2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Summary and Favorite New Products

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) featured more than 120,000 attendees, 2,500 exhibitors and 20,000 products....over 1.5 million square feet of show space to see. Over the last 2-3 years, CES became boring...with few new exciting products.  Apple Macworld had most of the new buzz and fun announcements.  Well.. not anymore!

The new decade started off with a bang.  Lots of new exciting technology and products for 2010 and beyond.

After attending the show, we are most excited about the following product categories:

  • Almost all new HDTVs will be connected to the internet (this is my favorite big trend) - Due by Christmas 2010
  • A Samsung see-thru laptop screen prototype...Expect them in about 3-5 years
  • Apple's Tablet - Not announced at CES but everyone is talking about it - Jan 27th is the big announcement
  • Project Natal - Using your hand movements to navigate the TV or Computer is pretty cool - Expect Games later this year and other products next year
  • Flip-like Easy-to-Use Video Cameras were everywhere
  • eBooks or eReaders will continue to grow rapidly this year - We expect the high-end eReaders to be be replaced with Tablets by 2011
  • Blu-ray Players with 3D and Wi-Fi Internet Connections are due this summer
  • Many Digital Cameras with GPS will wirelessly connect to your Internet Services
  • HD Video Conferencing and Telepresence Systems will be available in 2010  for the Home, Home Office and Small Business at reduced prices using your HDTVs and Wireless Internet Connections
  • Military-like flying toys that are wirelessly controlled (using Wi-Fi) by an iPhone and delivers a live video feed in flight - Very cool and due this summer

Many articles and TV Shows focused on the new 3DTVs. They looked terrific. However, we don't think most people are going to charge up their $100 3D-TV glasses every night to watch TV shows.

We do expect the 3D Adult videos (that are due out in the fourth quarter of 2010) to be responsible for many of the 3D HDTV sales during the next 1-3 years. Over the last two decades, the Adult industry always implemented new video technology products before the mainstream companies.

2010 CES List of Top New Product Updates Our Top 10+ CES 2010 show Products

Roku Player Update - Get 50,000 Videos, Movies, TV Shows & More on Your TV

Why do Cable Companies, Dish, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse have such a limited selection of Video-on-Demand and Pay-per-View Movies?  :(  We have no idea either.  However, this Holiday Season, we are buying a Roku Box to change all that... and if you love to watch movies (like we do), you should buy one too! Roku, NetFlix and Amazon have teamed up to provide you easy access to 50,000 Videos-on-Demand directly on your home or office TV.

* 40,000+ movies and TV episodes available from Amazon Video On Demand * 12,000+ movies and TV episodes available with your Netflix subscription * Start watching movies on your TV in seconds using your high-speed Internet connection * Instantly plays the entire Netflix Instant Watch library if you have a Netflix membership - no additional subscription cost required, and viewing is unlimited * Instantly plays over 45,000 movies and shows from Amazon Video On Demand * Connecting is easy - both Wi-Fi and Ethernet are built in * Works with virtually any TV - old or new - including HDTVs

New (November 2009), Roku just added the following 10 content channels to the product for FREE: Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe.

Premium Channels

  • Netflix - Play movies and TV shows from your Netflix Instant Queue
  • Amazon.com - Video on Demand - Browse, purchase, and play the latest hit movies and TV shows
  • MLB.com - Watch all out-of-market baseball games live and on demand

Free Channels

  • Pandora - Free service that plays music personalized for you
  • Facebook Photos - View your Facebook photo albums, as well as friends' photos
  • Flickr - Browse your own photos and public photos on Flickr
  • Mediafly - Your premier source of personalized, on-demand content from the web
  • Blimp.tv - Hosts and distributes the best original Web shows
  • twit.tv - Netcasts you love from people you trust
  • Revision3 - Home of Diggnation, Tekzilla and tons more great shows for the Internet generation
  • MobileTribe - Your favorite social networks are now on your Roku player

Roku Player Unboxing and Set-up - YouTube Video

It is very easy to set up the Roku Player.  There are four basic steps:

  1. Plug the box into your TV
  2. Connect the box to the internet using a direct cable or through your wireless Wi-Fi network
  3. Walk through the set-up menus on the TV screen
  4. Turn it on and start watching your first Movie or TV Show... or listen to Music with Pandora (new)

Watch the video below to see how one user unboxed and set up a new Roku Player for Netflix.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tepv9iLMO0]

Please comment with any tips that you can pass on for new Roku owners.

cnet review of the New Roku HD-XR Player

More Roku Information & Customer Reivews

There are three Roku models available.  Each product link (to Amazon.com) below provides you with more product information, current  pricing and customer reviews. Roku SD Player - Entry Level if you don't have HDTVs - $79 Roku HD Player - HDTV & WiFi - $99 (We're Buying This Model) Roku HD-XR Player - HDTV & Wi-Fi N-Dual Band (Newest Technology) 29