The most current innovative technologies for home at CES-2004

Passing the gallery

Materials prepared: Boris Bezel, Alexander Medvedev, Vladislav Protasov

Magazine: Technolania N4 (82) 2004

This year the most important and largest international exhibition of home electronics CES (Consumer Electronics Show) surpassed itself. From January 8 to January 11, leading manufacturers from all over the world gathered in Las Vegas for the thirty-seventh time. 2300 exhibitors presented their achievements. The exhibition was visited by over one hundred thousand guests from 110 countries. Now we can absolutely confidently say that CES has become the main global exhibition of high technologies for the home. It was here that a video recorder and a CD player were presented to the public for the first time. Although new items on display at CES are of interest all over the world, the exhibition itself focuses primarily on the American market. And it has its own characteristics and specific needs. Therefore, the main trends of Las Vegas do not always coincide, for example, with EuropeanTrue, wireless communications (Wi-Fi) is not applicable. They occupy everybody today. And at CES, technologies that allow communication through infrared ports or via power grids were in the spotlight. One of the wireless stations received an exhibition award. Home theaters are still a hot topic. Especially for Americans. Basic elements of cinemas, primarily acoustics, are in 25 percent of American homes. Of course, the choice of projectors, plasma panels and speakers in Las Vegas is huge. Especially for the United States, many companies presented the latest televisions and plasmas that can reproduce the signal of a new television format (HDTV), which is rapidly gaining popularity. The most interesting technique receives awards and diplomas CES. Nominees every year more and more, but the selection becomes picky, and therefore win the unit. 1. Music center Wurlitzer Digital Jukebox from the company GIBSON AUDIO is designed to relieve its owner from the shelves with CDs. Wurlitzer records and stores up to thousands of music discs on an 80-gigabyte hard drive. The device remembers the covers, the names of artists, the names of albums and songs. Using the remote control, you can make any playlists or collections. A convenient search system allows you to find your favorite record not only by the name of the composition or artist, but also by the cover. A receiver that stores one hundred radio stations can also help replenish the music library. The device is equipped with a multi-room system, which makes it possible to simultaneously play different music in different rooms. The system used high-end acoustics. The Wurlitzer Digital Jukebox won an Audio award at CES. 2. HD1000 year - completely useless, but very nice toy. This console was invented primarily to organize collective viewing of photos and various pictures on a large plasma screen with high resolution. You can insert a flash card of a digital camera into the device or connect the camera itself or a computer. HD1000 year also allows you to listen to MP3s through your home theater speaker system.3. Philips 30PF9975 LCD screen it seems to be nothing special is different from the devices in its class. Of course, it meets all the parameters of an expensive, high-quality TV, but it was not this that made it a winner in the Ecodesign nomination. The main achievements of the developers of this model are its absolute safety for the environment, its economy (it consumes 40 percent less energy than similar devices), as well as low weight.4. Installing the door handle Shepherd 210, you can forget about the keys. Your home or office will recognize owners by fingerprints. The new handle is equipped with a double protection system with a special locking device. It is easy to install and even easier to use. It is only necessary to load into the processor’s memory the prints of all those who will have access to the room. There may be no more than fifty. There are five access levels that depend on the force and to which point of the biometric sensor to press with a finger. The handle is battery operated and is available for both right-handed and left-handed users. Shepherd 210 became one of the winners in the "Home appliances" nomination.5. Home Computer Networking becoming a more pressing issue. NETGEAR specializes in manufacturing devices serving small local area networks. The NETGEAR WGT634U station, like its predecessor, provides wireless connectivity to multiple computers and Internet access. This model differs in its phenomenal speed of work - 108 megabits per second, for which it received the CES award in the "Home electronic networks" nomination. 6. The dream of a housewife and a bachelor - Tonight's Menu Intelligent Oven. This unit can work simultaneously as a refrigerator and as a "smart" stove. The Magic Pot can defrost (or freeze), reheat and cook food. It is only necessary to put the products in the oven before work, and then at any time to access the Internet (including via a mobile phone) and give it the necessary commands. Orders can be adjusted to your liking: for example, postpone cooking if you are late. You can install standard programs. Say, appoint dinner time, and then the stove will cook borscht by the time when the whole family gathers at the table. Of course, such a valuable device deserved an award in the category "Home Appliances".7. Game consoles are not at all children's fun. Completely sane adult gentlemen are ready to lose precious time, wandering through the dungeons, exterminating monsters, controlling computer worlds. The prefix ApeXtreme helps to reach a new level of entertainment. It allows you to use to play all the features of large plasma panels and home theaters. A powerful machine can connect up to four players simultaneously. With it, you can find rivals on the Internet. It is equipped with a modem, a 40 GB hard drive, a 1.6 GHz processor, and 256 MB of RAM. ApeXtreme works as a simple DVD, CD, MP3, WMA file player.8. Win at CES in tough competition in the category of "video" is extremely difficult. The best models of leading manufacturers compete for the sympathies of specialists and wallets of Americans. Now the most urgent task is to master a new segment of the market - high-definition television equipment (HDTV). SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA proposed a new model of 56-inch TV (HLP5685W) using DLP technology. This device has been able to achieve high-quality images with high resolution. In addition, it contains all the possible television options.9. With a Pioneer DVR-810H DVD recorder - This is the usual apparatus for recording discs. However, simple things at CES do not mark. This device for the first time combines the functions of a recorder and search technology TiVo, which quickly and efficiently track down any movies and programs on the network. An 80 GB hard drive stores approximately 80 hours of material for short-term storage and viewing. In this case, you can watch the program from the beginning, while the recorder records its end. Of course, it is possible to save your favorite things on discs. An 18-speed recorder will record an hour program in three minutes. The device is equipped with a Dolby system, can play music discs and MP3.