{"id":1758,"date":"2011-01-14T02:20:22","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T19:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2011-01-14T02:20:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-13T19:20:25","slug":"top-6-tech-product-trends-of-ces-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/top-6-tech-product-trends-of-ces-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 6 Tech Product Trends of CES 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lori Cunningham<\/p>\n

Editors Note:\u00a0 Big thanks to the hub at NBC who offered me a nice seat, great hospitality, and a fast connection to blog while at the show.\u00a0\u00a0 A special shout out to \u00a0Gia, Anthony, and Melissa!<\/span><\/address>\n

\"\"<\/a>Of the six top tech product trends <\/a>I reported on from last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), only two made it on the list again for this year, namely Internet\u00a0enabled TV’s and\u00a0car technology.\u00a0 Though it’s true that the other product trends are still popular this year, most of these trendsetters\u00a0lost some of their steam.\u00a0 Without a doubt, new tablets were being introduced at every corner, with an estimated introduction of over 50 tablets!\u00a0 For a view of some of these tablets, see PC World<\/a>‘s article.\u00a0 Nonetheless, because of the popularity of\u00a0the tablet forerunners, especially the iPad and even the Samsung\u00a0Galaxy Tab, tablet introductions seemed more lackluster than blockbuster so I did not add them to my list of to\"\"<\/a>p product trends.\u00a0 With no further ado, here are the top 6 Product Trends of 2011:<\/p>\n

1.)\u00a0 Even Smarter TV’s<\/strong>\u00a0– If you were impressed\u00a0with\u00a0last year’s TV’s, you’re gonna love the new ones hitting the market this Spring.\u00a0 The new Smart TV’s include FULL access to the Internet!\u00a0 You no longer need a separate Google TV set top\u00a0box\u00a0to obtain full access.\u00a0 Apps continue to dominate the Smart TV’s with manufacturers creating more tiered apps…free, paid services, and pay for app markets.\u00a0 LG even put motion sensors into their remote controls…just point your remote to the TV and a hand appears.\u00a0 Similar to the Wii, you move the remote and the hand follows on the screen.\u00a0 Slick!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2.)\u00a0 The Smartphone in\u00a0Control<\/strong>\u00a0– this is a trend that has been evolving\u00a0the past couple of years but it is exploding with more devices working seamlessly with smartphones so you can control them.\u00a0 Most if not all the major TV manufacturers allow you to control their TV’s with an app you can download on your smartphone.\u00a0 Controlling\u00a0your TV with your smartphone\u00a0gives you full touch screen capability with\u00a0a nice graphical interface.\u00a0 Using your smartphone\u00a0eliminates the need for a keyboard in your family room to search for content on your Smart TV.\u00a0\u00a0 Other items controllable by your phone include stereo receivers, cars, home control…lights, garage doors, door locks, and even the ability to roll a ball around!<\/p>\n

3.)\u00a0 Apps Everywhere\u00a0– <\/strong>The apps phenomenon\u00a0has unleashed itself from the smart phone, Blue-ray players,\u00a0and TV’s and they are popping up everywhere – in cars, appliances, eReaders, stereo receivers, cameras, printers,etc.\u00a0 The beauty of apps is that regardless of where you are using your app (smartphone, in the car, on your camera, etc.) your profile information will be accessed\u00a0“from the cloud”\u00a0so you can continue on right where you left off.\u00a0 For example, your que on Netflix can be accessed and added to from anywhere or anything that has the Netflix app available.\u00a0 Same with listening to\u00a0and adding your thumbs up or down on your Pandora <\/a>account.\u00a0 Companies realize that it’s the content that matters, not the device.\u00a0 They\u00a0are designing their apps to work on most devices,\u00a0Apple, Android, Blackberry,\u00a0Windows, or otherwise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4.)\u00a0 The Connected Car –\u00a0 <\/strong>the car is increasingly becoming connected as more evolved technology is being integrated\u00a0into the car.\u00a0 Some manufacturers like Ford, are offering their my Ford Touch technology as standard in a number of their new cars in 2011 and beyond.\u00a0 Current technology in the car such as navigation,voice commands,\u00a0apps (Pandora, Slacker, etc.), integrated\u00a0phone support (playing songs from your smartphone, dialing through speakerphone, etc.) are reaching new levels according to leading car tech manufacturers.\u00a0 Audi has introduced radar detection that identifies front or rear impending accidents and initiates safety mechanisms earlier to minimize\u00a0injury.\u00a0 Lane wandering technology alerts users of crossing over lanes through steering wheel vibration.\u00a0 The window shield is the new monitor\u00a0providing important driver information so the driver doesn’t need to take their eyes off the road.\u00a0 My Ford Touch has introduced amazing new features in their new My Ford Touch mobile app that helps new owners of the soon-to-be\u00a0released all-electric\u00a0Ford Focus to remotely monitor and control charge levels, locate charging stations, map out travel plans, etc.\u00a0 Expect to see more announcements of car apps to help you review\u00a0fluid levels, tire pressure, gas consumption, car location, etc.<\/p>\n

5.)\u00a0 Green Energy\u00a0–<\/strong>\u00a0energy savings continues to be\u00a0a trend for electronic devices.\u00a0 A number of announcements were made\u00a0about electronics cars.\u00a0 Power strips and chargers galore touted their green benefits over traditional charging devices.\u00a0 Devices with\u00a0LCD screens promised to show consumers how much electricity was used from\u00a0the item plugged into them to better educate consumers on their electricity consumption.\u00a0 New smart appliances recommend\u00a0times of the day that are best for washing clothes or dishes based on the lowest cost of energy.\u00a0 You may have heard about the Sma\"\"rt Grid<\/a>\u00a0before.\u00a0 The Smart Grid delivers the electricity\u00a0as we use today\u00a0to homeowners using two-way digital communication\u00a0giving the ability to save energy and reduce costs by controlling appliances in homes.\u00a0 Homeowners will have a smart meter which interacts with the Smart Grid<\/a> to delay certain appliance cycles or events (such as washing or drying clothes) dependent upon lower energy use times.\u00a0 Not all electricity companies have employed the Smart Grid on their energy grids yet, but they are working on it, as prodded along from many US government agencies.<\/p>\n

6.)\u00a0 Smart Appliances – <\/strong>we’ve been hearing\u00a0about smart appliances for years and although some refrigerators today have LCD screens on them, their functionality is limited.\u00a0 2011 marks the major introduction of smart (Internet-enabled) appliances by most appliance manufacturers.\u00a0 LCD screens on refrigerators show homeowners the latest weather, recipes, notes from family members, calendars (some even connect to your online\u00a0 Google calendar), and more.\u00a0 No need for wires,\u00a0today’s\u00a0connected appliances use WiFi networks to connect to the Internet.\u00a0 Many manufacturers are offering remote operation of appliances via\u00a0an app on\u00a0the homeowner’s smartphone.\u00a0 Even more interesting is the feature that allows customer service professionals to access\u00a0your smart appliances via the Internet to\u00a0possibly\u00a0fix the appliance remotely.\u00a0 One last widely touted feature is the ability to provide real-time energy usage data to\u00a0help the homeowner make educated decisions as to\u00a0when to run the washer, dryer, dishwasher, or oven…dependent upon 2-way information available from the homeowner’s electricity provider (ala SmartGrid).\u00a0 For the most part, manufacturers such as LG, Whirlpool, GE, Kenmore, and others currently\u00a0offer just one smart appliance per category\u00a0to gauge initial consumer interest.<\/p>\n

Note that much of the technology introduced during the show and summarized here are not yet available on the market.\u00a0 Manufacturers are still finalizing their features and you\u2019ll start to see products out in the market anywhere from late Q1 up until mid Q4.\u00a0 Stay tuned for more of the WellConnectedMom\u2019s mom tech highlights on Great Mom Tech Products, party scenes from CES, and pictures from the showroom floor.\u00a0 See Reporting Straight from the Consumer Electronics Show <\/a>to get an idea of some of the press meetings and learn more about Verizon’s announcement about the iPhone 4G.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visit the WellConnectedMom.com for the latest product trends stemming from the Consumer Electronics Show 2011. Did tablets make the list? See what’s in store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,14,16,20],"tags":[468,469,464,460,467,463,219,466,465,462,461,459,278],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gadgets","category-home-technology","category-moms","category-phones","category-technology","tag-apps","tag-apps-everywhere","tag-car-tech","tag-ces-trends","tag-connected-car","tag-ip-tv","tag-product-trends","tag-smart-appliances","tag-smart-grid","tag-smart-tvs","tag-smarthones","tag-tech-trends","tag-top-trends","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}