Cool Things We Saw at CES 2015
Every year since 1967, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has showcased the best of today’s consumer electronic products, and provided a sneak peek at tomorrow’s technology before anyone else. Seminal and current personal electronics like the Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) (1970), Compact Disc player (1980), High Definition Television (1998), Blu-Ray Disc (2003), and Ultra High Definition Television (2013) have made their worldwide premiere at the CES.
This January, for the eighteenth straight year, the CES was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The Show ran from January 6th to January 9th, and staked claim to being the largest Consumer Electronics Show of all time. The exhibitions at the CES covered over two million square feet of floor space, and attracted 170,000 visitors; over 40,000 of those visitors journeyed to Las Vegas from over 140 different countries to take part. Altogether, over 3,600 exhibitors debuted more than 20,000 new products through the four days of CES 2015.
The biggest splash in the CES pool this year was made by Sling TV, a new venture in over-the-top video service from Dish Network. Unlike other over-the-top video providers like Hulu and Netflix, Sling TV will offer a selection of live television channels (ESPN, ESPN2, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, TNT, CNN, TBS, and Cartoon Network are in the base package) streamed through select existing devices like Xbox One, Roku media streamers, PCs, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
For $20 per month, with no contract or obligations, subscribers can stream the included channels at any time. Additional channels, focused on niches like children’s programming or news channels, are available in packages to be tacked on to the base package; these packages are expected to start at about $5 per month. Movie rentals will be offered through Sling TV as well, on a pay-per-view basis.
The traditional way of watching that content – on a large-screen television in your living room – is benefitting from a host of new innovations on display at CES 2015 as well. Ultra-High Definition televisions, also known as 4K TV, have become commonplace in all but the lowest price ranges of the television market, and advances in their picture quality and contrast ratios were in prominent focus at the event. Organic LED TVs (OLED), sets incorporating Quantum Dot technology, and screens featuring High Dynamic Range (HDR) display dominated the floor space this year. The most impressive of the bunch this year came from the people at Samsung. Being demonstrated by the Korean manufacturer this year was a giant prototype 110” television featuring 8K HD resolution, and a glasses-free three-dimensional view.
With the Internet making its presence felt in our lives more and more each day, it came as no surprise that some of the most discussed new products at CES 2015 were household items containing new communication capabilities – bringing the Internet of Things into our homes. All the major names in personal electronics are pushing their proprietary systems into the market; Apple’s HomeKit, Samsung’s SmartThings, and Google’s Nest will vie in the coming years to make their systems the basis of your “smart home.”
Even if you’re not ready for your everyday appliances to get “smart” yet, CES 2015 had exciting new evolutions of household helpers. Samsung debuted major improvements to their FlexDuo Range, now sporting an innovative hinged “Dual Door” oven door that – when combined with a supplied divider accessory – will allow the chef to operate the oven as two discrete mini-ovens that can be maintained at separate temperatures. LG, meanwhile, rolled out Twin Wash, a supplemental clothes washing machine that sits below the main washing unit, allowing you to do two loads – a regular cycle along with a delicate cycle, for instance – at the same time.
On the more futuristic end of the spectrum, emerging technologies on the cusp of becoming everyday items showed significant strides at CES 2015. The advancement of three-dimensional printing beyond its previous limitations of simple plastic products was on impressive display, with new models capable of producing results in metal, wood, stone, and… food. The debuting ChefJet from 3D Systems produces printed candies, and the 3D Food Printer from XYZprinting can churn out cake decorations and customized (though uncooked) cookies and chocolates.
Like every year in the half-century before this one, the Consumer Electronics Show gave its visitors a look at what will make their lives easier and more entertaining in the coming year, and which other technologies will cross over from science-fiction to store-ready in the years to follow. Next year, CES 2016 is once again scheduled for Las Vegas, from January 6th to January 9th, 2016.