Consumer Electronics Show 2010 in Las Vegas

Jan. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- As tech players big and small gear up for the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they all hope that what happens in Sin City starting Wednesday, ends up in your living room.
This week, the world's biggest gadget extravaganza kicks off, and thousands of technology companies are expected to show off their best, brightest and (sometimes) most bizarre.
The Consumer Electronics Association, which sponsors the industry tradeshow, expects it to draw about 2,500 exhibitors and 110,000 attendees from around the world. While that attendance level is consistent with last year's, it's still below the 141,000-plus tally from 2007 and previous years.
The prospect of watching live, local TV shows on mobile phones and other portable devices is getting closer. Manufacturers this week are showing off gadgets that can receive a new type of digital TV transmissions.
"Mobile DTV" gadgets will be available this spring for consumers in the Washington, D.C., area to try. The devices include a cell phone made by Samsung Electronics Co. and a Dell Inc. laptop. There's also the Tivit, a device about the size of a deck of cards that receives a TV signal, then rebroadcasts it over Wi-Fi so it can be received by an iPhone or BlackBerry.
Television makers plan to roll out 3-D sets
This is supposedly the year 3-D television becomes the hot new thing: Updated sets and disc players are coming out, and 3-D cable channels are in the works. But it's not clear the idea will reach out and grab mainstream viewers.
Besides having to spring for expensive new TVs, people would have to put on awkward special glasses to give the picture the illusion of depth. It's one thing to put on 3-D glasses in a theater, but "at home, you're with other people in the living room, running to the kitchen and doing other things," said Greg Ireland of the research firm IDC.
Unfazed, the biggest TV makers began revealing their 3-D models at the show. First up was LG Electronics Inc, which said it will introduce 47-inch and 55-inch flat-panel TVs with 3-D capabilities in May. LG plans a 3-D Blu-ray disc player sometime later.
Tim Alessi, director of product development at LG Electric USA, said 3-D models will likely cost $200 to $300 more than comparable flat-panel sets.
Either way, the future looks very bright overall for the electroncis industry.