in miniature gadgets. Look for flash memory in audio recorders, MP3 players, camcorders, cell phones, and now a new type of notebook laptop PC such as the ASUS Eee, which has a 7-inch display, built-in Wi-Fi, accepts 16GB flash storage, and weighs less than a kilogram. Speaking of Wi-Fi, look for more free Internet access this year; some experts feel that by the end of the year there will be more free Wi-Fi connections in most cities than there are hotspots that want to charge you for using it. Amazon’s new Kindle electronic book gadget has free and unlimited mobile broadband access built into it, and it continues for the life of the device.
Warner Bros. Drops HD DVD in Favor of Blu-ray – A Warner Bros. announcement just before CES has the electronics industry abuzz. They have decided to back Blu-ray Disc exclusively with all their hi-def DVD releases and to no longer offer the HD DVD format. This move means that five of the seven big Hollywood studios now back Blu-ray, with only Paramount and Universal backing HD DVD. Warner’s President said in a statement, “A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology for reaching mass adoption…” Well, isn’t that what many of us had been saying even prior to the launch of both competing formats? Toshiba, the main supporter of HD DVD, canceled a scheduled CES news conference. For many, Warner’s decision marks the end of the hi-def format battle. Sony’s move to include Blu-ray playback in their PlayStation3 is regarded as one of the factors in winning the content war for Blu-ray, even though it contributed to a high price that put off many consumers from buying the game console.
Flash-based Memory Replacing Hard Drives in Super-Portables – The whole category of portable digital electronic products is seeing a trend away from damage and breakdown-prone small hard drives to solid state flash memory. It has the additional advantages of being silent, generating less heat and thus requiring no cooling fan, and due to small size and lightness it fits well in miniature gadgets. Look for flash memory in audio recorders, MP3 players, camcorders, cell phones, and now a new type of notebook laptop PC such as the ASUS Eee, which has a 7-inch display, built-in Wi-Fi, accepts 16GB flash storage, and weighs less than a kilogram. Speaking of Wi-Fi, look for more free Internet access this year; some experts feel that by the end of the year there will be more free Wi-Fi connections in most cities than there are hotspots that want to charge you for using it. Amazon’s new Kindle electronic book gadget has free and unlimited mobile broadband access built into it, and it continues for the life of the device.
