Convergence Trends and Innovation at CES 2012
The Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Las Vegas gave color to the reality of convergence that will occur between Digital World technologies and the digital lives of consumers over the next 12 to 18 months.
Interactive Gestures in the Living Room
If you can see beyond the existing concept of the TV, you realize that the center of the living room is becoming internet connected and consequently smarter in its ability to offer a variety of interactive services to augment viewing. This increased smartness requires new paradigms for interaction with other devices and sources of information, media and preferences. The world of gaming has provided new perspectives of how to interact with couch surfers and their devices by using gestures. Think Wii & iPhone combined to provide hand gesture controlled scrolling through TV guides, together with pinching point and zooming capabilities that enable TV program or video selection and exploration.
Digital Interactive Cockpits
Gesture capability was also being demonstrated by Mercedes along with other enhanced augmented display technologies that will revolutionize the way vehicles are controlled. An unrelated but really fascinating demonstration was a see-through LCD TV where a static bowl of fruit was visible behind the screen as TV/video images appeared on the screen. Where could this innovation lead? Although it was not found at this year’s CES, the concept of a clear LCD windscreen can’t be that far off!
Connected Medicine
The medical world is also on the verge of experiencing the power of connectivity in the form of devices, apps and cloud solutions that monitor everything from diet to diabetes to heart rate with full ECG capability built into phones. Imagine a scenario where monitoring devices are handed out to people as part of their health plan, with the revenue being generated from the monitoring services. The opportunity to reduce hospital visits and enhance health regimes that elevate overall health levels benefits everyone but requires structural and procedure shifts to accommodate the change.
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