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A Walk around CES – Part 2

14th February 2012

More “goodies” at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show

This article is a followup to Part 1 in which I describe a few of the photographic items that attracted my attention as I was scouring the venues of the Consumer Electronics Show. In this Part 2 article, I’ll show you some of the other items that I found interesting at this year’s record breaking CES.
I’m a geek at heart. And since I like touching, feeling and learning about devices and gadgets that perform some kind of magic, the miles of aisles taking up some 1.8 million square feet of exhibit space -are a playground for me. Apparently there are a few others that feel the same way; attendance at the show was north of 150,000.
My reporting covers both technology and photography. This year the Photographic Marketing Association chose to co-locate their annual convention at the Consumer Electronics Show. Since most of the major photo equipment manufacturers already exhibit at CES, it makes sense for the PMA to join forces. Having CES and PMA exhibitors at a single event makes it very convenient for reporters such as myself. The CES management makes it easy for its exhibitors to get global press coverage by inviting hundreds of media reps to the show. As you can see here, the Press Room was teeming with throngs of reporters filing their articles.
OK, here goes Part 2 of the time spent at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Intel, the premier maker of microprocessors, is revving up the market for its ultrabook push. Intel supplies the chips that many computer manufacturers use to build their hardware. When asked to define an ultrabook, one of the Intel reps described one as a thin and lightweight notebook with a long battery life which starts up (boots) very quickly. To save weight and conserve battery life, most of the ultrabooks have smaller screens (13″ to 15″) and use solid state had drives but without an optical (CD, DVD or BlueRay) drive. All of the new ultrabooks use Intel 2nd generation “Sandy Bridge” core processors.
a new Samsung ultrabook	a Toshiba ultrabook
To those of you familiar with Apple’s offering, the ultrabook most likely took its cue from the MacBook Air. In all, there were eight different manufacturers showing their own variations of the ultrabook at CES. Go here to find more information about Intel-based ultrabooks. Another feature that will soon start appearing is dubbed WiDi – for wireless display. This new technology couples a computer to a monitor through a high speed wireless connection. At the Intel stand, a notebook computer was sending its display to a huge 52″ Samsung HD television with builit-in WiDi with no apparent delay. I found this to be pretty slick.

I was really intrigued by the Replicator. It sounds like it might be a creature from a monster movie, but it is in fact a 3D printer. A what? What’s a 3D printer?
The Replicator is a printer that spits out a plastic substance according to a pattern to create 3D objects.	Here’s a model car made by the Replicator. Note the intricate detail.
Michael Curry is holding one of the spools of plastic which are fed into the Replicator.	Here’s another very sophisticated model that was manufactured by the Replicator.
MakerBot Industries makes the Replicator. They have hundreds of free templates for making all sorts of models. Price is about $1800. O’Reilly Media features the MakerBot in a recent issue of Make Magazine in which it shows you how to make your own MakerBot. For more information contact MakerBot Industries.

The AR.Drone 2.0 is another neat gizmo. Designed in France by Parrot, it’s a high tech hovering aircraft.
AR.Drone 2.0 is a slick remote controlled, battery powered helicopter-like aircraft. You control the AR.Drone with an iPhone. What’s unique about this craft is that it can take 720 HD, gyroscopically-damped videos. BTW, it’s fully repairable – parts are available online.	Here, representative Vanessa Loury is showing me a video taken above Paris with the AR.Drone 2.0. The price about $300.
To see some of the sample videos and more information, go to ardrone.com.

One of our companies has been involved with flight simulation for many years, so I made it over to Microsoft to see a demo of their soon to be released Flight product.
Flight starts you on the Big Island of Hawaii flying the Stearman biplane and ICON 5 sportplane. Here’s a virtual pilot approaching the airport for a landing.	The starter set will be free. Shortly, thereafter Microsoft will release reasonably priced aircraft, scenery and adventures to make Flight even more challenging.
Microsoft Flight will be available February 29 at Microsoft Games.

Another phrase that we’ve been hearing a lot about is “the cloud“. Basically, the cloud is a generic name for a secure, remote storage and data backup facility that gives you access to any of the data using various devices (e.g. computer, cell phone, tablet, etc.).
	Microsoft’s entry for the cloud is called SkyDrive. Sign up for SkyDrive and you’ll receive FREE, a generous 25GB of storage. You can backup or store files, documents and photos on SkyDrive. You can choose to share these items with others or keep them private.
Microsoft Office users can work collaboratively with SkyDrive. OneNote users can access files remotely with various mobile and desktop devices. One limitation is that any file must be less than 100MB in size which rules out many videos. To sign up for a free SkyDrive account from Microsoft, please go to SkyDrive.
As you can tell from both Part 1 and Part 2 of my walk around CES, I enjoyed peeking at a bunch of the new electronic gadgets that are lining up to meet the marketplace. As far as the CES in concerned these many years, I’ve adhered to the James Taylor song “Never grow old and never die young”. I hope to report on it again in 2013.

Written by Arnie Lee

Post tags: AR Drone, CES, cloud, Consumer Electronics Show, MakeBot, Microsoft Flight, O'Reilly, Parrot, SkyDrive, video

Posted in: equipment,events,informational,technical | | Comments (0)

Neat Stuff at the CES

13th January 2011

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show

You might think that after more than twenty-five years of attending the Consumer Electronics Show, I’d grow weary of the annual (CES used to take place twice a year) trek. Showhow, there’s always lots of excitement in getting your hands on some of the new gadgets that will soon be making their way to the market.
This year some 126,000 members of the trade and press attended the show. Some 2700 exhibitors rented 1.6 million square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center to show off their new products. The industry is hoping that this is a sign that the consumer electronics market is on a rebound.

Still recovering from the economic recession, Las Vegas and the casinos welcomed CES. In fact, I read that the Strip casinos were sold out on Thursday and Friday nights – the first time this has happened in many months. Las Vegas was relatively cold – low 50’s during the day and 30’s during the evening. But the temperature at the convention center was definitely warmer and the halls overflowing with anxious showgoers.
First off, I headed over to the LVCC and made my way to the press room. I was surprised to see more than 50 internet-enabled computers and wireless routers available for press members. It’s apparent that the electronics industry wants the CES show to receive maximum news and press coverage. No doubt, you’ve already seen products from CES on national television stations and newspapers.
As I walked through the aisles, one of the biggest attention grabbers was an onslaught of 3D televisions. Among the television makers LG, Panasonic , Samsung, Sharp and Sony all had huge displays demonstrating their 3D capabilities. You’ll need those cool 3D shades to watch the new content which has been slowly making its way to Blu-ray DVDs and certain satellite and cable providers.
Panasonic is definitely taking steps to add content to 3D televisions. In March they plan to have a 3D lens set that fits on their Micro Four-Thirds cameras. This has two separate lenses that produces a set of digital image that can be displayed directly on their 3D television.
The other big attention grabber was the tablet computers. As I approached the booths at Samsung and Panasonic I was amazed to see the number of visitors examining the new hardware and asking questions. This unique Samsung Series 7 doubles as a tablet and a keyboard-equipped laptop. The keyboard slides out from the 10″ screen for easy typing tasks.
This is a prototype from Panasonic	This 7″ Samsung Galaxy drew three-deep crowds. It’s an Android device that competes with Apple’s iPad.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the new or upcoming products that I found interesting.

This is Polaroid’s new “Lady Gaga” mobile printer. I’m told she loves the color gray. You can send your image to the printer via Bluetooth or USB cable. From Polaroid.	Here’s an attractive group of notebook and camera bags from Artisfront.

Joby, maker of the ubiquitous Gorillapods, introduced the “Ori for iPad”. It serves as a durable and protective cover and can hold your iPad in multiple positions for convenient use. From Joby.	The Eye-Fi is an “enhanced” SD card for digital cameras. It can send images directly to your computer while it’s still in the camera! I’m planning a review of the Eye-Fi soon. From Eye-Fi.

For commercial photographers, Metalight has several imaging boxes that provide constant, even lighting especially useful for product shots. From Medalight.	To keep your camera equipment dry in inclement weather DiCAPac has a waterproof “case” for your DSLR. Price is about $89. From DiCAPac.

Do you need a break from computer work? Use their missle launcher, webcam man, plasma ball – lots of fun “accessories” for a few minutes. From Satzuma..	It may look like a toy, but this remote controlled helicopter has a small camera mounted in the nose which can send digital images to your wi-fi network. Useful for taking photos from above. From Rotor Concept.

Underwater explorers can use these waterproof digital goggles with built-in 5MP still/video camera. This model costs $150 and is safe to 20 meters. From Liquid Image..	Liquid Image also makes these ski goggles with a ruggedized built-in camera. Again this has a 5MP still/video camera and sells for about $250. From Liquid Image.

Ecotricity introduced this portable solar power generator. This model is easily movable and provides power remote usage as well as home backup power and for emergencies. From Ecotricity.	For those times when you may have had too much fun and liquid refreshments you can use this convenient breathalyzer. It fits in your pocket and may come in handy. From BacTrack.

Dino-Lite showed me their digital microscope for photographing small items. From Dino-Lite.	This is a close-up taken with the Dino-Lite’s 5MP imager. You can see that the coin is free from shadows because of the built-in light and polarizing filter around the device’s imager. I am told that it’s especially popular with stamp and coin collectors. It has variable magnification from 10x – 50x, and optionally up to 220x.

I stopped at the Panasonic booth to have a look at the GF-2 Micro Four-Thirds camera which is scheduled to be available in March. Since I wasn’t fond of composing and focusing through the LCD finder, I asked the CSR to attach the electronic viewfinder (not shown). With an EVF, a sleek body, light weight and fast response, I’m looking forward to testing out the GF-2 soon.

For the vain among you, you can use the QuikPod to capture your own picture with your digital camera. There are two models: one for smaller point-and-shoot cameras and other for DSLR cameras. Each is a handheld extendable tripod. Attach your camera, set it on self-timer, press the shutter and position the QuikPod for a self-portrait as you smile. It’s also useful for handheld shots above the crowd. Comes with tripod legs for use as a conventional tripod. Price is $29 for point-and-shoot model and $49 for DSLR model. From QuikPod
In the next few weeks, I plan to review some of the products that you’ve seen here. While the weather in Las Vegas wasn’t particularly warm, on the flight home I found myself stuck in Chicago for 7 additional hours because of snow. I guess I shouldn’t complain about the weather in Nevada.