Innovation scarce at CES 2008

Submitted by Adam on January 14, 2008 - 10:54pm.

CES is always fun, however those who put on the show and those who participate have more in mind than simply putting together a fascinating spectacle.

The purpose behind CES is to bring buyers and sellers together and to bring each company's latest products in front of the media spotlight. This is where CES fell short this year.

The Consumer Electronics Association did a great job as always at putting the event together, it was the companies that fell short. There were few innovations that inspired us to get excited about the future of technology.

We did see a super thin TV, but it was still just a TV. We saw every shape and size of bluetooth headset and GPS system, but they all had exactly the same features.

At first it was funny to hear each company explain how their GPS device was better than their competitor's because it featured bluetooth compatability, MP3 player, photo viewing and FM transmitter. It quickly got old as the next company would describe their device as having exactly the same features.

Every company had a special noise canceling technology for their headphones and an image smoothing technology in their HDTV. They all had camcorders that allowed wireless transmission of video to TV in full HD. Each would describe how they offered a way to send HD video wirelessly throughout the house.

The one thing that they all differed on was the special name their company gave to their copycat technology. One company might call their wireless video transmission WiLink while another would call theirs NoWiNfToViHD (No Wires Needed for Transmission of Videos in HD).

Innovation was rare. While everyone else was trying to innovate by adding more buttons and features, ASUS was the one refreshing company. In their booth we saw two things that demonstrated that adding buttons does not equal innovation.

The ASUS Eee PC (read all about it by searching on our site) and Splashtop.

The Eee PC is a tiny PC designed for simplicity. It is small, portable and comes right out of the box with everything you need in an ultra portable computer.

Splashtop is, in many ways, filling the same niche as the Eee PC. It is essentially a small computer that is built into many ASUS motherboards. Splashtop allows a user to turn on the computer and instantly surf the web, watch DVDs and a handful of other functions without having to wait for the system to go through a lengthy bootup process.

If I were looking for the next breakout hit in the computer or electronics industry, I would look at devices like Splashtop, the Eee PC and the Jitterbug cell phone long before any device with a headsup display, 3D video or a remote with a built-in breathalyser.

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