CES 2013 Preview

By Robert Sanborn

Is it January already?

Yep, and that means it’s time to get ready for the International CES (formerly Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas and figure out who I am going to be seeing in such a short time. I actually spend five days out there at the show and because there are so many companies spread over such a wide space, you can’t see it all. So, I create a list of companies, events, and people to visit based partly on what I need to follow up from last year, to really cool things we hear rumors about, to hints of neat products that make it to my mailbox.

Some of the mega booths out there are worth visiting just to see the current lineup of all their products; like Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Canon, and one of my favorites from last year, Audi.
This year, expect them to use 1.87 million square feet of exhibit space to showcase over 3,000 exhibitors. This doesn’t include all the private meeting space taken up companies and mini-show producers.  This is the equivalent of over 32 football fields, including end zones. In 2012, there were over 156,000 people attending CES.

We saw the big splash made in 2012 by the LED televisions; 3D technologies, and the iPhone 4S; hints of faster networking speeds over wireless; and I found a company, Catalyst, that made a waterproof phone case that came in really handy this past summer.  In computers, it was the “Utra-Book”; a fast, sleek, and lightweight notebook and all of the Android tablets out there. If you wanted to get some work done, you got the notebook, otherwise for simple net surfing and email; go with a tablet. And of course, the “Cloud” was everywhere with five gigabytes of free storage from Apple, Microsoft, ATT, and a ton of other companies out there. Have you ever really tried to store five gigabytes of information in the cloud? It will take you days to get it uploaded, and don’t even think about it if you are still using DSL.

But enough about 2012; what looks good for 2013.

More connected goodies for your home.  Cable companies want to keep you glued to your television and so you will see much more interactive technologies available. Was watching a show on the USA network the other day and the bottom of the screen was filled with twitter feeds about the show and cast.  Wireless will get faster in the home to stream those videos to everything from your TV to your computer to your tablet. More of watch what you want when you wan!

Check this blog out tomorrow for part 2 of this preview.