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Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas
Arcadia Weekly Feb 23, 2011
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Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas
By John Bates – Special to Beacon Media
In 2010 at CES the buzz was definitely about 3D, like it has been
for the last few years. However, it seems that this year something big
has changed, and that big something is the movie Avatar. James
Cameron’s blockbuster has everyone talking about 3D. In a rush we’ve
also seen everything from the Hubble Telescope in IMAX 3D (which is
definintely an absolute must see. Go today! It’s playing at the
California Science Center IMAX Theater
http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Imax/Features/Features.php), to
How to Train Your Dragon, a wonderful and fun cartoon for kids of all
ages. There have been many more, as well. And now we’re starting to
see TV sets, complete with 3D glasses and 3D BluRay players going on
sale to consumers. TV Sports events are going to be coming in 3D and
on and on.
Initially, I thought that 3D movies were a way for studios to make it
more difficult to pirate the full experience of going to a theater,
but I realize that likely isn’t the case, since 3D is going consumer
so quickly.
I wonder, however, if consumers are going 3D that quickly, too? It
seems like everyone just barely bought, or still hasn’t bought, an
HDTV. Although we’re hopefully coming out of the recession it still
seems a little early for people to want to fully upgrade their home
entertainment systems again. However, I have to say that for the first
time ever I have really been enjoying the 3D effects at the theater.
Now that we’ve moved beyond the red and blue glasses and into full
color and genuinely cool 3D effects I am finally willing to believe
that 3D is starting to grow up. In fact, some HDTV models are
convertable to 3D, which is something to consider if you’re in the
market for a new HDTV. Mitsubishi and Samsung make several 3D ready
models – find them here:
http://www.tru3d.com/technology/3d_displays.php?file=Samsung%203D%20Ready%20HDTV%20List.
While at CES I saw far too many gadgets to name. I did my job, though,
and waded through them so I could tell you about some of the odder and
more interesting things I found. First off, I found that I was not the
only person with an iPhone and there are a multitude of gadgets for
the iPhone, not that I am surprised by that. First off, I found a
product that is kinda cool, it’s a mesh sleeve, called a Phubby
(http://www.phubby.com), that goes on your wrist and which can carry
an iPhone, or other similarly sized mobile phone. The placement on
your wrist kind of replaces the wristwatch, which the mobile phone is
definitely doing among the younger set, and it’s a convenient place to
have it. Although you can operate the iPhone through the mesh it is
definitely difficult to read and difficult to do more complex tasks.
If you’ve got a bluetooth headset it’s convenient to talk and do most
basic phone functions with this product. But, you better be really
careful if you try to wash dishes, like I did. Other cool cases are
made by Otter. Their cases are very durable and tough, if a tad large.
If you drop things like your phone with the frequency that I do then
the Otterbox Defender series is worth looking into. They provide good,
rugged protection for the fumblers among us. I also like Otter for
their small, very tough and pressure resistant boxes. I store scuba
gear and other small bits in them. If you’ve got a nice GPS that you
travel with I’d recommend looking into an Otter Box for it. I wish
they made a tiny box for bluetooth headsets so I didn’t break them and
pocket dial so frequently!
And, speaking of bluetooth headsets I really like both Jawbone and
Blue Ant. Although it has taken them at least three tries I think that
Jawbone has finally gotten it right with the Jawbone ICON. In February
I attended the TED Conference and everyone in attendence got a Jawbone
ICON. Mine has a very cool gold colored surface and almost passes as
bling. The best part is that, along with their fairly good system to
reduce noise and boost the voice, they’ve finally made the form and
function really work. There is a switch to turn the thing on, no more:
hold down the button till it turns on, which inevitably leads to
unintentional hangups and other unintended outcomes and that’s huge.
They also have a pretty cool function which verbally tells you about
how much talk time you have left, and a few other bits of info via the
earpeice. Blue Ant has been doing it right for quite a while, too.
Their V1 is a very sturdy bluetooth earpiece, it has a lot of
functions that are voice driven so you can accomplish a lot by telling
it what you want it to do. There is a cool glowing blue ant on it, and
although I put mine through the washing machine, once it dried out it
worked fine despite the abuse. So, I am a big fan of Blue Ant, as
well. Perhaps not as stylish, however perhaps a bit more functional.
You would likely be happy with either. Another thing to prepare
yourself for is that there is bling galore for your phones and
bluetooth headsets out there. Even Swarovski crystals are getting into
the act! You were warned.
Another fun and weird product I saw was Cyber Clean. It’s kinda like
that stuff called Slime I played with when I was a kid. It feels wet,
but it isn’t and it is quite good at cleaning places you can’t usually
reach, like between the keys of your keyboard. You just press it into
the spaces of your keyboard and the dirt and dust get absorbed into
the goo, but it doesn’t stick to your keyboard. It actually works
quite well and it’s also fun to play with.
Finally, another trend was energy conscious computer products. Routers
that send far less power to unused ports, new power adapters that are
notably smaller and use far less power and even a Sony Netbook made of
recycled CDs and Soda Bottles.
Oh, and I almost forgot about one of my very favorite things at CES
this year! Yurtpia ‘custom’ earbud enhancers. If you use earphones
with your iPhone, your iPod, or your MP3 player you’ll love these.
(They fit on Bluetooth earphones, too, but I haven’t been able to make
that work so well without using superglue…) They are silicon earbud
covers that fit tightly over your earbuds and which stick a little way
into your ear canal. They cut out a lot of the ambient sound, but more
immportantly they deliver excellent sound deeper into your ear and the
effect is dramatic. You can turn your volume down to almost half of
what it was before and the music sounds better and more clear, as
well. They come in several sizes and they have a very clever way to
determine your correct size, it works well. You can find out more
about them, and find out where to get them, at http://www.yurbuds.com/
John K. Bates is an Internet and communications professional.
Currently he is the Pacific Rim representative for Mindark.com,
creators of the Entropia Universe virtual world gaming platform and he
coaches CEOs and other high value speakers in public speaking and
media communications.
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