updates

Wearable, wireless and aware are Intel's 2015 themes

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Intel is pushing three concepts, says CEO Brian Krzanich: computing unleashed, intelligence everywhere and the wearable revolution. That’s the top line from his keynote speech at CES this evening. I’m not entirely clear on Intel’s role: other than a tiny sensor, processing and communications module for wearables, dubbed *Curie*, there wasn’t much talk about Intel silicon. Just lots of product demos in the *powered by* vein.

He ended with a promise to hire more women and minorities, and saluted founder Gordon Moore – 2015 marks the 50th year of industry loyalty to his law.

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Consensus: 4K streaming needs 15 Mbps, for now

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“You’re going to need bandwidth speeds in the range of 15 Mbps,” said Michael Schreiber, SVP for content acquisition for Comcast. Ultra high definition content would still flow at a lower speed but “it wouldn’t be a 4K experience”. He was responding to a question about 4K bandwidth requirements at a panel session at CES this afternoon.

Netflix’s Chris Fetner agreed, saying their 4K content runs at 14 to 15 Mbps. Christophe Louvion from M-GO also pegged 15 Mbps as the current minimum, with the caveat that new compression algorithms will bring that down.

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Sony tries to reclaim premium brand glory with $1,120 Walkman

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The high resolution NW-ZX2 Walkman introduced by Sony yesterday will sell well enough at $1,120, but its purpose isn’t to drive revenue.

It’s a strategic brand positioning move. It’ll be bought by audiophiles, but the news is that Sony’s trying to position itself for high end mobile audio. Sony’s premium reputation has all but disappeared, and the high resolution Walkman is part of the effort to reclaim it that began last year.

Samsung CEO puts company's weight behind open IoT standards

5 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The Internet of Things is the most important development in front of the consumer electronics industry right now, BK Yoon, president and CEO, said in the opening to his CES keynote address tonight. It’s not something that’s coming in the future, he said, “I would argue that the age of the Internet of Things has already started”.

He called for open IoT standards, promised that Samsung’s products would comply and said by 2017 90% of the company’s products – and 100% within 5 years would be IoT capable.

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Update: CEA makes bullish prediction for ultra HD products

4 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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At its opening press conference at CES this afternoon, the Consumer Electronics Association predicted that 4 million ultra high definition – 4K – television sets will be sold in 2015, against 77,000 in 2013 and an estimated 1.3 million in 2014. By 2018, CEA says that annual 4K sales volume will hit 14 million. Price points for sets in the 50-inch range – the smaller end of the scale in 4K terms – are expected to drop below $1,000.

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