by
Mark Ollig
The
2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has ended, and all the exhibitors have
torn down their booths.
Looking
back, CES 2013 did introduce us to some remarkable new gadgets and technology.
Social
media buzzed about the new Ultra-HD, OLED, and OLED Ultra-HD TV’s, computing
tablets, self-driving cars, and futuristic healthcare technology.
Last
week, yours truly mentioned the hashtags being used on Twitter to communicate
user and company messages during CES 2013.
The
CES website reported the online analytics company, Simply Measured had tracked
the total tweet messages during the four day CES using hashtags #CES, #2013CES,
#CES2013, and #CES13.
One
percent of the total shares of CES tweets over the four-day event referenced 10
companies, including: Google, Sharp, Apple, and Ford.
The
four companies with 2 percent of the total were: LG, Qualcomm, Panasonic, and
Audi.
Intel
Corp, was alone at 3 percent.
Coming
in with 4 percent of the total CES tweets were HP, and Sony.
The
number-one-tweeted- about company during CES 2013 – with 7 percent of the
total– was Samsung, which had 351,355 CES hashtagged tweet messages.
Even
though CES is looked to as the major consumer technology showcase of the year,
for some folks, it has lacked a bit of its luster since tech giants like Apple,
Google, and Microsoft stopped using it as the venue for making their major
product announcements.
Instead,
they have opted to hold their own special conferences with invited members of
the press and special guests.
CES
is also no longer used as the sole location for new cellphone product
announcements. Other events, like the World Mobile Congress, have been used as
the stage to make such announcements.
By
the way, the World Mobile Congress will take place Feb 25 – 28 in Barcelona.
Apple
holds its own special event press conferences whenever a new iPhone or iPad is
introduced, as does Microsoft, when announcing a new operating system, or
computing tablet.
CES
is still, however, the place to be for seeing what is next in televisions.
During
this year’s CES, the announcement for the new OLED television by LG was made,
and the combo Ultra-HD OLED televisions showcased by Panasonic and Sony were
presented.
Also
seen at CES was the 110-inch Ultra-HD television by Samsung, which has four
times the resolution of currently available HD televisions.
“If
you make the pixels that much smaller, then you can sit that much closer to the
TV and still get that really sharp picture,” said Ryan Chicoine, who is with
Samsung.
Chicoine’s
statement caused me to remember something my mother told me as a child, “Don’t
sit so close to the television.”
Verizon’s
CEO, Lowell McAdam delivered one of the CES keynote addresses.
He
spoke about when they launched their 4G LTE (fourth-generation long-term
evolution) wireless technology product during CES 2011.
In
2011, the average speed of wireless networks in the US was less than 1Mbps,
said McAdam.
He
continued by saying today’s wireless speeds over LTE are now in the 10 – 12
Mbps range.
A
digital health summit was also held at this year’s CES.
Digital
sensors, mobile devices, and access to the information cloud, were discussed.
Doctors,
healthcare and technology professionals, addressed a number of medical,
personal healthcare, and technology topics.
One
healthcare item discussed – which I found very interesting – was about a
futuristic-looking healthcare robot called the RP-Vita (Remote Presence Virtual
and Independent Telemedicine Assistant).
This
robot is about the size of a person, and it has the mobility to travel through
the halls of a hospital or healthcare center.
RP-Vita
can check in on patients, obtain their medical vital signs, and provide other
services.
RP-Vita
has a built-in stethoscope, and additional medical equipment which can be
operated by a remotely-located healthcare provider for obtaining live medical
readings.
This
healthcare robot allows for a direct one-on-one “telepresence-communication”
between the patient, and healthcare provider.
A
display screen and video camera sits atop the robot and is used by a doctor or
other healthcare professionals, in order to have face-to-face conversations
with the patient.
This
visual two-way communication uses videoconferencing technology.
RP-Vita
is available from InTouch Health, which develops and manufactures telemedicine
remote presence medical devices.
I
made a picture of the front, side, and back of RP-Vita you can see at
http://tinyurl.com/b8zppbh.
Detailed
information (including three short videos), about the RP-Vita healthcare robot,
can be seen on the InTouch Health website at http://tinyurl.com/cjnmc56.
To
learn more about the CES healthcare summit on Facebook, login and go to
https://www.facebook.com/DigitalHealthSummit and on Twitter visit
http://www.twitter.com/dhsummit.
One
CES 2013 YouTube video said the one word which best described this year’s show
was “innovation.”
CES
2014 will take place next Jan. 7 to 10.
