Top 5 Technology Trends at CES 2009

Every year in Las Vegas, Nev., hundreds of electronics manufacturers, retail store buyers and members of the press descend upon the Las Vegas Convention Center and surrounding hotels for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The convention is essentially an enormous commercial -- it allows manufacturers to advertise products that will soon come to market. Companies can also unveil conceptual devices that may still be a few years away from mass production. The 2009 CES was no exception.

There's always a wide spectrum of exhibitors at the show. On one end, you have small companies that may offer only one or two products. These companies tend to occupy small booths crammed together in a corner of the showroom floor. On the other end of the spectrum are the big companies like Sony, Panasonic and Microsoft. These corporations use CES to showcase dozens or even hundreds of products. Their booths may have private rooms, multiple levels and even a professionally-lit stage.

You might think that the relatively tiny exhibitors have little in common with their gargantuan counterparts. The truth is that certain themes and trends stretch across the entire show, uniting some of the largest and smallest exhibitors in a common philosophy. The themes you see at CES can give you an idea of what to expect from technology companies over the course of the year. In past years, themes like portability and the rise of MP3 devices were prevalent. What were the themes of CES 2009? In no particular order, we'll look at the top 5 themes.

5: Technology for Kids

CES 2009 devoted a sec tion of the showroom floor to technology designed with children in mind. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which is the organization that produces CES, named this special area the Kids@Play Summit. There were two main components of the summit: the space on the CES show floor where exhibitors could display their products and a series of conferences about the ways children use technology.

The products ranged from educational devices to toys and games. One of the most popular items at the summit was the Mind Flex game from Mattel. The game consists of a circular playing surface that has a small air vent aimed straight up and several obstacles mounted on a rotating track. To play the game, you place aplastic ball on the vent and try to maneuver the ball through the obstacles as they rotate in place. But there's a catch -- you control the ball using a device you wear on your head. Mattel claims the device measures your brainwaves and you control the ball's height by concentrating or relaxing.

4: Technology for the Elderly

The Clarity phone from Plantronics was designed with senior citizens in mind.

Just a stone's throw away from the Kids@Play Summit was the Silvers Summit. But while Kids@Play focused on technology for children, the Silvers Summit concentrated on technology designed to make the lives of senior citizens easier.

Developing technology for senior citizens requires a special approach. Rather than cram as many features into the technology as possible, manufacturers concentrate on making features simple and easy to use. While a young person may want a PC that can edit audio and video or play the latest video games, a senior citizen simply may want a machine that lets them check e-mail or browse the Web.

Marketing electronics to the elderly also requires a different approach. Traditionally, older people represent a very low percentage of the electronics consumer market. Some manufacturers are skirting this issue by marketing devices designed for the elderly to younger generations. The message is that technology can help children stay in touch with parents and grandparents. The devices help seniors maintain a sense of independence while at the same time reducing their sense of isolation.

3: Green Technology

Schwinn brought its electric bicycle called the Tailwind to CES 2009.

One of the biggest themes at CES in 2009 involved the environment. CES dedicated a small section of show floor space specifically for green technology companies. Exhibitors within this space included several solar panel companies, a few wind power device manufacturers and many devices that limit or eliminatevampire power problems. But the exhibitors within the green technology area were only a small part of the overall story.

Most of the big companies at CES had a section within the main display area set aside for green technology. Some companies featured their eco-friendly devices prominently in the booth. Others grouped their green tech in a corner off to one side. And some of the companies seemed to be engaging in a littlegreenwashing. Greenwashing is an attempt to come across as environmentally conscious even though the actual product or manufacturing process isn't eco-friendly.

2: Convergence

Panasonic's Internet televisions featuring Viera Cast are an example of televisions converging with computers.

Convergence has a special meaning in the field of technology. It refers to the trend of different technologies evolving to fill the same function. This usually involves two different approaches to meet the same set of consumer needs. Ultimately, convergence might mean these two different technologies will merge into one.

For example, smartphones are becoming increasingly powerful. The latest smartphones on the market have WiFi capability, a GPS receiver, a powerful operating system (OS) and a library of applications ranging from music players to productivity software. Meanwhile, portable computers are shrinking. The introduction of netbooks -- generally defined as computers with a 10-inch (25.4 centimeters) or smaller screen and limited processing capability -- took CES 2009 by storm. The result was convergence: Phones looked more like computers and computers looked more like phones.

1: 3-D Displays

The 3D High-definition Plasma Television from Panasonic is an example of 3-D technology at CES 2009.

Perhaps the most prevalent trend at CES 2009 was the emphasis on 3-D technology. Nvidia, which produces graphics cards for computers, entranced booth visitors with a GeForce 3-D demo that featured clips from films like "Star Wars: A New Hope." The booth also featured a 3-D version of Guitar Hero, which inspired many CES attendees to let their inner rock star out as wicked guitar solos scrolled toward them.

Nvidia's system uses active 3-D, which means the GeForce glasses actively work to produce the three-dimensional effect. Each lens has a shutter that opens and closes at a rate of 60 times per second. The shuttering pattern combined with the image on the screen produces a stereoscopic effect. Most of the other 3-D technologies on display at CES used polarized lenses, which are passive. Glasses with 3-D polarized lenses don't require power -- the 3-D technology resides in the television set or computer monitor. Nvidia's 3-D system is available now for around $199.

'Google ads don't infringe trademarks'

A European Union court advisor said that Google does not violate luxury goods makers' trademarks when it sells brand names as advertising keywords triggered by Internet searches.

The advisor's legal opinion will now be studied by judges at the European Court of Justice, which has been asked to tell a French appeals court how to apply EU trademark law in a dispute between Google and several French luxury goods companies over the Internet search engine's ad system.

Advocate General Miguel Poiares Maduro did not give Google a complete all-clear, warning that it could be held liable if brand owners could show that Google's ads had damaged their trademarks. He did not accept Google's argument that the Internet advertising system is a neutral platform that would exempt it from similar legal action in the future.

While Maduro's recommendation is not binding on the court, legal advisor opinions are followed by the court in about 80 percent of cases.

The French companies - including LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton - complain that Google broke the law by accepting ads using a brand name without permission.

They fear this would allow counterfeiters buy a keyword such as "Louis Vuitton" on Google's Adwords system and use it to sell fake bags when a user taps the phrase into Google's search engine, the world's most popular.

The court advisor said neither Google nor advertisers are at fault for initially placing or accepting an ad using a brand keyword. Google isn't to blame either for displaying the keyword ads because Maduro said simply seeing the keyword isn't likely to lead customers into mistaking a brand name item for a counterfeit.

But users are likely to make decisions when they see the content of the ad or visit the advertised sites - and the advisor warns that Google may be held liable for the ad content.

This could potentially lead to Google facing legal action in national courts if brand owners could prove that such an ad damaged sales of genuine goods.

Google has "a direct pecuniary interest in Internet users clicking on the ads' links," said a statement from the court's press service, which means it can't claim the same immunity as a search engine which EU law sees as a neutral information vehicle.

Google says it now screens the automated Adwords system for obvious abuse of trademarks but that it can't be held accountable for every instance where an advertiser tries to buy a brand name.

Google's senior litigation counsel for Europe, Harjinder Obhi, said the company also believes that "consumers are smart and are not confused when they see a variety of ads displayed in response to their search queries."

The EU's Luxembourg-based high court expected to rule on the case in the coming months.

Over 50% of businesses have iPhone users, but only 27% of IT departments support it

When Apple recently announced its SDK and Exchange support for the iPhone it unleashed a lot of talk about the iPhone becoming an enterprise powerhouse and even a BlackBerry killer. I thought it would useful to see where the iPhone currently stands, so that we can track its progress over the next 12-24 months and see what kind of traction it gets in the enterprise.

I recently ran two polls in which I asked if people had iPhone users in their businessand whether the IT department supported the iPhone.

The first poll revealed that over half of businesses have iPhone users.

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The second poll showed that there’s a much smaller percentage of IT departments that actually support the iPhone.

Keep in mind that this was not a scientific poll, and that the percentages and the number of respondents are as of March 20, when I am writing this post. The polls are still open so the number could still fluctuate a bit. Also, since this is a voluntary poll it’s likely that it attracted people who were interested in the iPhone to respond. Thus, the number of businesses where there are iPhone users could be a little high, and so could the number of IT departments that support it.

However, one thing that is clear and undisputed is that there are a lot of companies that currently have iPhone users who are not supported by IT. This is the type of situation that I was talking about in my recent column “Sanity check: Should IT support user-owned smartphones?” The idea is that it’s better to support user-owned smartphones and at least have some idea of what you’re dealing with — and maybe even put a few guidelines and protections in place — than to say ‘No’ to supporting user-owned devices and have a bunch of users putting business data on their devices behind your back.

This user-owned smartphone issue isn’t exclusive to the iPhone, but based on TechRepublic’s data, the issue is definitely acute for iPhone users and their IT departments. Apple’s iPhone SDK and recently-announced enterprise improvements should definitely get more IT departments on board to officially support it.

However, it will likely take a couple years before it becomes a major threat to BlackBerry’s enterprise dominance because BlackBerry has been working with IT departments for almost a decade to tailor a solution to their concerns and needs. I also have my doubts about whether the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard can stand up to the large amounts of data entry that is done on enterprise-class devices.

SAP interactive forms by Adobe is design by Wipro

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited, announced that it is among the first systems integrators to provide design and implementation services for the SAP Interactive Forms software by Adobe. This new, innovative SAP program is designed to enable selected SIs to provide SAP customers business process innovation by automating and streamlining extended form- and document-based processes.

The program includes a factory-like approach leveraging pre-developed SAP Interactive Forms packs that can be rapidly customized and cost-effectively produced for large-scale organization. The SAP NetWeaver platform provides the flexible technology for a robust, scalable business process platform.
Wipro will enable SAP customers to deploy forms-based business processes that include business critical information from, and for, SAP applications and other solutions. Based on enterprise service-oriented architecture, this program leverages a pre-developed inventory of reusable form templates, components and services that reduce the cost of form development and deployment time, enabling SAP customers to gain unprecedented return on their investments in enterprise systems.
Pre-built SAP Interactive Forms packs will be available for industry segments including Discrete Manufacturing, High-Tech Manufacturing, Consumer Products, Utilities, Oil and Gas and Telecom. SAP Interactive Forms packs will also be available for horizontal solution areas including Human Capital Management, Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management. For the first time, organizations will be able to access forms packs that can automate their HR processes based on best practices from hiring through termination.
Wipro further announced the upcoming launch of Service Market Place, which will provide SAP customers with web-based access to downloadable SAP Interactive Forms demos, tools and content. Hosted by Wipro, SAP customers can choose from a variety of readily available, pre-built SAP Interactive Forms that incorporate best practices and can be rapidly customized based on unique business requirements. Specific development engagements are also available that will benefit from Wipro’s knowledge of the pioneering program.
Proven and tested process-specific SAP Interactive Forms will be provided by Wipro to help companies better communicate with their customers while improving their bottom line.
Wipro, an SAP global services partner, continues to accelerate growth as part of the SAP partner ecosystem through co-innovation and development of productized services, bringing the value of enterprise SOA to customers.