The Buzz

Steve Jobs should feel flattered. With few exceptions, nearly every new development at CES 2008 is a second generation variation of or improvement to an existing Apple product, from Apple TV to the iPhone. He should also be scared. For the first time, many of the improvements are not just different but much better. And also for the first time, some companies (like LG, iRiver and a handful of others) are stepping on Apple’s heels in terms of highly stylish design.

In no particular order:

1. The “socializing” or “MySpacing” of tech gear, advances in the “Share” function in everything from cameras to media centers to bluetooth in your car, allowing the relatively seamlesss ability to upload your photos/music/video to Facebook MySpace and other social networking sites. Most dramatically seen in the increase of dedicated “camera and video” buttons and editing software on nearly every line of new telephone.

2. Sensory Interfaces, better known as touch screens, on phones of course, but also now on large flat screens  as a way to control music or movies while entertaining.  An interesting but odd development that eerily harkens back to having to walk up and turn the pliers to change the channel after you broke the dial on your old black and white.

3. Wired Multi-room functionality or home networking.  The democratization of the kind of high end controllers to move music and media through multiple rooms that you used to only see in Hugh Hefner documentaries and episodes of MTV Cribs.

4. Media centers without a PC. Companies are melding the easy interface TIVO with the functionality of Apple TV to make DVRs that control all of your media. Several are available now as replacements for your cable box. If you got cable before July 2007, you might want  to make a call to your cable provider and see if you can get an upgrade.

5.  Admission that all those wires and speakers have gotten unwieldy. Even as companies like Monster make bigger and more expensive cables, the companies making the devices they attach to are working swiftly toward wireless. Ditto for speakers.  While some companies at the high end go completely retro by getting bigger and more obtrusive, at the consumer end, designers are trying to make speakers disappear into the background.