Issue 3.15
The Consumer Electronics Show (or CES) in Las Vegas took place last week. As usual there are hundreds of booths catering to thousands of business and commercial interests, but I go just to get a look at what is coming and what is popular in new tech. This year I had to get my news from trade magazines and on-line reviews of the products, but I also didn’t have to walk for 14 hours to see the best of the best.
Probably the coolest thing at the show was a concept car made by Mercedes Benz. It won’t likely be available until around 2030, but it features auto-piloting with over-ride capability, chrome windows that you can’t see into, a passenger compartment that is more like a lounge where all the seats face each other for meetings or partying while your car takes you where you want to go. It’s more like a living room on wheels that doesn’t need a driver.
The over-all winner of best-of-show and of two additional categories was the new Sling TV service that Dish helped develop, but which is a separate company. At $20 per month, this internet based TV service provides
lots of channels including ESPN, CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ABC Family, HGTV, Disney and lots more. So far you can only view it on one device at a time, but that device could be your phone, your TV, a tablet, etc. It is pretty impressive and I have to admit I am thinking about signing up as soon as it is available – probably in the next few months.
Drones were the big attraction this year with dozens of companies competing to sell you one. They range from toys that are fun to play with for around $200 to dedicated photo/video drones that can spy on others or capture your adventures while following you around. There are even professional drones in the $4000 range and what they are calling “battle” drones that are used in a game scenario where you try to knock each other’s drones out of the air. These are very sturdy and fun and not very expensive.
Smart watches are also everywhere you look and most have health monitoring capability as well as pairing with your phone to make and receive calls, but Garmin won the best of show in this category for one that has all that, plus about 3 weeks of battery life on low power mode and hours of time in GPS mode while acting as your GPS for driving, biking, swimming or other athletic pursuits.
There are also lots of developments and improvements in digital TVS, from curved screens and ultra sharp displays running up to over 100 inches and continued development of 3D TV. My favorite was the LG mini-beam that can run on batteries for over two hours, has a tuner and can project up to 100 inch displays on your wall or screen – all for under $450 with an expected lamp life of 30,000 hours (or 20 years at 4 hours per day).
Finally the new HP Sprout, which is a computer combined with a 2D/3D scanner. It can capture regular and 3D images and use them with software or 3D printers (which are also making a splash). All of this is impressive technology – just remember to always back up anything on your computer that is important to you.
Shaun McCausland has worked in the computer industry for over 33 years, 26 years of it locally with Bits ‘N’ Bytes and Musicomp and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions you can reach him at 435-668-7118 or shaun@musicomp.net.