What I did NOT see at CES 2k10

[diJenerate]

So CES 2010 is over and we have seen a barrage of e-book readers and Tablet/Slates from everyone and their grandmothers... We have seen everyone's take on 3DTV... We have seen that when Mr. Gates retired from Microsoft, innovation retired with him - A direct quote from Engadget after Ballmer's keynote address was '.. that's it? Wow. Incredibly boring. Incredibly incredibly boring. Really.' I could not have said it better myself... Look here Steve, no matter how many times you say 'Bing it', bing will never be Google! I mean people may Google stuff with Bing but Bing will never be Google, Bing will never be Google, Bing will never be Google!

Bottom line Steve, you're a suit... you have never had any imagination and you never will, you're a boring old suit (who wishes he was a geek and could cash in on the geek cred that seems to be worth a mint today for all of the true geeks) and I'd have more respect for you if you accepted that.. I mean, can you see what is wrong with this picture 'Bing Maps steals the cool crown from Google'? I mean... seriously - the company is worth over 200 Billion USD and it is now the 'industry follower in innovation' with the lamest marketing strategy in the history of tech giants?

"...Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony" - those generic icons and menus of Windows Operating Systems over the years seem to have become the identity of Microsoft in the eyes of the world today... bland, generic, white bread... 'does not make an effort in class'! They need Gates back or on its current path and with no new major changes (read - failures to innovate by everyone else) in the industry, I see Chapter 11 in 20 years (I guess it's good to be so deeply intertwined in the personal lives of the pc using peoples of the world and the corporate world at large... it takes time for everyone to ditch you!). Apple Inc. on the other hand would fall much more quickly since their model relies on three things... 1) Steve Jobs, 2) The need to dangle a new shiny metallic object in the field of vision of the consumer 3 times a year! and 3) Steve Jobs! - yes that's right... Steve Jobs is 2/3 of Apple - at least in the eyes of it's customer base if the reactions of the public shareholders are anything to go by on announcements of changes to Job's mortal status/health.

Ok enough 'Corporate Giant' bashing... My top 5 CES 2010 picks in no particular order are as follows:

- RCA Airnergy... yes that is the RCA brand on something innovative in 2010... yes and yes I couldn't believe it either... so let's see if we can't get those batteries into everything (although if everyone had one they might be significantly less effective) and if they can't get that to work on Cellular Frequencies... I hear they are even more abundant than Wifi
For the uninitiated, this appears to use the principles of RF harvesting which is how RFID cards are powered... except RFID cards only need <5mw to work and the readers usually operate at the more energy generous frequencies of 10GHz+

- Lenovo IdeaPad U1... Looks good now, so let's hope they deliver on the promise when it comes to market in June

- Devices with the Pixel Qi technology... Apart from the viewing angle trade-offs, this will help curb our need to run to the mains outlet every few hours - a cure for the power-drain runs, as it were As for the low viewing angles and decreased contrast ratio... it's first generation.

- Boxee Box... five years ago I would have asked, why? Today I am one of those people who seldom watches tradition TV and I'd say about 90% of my TV viewing is done via the web (of course I'm still considered niche market)... so if you can still call it TV, this is for these people who I predict will be the majority in about 10 years.

- Glasses-Free 3DTV... This is the only way 3DTV actually makes practical sense... those of us from the nations of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism who have seen an IMAX movie in 3D will especially know what I'm talking about. Here's to getting this ready for mass consumption by CES 2011.


Yes 5... only 5 from an entire convention hall floor... 5 - in 2009 it was the 'recession' what is the excuse this year people?

Yes I did see Samsung's Transparent display which was shown last year... so that doesn't count as new in 2010 and yes I did see LBO Pico Projector but if you package it in a different form factor and still release nothing a year later... it doesn't count either.


What I did not see aside from the use of imagination was a UMPC for the real world, ready for release to the real world... We have the tech to do it but there was not on show a single UMPC with the power, battery life and build quality of the Fujitsu Stylistic ST6012, the size and portability of the Vaio UX we all love so dearly and the always-on, always connected convenience of a mobile phone... There were products that give one or two of the three, but is it really that difficult in 2010 to actually put all three in the same molded or cold-forged aluminium chassis - finally make the Vaio UX killer - even if it's another Vaio?

So we want 4GB RAM, 250GB+ HDD, 11 hours continuous use battery life (speak to RCA and Pixel Qi), a form-factor to fit a belt loop case and the ability to be on and connected while in that belt case, 5~7-inch 1024x600 or 1280x800 res display.

I'll even pay top dollar for it if I can get an official upgrade program (simple swap of a motherboard by an authorized dealer for a few hundred dollars) and some kind of faceplate/skin system (so it looks like new each time I want it to or can take the sea salt when I'm at the marina or can take a drop when I'm hiking or is ultra thin when I'm on a plane etc) and freedom to run the OS I want choose without compromise (I'm not saying give me an OS Warranty or support for each one but allow them... document hardware, make drivers source code available) - Andriod, Win7/XP, Linux, OS X, OpenSolaris...

So who among you manufacturers of the world has the engineering skills, the foresight and the testicular fortitude to see the value in this and do it?

--------------END RANT---------------

diJenerate

[Worf]

Or hell, add the size of an OQO, which now defunct, is still the smallest complete PC around.

But, I believe the main problem is they don't sell. Then again, the good ones, like the UX and the OQO, are expensive, and people want cheap.

Instead we get phones running Windows XP with battery life that's crap because they can't do half the power saving features that normal phones with ARM CPUs can (milliwatt/MHz for the entire platform).

[diJenerate]

Originally Posted by Worf

Or hell, add the size of an OQO, which now defunct, is still the smallest complete PC around...

The size of the OQO is good, but what ever is made should take a cue from the Vaio UX on ergonomics.

If you have used both, you'll realize you can hold the Vaio UX for hours in hand without any discomfort, the OQO, not so much, simply because it's square and not taking the user's human hands into account.

The faceplate/shell design being used to allow the core to work in multiple environments which I have described in the original post isn't just aesthetic. Antelope Tech had the right idea in 2003 but I think were 7 years too early. The world has changed (much of that thanks to the netbook) and many people in the mainstream will try the new 'gizmos' now because they can see a reason for them which they could not imagine 7 years ago.

I believe modular designs can work but must be done correctly and at the right price for what you'll get. If the price is high at the start, make sure everything has been thought of and if the shell is designed for handheld use, make sure the human hands have been taken into account for things like ergonomics, heat dissipation and simple things that are easy to miss like positioning and type (straight vs right angled) of connectors and charge cables.

diJenerate