The gadget blog dvice.com has their 5 Tech Trends at CES, though I’m not sure I agree with the ordering. 3D Tv (?), Pico projectors (to put your iPhone video on the wall), ebooks (dull), tablets (not until Apple speaks) and connected everything (probably). It doesn’t mention mobile tech which will be getting a lot of play this year, nor any of the other things that geeks are talking about (social networking, location aware, etc). And this is one of the problems with CES. CES is about consumer electronics. Sure there are a few ‘new new’ things out there, but there are also tables after tables of extension cords. There is room for TV antennas. Space for wineglass washing machines, and shoe buffers. It’s really a trade show that is about anything you plug in and can buy from Kmart, not necessarily from Frys. And it is far removed from the geeky world of that which lives on the net. As devices have become connected (see the cited article) there is more and more of a connection between the online world and appliances, but CES really isn’t “the show” for the Internet generation and companies. Many of the folks I’ve worked with in the pure online world have come to CES out of default, and once they get there they often feel like ‘well, I’ve seen it, and now I don’t have to see it again’. So what trade show is the one for the online world? Unfortunately, it hasn’t really happened yet. There is no “Net 2010” show that rivals the size and scope of a CES so for now, Vegas is where you have to go. Such is life.]]>
What will be the cool things at CES this year?