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Engadget: The Official Online News Source of CES 2012 and the CEA!
If you know Engadget, you know we like to really do it up at CES. For us, the Consumer Electronics Show is serious business, and our unmatched coverage has resulted in us being named Official Blog three years in a row. This time, though, we're doing things a little bit differently. We'll be adding far more live video into the mix and, with Distro getting in on the fun as well, it was definitely time to leave that old "Official Blog" moniker behind. So, we're incredibly proud to announce that we're now the Official Online News Source not just of the 2012 International CES, but of the CEA as a whole. The Consumer Electronics Association is the entity that hosts CES each year, and its President and CEO Gary Shapiro said the following: Engadget does a terrific job bringing the energy and excitement of the thousands of new products launched each year at the International CES to attendees and consumers. We look forward to this expanded partnership with Engadget as they continue their dynamic coverage and analysis of the products and trends that rivet the world each January at the International CES, as well as their unique coverage of CEA's other events throughout the year. For CES this year we'll be cranking out the news from our double-wide trailer, just like we always do, but we'll also be adding a full video studio on the floor. Engadget Live from CES will feature exclusive interviews and live product demos throughout the day as well as other regular broadcasts -- like our evening video podcast, where you can watch the whole crew get gradually more giddy as the effects of sleep deprivation sink in. CES 2012 takes place between January 10th and the 13th. It's going to be bigger and better than ever, and we can't wait to bring it to you -- unfiltered and unadulterated -- live from Las Vegas.
Steve Ballmer to deliver CES keynote, Windows 8 will be the real star
It's hard to believe, but with the show still six months away, we're already getting bombarded with CES-related e-mail. We do have one piece of intriguing news to report at this early stage of the game: Steve Ballmer is set to kick off the festivities with the preshow keynote on January 9th and it's a safe bet the presentation will be loaded with Windows 8 goodness. Now, what exactly we'll see when the reliably excitable Microsoft CEO takes the stage is still a mystery, but WinRumors' little birdies have been whispering about a public beta of the upcoming OS and demos of both Intel- and ARM-based tablets -- predictable, but still exciting prospects. Check out the PR after the break.
CEA kicks off process to standardize active 3D glasses
This one's still in the earliest stages, but it looks like the Consumer Electronics Association (a.k.a. the CEA) is doing its part to add a bit of order to the wild world of active 3D glasses. To that end, it's just put out a request for proposals on a standard IR sync interface for active 3D glasses, and it's encouraging companies that wish to participate to join the 3D Technologies Working Group -- they'll have to work fairly fast, though, as proposals are due in by March 31st. The ultimate goal, of course, is to ensure that 3D glasses sold by one manufacturer are compatible with 3D TVs made by another manufacturer, although there's no word on any companies that have actually signed on to the plan just yet.
Retailer's 3D Demo Days, new Pirates movie trailer highlight ESPN 3D's first NBA game
We're just a few hours away from the first NBA game on ESPN 3D when the Heat face the Knicks at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden, and now ESPN has announced it will have the "television premiere" of the 3D trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides during the broadcast. While we wonder if that will become a trend for the network to show off 3D trailers for the slew of movies coming to theaters in the future, those who haven't bought a 3D capable TV but do want to see how the broadcast looks may want to check out one of the retailers (Best Buy, among others) participating in the CEA's Demo Days, coming back this weekend just in time for the game. Of course, that may mean choosing between Lebron vs. Amare and The Engadget Show tonight, but we're sure you'll make the right decision.
Nintendo won't be exhibiting at CES 2011 after all, will conduct meetings behind closed doors
Wait, put the cork back in the champagne, Nintendo isn't making its triumphant return to CES after all. The Consumer Electronics Association has just blasted out a new press release, presumably with a face red with embarrassment, to correct its erroneous note that Nintendo will be an exhibitor at the 2011 tech showcase. As it turns out, Satoru Iwata's crew have booked some meeting rooms during the show -- to discuss what, we don't know -- which somewhere along the line was misinterpreted to mean that the company will be exhibiting its wares. It won't. We'll be there anyway, this just means we'll have to be a little craftier about extracting our information. [Thanks, Curtis]
CEA survey: Americans don't want FM in cell phones
Personally, I'd like to have an FM tuner in my iPhone, but then again, I'm a radio geek, so I guess I'm in the minority. According to a survey from the Consumer Electronics Association, more than half of Americans polled say they don't want an FM tuner in their cell phone. That seems strange to me -- why would you not want that extra functionality? The new iPod nano still has an FM tuner on board, so it must be pretty easy to get one in there. Of course, if there's no demand for it, Apple's not likely to eventually include one in a future version of the iPhone. If this survey is any indication, you'll have to try and get American Top 40 in podcast form. Then again, there are some political machinations going on here, too -- the CEA also reports that over 80% of Americans would be opposed to a government mandate on including FM tuners in mobile phones. As big a fan of radio as I am, even I wouldn't support that one. It's not the government's business to determine what features are in my cell phone. But sure enough, that's what the NAB is pushing for, trying to require FM tuners in cell phones for emergency usage and information. At any rate, politics aside (and commenters, please be civil), I'm surprised that so few people are interested in having an FM tuner. Sure, it's not cutting-edge technology, but certainly there are still times that you just want to tune into the radio, right?
CEA's Demo Days brings ESPN 3D to retailers for one weekend in September
Despite 3DTVs showing up for sale everywhere, there's just not much content to watch on them yet. We've come out in support of football and sports in general as selling points for 3D more than once, but since ESPN 3D only broadcasts live events and most stores don't have access to the channel, the only way to see it is to buy one. That will change between September 10-12, when ESPN 3D carries the Miami/Ohio State college football game live and teams up with the CEA to bring demos to participating retailers (read: Best Buy, Fry's, ABT and some specialty A/V shops.) Don't worry if you can't run by the store during the game, ESPN 3D is apparently providing highlights from the World Cup, X Games and Boise State/Virginia Tech all weekend. Enough to clear up all the questions and issues with 3D? Probably not, but ultimately the new tech is something that can only sell if people see it, and this will definitely be the widest reaching simultaneous exhibition to date.
Verizon chief tapped for CES 2011 keynote
When you keynote one of the biggest consumer electronics trade shows of the year, it's usually a Big Deal -- and you're also plainly aware that when you step up on that stage, your audience (read: us) is fully expecting you to unveil something new and awesome. On that note, we're intrigued to hear that Verizon Communications' Ivan Seidenberg has been selected to do the honors for the opening address at CES 2011 next January. The press release -- which you can find after the break -- says that Seidenberg will "highlight [the] company's vision for its LTE 4G wireless technology," so we'd expect those LTE handsets expected early next year to factor prominently into the equation; of course, we wouldn't be surprised to see a tablet or two, either. In the wake of Ballmer's milquetoast showing at the 2010 show, the pressure's definitely on to deliver a rousing address. Oh, and Ivan? If Ralph de la Vega says "break a leg," he might mean it quite literally, so watch your step.
Sony, TiVo, NCTA and others chime in on CableCARD's replacement
The FCC has been unsuccessful in spurring competition in the set-top box market since Congress passed a law requiring changes in 1996. The current situation is exactly why we don't see some of our favorite companies making cable compatible devices -- remember when just about every electronics company made a VCR? CableCARD is a failure because, among other reasons, it is expensive to implement and requires the customer give up certain aspects of their service, like video-on-demand and guide data; on top of that it is a cable only solution and some people prefer satellite TV. And so after giving the market all this time to work out a solution, the FCC issued an Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in an attempt to devise a new mandate that would make give you as many options for a DVR as you have for something like a smart phone. An NOI is just one of the first of many steps on the way to new rules, but the comments do give us a great picture of where each party stands. Two sides are clearly forming with Sony, TiVo and the Consumer Electronics Association leading up one side and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), its members, and satellite providers on the other. To sum it up the consumer electronics companies make suggestions for an IP video gateway nick named AllVid, which they hope will bring consumers choice in both hardware and software without having to change providers or sacrifice features. And on the other side, they believe that things are just great the way they are and that innovation is happening. They go on to describe how the plans in the NOI will not only fail to spur innovation, but will actually be detrimental to providers and consumers. Then just for good measure, they explain why the FCC doesn't even have the authority to mandate such things. The entire thing is an interesting perspective into how the Executive Branch of our government works, and while it'll be some time before we are impacted by the outcome, we went ahead and laid out the highlights of a number of the comments after the break so you can play FCC commissioner at home.
A war of good and bad is raging before the FCC over CableCARD rules
A war has been raging in front of the FCC these past few weeks with judgment day coming later this year. The FCC wants to move beyond CableCARDs but wants to make the best of it for all those consumer who have already bought into the technology by making some changes to the rules in the interim. The battle isn't as fun or exciting as Jacob vs The Man in Black, but all the companies we love and hate are involved. Reading through the comments makes it very easy to see which companies consider us their customers and which know we have little choice but to buy their service. Basically TiVo and the rest of the consumer electronics industry supports the new changes while the NCTA, its members and suppliers think it is unnecessary because things are just fine the way they are. The biggest item of dispute is if Tuning Adapters are working or if a new solution is needed. On one hand the NCTA says they work just fine and on the other TiVo, the CEA and many individual commenters, say they don't and that a IP back channel would be more reliable, cheaper and easier to support. The only problem the NCTA does see with the current rules is that CableCARD host devices cost too much so the FCC should let them deploy cheaper boxes with integrated security -- we say let 'em do it, just as long as CableLabs starts certifying two-way 3rd party devices too. At this point the comment phase of the process is complete and we all have to wait for the FCC to announce when it'll vote one way or another -- although we expect the vote to happen this Summer if the FCC still intends to implement the changes this Fall. If you want to know who was saying what, click through for our interpretation of the comments.
Shocker: CEA's spending report finds Americans buying more technology
Guess what kiddos? That recession that harshed your mellow all last year is officially over and done with... according to the Consumer Electronics Association, anyway. Based on a new report put out today by the CEA (you know, that organization that sets up CES each year?), the average US household spent $1,380 on consumer electronics over the past dozen months, which represents an increase of $151 from last year. The report also found that the average household spent 12 percent more on CE devices over the past year, and individual consumer spending shot up 10 percent year-over-year. Other tidbits included: ladies spent more on CE wares than the did last year (but still trail the guys overall), and the average home reported owning 25 consumer electronic products, up from 23 in 2009. We're also told that 86 percent of all US households own at least one computer, making it the third most owned CE product behind TVs and DVD players. Oh, and as for those pesky netbooks? 12 percent of US households own one of those, while 58 percent own "laptops" of some sort. Head on past the break for the full skinny -- we hope you're in the mood for good news, 'cause that's all you're getting. [Image courtesy of TooMuchNick / WireImage]
CEA survey: Gaming to drive 3D TV purchases
According to a new survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association, one in four respondents who identified as a "gamer" is interested in 3D gaming at home. In a presentation today at the LA Games Conference, Shawn DuBravac, CEA's chief economist, suggested that gaming would strongly drive the adoption of 3D televisions. Of those surveyed who'd seen a 3D movie, half said they would be interested in 3D games, and one in five gamers surveyed said that 3D-gaming support was the factor most likely to drive their purchase of a new TV. "It's the first time I've ever seen new televisions coupled with games as a promotion," said DuBravac, "and that's really exciting." Additionally, DuBravac suggested that the gaming demographic at large would grow with the sale of new devices in the iPad-size category. There's currently a "device void" in the 8–12-inch screen space, according to CEA's research, but DuBravac expects that to fill up with approximately 20 million units sold of these mid-size devices just this year -- and those sales will lead to new gamers. As seen in the slide above, when the CEA asked consumers why they don't play games, almost 20 percent identified themselves as "not a gamer." DuBravac and company believe that these respondents are likely to become "gamers" through their purchases of new devices and technologies, like 3D. As for dismissing 3D as a fad? Try it first, said DuBravac, who admitted that the technology is far from widespread adoption. By the CEA's count, roughly eight percent of consumers claim to have doubts about 3D technology, but, "it's about half of that, around 4 percent, after they see it in action." %Poll-45605%
NASDAQ and CEA announce Smartphone Index
The NASDAQ isn't exactly our usual beat here at Engadget, but it's not every day that a consumer electronics market segment gets elevated to the status of having its own index, which is what the stock exchange has now done with a little help from the Consumer Electronics Association. They've teamed up for the NASDAQ OMX CEA Smartphone Index, which consists of 84 companies that are involved in one way or another with the "building, design and distribution of handsets, hardware, software, and mobile networks associated with the development, sale and usage of smartphones." We're having a bit of trouble tracking down the complete list of companies included in the index, but it does apparently have the usual suspects like Apple, Google and RIM, and it has started out with a valuation 250.00.
Hell freezes over, the FCC admits that CableCARD is a failure
Well we have to say we never saw this coming, but have dreamed of it for years, but it appears that the FCC is actually listening to the CEA and is asking for comments on how to replace CableCARD with something that would actually make the network open. For those just catching up, Congress mandated that cable had to be open with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 -- yeah that long -- and 3rd party CableCARD devices first became available in 2004 and five years later there are only 14 3rd party certified devices and 443k 3rd party devices in service. The fact that CableCARDs just don't work is no surprise to anyone who has tried to use one -- ok we're exaggerating here, but we've had our fair share installed and every one makes for a funny story. Now obviously admitting you have a problem is the first step, but it also means we are years away from a solution. But since they asked, here's ours. Instead of silly cards and middleware, just specify a two way communications protocol and embed signed certificates that CableLabs will control the distribution of in the box for authentication and encryption. It really doesn't have to be any harder than that.
CEA checking out 3D@Home Consortium's requirements for interfaces, glasses technology
Getting out well in front of the 3D standardization trend appears to be working out for the 3D@Home Consortium and its assorted backers --including Samsung, Disney, Philips and others -- as it has just submitted to the CEA a list of the various products and technologies involved in 3D. Between active shutter and passive glasses solutions we have long lost track of who is doing exactly what in the 3D space, but it appears this group has stayed on top of it, developing a database of the different glasses technologies and working with the CEA to help create a standard that it hopes will resolve any possible compatibility issues before they become a problem. We just want to know which sticker or logo we should be checking for on the side of the box that indicates our future purchases won't be incompatible or obsolete before their time, is that really so hard?
Only 443,000 CableCARDs deployed into consumer's equipment
Here we are about five years after CableCARDs became available and only 443,000 of 'em have been deployed into 3rd party hardware -- you know, like a TiVo HD or a Windows Media Center Digital Cable Tuner. If you think that's a lot, think again, as that is barely 1 percent of the 41.5 million digital cable subscribers in the US. This was according to a report delivered to the FCC by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and really gives credibility to the CEA's claim that the technology is ineffective at its intended purpose. As consumers we know all too well why the currently implementation of the technology is worthless to the other 99 percent of cable subscribers, which is a combination of the fact that 3rd party CableCARD host devices are not privy to all the same features of the cable company's set-top -- like VOD and PPV -- but also because the cable operators do just about everything possible to talk you out of using them. Regardless of the reasons one thing is for sure, CableCARDs have not fulfilled the requirements set by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the FCC needs to stop wasting time and get back to the drawing board.
The CEA asks the FCC if CableCARD is helping to spur competition
It's about time someone said something and it's no surprise that it was the Consumer Electronics Association who finally did. You see CableCARDs are the solution that the cable industry came up with to comply with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which stated that consumers should be able to bring their own equipment to the cable party. We of course know that outside of TiVo and a few other CableCARD DVRs like Media Center, no one uses it. Well actually the entire cable industry uses it because the FCC mandated that after July of 2007, that every single newly deployed digital set-top had use a CableCARD instead of the integrated security. This mandate was supposed to encourage the cable industry to support 3rd party CableCARD host devices better, which obviously didn't happen. And so the CEA is doing whatever it can and nudging the FCC with a, "this isn't working, what's next?" What is supposed to be next is tru2way, but we all know how that it is going nowhere, and fast. The CEA says enough is enough, lets bring on downloadable conditional access (DAC) which would replace the whole card thing with a simple download. Of course this alone isn't enough to solve the problem, and until the cable industry agrees to give up complete control of the infrastructure and adopts a two-way standardized protocol like DCR+, no matter what the cable industry does, this entire cycle is just going to start all over again. But hey, it's a start, maybe in another 16 years we'll actually be able to watch HDTV without a set-top-box.
CEA president Shapiro talks DTV transition
With the analog shutoff safely in the rear view mirror, CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) president Gary Shapiro took some time to talk about the move to our new digital airwaves (and also looked ahead to our 3D futures). All in all, some pretty interesting reading, but he makes a great point in chiding the broadcast industry -- by waiting until the last minute to get onboard the HD bandwagon, broadcasters missed out on what could have been positive market differentiation for their services versus cable and satellite. All's well that ends well, though, and we're just gad the plug got pulled on analog (with few casualties to boot), and we'd like the CEA president should know we celebrated the move. [Via DailyWireless, image courtesy CEA]
CEA study finds serious consumer interest in Internet-enabled TVs, cool bands like Radiohead and Coldplay
The CEA is the latest on the Internet connected HDTV bandwagon , stacking up stats in its Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only? study to show 14.5 million consumers are thinking of buying a net-enabled TV in the next twelve months. Finding out more info about what they're watching appears to be the big draw, although as with most surveys, it probably depends on the questions being asked, though we can't dispute stats showing many people are already online while watching TV. Give it a quick glance and you'll see why Yahoo!, Microsoft and Adobe are in such a hurry to be the online gatekeepers of your next display.
Multi-room audio owners are all smiles with their purchase
The growing number of "zone 2" speaker taps on the latest generation of receivers is all the evidence you need that multi-room audio systems are big with consumers. Cynics might argue that 7.1 channels of sound pretty much saturated the living room, but a study from the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) says that people with multi-room audio covering more than two rooms are happy with their setups. A whopping 85-percent of those folks would take the plunge all over again, and with more than half of them using their systems daily, it's easy to understand why. With prices on multi-room audio moving down -- especially with after-market solutions -- we're hoping lots more people jump into this product sector and join that happy 85-percent.
