Who Knew?

CES2K10

So it’s been a few weeks since it ended and I wrote a few recap articles of the event that I wasn’t entirely happy with for the quasi-job, but seriously, the barrage of announcements left me feeling like a bitter and exhuasted old man, incapable of dealing with how technological innovation is outpacing the development of the vessel of blood and intestines I refer to as “my corporeal self”.



Here is Panasonic’s 1080p 3D camcorder, announced at CES and available for sale in April. It costs $21K. I assume that, like the similarly priced RED ONE, you’ll be able to rent it for around $800/day. It comes with built-in stereoscopic adjustment controls, which means you’ll be able to adjust the third dimension with the same level of precision as the normal two. I’m pretty sure the software with which to competently edit the footage it produces does not currently exist for anyone other than James Cameron.



Here’s the Plastic Logic QUE ProReader, which I have mentioned in this space before. It is an e-ink device designed for business use and productivity, but the refresh rate of e-ink is more than one second, so it would be somewhat difficult to be very productive at all on this. They have gotten the refresh rate down to less than a half-second through firmware and software hacks, but that is not enough to write emails or add items to your calendar. You can only view these things. Does this product constitute actual practical utility or misguided product strategy utilizing premature tech for the sake of feature bloat? I am too tired to really tell anymore.



And all of these announcements of proprietary content made available on closed platforms catering to the needs of a dying print media industry? Exactly what the public has been asking for!



But seriously, obnoxious snark aside, it’s the 3D announcements that make me the most weary. Sony has promised that three-dimensional Blu-Ray movies will be on sale, in stores, by the end of 2010. That is terrifyingly soon. Jesus Christ. I am twenty-one years old and my hair is already half-grey. I feel too old for this shit.