TECHNOLOGY REPORT

We were sorry to miss CES 2011 which wrapped up today. Encouraging was the high attendance of 140,000. I think this was not a record but it was close, and higher attendance than during the economic doldrums of the past few years. I consider technology to be a high quality and leading economic indicator – if Tech is doing well then the future is looking brighter for the global economy. Unlike some “regional specific” industries, Technology is critical in the developed world where the global economy is in many ways “directed” but also critical in the developing world where much of the production activity takes place and an increasing amount of innovation and services as well.

—– CES 2011 Post Show Press Release ——-

2011 INTERNATIONAL CES WOWS WORLD WITH INNOVATION AND OPTIMISM

Record-breaking 30,000 Overseas Visitors Experience World’s Largest Consumer Technology Tradeshow

January 9, 2011, Las Vegas – More than 2,700 technology companies across global industries dazzled attendees at the 2011 International CES®, with the ground-breaking event energizing the technology world. The 2011 CES set several new records, including 30,000 international attendees and 22 top CEOs participating in keynotes. Owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the 2011 CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, concluded today in Las Vegas.

“The 2011 International CES was a phenomenal worldwide event that spanned global industries including technology, automotive and entertainment markets,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “This global technology gathering featured more innovation, more news, more social media buzz and more international attendance than any other show in CES history.”

Preliminary attendance figures indicate more than 140,000 industry professionals attended the 2011 International CES. More than 30,000 attendees came from outside the United States, with the show attracting more than 80 international delegations. CEA conducts an independent audit of attendance at the International CES and final verified figures will be available in the spring.

Major technology trends emerged from the CES show floor including the launch of more than 80 tablets, wireless 4G LTE, connected TV technologies, smart appliances – featured for the first time in show history – and electric vehicles. Ford’s Alan Mulally unveiled the company’s first electric car at the 2011 International CES with its Ford Focus Electric.

The 2011 CES brought top CEOs to the CES stage including Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg, Audi’s Rupert Stadler, Samsung’s Boo-Keun Yoon, Ford’s Alan Mulally, Netflix’s Reed Hastings, Cisco’s John Chambers, Xerox’s Ursula Burns and GE’s Jeffrey Immelt. These executives were joined onstage by leaders spanning various industries including Comcast’s Brian Roberts, Time Warner Cable’s Glenn Britt, Dreamworks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg and Hulu’s Jason Kilar. The 2011 International CES conference program consisted of 250 sessions featuring 900 speakers.

As the relationship between technology and the content community grows in significance, the 2011 CES featured a new program, Entertainment Matters, designed for the Hollywood community. As part of the program, the 2011 CES featured the first-ever Entertainment Matters keynote panel with leaders from Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Akamai Technologies, Interpublic Group and WPP.

The 2011 International CES featured government leaders from the U.S. and around the world including United States Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk, United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, along with Commissioners Meredith Attwell Baker, Mignon Clyburn and Robert M. McDowell.

The 2011 CES created phenomenal buzz in the social media world with more than 158,000 CES-related tweets since Monday, January 3, and more than 11,000 page views on CEA’s Digital Dialogue blog.

For more news on the 2011 International CES, visit CESweb.org. The International CES will return to Las Vegas next January 10-13, 2012.

About CEA:
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $186 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at CE.org.

UPCOMING EVENTS

CEA Economic Retreat
March 1-4, 2011, Snowmass Village, CO
CES on the Hill/Digital Patriots Dinner
May 10-11, 2011, Washington, DC
CEA Line Shows
June 2011, New York, NY
CEO Summit and Board Retreat
October 1-3, 2011, Stresa, Lake Maggiore, Italy
CEA Industry Forum
October 2011
CES New York Press Preview featuring CES Unveiled @ NY
November 2011, New York, NY

Contacts: Tara Dunion e-mail: tdunion@CE.org
www.CE.org

Sarah Myers smyers@CE.org
www.CESweb.org

Maximum PC has an update on one of the stars of last year’s Consumer Electronics Show – the Lenovo U1 hybrid that offered a combination notebook and tablet computer in one slick shell.    Like many who handled this last year at CES we were really impressed, but the planned release in June never materialized and rumors were that Lenova had discontinued the project – perhaps due to price pressure from the Apple iPad which released at far lower cost than most analysts anticipated.

However it now appears that Lenovo’s amazing U1 has been resurrected and will release in China next year.   We’ll hope to have more about this during our CES 2011 coverage coming soon.

ASUS at CES

Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

There are more different types, sizes, and brands of computers at CES than you can shake a stick at, though Apple is always conspicuously absent. In fact the Apple Tablet somewhat overshadowed much of the innovations of the Las Vegas show because clearly the Apple Tablet is going to be the “one to beat”, especially given the lack of any clearly “superb” tablet offering at CES.

Although I have not done enough research to generalize much about the best new PCs I think it’s clear that the mainsteam trend is towards smaller laptops and netbooks with robust features. Costs are going down – features that would have been unheard of at any cost 5 years ago are now standard on even a modest PC. Battery life is impressive and getting better – one of the ASUS PCs shown here had a battery that lasted something like 10 hours.

ASUS also has a new interesting line of *very large* laptops with high quality speakers built into the sides of the chassis to the left and right of the screen. Although heavy, these will offer huge power and a “desktop” feel for your mobile computing. Still, I think weight is the key factor driving down PC size and predict it’ll be the netbooks that dominate the market for the next few years.

CES 2010 = fewer exhibits but more China?    I haven’t researched this to know for sure, but I think there’s a larger China presence here at CES than last year, especially from “mainland” companies from Beijing and other cities outside of Hong Kong.     The conference no longer has the large exhibit space at the Sands, making it a bit easier to navigate because there is less need to travel back and forth between the Venetian Sands venue and the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Drew Carey at CES 2010

Drew Carey hosted a short tech trivia contest for CNET this afternoon here at CES.   Carey’s joke during the contest summed up one of the major stories here here at the conference.  Carey joked that the $50 gift certificates from CNET were going to be $100, but CNET  “had  tough year”.       I spoke with CEA briefly and they said the preliminary counts indicate about the same attendance as last year’s which I think they said was 107,000 after the auditing that is mandatory for major shows.    Of course I think that many attendees are from exhibitor groups so it’s not a simple task to determine the year to year trends in terms of the industry at large.    I think the Drew Carey analysis probably sums it up – 2009 was  tough year in tech.      However overall the feel here seems to be optimistic, and I think we’re seeing more from China as “good quality, lower price” may start to define the industry more than it has in the past.

Lenovo’s clearly out for the win with a  new stylish hybrid  PC that has a detachable tablet weighing 1.6 pounds.   I got to handle the tablet last night and was impressed with the weight (1.6 pounds), how clear the screen appeared, and how well the touch interface appeared to handle navigation, ebooks, and photos.

The show is just beginning in earnest today but so far this is the most functional, best product I’ve seen here at CES.

More:

CES: Tablet PCs from HP, Lenovo‎

Lenovo Unveils Tablet Laptop Hybrid‎

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The massive Las Vegas Convention Center is divided into North, South, and Central Hall. Also, there are usually several exhibits (e.g. a Microsoft Tech Home) located in the parking area for the Convention Center. For CES first timers take a few moments in front of the convention center to familiarize yourself with the layout of the halls so you won’t be quite as disoriented when you dive in:

UPDATE:   Unlike in past years, the CES Conference is NOT using the Sands Convention Center for the big floor exhibitors so unless you have specific vendors to visit at the Venetian or Sands you’ll probably want to focus your efforts on the Las Vegas Convention Center.   Bloggers and Press note that the Venetian facilities this year are limited to a small lounge,  so you should probably plan on using the LVCC Press Room and Blogger lounges more than the Venetian.

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Print out a map:

Adding to both the fun and the challenge of the massive CES show is that it is … really … big.   This is an excellent map from CES Web:   CES_Show_Map (pdf).    The many different maps they have at the show are – for me – kind of hard to work with unless I have a very specific vendor to find.    I’d recommend that first timers print out This map and review it before arriving.

Targeting plus aimless wandering = success!

With some 2500 exhibitors I’d recommend you concentrate on finding things that really interest you and dig in deeper at those exhibits, and then simply walk the show floors somewhat systematically to take it all in.

Use the Venetian to LVCC Shuttle wisely
Because of the wait times and 10 minutes of travel I’d avoid taking the shuttle back and forth from the Venetian to the Convention Center – rather pick different days to visit each, perhaps lining up the Venetian or Hilton venues with parties or other events you have there since the Convention Center pretty much closes down after about 5 or 6 pm though many people and some exhibitors will linger on.

UPDATE:   Unlike in past years, CES is NOT using the Sands Convention Center for the big floor exhibitors so unless you have specific vendors to visit at the Venetian you’ll probably want to focus your efforts on the Las Vegas Convention Center.   Bloggers and Press note that the Venetian facilities this year are limited to a small lounge,  so you should probably plan on using the LVCC Press Room and Blogger lounges more than the Venetian.

The two  ”huge” CES Venues are the Venetian / Sands Complex and the Las Vegas Convention Center.    The Las Vegas Hilton is also a major venue and is located “adjacent” to the Convention Center’s North Hall, though as with everything in Vegas you are in for some long walks.

Unlike the Venetian Sands complex, the Las Vegas Convention Center is *not* located on the Las Vegas Strip, so be sure to plan some extra time to get there if you are staying in  a strip hotel.   If you are staying in downtown Las Vegas you’ll want to consider a cab directly over or allow about a half hour to take the “Deuce” bus to the Venetian Sands and then another ten minutes to catch a CES Shuttle from there to the Convention Center Venue.

The Las Vegas Convention Center has three *enormous* halls, North (near the Hilton), Central, and South.   Although you could spend all day in any of these you’ll probably enjoy yourself most by walking a bit faster, stumbling into interesting exhibits and spending time where you see fit.    For first timers I’d recommend you avoid planning many appointments or mapping out your day – rather  simply try to get a good feel for the exhibit halls,  stop in at the interesting venues, and try to find a few CES parties to attend.  If you are a blogger or press this will be easier because the parties are often geared to those who will create some “business buzz” for the sponsors.

Please note:   The Aria Resort and Vdara Hotel are sponsors of Technology Report’s CES Coverage for the 2010 Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and this post is to thank them for that support.   Disclosure Statement

The ARIA Resort & Casino and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the new Las Vegas CityCenter Project are the first in the USA to debut a spectacular level of technological innovation for their guests.

A WiFi City opens at CITYCENTER Las Vegas:

CityCenter now offers the world’s largest distributed antenna system.   Over 6,500 antennas and over 2,900 wireless access points cover the Las Vegas CITYCENTER complex which is located directly south of the Bellagio on Las Vegas Boulevard, also called “The Las Vegas Strip”.

Aria’s Amazing Guestroom Technologies:

At the Aria Resort and Mandarin Hotels you’ll find  “smart” automation for every guestroom.   Every device is networked via one gigabit of bandwidth.

The room will recognize a first visit and “greet” guests as they enter with lighting and parting of curtains to showcase the  hotel’s spectacular city or mountain views. The TV will turn on to display a list of automated controls for guests to personalize.

The system also provides  one-touch remote control of lighting, room temperature, television/video systems, music, wake-up calls, draperies and requests for services.  A remote control directs devices in the room or the guest can use the nightstand’s  a seven-inch touch panel.

RFID unlocks the door via key card and sensor.

Aria rooms all feature a 42-inch LCD HDTV with laptop and other device connectivity as well as access to room controls.   The TV also acts as a communications center for the room.

The ARIA Resort & Casino opened December 17 and is located in the Las Vegas CityCenter project.