Acer Aspire M5700- User Manual

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BROADBAND PROPER TIES

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www.br oadbandpr oper ties.com

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January/February 2009

C O N S U M E R E L E C T R O N I C S S H O W

T

he world’s largest consumer technology trade show

was held in Las Vegas last month, with 2,700 exhibi-

tors showing a mind-boggling 20,000 new prod-

ucts. Although attendance was off about 15 percent

from last year, there was no noticeable slowdown on the vendor

side, and the Consumer Electronics Association said its mem-

bers reported getting more business done this year than at any

prior show. In fact, they say they are considering restricting the

number of attendees at future shows to this year’s levels, on the

“less is more” theory.

Will the consumer electronics industry help lead the way to

economic recovery, as the CEA boasts? It’s certainly possible. If

consumers decide to forgo vacations this year, they’ll have plenty

of new options for home-based entertainment and for staying in

touch with the friends and family they’re not visiting.

At least half of all new gadgets, it seems, are designed to

be connected to the Internet. Inside the home, home automa-

tion options are multiplying and networking has become more

transparent. Consumers don’t just want to view content any-

time; they want to view it on any and every screen, without

having to think about how it gets there, and they want the

whole process to be hassle-free. Vendors are doing their best to

accommodate those wishes.

The proliferation of connected devices isn’t all that’s driv-

ing bandwidth demand. Newer file formats mean bigger files

that require more download (and upload) capacity. We’re still

absorbing the shock of high-definition television, a notorious

bandwidth-eater, and now we have to start thinking about

3D television as well. How soon before we’ll start to see holo-

graphic TVs on the market?

Internet Content on the tV

We have been talking about moving Internet content to the TV

for several years now, yet most people are still watching online

videos on their computers (and now on their mobile phones).

Will Internet-to-TV be another case of the “flying car,” a pipe

dream that has been about to materialize for more than 50

years since the first prototypes?

Probably not. For one thing, consumers actually want to

watch Internet video on TV. A Diffusion Group survey found

that 83 percent of consumers “believe the TV to be the pre-

ferred platform for viewing over-the-top video services,” and

Strategy Analytics found that “the ability to access the Internet

from the comfort of the living room … is making its way into

the purchasing criteria of today’s tech-savvy consumers who

plan to purchase a TV within the next two years.”

According to the Strategy Analytics survey, viewers par-

ticularly want to use the TV to watch movies from sites like

Consumer Electronics and

the Connected Digital Lifestyle

At the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this

January, products for the “connected home” were everywhere in sight,

as were green technologies. And start getting ready for 3DTV!

By Masha Zager

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Broadband Properties

Attendance may have fallen at CES, but you can’t tell that from the
show floor.