Live from 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) - Day 3
For me, CES has been like going to a mall to check out the latest technology where Best Buy, Circuit City, Costco and Fry's are all next to each other, but an order of magnitude larger. Speaking with the exhibitors and listening to their pitches enabled me to quickly learn about the new technologies. It was especially nice to be able to ask detailed technical questions to the staffers and get intelligible answers in return.
Looking over my previous posts, I notice that I have focused heavily on display technology. That is because I believe more pixels are always better. The current high-end tech is 1080p, a display signal that outputs a 1920x1080 image, more commonly known as "full" HD. I saw first-hand "ultra" HD, which doubles those dimensions to 3840x2160. This is important because as the displays get physically larger the pixels that comprise them do too. A 1920x1080 image at larger than 5 feet on the diagonal starts to show its limitations. The larger, ultra HD displays were basically like looking out a window and seeing the world with the fidelity of your own 20/20 eyes!
One last comment about display technologies: I had the chance to see and interact with a laser projector that I had read about 6-12 months ago. The device is about the size of a cell-phone and projects very crisp, bright, and saturated images on any surface. I am seriously considering purchasing one when they become generally available in the 2nd half of the year.
On a device driver note, I passed by Phoenix Technology's booth. I wondered what those folks were doing these days because all I remember them for was their BIOS and POST screens on many a computer I assembled and sold back in the day. They informed me about an annual subscription-based product that rolls out all appropriate drivers to a system. Importantly, they claim to have the largest database of drivers in the world. Whereas Microsoft provides signed drivers for download on Windows Update, Phoenix's DriverAgent supposedly allows downloads of any and every kind of driver, signing not required. This struck a chord with me because it is something I think Microsoft should provide for Windows automatically. Their client-server model is certainly functional, but I think Microsoft could top that with some kind of distributed model where, when one driver inside a network finally gets updated, it can be pushed out to all other Windows installations on a special RSS feed. It was neat to see a product of the idea itself. But enough with such ideas I've last thought about more than a year ago.
CES is drawing to a close now and it is easy to navigate the boulevards without there being so much traffic like yesterday. Some booths were simple affairs seemingly staffed by one person who was doing everything. A couple of them offered neat products. One was a flat cable, instead of typical round, wired cable. It makes running wires between certain types of equipment (speakers, in particular) nice because it could be done under the floor, instead of around the base boards.
I've enjoyed my time here at CES, as well as my first trip ever to Las Vegas. Now that I am comfortable getting around the convention center, and between the hotels, I hope to return some day in the not too distant future.
— Kevin Shirley, [MSFT], WDK Programming Writer, January 11, 2009
