Alive For Go-Ahead Men : A Delhi Press Magazine

You had to be at the fabulous Las Vegas strip from 7 - 10 January, when the Consumer Electronics Show for 2010 took place, to discover how cutting- edge technology is turning out to be indistinguishable from magic. 1.8 million square feet of immaculately choreographed space had come alive with about 2,830 exhibitors displaying 20,000 new products and the latest technology innovations.

The footfalls were impressive. More than 110,000 journalists, blog gers, analysts, senior industry executives and others, crowded the myriad booths, to have a tryst with latest innovations in the realm of TVs, smart phones and other consumer electronic offerings. Many more are known to have followed the show on the Internet and TV.

Unlike the last year’s CES show, when the global financial meltdown had led to a feeling of gloom and doom, the atmosphere this year was decidedly upbeat. Last year, the chatter on the show’s floor had been more about how to weather the economic storm than about the latest innovations and breakthrough technologies.

The gradual warming of the global economy has led to a renewed sense of optimism, this year.

Exhibitors could be heard joyously chatting about the rapid spread of personal computing and mobile devices. It was clear that various businesses, associated with electronics, foresaw a better period ahead – and a more inventive one. And the 2010 CES was the greenest show ever, with plethora of eco-friendly gadgets on display.

The first CES was held in 1967. Since then, the show is being held regularly, once or twice every year. Here is a description of some of the most awesome gadgets and technologies that made a debut in the 2010 CES:

Intel Wireless Display: The latest Wireless Display technology (or WiDi), from the ensemble of tech major Intel, turned out to be the biggest show-stopper at Vegas. In fact, this could turn out to be the biggest sleeper technology in the world. Just think about the ease, which would come to you, if you could connect your laptop to an HDTV or business display, without having to go through the rigmarole of fumbling around with HDMI cables or having your range limited by the length of one.

You do not even have to use Ultra Wide Band technology, which might come in the form of a flash drive type of a dongle. The Intel Wireless Display comes bundled with the laptop, so you do not need to rely on wires or dongles.

All you need is an adaptor. Simply connect the adaptor to your TV, follow a few simple steps, and your task is done. Once you have set up the system, sharing your screen with various devices at home or office is going to be as simple as pushing a button.

According to the Intel spokesperson, the Wireless Display (WiDi) is available for end-users from 17 January 2010, on certain select laptop models, which are powered by the new 2010 Intel® Core™ i5 processor.

Dell Alienware M11x: Video game aficionados at the show were clearly spoiled for choice. The gaming industry was out in full force and there was a plethora of cutting-edge goodies on display – Nyko Wand Plus, Super Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition, FightStick S, Alienware M11x and much more. But amongst all the exciting products, Alienware M11x from Dell clearly stood out as a trend-setting gaming netbook.

Powered by the state-of-the-art Intel Core 2 ULV, the U7300, this gizmo boasts of an 11.6-inch display, NVIDIA GT335M switchable graphics, 6.5 hours of battery-life on integrated usage and over 2 hours on gaming mode. For a better visual treat, the netbook can be connected to a larger screen by using the DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA ports.

Thinnest E-book reader: One problem with those e-book readers that have been available till now is that they are somewhat thick, compared to traditional magazines and newspapers. And they are not flexible.

You cannot even think of bending your Kindle or Sony e-book reader.

Those devices would break if you tried to bend them.

However, that is set to change, once the latest reader from the ensemble of US publisher Hearst Media makes a debut in our electron ics showrooms. This inimitable, 11.5- inch, flexible gizmo goes by the name of Skiff and it is geared to change the way we get our daily quota of news and entertainment.

The Skiff has 3G connectivity, and a 1200 x 1600 resolution screen. Being only 0.25 inches thick, it is all set to give those anorexic models a run for their money. The flexible display made of a thin sheet of stainless steel foil, is also embellished with touchscreen capabilities. A clear must-have for all book-lovers.