Applied Design Group

CES in 3 Ideas: Thin, 3D, 3rd World

Posted in Latest, News, Thoughts - January 13, 2010 - tim

Just back from CES in Vegas. The pundits called this one: it was definitely the year for thin devices (physically) – especially TV’s – and 3D TV in particular. The length manufacturers are going to reduce the Z dimension of television sets is pretty remarkable. When you have a 50″+ set that is only 6.9mm thin (see photo of LG LED Ultra Slim) then you can’t help but think that you could easily flush mount these things in the wall without even cutting into studs.

Everyone’s on the Z-axis reduction plan: televisions, phones, laptops, tablets, etc. Displays were cleverly designed to accommodate everyone taking photos from the side.

The other big predicted story was 3D. I was pretty cool to the idea going into the show, but I was frankly blown away by a few demos. The 3D TV contenders varied wildly, which was surprising: some were breathtaking, while others were just painfully bad. Interestingly the best execution I saw (I think it was LG) used shutterless glasses (i.e. not powered and/or tethered to the unit) – the type of glasses you wear when you see Avatar. After looking at about a dozen of these things I can actually imagine sitting in my living room with glasses on – something I would not have even entertained going into the show. I do worry about what 4 hours of 3D viewing might do to people though – I think I’d have a migraine.

Where this gets really interesting of course is in gaming. Probably the most compelling 3D demo I saw was by Nvidia running a first person shooter on three screens (with tethered shuttered glasses). Running through a jungle shooting guns in 3D is undeniably going to be a big hit. There goes our future. (Try getting your kid into college after 5 years of that …).

Finally, a CES revelation for me personally. I’ve gone to the show a number of years and usually restricted my usually brief visit to the major floors and major brands. This year a co-conspiritor and I found and spent an inordinate amount of time digging into the bizarre edges of the conference – where the 2nd and 3rd world tech providers lurk in their tiny booths hawking —- parts. While the big floor showcase brands are demoing finished consumer products (this is CES) with loud music, ridiculous ploys, demo babes, et. al. the parts guys are talking up the components that make those things magic. Being a build vs. buy kind of guy anyway I found the experience of canvassing component innovation much more interesting than finished product innovation. If anything, the component story – the crazy new things happening at the component level – is a bellweather for what the finished products might be like next year – or even later. (Remember, OLED, enthusiastically promoted this year by Samsung and others in new products, was just a proof of concept in the “parts department” of CES in past years. As was 3D TV.)

A few iPhone photos from the show attached.