By Christian Russo Sotheby’s International Realty
The much anticipated 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)® is now underway in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Each year, top consumer electronics and technology companies come together to showcase cutting-edge new products with the latest in technology innovation.
According to Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, “Innovation fuels our economy and allows us to further economic growth and create jobs.” A recent CEA report projects the Consumer Electronics industry to grow nearly 3% this year, reaching a new record-high of $209.6 billion.
In addition to new innovations in smartphones, tablets and laptop/notebook computers, CES also offers a peek into latest trends in home technology. Here are a few highlights from this year’s show to watch for in 2013.
4K “Ultra HD” TV
In typical CES-fashion, the big item to come out of the show is brand new and very, very forward-thinking TV technology. The big push this year from the major manufactures (including Sony, Samsung and LG) is for higher resolution in the form of 4K or “Ultra HD” flatscreen sets.
Samsung 4k OLED TV CES 2013
For the uninitiated masses (i.e. 97% of the general population), what is referred to currently as HD video usually means it is displayed at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This can be seen anywhere from a Blu-Ray movie to a video game on PS3 to even the YouTube videos on the Sotheby’s International Realty YouTube channel. 4K resolution, being dubbed “Ultra HD” by marketing gurus, has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 – essentially quadrupling the number of overall pixels. This is equivalent to the resolution of most modern digital projectors in cinemas today.
Right now there isn’t a standard for 4K content distribution, so these TVs won’t be able to take full advantage of their resolution for some time (Netflix is pushing the envelop with their solution, but it needs some work). But as TVs get larger (LG’s pride and joy of the convention has been a massive 84″ OLED 4K TV. It’s glorious.), the limits of the 1080p standard become more and more apparent. 4K leapfrogs these limitations and delivers such a crisp picture (think Apple’s famed Retina Display, but taking up half of an apartment’s wall space) that content will no longer look like video or film – it will be a window.
“Smart” Homes
With tech blogs and major manufacturers hogging the limelight with new TVs, tablets, phones and even USB 3.0 standards (to quote Keanu, “Whoa“), Home technology often plays second-fiddle and is relegated to cheap gimmicks like a fork that shocks you into better eating habits or a training potty with an iPad dock.
For those more design-oriented, famed high-end A/V manufacturer Bang & Olufesn presented a new series of in-wall speakers that are as pleasing to the eyes as they are shattering to the ears (in the best of ways).
Bang and Olufsen Audio System CES 2013
Bang and Olufsen Audio System; Photo: Gizmodo.com
And most impressively is LG’s new Smart Thinq series of communicating home appliances. All devices in this series, from stoves to refrigerators to washing machines use Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology to speak to each other. So if you use the LCD screen on the refrigerator to enter in a recipe, the fridge will then let the oven know at what temperature it needs to be preheated and for how long. And you can even program all of these devices from afar. So next time you spill ketchup on your white shirt while driving home (really, you should pull over if you’re going to have White Castle…) you can get that warm wash with bleach started, stat.
Thermotechnology
Coming to mainstream fame with the release of Nest, smart thermostats essentially are a TiVo for your home – it see how often and when you adjust the temperature in your home, learns your habits over time, and automatically adjusts to conserve energy and keep your comfortable. They typically have a vivid and modern LCD display, and can be controlled from a range of smart devices.
At this year’s CES, some Nest competitors have emerged that have taken this algorithmic method and applied a behavioral element. Eversense, for example, adjusts based on when people are home and how many individuals it detects. To coin a truly painful pun, staying warm has never been so cool.
LED Lighting
One final area not getting nearly as much attention as it deserves are major innovations in lighting. On the more utilitarian side is SWITCH Lighting, which is a “Best of Innovations honoree for Eco-Design” and has developed the first 25/50/75 watt-equivalent three-way LED bulb. The subject of a 2011 Wired Magazine cover story, these bulbs emit a warm light that are virtually indistinguishable from traditional CFL bulbs, but with the low-power and long-lasting benefits of LED.
Similarly, RCA, Vizio, Panasonic and Toshiba have jumped on the LED lighting bandwagon, manufacturing bulbs for mass consumption starting this year. And last year Marvell presented a new chip set specifically designed to add wireless networking capabilities to LED fixtures, allowing you to control the lighting of your home wirelessly. This was applied this year in the form of the Apple-promoted Hue from Philips.
Each Hue bulb contains its own wi-fi transmitter, allowing you to map out your home lighting, bulb-by-bulb, and adjust the brightness and color of them all. Using iPad and iPhone controls, it will even adjust light sensors based on colors of photos you have on your phone.
Wireless Blender
Oh, and there’s a wireless blender. Presumably, this will be marketed solely to Jimmy Buffet.