CES always gets me excited this time of year. Once I sifted through all the new gadgets and gizmos reported on this year, I found myself not just excited but also a little confused. I was confused because it seems that the consumer electronics industry is confused. Sure there were new TVs with mind- blowing resolutions and great new laptops and tablets, but this is what we have come to expect every year. We expect the technology to get better, so there was no surprise there. What really got me puzzled though was the wearable technology. Displays built into glasses like Google Glass were present and no better looking than last year. Smart watches were HUGE; not in size, but in the buzz they generated. Smart watches connect to your phone and give you access to caller ID, contacts, and social media updates. Instead of pulling out your phone to answer a call or see the latest tweet from your best friend Sally, you check your watch. I am still really not sure about this type of wearable, but there it is and the world seems to love it. Other wearable technology included cloths with sensors that track vitals like a onesie that monitors a baby’s breathing…this one I get. These wearable sensors and electronics can track anything and then log it to an app on a phone or the cloud.
This connectivity of devices brings me to the other confusing thing that was big news at CES — connected appliances. This just got silly. First, you might remember me writing a few months ago about something called the Internet of Things. If not, the short version is that smart appliances are coming, and they can be controlled and monitored over the internet. Well these appliances were at CES in force. One device was a toothbrush that monitors your brushing habits and reminds you to brush more often. You could also earn electronic badges as rewards for brushing. If that doesn’t strike you as odd, how about an oven you can text and tweet? No? Check out Mother and her sensor cookies. Place her cookies around the house, and they track movement, temperature, and just about anything else. Then Mother collects the information, learns your habits, and begins to nag you about your life. There were some useful home automation gadgets though. A bevy of network- aware light bulbs that can be controlled from mobile device apps and app controlled door locks particularly stick out in my mind.
If you are into games, check out Steam and their SteamOS. Steam allows gamers to stream games to a computer over the cloud like Netflix does with movies. Steam’s big news this year is the Steam Machine Platform. This is a specification that allows you to bring computer gaming “to the living room.” This is really just like an Xbox or PlayStation, but it runs SteamOS and streams your games over the cloud. Steam is just one of the many devices fighting for a spot in your entertainment center. Roku is finding a new home inside your TV, instead of beside it. The streaming media box has partnered with TV makers to run their operating system directly on a TV.
I wish that when I go to CES I could take all of you with me, so that you could see all of the cool gadgets. There are more great products and new ides at CES every year than a team of nerds like me could write about in a month. If you want to read lots more about the “stuff” at CES though check out one of my favorite sites http://ces.cnet.com/, because their team of nerds comes pretty close to covering it all.