Nostalgically recalling CES2007

©Mark Ollig 

 

“CES is the only place where people can see, touch, and try emerging tech that are changing our lives for the better.”

The above quote is from the CES2019 summary video during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that took place recently in Las Vegas.

This week, I found myself reminiscing about technology which made its initial appearance in 2007, the 40th anniversary of CES.

Guess who received press credentials as an independent tech columnist to attend CES2007?

Yes, it was me; regrettably, I was unable to get out to Las Vegas.

However, during CES2007, I was able to talk with Sarah Szabo, the public relations event manager for the CES/Consumer Electronics Association.

She told me, attendees at the 2007 show and consumers worldwide would begin seeing “a new convergence.”

CES2007 was all about the “convergence of technology,” and how it will enhance our daily lives.

Szabo accurately predicted consumers in 2007 would see a surge in portable devices delivering digital content.

I feel 2007 began a technological paradigm shift; it was the year high-tech got personal.

Here are two questions I asked Sarah Szabo, 12 years ago:

Bits & Bytes: Being that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the CES, will any of the original folks be there to reminisce or talk about the CE (consumer electronics) from 1967 that made a significant impact that is seen even today in 2007?

Sarah S.: Celebrating the 40 years of CES symbolizes not only the growth of our show, but also the strength of the CE industry. Over the past four decades, CES has been the launch pad for life-changing innovations. The VCR, DVD player, CD player, HDTV – all have launched from the show floor.

Bits & Bytes: Has the CES always been held in Las Vegas?

Sarah S.: The first CES took place in 1967, at the Americana and Hilton Hotels in New York City. The summer show moved to Chicago in 1971, with the winter show relocating to Chicago in 1973.

In 1978, the winter CES moved to Las Vegas.

The year 2007 was noteworthy for tech devices and social media, such as:

• Apple iPhone;

• Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility (Asimo) robot;

• Amazon Kindle eReader;

• Netflix internet streaming;

• Apple iPod touch;

• Joost: internet TV beta-testing;

• Samsung liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions;

• Microsoft Windows Vista OS released. (OK, no one liked it much);

• Google’s Android OS released (folks liked this one);

• IBM’s Watson AI computer (began development);

• ZPrinter 450 – color 3D printing;

• XO Laptop (low-cost computer for children); and

• MySpace (Pre-Facebook) reaches $65 billion in value.

I was tempted to add Twitter to this list; however, it began in 2006, although many started to use it in earnest in 2007, which is the year its popularity began to soar as a social media site.

Facebook, in late 2007, was still emerging as a viable social media site replacement for MySpace – which is still in business.

Facebook saw 100,000 business pages added in 2007. In October 2007, there were some 50 million active users.

In 2007, we were using 3G wireless mobile technology on our smartphones; 4G broadband cellular network technology wouldn’t be available for another three years.

Having reminisced about 2007 CES, I find myself desiring to apply for a press pass to CES2021; which I, for some reason, feel will be more “tech-revealing” than CES2020.

What could be more fun and exciting than being in Las Vegas attending the hottest consumer electronics show on the planet?

Make sure you read the January 2021 Bits & Bytes column, which will be written from CES2021 in Las Vegas.

Official CES2019 videos of keynote addresses by industry leaders, along with technology displayed on the show floor can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/2sGMiXx.

CES 2007

CES: AI and 5G will transform our future

©Mark Ollig


This year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas focused on some promising technologies we heard a lot about in 2018.

CES is considered the “global hub for innovation,” showcasing high-tech industries’ most extraordinary product and service innovations.

This year’s CES exhibitors showcased 20,000 technology wares over more than 2.9 million net square feet of exhibit floor space.

From global brands to visionary startups, these companies promote a universal message to the world: The promise of technology.

People from more than 155 countries, along with some 6,500 media folks, were in attendance at CES.

CES reported more than 180,000 people attended the five-day event.

Attention centered around 5G (Fifth Generation mobile/wireless systems), smartphones, and 5G capabilities embedded within electronic devices, especially IoT (Internet of Things).

Excitement about the rollout of 5G networks is justifiable, because they will handle data speeds of up to 100 Gbps, or 1,000 times the capacity of current 4G networking technology.

If we use half of 5G’s potential; 500 Mbps, an 8.5GB DVD movie will take just 2.26 minutes to download, and a Blu-ray disc with 128GB of data would take 34.13 minutes.

At 1Gbps downloading speed, an 8.5GB DVD takes 68 seconds, and a 128GB Blu-ray disc 17 minutes to download.

I used the Google Calculator to find out how long various-sized movie downloads or file transfers would take.

Here is what I put into Google for the 8.5GB DVD download at 500 Mbps: (8.5 gigabytes) / (500 Mbps).

Say you have 50Mbps internet service and you want to download an 8.5GB DVD HQ movie. Here is what you type into Google: (8.5 gigabytes) / (50 Mbps). The reply from Google states the download time will be 22.6666667 minutes.

For fun, I used Google to calculate how long it would take to download 8.5GB using a 1Tbps (terabit per second) connection. The answer is 68 milliseconds.

I now digress back to CES.

During CES, 11 leading car manufacturers highlighted the future of transportation, from the Bell Helicopter’s air taxi to Harley-Davison’s electric motorcycle.

Along with 5G, AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology will provide nearly instantaneous decision-making within self-driving automobiles, thus enabling greater safety for passengers and others traveling the highways, quicker commutes to the office, and increased productivity.

“Once put into action, self-driving vehicles have a chance to eliminate the 94 percent of car accidents caused by human error, making our roads much safer,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik, who is also the former president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America.

IBM chairman, president, and CEO, Ginni Rometty gave a keynote address and talked about how AI will prove data is the “world’s greatest natural resource.”

She feels AI will empower advances from smart cities to significant improvements in transportation technologies, robotics, and healthcare advancements.

“Every business must now embrace technology to succeed,” said Karen Chupka, executive vice president, CES.

AI technology will be used to improve US Cybersecurity and individual citizen’s security on the internet.

CES moderated a conference session consisting of executives from well-known and influential tech companies to discuss 5G. They explored how 5G will impact our lives, and agreed ancillary technology, such as self-driving cars and virtual reality, will be greatly enhanced.

5G promises to transform areas of our lives; such as in the devices we speak to, digital health, education, business, smart cities, smart homes, smart apartments, smart factories, and more.

“5G will change everything – 5G is the promise of so much more than what we have seen from wireless technology,” said Hans Vestberg, Verizon CEO, during his CES keynote address.

“This network [5G], really simply stated, is not just faster and more efficient – which we’ve grown to appreciate – it’s a real-time network. So, it’s a game-changer,” said AT&T CEO John Donovan.

CE Pro magazine moderated a session discussing “Technology Deployment in the Home.”

This discussion examined not just “how” products are making their way into people’s homes, but “who” is installing them.

New service companies are employing technicians who are highly skilled in leading-edge products, devices, and supporting technology. These companies utilize advanced diagnostic tools for designing, installing, analyzing, upgrading, and maintaining IoT devices in homes, businesses, and cities.

Students: Your STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) training can pay off if you desire to start your own company, or work for a company assisting businesses, cities, and homeowners using IoT over 5G networks.

Transportation, virtual reality, gaming, digital health monitors, advanced sports technology, smart homes and cities, autonomous robots, and the billions of new IoT devices will be using 5G.

ESPN anchor Rachel Nichols hosted Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, along with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, discussing “sports technology” during CES.

You can watch their discussion at https://bit.ly/2suxScR.

CES continues to present high-tech devices and services promoting a world filled with perceptive AI-powered technologies seamlessly working together to enrich the experiences in all areas of our lives.

The first CES was in 1967, and had 14 exhibitors. This year, there were over 4,500.

AI and 5G are on the verge of transforming our use of advanced technology.

Number of internet, digital device users continues to increase

©Mark Ollig


While writing today’s column, I heard the window rattling, and the wind howling outside.

Looking out the window, I noticed several tree branches bending from the force caused by the tremendous gusts of wind.

Speaking into my smartphone, I asked Google “What is the current wind gust?”

Google, knowing my location, reported the strongest wind gusts of 40 mph coming from the west-northwest.

Having this information, I decided it was a good time to get up from my desk and have another cup of coffee.

But, I digress to today’s column.

I just obtained some of the year-end numbers for 2018.

As of October 2018, the Global Digital reports compiled by We Are Social and Hootsuite stated there are nearly 4.2 billion internet users on the planet. This means more than half the world’s population is now online.

There are 3.4 billion users active on social media, which is a 10 percent increase from 2017.

Mobile devices are now being used to access social media sites by 9 out of 10 users.

In 2018, the most significant increase was in the number of mobile/smartphone users, at 5.6 billion, or two-thirds of the planet’s population.

The OS (operating system) used for internet web requests shows 76.6 percent are from devices using the Android OS, 20.7 percent from Apple iOS, and 2.7 percent from other mobile operating systems.

As of October 2018, the total number of mobile apps (applications) downloaded to all mobile device types around the world is 29 billion.

If we add up every type of mobile device being used in the world, our number would be nearly 9 billion.

It’s an impressive number, considering the total population of our planet is 7.6 billion.

When looking at the type of devices used for accessing content on the web in 2018, mobile/smartphones are utilized by 56.6 percent of users, while laptop/desktop computers accounted for 44.1 percent. Tablet devices (such as iPads) comprise 4.2 percent.

As far as internet downloading speed in 2018, mobile devices averaged 23 Mbps, while 47.8 Mbps was realized using fixed/wired/hard connections to the internet.

The country with the fastest fixed internet connection in 2018 was Singapore, which averaged 189.4 Mbps.

The US ranked sixth, with a reported 100.07 Mbps average internet broadband downloading speed.

When looking at the country with the fastest mobile internet connections, Norway ranks number one, with 63.13 Mbps. Canada comes in eighth, at 51.46 Mbps.

According to Alexa (an Amazon research company), the top global sites on the web currently are:

1. Google
2. YouTube
3. Facebook
4. Baidu (Chinese search engine)
5. Wikipedia
6. Qq (China’s most used internet portal)
7. Taobao (Chinese online shopping site)
8. Amazon
9. Yahoo
10. Tmall (Chinese premier online shopping site)
11. Twitter

In 2018, there was an increase in how we control our devices and perform search engine queries via “voice search and device commands.”

The Global Digital report broke down the voice search and device commands by age and percentages:
• age 16 to 24 – 46 percent;
• age 25 to 34 – 45 percent;
• age 35 to 44 – 35 percent;
• age 45 to 54 – 27 percent; and,
• age 55 to 64 – 19 percent.

This writer falls into the 19 percent category. I regularly use voice commands in performing my online searches, and for dialing telephone numbers from my smartphone.

Sharing photos, videos, and comments since Oct. 6, 2010, the popular social site Instagram (owned by Facebook) has seen increased US usage from 28.3 percent of the population, to 31.8 percent during 2018.

An estimated 104.7 million people in the US used Instagram during 2018, with 52.6 percent of the population accessing the site at least once a month.

The main percentage of Instagram users are 25 to 34 years old, and constitute 29.4 million of its total users.

The top 10 Instagram accounts as of October 2018, based on the number of followers, are:

1. @Instagram, 256,110,000;
2. @SelenaGomez, 144,140,000;
3. @Christiano, 143,200,000;
4. @ArianaGrande, 130,630,000;
5. @KimKardashian, 118,850,000;
6. @Beyonce, 118,700,000;
7. @TheRock, 117,560,000;
8. @KylieJenner, 116,230,000;
9. @Taylorswift, 112,170,000; and
10. @NeymarJR, 103,490,000.

The Digital Global report for this year predicts “accelerating growth in internet users across developing countries.”

The report also states social media sites will continue to see strong growth and new users; however, a noticeable user decline of one particular unnamed social media platform is mentioned – I assume because of the recent controversy, the report is referring to Facebook.

Strong growth in online consumer spending will also continue this year. More folks are using the internet to purchase their items; including groceries, which are being home delivered by many stores.

For 2018, the average amount of time spent online each day was estimated to be six hours – which I, no doubt, average.

This year, as the cost of smartphones lessons, I look for the number of internet users across the globe to once again substantially increase.

The gusty winds have subsided, so I will head outside for a – hopefully – relaxing walk. I might even put my smartphone on “Do Not Disturb.”

Some prognostications and 5G for the New Year

©Mark Ollig



Welcome to 2019.

While typing this first column of 2019, I wondered about which tech topics will be getting the most attention this year.

I did a brainstorm session (which wasn’t easy this early in the morning), and wrote down the following list of technologies which should receive much attention this year.

Being we’re into 2019, I added futuristic “Star Trek” technology, because one never knows when warp drive, transporters, or a food replicator will become a reality.

• Artificial Intelligence;

• Internet of Things;

• Quantum Computing;

• Qubits;

• Coding;

• Robotic automation processes;

• Immersive Reality;

• Cybersecurity;

• Voice-Device interaction;

• 3D/4D printing;

• Personal data security;

• Cloud;

• healthcare sensors;

• Augmented/Virtual Reality;

• Softwarization;

• The Zettabyte Age;

• 5G;

• Futuristic “Star Trek” technology; and,

• Smart: cars, phones, devices, cities, sensors, homes, offices, (fill-in-the-blank).

You are right. More could be added to this list, of course, but I would fill up the remaining space left in today’s column.

This year will see more of the physical hardware used in data/communication networks and user-end equipment being replaced with software, in what has been called “softwarization.”

Softwarization technology is programmable for designing, implementing, deploying, managing, and maintaining data networks.

Benefits from using software to replace hardware components and devices are its ability to self-manage, independently run internal diagnostics, perform corrections, and upgrade its intended design purpose. All of these benefits result in cost-savings.

I feel, the most talked-about technology for 2019 will be from the major wireless carriers announcing their new 5G (5th generation) network technology being installed for use in their mobile/wireless networks.

The use of and the availability of 5G will increase dramatically when the ITU/IMT-2020 (International Telecommunications Union/International Mobile Telecommunications) engineering standards for 5G and 5G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) are satisfied.

When the last ITU/IMT-2020 requirements are standardized, the smartphone and IoT device makers will be busy finalizing their 5G/5G LTE capabilities for functioning over ultra-high-speed 5G/5G LTE cellular carrier networks.

5G LTE will provide optimum performance and the speediest connection speeds for a mobile user’s internet and data use. It is faster than plain 5G.

According to the ITU, 5G technology will provide “enhanced mobile broadband” and will be extensively used in smart home building; mission-critical applications, such as e-health, emergency services; self-driving cars (yes, I know, we have concerns here); industry automation, work and play in the cloud, and its ability of sending gigabytes worth of data within one second.

Low latency, meaning a network processing data with minimal delay; speedier up- and downloading of data, and ultra-reliability will be among the benefits when using a carrier’s 5G network.

June 2018, the ITU reported Poland was becoming the “European center of excellence” for 5G.

The ITU also stated Orange Telecom of France, and SK Telecom of South Korea were making progress in their 5G and cloud-related tests with phones from Nokia using the European Standard GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) technology, developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

In 2018, the top four US cellular providers announced their successful testing of 5G service currently being trialed in more than a dozen major US cities.

5G services will become publically available in selected major cities this year, while 5G and 5G LTE will become available in most major cities in 2020.

Most phone manufacturers are already prepared to release their first 5G-enabled phones; except for Apple. They are reportedly waiting until 2020 to release their 5G iPhone, which, I assume, will be 5G LTE compatible.

We should begin seeing cellular company’s 5G highway billboards here in Minnesota by this summer or fall.

I am excited about 5G, and plan on upgrading to a 5G LTE smartphone in 2020, or possibly late this year? Stay tuned.

Hang on, folks. It’s 2019, and we’ve begun another journey around the sun.

Credit: NASA