'Smart' TVs and other products proliferate at CES
LAS VEGAS -- You could get an inferiority complex about the televisions and appliances you own after attending this week's International Consumer Electronics Show. The way the industry's biggest names are tossing around the word "smart," you're left wondering whether any of the electronics gear you have has a high-enough IQ.
Signs of the S-word in and around the Las Vegas Convention Center are everywhere: Panasonic trumpeting Smart Viera-branded televisions. Samsung proclaiming "The Future of Smart TV, Now." China's Hisense touting, "The first personal mobile Smart TV." And LG Electronics asking, "How Smart Is Your 3D?"
But it's not just smart TVs that are on tap. Manufacturers are talking up washers, dryers, refrigerators, cameras and fitness devices with brains to be proud of. The remotes that control various electronics are meant to be smart, too. Not to mention, of course, tablets and smartphones.
Even automakers are getting into the act. Ford CEO Alan Mulally's goal is to make its "hands-on-the-wheel, eyes-on-the-road and everything voice" automotive connectivity services such as Sync and MyFordTouch "the mobile app of choice."
"We want to collaborate with everybody. The ideas that are flowing are absolutely fantastic," he says.
While there are some real technological advances in play, "smart" is often as much a marketing ploy as anything. How much consumers will buy into the "smart" products trend is still a question for many companies.
It's a given that smart electronics connect to the Internet, or the cloud. But smart TVs and other smart devices also increasingly rely more on natural user interfaces: touch, gestures and, in some instances, voice. Apps are critical, too.
One potentially smart idea comes from Samsung. A slot built into the back of its Smart Evolution TVs allows users to insert an Evolution Kit that can add features to the set or bolster its performance. The South Korean technology titan says such "future-proof" kits will be available in 2013 and beyond, with more details to come.
Samsung's humongous booth at CES has "smart" written all over it, quite literally. On one wall you could read about Samsung's Smart School Solution, essentially an electronic blackboard that connects classrooms to the Internet. Elsewhere at the booth, the company showed off Wi-Fi-enabled cameras with "smart zooming" and "smart sharing" with social networks.
Some devices have features considered smart because of the way they automatically handle chores on your behalf. For example, the PrimeTime Anytime feature on Dish Network's new set-top Hopper DVR by default records all prime-time shows each night on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC and stores them for eight days.
Coming soon is the $130 Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale. It tracks your weight, body fat and more, and automatically uploads all the data to Fitbit.com. The scale can recognize up to eight of the people who stand on it.
Apple gets some credit for driving the smart revolution because of its diverse offerings of apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and the Siri voice-control technology it incorporated into the iPhone 4S, says Tom Campbell, who has helped launch products ranging from CD players to HDTVs.
Microsoft's Kinect gesture and voice controller for video games and its Xbox Live entertainment offerings also have had an impact, he says. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the company has sold more than 18 million Kinects.
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