I bought a CD today, and I liked it (with apologies to Katy Perry)

I bought a CD today. In fact I bought two. Admittedly, fewer Americans buy CDs — and sales are almost half what they were in 2000. My teenagers don’t buy them anymore, because they’re voracious consumers of digital gift cards.

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Pre’s strength lies in Web’s future, not Palm’s heritage

CES 2009 may have been smaller than the 2008 edition, but this time the cell phone that stole the show was actually launched there. Before the rollout of Palm’s new handset (pre-Pre), CEO Ed Colligan talked about the company’s mobile heritage and that it was poised for success, in part, because all it is focused on is mobile. Indeed, Palm doesn’t make components like Samsung. It doesn’t make PCs like Apple. And it doesn’t make set-top boxes like Motorola.

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So Much at CES, So Little Time

CES brought together more than 2,700 global companies and unveiled an estimated 20,000 new products according to CEA. It’s a lot to digest, even if you can walk the show floor for all four days, so we’ll take you through some of the new trends in the PC, imaging, and audio and video markets.

Netbooks Dominate CES, The Rest Of It Was Just Fluff - Stephen Baker

The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Polarized Lenses - Ross Rubin

Digital Cameras At CES: Zoom, Speed, And Go Wi-Fi Or Retro - Liz Cutting

Netbooks Dominate CES, the Rest of It was Just Fluff

Returning from CES it occurred to me that I don’t remember when one of the major pieces of CES buzz was around a specific PC product. For better or for worse, this year the netbook was that product. (Of course I could make an argument that everything at CES is now about PC technologies, PC- like business models, and PC connectivity and that CES is more like Comdex now than ever…but I won’t).

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The future’s so bright, I gotta wear polarized lenses

Serving as a parallel to the economy, the focus on flat-panel form factors at CES this year shifted from extravagantly huge to lean.  Even Blu-ray players were downsized, with Panasonic introducing a portable Blu-ray player and Samsung introducing a 1.5″-thick player that can be wall-mounted or used with an accessory stand designed to showcase its sleek profile.

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Digital Cameras at CES: Zoom, Speed, and Go Wi-Fi or Retro

Now that high resolution, face detection, and optical image stabilization have become digital camera table stakes, digital camera manufacturers are stepping it up and taking it broad. Imaging happenings at CES ranged from novel to retro, as manufacturers aligned with the overarching CES themes of connected, slim and smart, but also fun.

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A Death in the Family

Today’s announcement of Circuit City being forced to liquidate is the end of a long tale and should prompt a lot of soul searching on the part of all of us with an interest in selling  technology to consumers.  Clearly today’s result was much more the product of the financial morass we find ourselves in as a country than anything to do with the specific worsening of Circuit City’s situation.  This result was likely preordained once they were forced to go into Chapter 11 in the middle of the worst credit crisis in the last 70 years. 
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As TV prices push down, brands try pushing back up

While the economy continues to weigh down manufacturers, its pressures were not strong enough to crack the rose-colored glasses worn on their public faces at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Among the causes for optimism cited were a long-term view of economic cycles, faith in the appeal of technology and the “next big thing,” the value of electronics versus spending on other leisure activities such as travel, the trust that consumers put in brand driving investment, and the competitive urge to “keep up with the Joneses” (or, if you’re the Joneses, to stay ahead of those wannabe Smiths).

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