CES: The Madness Continues

After the first full day of the show (and the pre-show events), a few observations come to mind.  I ran into a press contact I deal with a bit, and he asked me what my impressions were thus far.  I said one of the things I've noticed this year at CES is that the show is a joy as always, the products are wonderful to see -- but -- I wasn't all that impressed by any great advances in technology.  Products seemed more "improvements" on last year.  He smiled and said, "Good to know, because I agree."

It may be that technology moves so far that periodically it needs to step back, catch its breath and assess the real world.  And then leap forward again.  I've noticed this in the past, so that might be what we're seeing here.  Make no mistake, though, the improvements are impressive.  Just not major leaps.

One exception.  I had a longer (though still brief) look last night at the Stream TV Network's new glassless 3D-TV in their 4K monitor.  (This is a new standard of especially high resolution.  You've likely heard of 1080p -- this is far greater clarity than that.)  The short version is that it was absolutely stunning, and a borderline game-changer.  The president of the company, Mathu Rajan, told me that other TV manufacturers were coming by their booth all day.  He said that LG didn't want to leave.  I don't think this is hype -- the technology is that stunning.

I've been writing about this tiny Philadelphia-based company for four years, and have always said how massively they're ahead of all the big boys.  That's coming true now.  They expect to have sets on the market within months, and the price will be in consumer range.  Far below the $15,000 that Toshiba is charging for their far-less (and non-4K) sets.

Now, rushing off to the show...