The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show has wrapped up in Las Vegas and has left a lot of people wanting more including myself! There are a lot of electronics items to look forward to in 2012 and beyond, here are just a couple that could go on your wish list:
1) Flat screen TVs are becoming larger, thinner, brighter and clearer. One of the big catchphrases for 2012 will be OLED screens (OLED stands for organic light emitting diodes). Up until now OLED screens were only found in smart phones . But both Samsung and LG were showing off new 55 inch OLED hi red 3-D flat screen TV ‘s. Sony had their version of the OLED screen adding the word crystal to their line of TVs. The new TVs use less energy and have a much brighter, richer picture. One thing to look forward to in 2012 and beyond 4kand 8k flat screen panels. The 4 k delivers 4 times the resolution of today’s hi de TV’s and even though there’s not original content for them yet, we should start to see them in stores in the next year or two. After that look for 8k flat panels (yes 8 times today’s resolution).
2) Tablets continue to be a big draw at CES a Nvidia is hoping their versions of a tablet will be the ipad killer. Nvidia is pushing a quad-core, 7-inch tablet would soon be released for only $250.
3) Keep an eye out for something called Simple TV. Imagine a DVR (the kind built into an insight cable box) without a hard drive or a video output.
Simple.TV will cost you ($150, available in the spring) plus 5 bucks a month and can record over-the-air HDTV and some cable stations , along with traditional DVR functionality like pausing live TV (If you have a TIVO box you know what we’re talking about).
The interesting part of this is that the Simple TV box does not have an HDMI or any kind of video output. Instead, the box broadcast shows to your home network or devices like Roku, iPad, Boxee, and Google TV.
4) Computer manufactures like HP are going after the Mack Book Air. The newly announced very thin HP Spectre laptop has a Gorilla glass cover. This is HP’s first consumer-oriented ultrabook. The laptop is priced at $1,399 or more, compared with a similar-sized Air at $1,299 to $1,599.
The internals on this 13-inch, Intel Inside laptop are nothing to sneeze at — with as much as 8GB RAM and Intel’s i5 Processor.
5) Remember from Star Trek the computer called the Replicater? You tell it what to make and it makes it out of thin air? Well.. get ready for a real Replicater! MakerBot Industries unveiled the MakerBot Replicator, one of, if not the, first with the ability to print objects made from two different colors. It’s not cheap.. starting at $1,799 for a model with a single extruder, and $1,999 for the dual-extruder attachment, which allows for two-color-printing. It won’t make you a real cup of coffee, but it could print one (using thousands of layers of material).
6) I want an EXODesk From ExoPC. It’s a 40-inch touchscreen that hooks up to your desktop computer and acts as an organizer, a keyboard, an app launcher and a huge tablet computer, among other things. The desk looks more like a TV lying on it’s back. You type by hitting the keys on the TV. The price target is in the low $1,000 range.
7) Tobii, is a small Swedish company, has created “Gaze” technology. It allows you to control Windows 8’s new Metro operating system by looking at the computer screen. Point your eyes to an icon and the icon opens the program.
8) Nokia has just introduced their Lumia 900 smart phone. it runs the new Windows Mango operating system and looks good on the 4.3-inch display screen. The smart phone offers a superfast, supersleek 4G phone that runs as fast as they come.
There’s more.. but who has time to write about these items. We need to get them in the stores and play with them!
Bob Sokoler is a former Anchor/Reporter turned Louisville Realtor 7 years ago, and co-owner of The Medley Sokoler Team in Louisville Kentucky. You can learn more about Bob, his Team by clicking Louisville Real Estate.
