There was plenty of news concerning television and cable networks at CES this year, as there was a clear new emphasis on content and programming. But outside of the cable arena, there were several other trends that revealed themselves in consumer electronics. From a new focus on “green” technologies, to the electronic crusade to the car, to what may finally be the end of the war between Blu-Ray and HD DVD, CES 2008 will be one that may be remembered for influencing the electronics industry for years to come.

HD DVD was dealt a major blow when Warner Bros, the only studio that had remained format-neutral, announced it would be backing Blu-Ray exclusively. Combined with allegiance from Disney, Fox, Lionsgate,
MGM, and Sony, the announcement clearly puts Blu-Ray at the advantage, pitted against Universal (which has also reported to have ended its exclusive HD DVD agreement) and Paramount studios (which holds an escape clause in its contract).

Convergence of mobile electronics and the car also made many headlines. As GM CEO Rick Wagoner said in his keynote, if the car were in invented today, it would most likely be introduced at CES as the car has become half transportation and half mobile elctronics device. Wagoner pointed to the success of GM’s OnStar service, which will soon be updated to provide more details, such as the severity of the crash, to crews responding to emergencies. Bill Gates also touched on the car as a “fourth frontier” for consumer electronics, saying consumers want their mobile devices to interface with their car. Ford Sync, software developed by Microsoft, is the recently announced partnership to help bring Bluetooth and Zune connectivity to equipped Ford vehicles.

There is also a developing battle between web-based applications, like free web-based office productivity applications from Google, and the traditional PC-based Microsoft Office suite of applications. Many companies have been drawn to the Google-based applications because of the price (or lack of one), the ability to access files from anywhere, and intuitive management that streamlines the process of sharing different aspects of a project between users. In addition, there are many web-based photo editing programs that rival in complexity everything from Apple’s basic iPhoto software to the industry’s premier program, Adobe Photoshop. Expect to see much more of this in the future as programs move off of the computer and onto the web.

In the home audio industry, the HD push has consumers buying more home theater equipment, everywhere from $200 home-theater-in-a-box setups to custom-built applications that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Following this trend is an emphasis on speakers that can be easily hidden or disguised. Speakers behind picture
frames, within lamps, in-wall, flat-panel, and all-in-one units were all on hand at the show. Philips debuted a very impressive “soundbar” that mounts below a flat panel television and provides an artificial 5.1 speaker experience from a single source. A DVD player is included, and the unit supports upconversion to 1080i.

It’s been another defining year in Las Vegas, and by my opinion the most exciting I’ve attended yet. I’m looking forward to the next couple of months as the show prototypes begin to hit store shelves. So long Sin City, it’s been a great week.

By Tony Brown, a junior at the University of Missouri