New content and entertainment platforms and electronic advances in the automotive market were two of the hot topics of the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. Leaders from Comcast and General Motors delivered keynote addresses illustrating consumer technology’s growing relationship with both the content and automotive industries.

Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corp., the largest cable TV services in the USA, became the first chief executive from the cable industry to deliver a CES keynote. He said today’s convergence of media has ushered in a new era for Comcast, which he referred to as Comcast 3.0. He identified innovation, technology, choice and customer service as the four major elements at the center of Comcast 3.0.

Roberts announced the end of an era for set-top boxes, and proclaimed a new generation for two-way platforms with the introduction of an OpenCable platform called tru2way. Panasonic president Toshihiro Sakamoto joined Roberts on stage to announce their co-creation of AnyPlay, the first portable DVR and DVD combination with tru2way capability. Roberts also announced that more than 1,000 HD choices will be available for the portable device in 2008. Keep reading →

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Technologies that will change the world, or at least prove to be disruptive, range from medical devices using advanced microchips; a universal availability of open-source software; all DRM-free music and the recent change in encryption licensing allowing consumers to download and burn their own media.

These were some of the predictions for future disruptive technologies made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week in a SuperSession entitled “Big Thinkers, Disruptive Technologies – Today’s Thought Leaders, Tomorrow’s Technologies”.

The common theme of the panel was a future where consumers enjoy the democratization of information and technology.

The big trend at CES was the rapid roll-out of new display technologies, larger displays and cheaper displays, with the likes of Sharp and Samsung competing head-to-head with traditional display leaders like Sony and Panasonic.

Here is a sampling of the new technology and devices unveiled at CES 2008 that captured the attention of the world: Keep reading →

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In real estate, you will have heard, there are only three rules: location, location and location.

In the emerging industry of mobile commerce, we hear the same argument. Much is made of the potential of location-based services (or LBS, in its inevitable acronymisation). The most profitable models for the delivery of mobile commerce services, say the experts, will be based on where users find themselves. Ergo, the most successful services should be the likes of:
Traveller services – business travellers wanting information on the destination where they’ve just arrived;

Entertainment information – users going out to movies or a meal wanting information on what is in the area where they find themselves;

Route information – directions on getting where you want to go from where you are;

Emergency services – alerting rescue, medical or police services on the location of someone in distress (for more examples, See IBM’s vision of LBS).

Aside from the last – which is more usually the province of public authorities rather than of commercial services – the problem with this vision is that much of it doesn’t make sense. Oh yes, it makes perfect sense from a technological perspective. This is what the technology can do, so why shouldn’t it be part of the promise?

Even academics are arguing that mobile commerce is dependent on Location on the one hand, and on Time on the other. In short, where users are, and when they are there.

But it is wrong, wrong, wrong. Keep reading →

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Nearly half of U.S. media consumers are frequently creating online content for others to see, according to a survey commissioned by Deloitte & Touche USA.

This marks a 12 point escalation from a prior survey commissioned by Deloitte in early 2007, challenging the conventional assumption that online content creation is limited to a niche group of technology-savvy individuals. This and additional top-line survey findings were released last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Deloitte’s 2008 State of the Media Democracy survey found that 45 percent of survey respondents are developing web sites, photo albums, blogs and music online to share with friends, family, peers and total strangers.

“Mass digitization has created unheralded choice and desire for American consumers,” said Ed Moran, director of product innovation for Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications group. “Now, more than ever, consumers have the independence to enjoy what they want, when they want it, and where they want it – but increasingly, they are also choosing to create content themselves, or re-working other people’s content.” Keep reading →

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Technology brings jobs and financial stability, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, told a session of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Discussing emerging technology and its impact on his country and the African continent, President Kagame spoke of his desire for Rwanda to prosper through technology.

He was speaking on the inaugural CES Industry Insider program on Technology and Emerging Countries at the Consumer Electronics Show. The program also featured Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) and the MIT Media Lab.

In his opening keynote address for the program, Negroponte explained OLPC’s goal of eliminating poverty in third-world countries through education. He declared that, since most of the nearly two-billion children in developing countries are poorly educated, “We must restore, introduce and create the passion for learning in children.” Keep reading →

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