Intel’s Virtual Reality Presentation
Intel revealed a series of new VR experiences coming off the back of their Replay Technologies acquisition last year. The noteworthiness of this is less about the improved VR experience innovation and more about the computing power-at-the ready. It’s truly astonishing. In one of their demonstrations each frame of the visual experience was 3GB. I repeat, 3 gigabytes, per frame. So even if they are only delivering 24 frames per second you would be consuming over 1TB of data for every 15 seconds of content. So, if you are reading this article on a smart phone, you would need to combine 3 to 4 more of them just to store 15 seconds of footage. Analysing it from another angle, Intel’s 360 degree recording technology uses a total of 38 high-definition 5k cameras to capture the surrounding environment. This demonstration represented video capture and processing power at a magnitude that boggles my “child of the '80s” mind. It will be the massive processing players like Intel that will make a virtual future possible.
Fossil Will
Now Offer 300+ Smart Watches
As promised, Apple delivered
the momentum to the smart watch category that it needed to become a durable
consumer category. In turn, Fossil Group now says that they will double their connected watch offering across their brand
portfolio. This is the first CES where a smart watch hasn’t been seen as a
novelty still trying to find its primary use. Smart watches are here to
stay and your uncle Jerry will no longer ask you what stupid toy you have on
your wrist now — well he might, but he’s just doing it out of habit, not because he
hasn’t seen a backlit wristwatch before.
Any One of
the Autonomous Vehicle Announcements
There is a driverless car in all of our futures. What CES 2017 made clear is that this technology won’t only
be for the wealthiest leisure classes over the next few years — the features that make a vehicle autonomous are being discussed among
all manufacturers and the costs of ownership are therefore going to drop
precipitously. I’m actually in the market for a car as I write this and I plan
to sign nothing longer than a 2-year lease because I’m convinced that in 24
months I will be buying a new and reasonably priced car that is capable of being
fully autonomous (in the states that will allow it). And in all likelihood it
won’t be a Tesla Motors model (who is arguably already delivering autonomous vehicles).
HDMI
2.1
The HDMI Forum, a group of
electronics companies like Sony, Google, and Netflix, have announced plans to
release HDMI 2.1 this summer. The latest HDMI specifications will support
resolutions up to 10K. So now the limiting step of image clarity clearly
won’t be the wires. In fact, the resolution sent through HDMI 2.1 will be well
beyond the perceivable resolution of the human eye on any reasonably sized
screen that will fit in your home. So why does this even matter? Well the
improved HDMI standard also delivers data at 48 gigabits per second (compared
to 18Gbps for today’s HDMI 2.0 or 10Gbps within the most widely used HDMI 1.4).
That amount of data will allow for more frame rates and 'smoothness' in fast
action scenes and gaming that will rival a real world feel. And don’t worry
about buyers remorse, all of the new connections will be backwards compatible
(i.e., old peripherals will still work).
Qualcomm
Snapdragon 835
The folks at Qualcomm and Qualcomm Ventures get it. The one feature that consistently
ranks at the top of consumers' smartphone wish list is battery life. Consumers
crave it more than most features hardware manufacturers typically tout each
year (e.g. water resistance, screen durability, megapixels, etc.). Qualcomm’s
new Snapdragon chip reduces processing-related battery drain by 25 percent.
People want battery life. Period. At a future CES someone
will announce a revolutionary battery technology that will make the inventor
gazillions, but until then at least Qualcomm understands the incremental gains
people actually want.
It Wouldn’t
be a Complete CES List Without IoT...
...but this year the Internet of
Things is being shown in a different light. IoT itself isn’t news — in 2017 IoT just is, and will continue, to be a
predictable part of most physical products debuting at CES. It’s no longer
interesting to announce that your [enter old school product here] connects to
your smartphone or the Internet in some way, it’s just expected to. If you are
exhibiting a new thing at CES your device is more likely than not a node in the
internet of everything. This week, LG alone promoted a connected oven, fridge,
lawn mower, airport assistant robot, home virtual assistant, and air
conditioner. CES 2017 also featured connected wheelchairs, trashcans, and grain silos. But again, this isn't big news, they’re just new and - of course - they’re connected.
Finally…
If any of you are getting worried
about what you can get me for my birthday in March, CES 2017 featured an underwater drone and laundry-folding robot. Those’ll do. Thanks in
advance.