CES2019

Glimmers of power innovation at CES, but only glimmers

22 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Next year, you won’t be able to see it.

With power now the primary limiting factor for improvements in wearable devices, smart phones and other mobile devices, expect incremental improvements in capabilities and performance this year, but nothing radically game changing. New energy sources are nowhere near commercialisation, judging from what was on display at CES.

One positive development was the announcement of the merger of two of the three wireless charging standards organisations – Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) and Power Matters Alliance – and an expression of willingness on the part of the third – the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) – to think about joining in.… More

Open standards and clear consumer branding will be the cure for CES home automation confusion

18 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The new good housekeeping seal of approval.

There were plenty of home automation hubs at CES, as it turns out. The first home automation products out of the gate, at the pre-show press events, were primarily one-off gizmo-and-app combos, but the usual suspects eventually showed up.

Lowe’s Iris system was prominent in a demo smart home built on the show floor. Nexia had a presence too. Both have a similar business model: sell a hub and support it through a cloud server for $10 per month.… More

Electric vehicle creativity is built around new business models at CES

17 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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You wouldn’t mistake it for a McLaren, though.

Connected cars were everywhere at CES this year. A hot looking set of wheels was the platform of choice for showing off cutting edge technology. Plenty was written about it and there’s not much I can add. But very few of those vehicles – only 2 that I saw – were innovations in and of themselves.

Gogoro is an electric scooter that’s built around a swappable battery system.… More

Santa Cruz companies look for developer love in Las Vegas

13 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Wayne Torres-Rivera, Seebright’s developer community manager, pitches next-gen headset at CES.

There were as many companies from Santa Cruz exhibiting at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as there were from all of South America. And twice as many as Africa. Which is to say, there were 2. One was Plantronics aimed at, among other things, robotics, security and authentication applications, and supported by SDKs for the developers they hope to attract.

The other Santa Cruz company was Seebright, a virtual and augmented reality start-up.… More

Don't expect congress to bust local broadband barriers

12 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The 1996 telecommunications act is the basic law that governs broadband, telephone and other communication technologies in the U.S. It was written in the days of dial-up Internet access, and didn’t do a good job of anticipating the broadband industry of the twenty first century. So there’s an effort underway in congress – the house of representatives, particularly – to rewrite it.

Legacy barriers to access poles and conduit should be one of the major changes, if and when the 1996 act is rewritten, according to Staci Pies, Google’s senior policy counsel.… More

CES exhibit floor grows in size but not in global reach

11 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The eyes of the world.

The Consumer Electronics Associations warns journalists that it produces a global technology event called International CES and that none should dare speak the name Consumer Electronics Show. The problem is, it’s still a consumer electronics show and it’s still noticeably weak on the global, if not International bits. At least where exhibitors are concerned.

African and South American participation is painfully slim. South Africa-based Geco Action Cam – was the only representative from that continent: same count as last year and down from 2 in 2013.… More

Lots of solid singles, but no home runs this year at CES

10 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Crystal ball view of Eureka Park.

All the major manufacturers had a range of 4K televisions at CES this year, giving credence to the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) prediction of 4 million sets sold in the U.S. in 2015, with price points dropping below $1,000. No significant 4K content announcements, and DISH was the only company pumping up the volume on the distribution side.

New wearables were everywhere, but the theme seemed to be me too.… More

Spectrum could be a major limiting factor for the Internet of Things, Ericsson CTO says

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“Radio frequencies are going to become the most scare resource on the planet, more scarce than oil”, said Ulf Ewaldsson, Chief Technology Officer for Ericsson. “Frequencies are scarce because there are better frequencies and less better frequencies”.

Speaking at CES this afternoon, he said that current frequency allocations often reflect policy choices intended to keep particular interests happy rather than making the most efficient use of spectrum possible. Television broadcasters in Europe are one example, he said.… More

Wheeler's common carrier plan for broadband doesn't necessarily mean predictable rules

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Honest, I meant to do this all along.

Common carrier regulation of broadband infrastructure and the Internet access services that ride on it appears all but certain at this point. Yesterday, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler told a CES audience that new network neutrality rules will be circulated privately at the FCC on 5 February 2015, and voted on by the full commission at its meeting on the 26th. You can bet it’ll be a party line vote in favor of his plan.… More

Be careful what kind of broadband regulation you wish for, because you're about to get it

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“I think the devils going to be in the details”, FCC commissioner Ajit Pai told a CES audience yesterday. “Unfortunately, Title II is not going to be the panacea that some people think it will be, especially when we get to the massive discussion of forbearance, deciding which types of regulation we’re going to heed and which types we’re going to jettison”.

Short version: he’s not a fan.

Title II is the section of federal telecoms law that deals with common carrier rules, and it’s about to be applied to broadband infrastructure and services.… More