CES 2012: From 8K to Wormholes and back again

 

From gadgets to gimmicks, the Consumer Electronics Show is the coming out party for technology. If it has a battery or a power cord it was probably on display this week in Las Vegas this week. ExtremeTech has covered some of the blockbuster products launched at the show separately, like the Nikon D4 and Fujifilm X-Pro1, but there are plenty of other exciting devices worth learning about.

Here are a few of the most interesting things we spotted this week…

This Zalman robot vacuum cleaner is the first to be drivable with a game-like steering wheel. It should make cleaning your room fun. It’s a pricey $600 in Europe, with US pricing to be announced later this year.

Craftsman’s new system allows you to close your garage door from anywhere. Who buys this stuff?

CloudFTP is a tiny wireless device which allows any USB peripheral to be used wirelessly with any computer or tablet. Here it is being used to gateway a Flash drive onto a tablet.

Corning’s new Gorilla Glass 2 is just as strong as the original, but 20% thinner, lighter, and with better optical qualities as a result. This audience member had a hard time breaking it — the stylus broke first.

 

Samsung’s SUR40 for Microsoft Surface make the vision of a living coffee table or desk a reality.

There is a lot of talk about how much resolution is enough, but Sharp says bring it on, showcasing a prototype 8K 84-inch display. It runs at 7680×4320 and is uncannily like looking through a window. If anyone tell you there is no point in 8K displays know this: they haven’t seen this one.

Just another of CES’ wonderful toys. This one is a 3D tablet from MasterImage.

Out of the dozens of new tablets at the show, Kupa’s was one of the most unique. Featuring both a resistive and a capacitive touchscreen, it is perfect for use with Windows 8 for both traditional Windows applications with the stylus and new Metro-style applications using touch.

 

LG is not a company to be bested at CES. While it’s not 8K — it was just a measly 4K — LG’s 84-inch Ultra-def 3D sets were one of the visual highlights of the show.

For the geek who has everything else, Samsung was showing a refrigerator with a tablet built-in for doing grocery list making and recipe reference.

Polaroid has reversed the usual camera in a phone model by building a full Android smartphone into a camera with a real telescoping zoom and classic point and shoot controls.

Sony prototype All-in-one PC featuring an autostereoscopic display using face-tracking to optimize for the user. They are expecting to have it available as a product by the end of the year.

 

Intel demonstrated prototypes of smartphones built from their reference design. We have the full story on Intel’s x86 smartphones and Medfield here.

The Wormhole KM — Keyboard Mouse — switch seamlessly allows control of any two USB connectable computers from one or the other. It worked great and I want one!

This year’s CES has been the largest ever, and even though there wasn’t a breakthrough new technology like 3D to headline the action, the quantum leaps in tablets, smartphones, networking, and quality 3D TV mean that we’re looking forward to an exciting year in tech.

LG to launch first wireless HDMI (WiDi) TVs

With excitement for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) building as the date draws near, LG has announced that it’s launching the world’s first native Wireless Display (WiDi) televisions. WiDi is more commonly known as “wireless HDMI” for its ability to stream high definition content over a 4Gbps data connection. Partnering with Intel, the first 3D versions of LG’s wireless HD televisions should start rolling out sometime next year, with CES attendees getting the first look at them next month.

WiDi operates in the 60GHz extremely high frequency (EHF) band. Because of the amount bandwidth available in that spectrum, it has the capability of transmitting both compressed and uncompressed high definition content. With a theoretical top speed of 25Gbps, it certainly has the power to get the heavy lifting of high definition done. Currently the technology has a fairly strict limitation in that the transmitter needs to be able to “see” the receiver in the television, but it’s a major goal of the companies involved to develop the standard to the point where this is no longer needed.

WiDi is one of several wireless HD standards that are going to be competing for market dominance in the near future. WiGig and WHDI are two other standards that are working towards the broadcast of large amounts of audio and video data wirelessly. However, with LG creating a strategic alliance with Intel, support for the other standards may wane. LG was listed as a promoter of WiGig, but it looks like that may be changing in the near future.

WiDi is available now to consumers in the form of an adapter that connects to the HDMI port of current-gen televisions. Running around $100, they are a reasonable way for a user to be able to stream to their television with no wires. With LG announcing its native displays, the cost to the end users will drop as the hardware will be mass produced with the televisions.

The advantages of WiDi are obvious for home theater buffs. Removal of the need to stretch long runs of HDMI cable through walls is something to be applauded and looked forward to. Look for announcements related to the LG WiDi televisions during CES next month.

Read more about Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi)

Source