I was looking for some exciting products announcements at the Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) 2011. I was especially looking for devices and technology that could be considered Science Fiction not so long ago. Last year there were a few like the First Tablets etc.... and this year although there are no ground breaking items on show, but the following products grabbed my attentions so I thought I list it here.

Mitsubishi's big-screen dreams include new 92-inch 3D HDTV
DLP HDTVs may have fallen out of favour with viewers who don’t want a set that isn’t completely flat, but that hasn’t kept Mitsubishi from pumping them out. One reason is that it can offer screen sizes that LCD and plasmas can be hard-pressed to keep up with. The latest example is a whopping 92-inch 3D model that it’s introducing at CES.

"Mitsubishi says that the 92-inch 3D Home Cinema TV uses the same 3D DLP technology you can find in movie theatres and includes the StreamTV Internet Media service for access to apps like Vudu and Pandora. Amazingly, what you don’t get, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a pair of active-shutter glasses to watch your 3D TV in 3D. Instead, you need to pay an additional $399 for a starter kit that includes two pairs of glasses."

The cost is going to be between $5,000 and $6,000. Look for it this summer if you have that kind of cash — and a room big enough to fit it in to watch the Sci-Fi Movies coming out in 3D.

New Microsoft Surface to be priced at $7,600
Microsoft officials showed off “Surface 2.0″ — the new version of the company’s multitouch tabletop. There were lots of tweets and relatively few details, but on January 6, Microsoft officials shared more specifics — including the planned retail pricing — $7,600, compared to the Surface 1.0 tabletop price of $12,000-plus.

"The software giant demonstrated the Surface 2 at a press briefing during CES today. The new version of Surface, due this year, is powered by a multicore CPU and GPU by AMD. Microsoft’s Windows 7 will power the new Surface. Samsung manufactures the device in partnership with Microsoft and the new model is just 4″ thick. Due to the new size of the Surface 2, customers have the option to mount it vertically. The top part of Microsoft’s Surface 2 uses the biggest piece of gorilla glass that has ever been bonded to an LCD."

Sony shows sci-fi style personal 3D viewer
CES 2011 Next-gen 3D viewers will get personal and, in some cases, lose the need for special glasses - or at least that's what Sony, for one, reckons. At the CES in Las Vegas this week, it showed off two possible products.

CES 2011 Next-gen 3D viewers will get personal and, in some cases, lose the need for special glasses - or at least that's what Sony thinks. Sony shows off two possible products - no, it wasn't saying if or when they will come to market - for folk seeking a less communal 3D experience.

First is a head-mounted display - essentially a 3D version of the iPod goggles companies like Vuzix and Eye-Theatre have been offering for years. Sony's version leaps ahead by combining a pair of tiny 1280 x 720 OLED screens, each capable of a supporting a 24-bit colour depth into a manga-styled headset.

Viewer

The Sony also incorporate a pair of large headphones rather than buds and use on-board decoding to simulate surround sound through the left- and right- speakers. They look and sound impressive, though there was no way to see what kind of monster AV rig Sony had tucked away under its stand to feed them.

Sony’s portable 3D Blu-ray player is its own source, casting the content onto an 10.1in, 1366 x 768 LCD with a lenticular cover to present true no-specs 3D. It too looked impressive according to the report. until you move your head from the dead-on, half-a-metre viewing sweet spot. Stand too far away and the 3D effect is much reduced - move to the sides and moire patterns disrupt the effect too. With the gadget in front of you on your lap, a desktop or an aircraft seat-back table, that shouldn't matter, and the 3D is clear.

Sony’s CES keynote speech more or less confirms a PSP Phone
At Sony’s keynote CES speech, Kaz Hirai, PlayStation head, more or less confirmed the existence of the long-rumoured yet still unconfirmed PlayStation Phone. He said:
“Sony’s strategy encompasses driving the development of a variety of new strategic products and services including tablets currently in development as well as smartphones, all the while of course integrating the know-how and the assets that we’ve accumulated from our PlayStation business.”
He carried on: “In 2011, you will start to see an implementation of a strategy we’ve developed and continually refined over the past 18 months. And you will see this strategy executed in the form of great new products and services coming to market that leverage Sony’s strongest assets.
“In addition to launching a line of Sony tablets, we’ll be building upon the video, music, game and book offerings on our Qriocity and our PlayStation Network services to deliver a compelling, unique experience for Sony across a wide range of consumer electronic devices.”

‘Star Wars’ Coming To Blu-ray in 2011?
It would appear that on Thursday at 11:30am at the CES Conference in Las Vegas there will be an announcement about ‘Star Wars: The Complete Saga’ appearing on Blu-ray. The press conference is set to be held at the Panasonic Booth (C9408). Unfortunately, no other details are available. We’ll keep you up-to-date.

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About Scifiwood News Reviews and Blogs

These are various short and long News Articles, Reviews and Blogs by Salar Golestanian and employees of SalarO.com as well as contributors of Scifiwood.com. The subject matter are mixed topics with Pure Science to Science Fiction as well as general topics on Web Trends, Technology, Software Engineering genre, or whatever subject that can affect the convergence of today's technology with Science Fiction in any shape or form. These Blogs and Reviews don't have commercial or corporate aspiration, so they are indeed completely independent views. Some of these entries may be short and just link you to the actual news or site that can expand further on the subject of interest. In Phase II we plan to incorporate some Social Networking applications within the portal.