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Tech Notes - Tradeshows

The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.

The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.

The last two weeks have seen two major annual events in the computer world. The first was CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, which this year attracted over 130,000 visitors. This huge annual event is held in Las Vegas and highlights the best new consumer electronics products. This show is usually an opportunity where companies release new products and grandstand things they will be bringing out over the next year. As well, many companies showcase "concept products." These are the products which are still a few years away from production but which they wish to highlight now. The second major event was Macworld Expo. Another huge tradeshow, this one focusing on the Apple computer market. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has traditionally given the keynote speech (as he did this year), and has often used this time in front of the cameras to outline a new product or development in the Mac world. Both of these shows saw the release of thousands of new products and show the direction that electronics and technology are heading. While nothing completely new and different was released this year, a number of trends emerged. One highlight of both tradeshows was the number of companies displaying television sets with an ever-greater level of definition, filled with built-in gadgets, bringing a sharper picture and better sound with them. Expect plasma televisions to get even bigger over the coming year and continue to fall in price. As well, more companies are pushing the concept of home networking. These systems, often wireless, hook together televisions, stereos, computers, DVD players, etc. allowing homes with a broadband Internet connection to download movies and play programs they want on command. High-quality digital video and audio (available through satellite or Internet radio stations) can now be easily channeled from your computer through your stereo and computer system. Convergence continues to be a theme many companies are pursuing in their products. Increasing power, shrinking size, and the ability to "talk" to other products is what companies such as Sharp, Sony, and Microsoft want to promote. Music, video, audio, photos, etc. all coming together on one inter-connected home system. One new product a number of companies will release this year will be a personal player capable of not only playing music, but showing videos, displaying pictures, etc. Macworld was not the splash it usually is. Apple often uses this platform to outline a new strategy or a new product. For example, Macworld is where the overwhelmingly successful iTunes music store was released last year, allowing residents of the U.S. to legally purchase music online at 99 cents a song. Over the last year, the company has had over 30 million files pass through their servers. Nothing that powerful happened this year, as the only product released by Apple was a smaller version of the popular iPod Mp3 player called the iPod mini. It's expected to make a big splash and to continue to lead the market, but it's not very innovative. Overall, a number of interesting products should rise this year as computing power continues to enter our lives from all directions. (cfisher@mts.net)

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