Outlook on consumer product developments impacting electronics manufacturing: a report from International CES 2014.
The International CES 2014, hailed as a crossroads for innovation in consumer technologies, took place in Las Vegas.
The smart home featured strongly at the show, with announcements that the Smart TV Alliance is expanding its coverage to connect smart TVs to the smart home. Specification is being created by focusing on the role which TV can take in smart home environment where various home appliances from different companies are connected together. Overall, the ‘connected home’ is seen to be embracing the ‘internet of things’ concept with intelligent home appliances.
According to the Alliance, a smart TV is one of the most intelligent and easy-to-use home appliances, giving it an important role in the smart home. The Smart TV Alliance Smart Home specification is based on open standards, including WebSocket, JSON, HTML5, and JavaScript, to ensure compatibility with the greatest number of smart home devices worldwide. With smart home features, applications running on this platform can control and interact with connected devices at home to optimize the consumer’s smart TV experience.
Meanwhile, reports state electronics manufacturers see the open standards-based smart home specification as a valuable tool that can extend the range of supported devices. As WebSocket and JSON are widely used in many areas, developers can easily use those technologies to make smart home-enabled applications, they claim.
Future products
Breakthrough technologies also announced at the show included sphero robots and e-ink smart watches, which debuted in sensor technology, wearable tech, the Internet of things, high-resolution audio and green technology. In addition, new products emerged in the areas of wireless, apps, automotive, digital health and fitness, 3D printing, startup tech and more.