The Future is Here and On Display in Las Vegas

For tech writers, this is the one week of the year that we don't have to wonder what we're going to write about. There's only one topic on everyone's mind: the new devices, software, news and rumors coming out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The beginning of each new year sees the show take over the Las Vegas strip as tens of thousands of folks in the tech biz descend upon the neon capital of the world to sort through a conglomeration of gadgets, some of them exciting, some ho-hum, and some just confusing.

I didn't get to go this year because of other obligations, but I have my secret sources "in the field" and access to all the reports and photos that have been streaming out of the LV Convention Center all week. This is one instance where what happened in Vegas definitely didn't stay in Vegas. For the first time in a long time, Bill Gates wasn't there to kick start the event. Instead, Steve Ballmer gave this year's keynote speech. You can watch it here:
Microsoft at International Consumer Electronics Show 2009 Virtual Pressroom

As has been true for the past few years, it appears that most of the excitement this year was generated in three categories: car tech, TVs, and portable computers. Some of the products and services announced at the show span more than one of those categories. For instance, Audiovox announced an automotive version of the MeidaFlo TV service, a cellular-based in-car TV system. For $50/month, you can get around a dozen channels of programming while you're on the go. See it here:
CES Slide Show: Great Digital Experiences - PC World

Not to be outdone, AT&T is coming out with a satellite TV service for your car. It's called Cruisecast and you get almost twice as many television channels along with 20 satellite radio channels. It's only $28/month, but the equipment is pricey: $1300, and requires that an odd-looking 3 lb. antenna be mounted on the roof of your vehicle. You can read more about it here:
AT&T's Cruisecast Brings Satellite TV to Cars - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Presumably, these in-car entertainment systems are meant to be used by passengers and/or when the vehicle is parked, but I can't help thinking not everybody is going to use them that way. We already have to worry about drunk drivers, drivers who are too busy chatting on their cell phones to pay attention to the road, and drivers fiddling with their radios. Now we'll also have to look out for drivers who lose control of their cars because they're laughing so hard at the latest episode of Family Guy.

These services are interesting, but I don't think I'll be signing up for any of them anytime soon. If I had little kids that I had to take on lots of long car trips, I might feel differently. Something I find a little more interesting is Ford's initiative to turn its F150 pickups into mobile offices with the next version of Microsoft Sync. Heck, the things are almost as big as an office building anyway, and with the economy at a low point, you may find lots of folks working out of their automobiles. The Work Solution feature promises a mobile computer with 3G Internet connectivity and even a printer. Read more about that here:
Ford CEO Tips Sync 2.0, Will Turn F150 into Office - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Or how about an in-dash computer for your car that sports a Core Duo processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive, with wi-fi, Bluetooth, FM and satellite radio receivers GPS and even a DVD-RW burner? Hey, where's my Blu-ray player for the car? Except for that last item, Dashboard Devices has a system with all that and more - but it comes at a hefty price (reportedly around $2700). Read more here:
Dashboard Devices to Launch 'Carputer' at CES - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Personally, I don't want my computer built into my car. I prefer to be able to take it with me when I get out and go inside some place. There are some great desktop replacements out there now - portables that really can function as your primary or only computer. But this year's CES seemed to be all about making laptops lighter and smaller and more portable than ever. I like the trend; ultra compacts have fascinated me for a long time and that's why I paid over two thousand dollars - twice - for tiny Sonys that, at the time, were the smallest fully functional notebooks around.

Today, of course, tiny computers are everywhere, thanks to the Netbook explosion, and they cost a lot less. Asus started it with the EeePC, and just about every major computer vendor has played copycat and come out with a small, light, inexpensive model this past year. Some of these are pretty low powered and not really good for much beyond checking email, browsing the web and creating simple documents. Others give you most of the functionality of a full sized laptop, especially if you're lucky enough (as I am) to have small hands that are comfortable with the miniaturized keyboards and good eyes to see the smaller screens.

The first of these new "little guys" to draw my attention was, naturally, another Sony. The new P series promises to be over a pound lighter than my 2.7 lb. T series system, and with a significantly smaller footprint. It has an 8 inch display and the keyboard area is "cut off" to eliminate the touchpad (there's a J mouse instead), which makes the whole thing not much bigger than a standard white business envelope. With the capacity for up to 4 GB of RAM, it promises to be more than just another Netbook. I'm not sure how I feel about the J mouse (I've never cared for them in the past), but I'd love to get my hands on one and try it out. And with a reported price tag of under $1000, it makes me want to cry over the all those dollars I spent on the T series machine. You can see it here:
The Sony P-series Lifestyle PC: Just don't call it a Netbook | CES 2009 - CNET Blogs

Money's tight these days, and a thousand bucks is still a big expenditure. And the new Sony still doesn't have one feature that I've been wanting in my small Sonys for years; it doesn't convert to a tablet. But it looks as if Asus has gotten on the tablet bandwagon with its latest T91 model. It's a touchscreen Tablet PC that's expected to be available in both 8.9 and 10 inch screen sizes and speculation has the price at a pretty palatable $600. It remains to be seen what software it will run and how responsive it will be, but it's definitely another option I want to take for a test drive.
Asus's New Netbook Is a Tablet, Too | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Of course, it's possible to go even smaller. Another small star at CES was the latest OQO ultra mobile PC. What makes it special is its OLED display, with a million to one contrast ratio. I'm intrigued by the little UMPCs, even though I can't find a good reason to justify buying one. It's a little too big to carry around with you all the time like a cell phone and it's a little too small to really serve as a production laptop. But they certainly are cute.
OQO OLED Notebook Is A Luminous Beauty | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

On the other hand, some folks prefer a bigger screen and keyboard but still want to keep it light. Apple's MacBook Air made quite a splash and as a result, thin is in. At CES, Dell showed off their own ultra-thin laptop called Adamo, but they're being hush-hush about the specs and pricing even though they plan to start shipping it early this year. The folks over at Engadget have posted some of the only photos of it here:
Dell Adamo hands-on! (Update: now with video!) - Engadget

These little laptops are all great for getting things done on the road, but sometimes you just want to forget about work and lose yourself in a good movie. I've already written about our new TV in my blog, and we're very happy with it - but CES provided a glimpse of where TV technology is headed and as I wrote in the January 8th edition of VistaNews, the long-awaited convergence of television and Internet is finally getting underway in earnest.
VistaNews - The Slow But Inevitable Convergence of Computers and TV

Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic and other TV vendors introduced sets that come with Ethernet ports for plugging your television directly into the network so you can rent movies over the Internet, watch YouTube videos or view Flickr photos on your TV without having to connect it to a PC. To go along with all that hardware, services such as Yahoo's ConnectedTV provide the interface for accessing Internet content on your TV. There's even a Twitter widget so you can post to the microblog site about the program you're watching. Read more about it here:
Yahoo Aims to Connect Internet and TV - PC World

Had we waited a little longer to buy an Aquos, we could have gotten one with a Blu-ray player built in (although it doesn't come in the 65 inch size, at least not yet). At CES, they unveiled the first such BD/TV combo sets, but you can bet other vendors will follow suit now that Blu-ray is the clear winner of the HD disc format war.
Sharp Aquos BD world’s first TVs with Blu-ray built in | Electricpig

But it's not all about connectivity and features, or even picture quality. Just like laptops, TV sets keep getting thinner, too. The next generation of my Sharp Aquos is only 3.44 cm thick (less than one and half inches). Samsung has a new LED set that's only 6.5mm thick (for those of us in the U.S., that's about a quarter of an inch). With OLED (Organic light emitting diode) technology, TVs can be even thinner than that - theoretically as thin as a sheet of paper and weighing no more than a few ounces. See some of the ultra thin sets at CES here:
Sharp Launches Super-Slim TVs - PC World

Wouldn't it be great to be able to easily hang your TV on the wall without worrying about bolting it to the studs to keep its weight from bringing it toppling down? On the other hand, if flexible OLED TVs become the norm, it will be easy for a burglar to just roll up your $10,000 screen and steal away with it. If you want something that nobody's going to be able to steal (unless he brings along a whole crew of helpers), how about Panasonic's 150 inch plasma model, which they've now exhibited two years in a row?
Panasonic Shows 150-inch Plasma Screen

Tell us what you think about this year's CES offerings. What got your attention? Was it LG's touchscreen watch/phone? The PowerMat wireless device recharger? WowWee's remote controlled spyball, which can roll through the house and transmit video via the built-in webcam? What new tech toys were you hoping to see that didn't show up? Are vendors just whistling in the wind with expensive new products in the face of an uncertain economy? Are people you know planning to scale back on high tech purchases? Or will lower prices result in more spending? Let us know your opinions