Consumer Electronics Show

his year’s CES gadget show, like ones before it, showed off a mix of the dreamy and the practical in technology. Here’s a quick summary of the highlights of CES 2016.

This year’s CES is slated to be the biggest ever, taking up more than 2.4 million square feet of exhibit space, about a 7% increase from a year earlier, when it officially kicks off Wednesday after two days of media previews. There will be less emphasis on the typical CES electronics like televisions, tablets and smartphones, and more attention paid to industry-changing innovations such as connected, electric and driverless cars; the Internet of Things; drones; virtual reality and gaming; and entertainment tech.

For the first time ever, attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — the world’s largest trade show — will have their bags searched upon entering. The show’s sponsor, the Consumer Technology Association, says new security procedures have been implemented “due to recent global tragedies.”

The annual Consumer Electronics Show will showcase game-changing television technologies that have taken TV from a once linear, appointment-based medium into an anything, anywhere, on-any-device reality. Whether they are viewed as challenges that pose an existential threat to over-the-air television or as trail markers along the path to what can be the future of OTA television will largely be a matter of perspective.

Manufacturers do their best to fuel excitement over 4K TVs at International CES — with decidedly mixed results.

In his appearance at the CES yesterday, new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said: “I think there has never been a more risk-free opportunity for an incumbent service provider to morph into the new digital reality than what the spectrum incentive auction offers. I hope broadcasters begin to see that.”

For all the hype around second screen, streaming video and online TV at the Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas this week, TV is still king, according to agency executives at a TV of Tomorrow panel hosted by AOL and Omnicom.

It’s the first TV format to be driven by the Internet video-streaming phenomenon, and at the International CES gadget show this week, major streaming players Netflix and Amazon said they’ll offer movies and TV shows in the format, and Sharp introduced a relatively inexpensive TV with near-Ultra HD quality.

New Internet-based entertainment services, including a streaming game service and a cloud-based TV service, highlighted Sony’s Tuesday morning keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show.

There’s a battle being waged for that much-maligned piece of furniture we all end up in front of sooner or later. Call it the Idiot Box, the Boob Tube or whatever you want — the majority of media consumption still happens in front of the television, and whether it’s gaming, movie watching, Netflix or just listening to the stereo, tech giants are fighting tooth and nail for a seat on your couch. Here’s what they’re bringing to the party.

Netflix exec Reed Hastings says 4K streaming is “very practical with HEVC compression.”

Under its partnership with Comcast Corp., the country’s largest cable company, Samsung TVs would get 4K content through an app running on the Internet-connected TV, bypassing Comcast’s set-top boxes.

Its new Quattron+ technology doubles the vertical resolution of a high-definition set by chopping the existing pixels in half. Meanwhile, it uses a mathematical formula to double the horizontal resolution for everything but certain parts of an image. According to Sharp, that gives its Quattron+ televisions 16 million subpixels, versus 8 million for its Quattron line and 6 million for HD. It’s a middle ground before stepping up to a 4K TV, also known as “ultra HD,” which has 24 million subpixels.

While questions still swirl around Ultra HD television, the chief economist for the Consumer Electronics Assn. expects many answers to arrive during this week’s 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. In his annual presentation on CES trends to watch, Shawn G. DuBravac, chief economist and director of research for the CEA, said he expects at least 75 announcements related to UHD this week, and perhaps as many as 150.

As hyped as it’s been at this year’s CES, ultra high definition 4K television has been a technology searching for a reason to exist. But a panel Thursday agreed that UHD is essential for bringing the cinema experience into the home.

The idea is to make TV watching easier and more pleasant as viewers are confronted with more and more choices — from the hundreds of live TV channels from the cable or satellite provider to online video services such as Netflix Inc., Hulu and Apple’s iTunes. A traditional remote control that lets you flip through channels one at a time suddenly seems inadequate.

With set makers working hard to push adoption of 4K as TV’s next-gen format, work is moving forward on 8K. Visitors to the Consumer Electronics Show are brought up to date on “super high vision” which boasts an eye-popping 7,680 x 4,320 resolution.

As the annual Consumer Electronics Show gets underway in Las Vegas, the focus is on big screens with ultra-high resolution as well as the growing adoption of tablets as viewing options.

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show was overflowing with TV technology. For the creative, forward-thinking marketer there was an abundance of innovative ways to reach television-loving consumers, and TV broadcasters were squarely in that game with mobile DTV. With mobile DTV, marketers will have the opportunity to establish the deepest connection with consumers through the reach of television, their relationship with local news and entertainment, the interactivity of the Web and the intimacy of personal devices.

In the next decade, 75% of all channels will be born on the Internet. That’s the bold prediction of the day from Robert Kyncl, the head of global partnerships for YouTube. In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Kyncl said the Web is poised to become the premium channel for entertainment distribution within the next decade.

In a keynote address yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sounded a warning for mobile broadband users. “We’re threatened by a looming spectrum crunch,” Genachowski said. “This is the dark cloud around the silver lining.”

The Consumer Electronics Show always offers an enticing mix of new products that will play pivotal roles in consumer-electronics showrooms, new products that will never see the light of day beyond the exhibition, and new concepts that hint at the future of content consumption. Here are a few highlights from the show floor.

At the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday, Jonathan Miller, chairman and CEO of News Digital Media and chief digital officer of News Corp., said subscriptions of Hulu Plus are on a faster track than expected.

Broadcaster-owned MCV and Mobile500 showed devices and apps that they say consumers may use to receive their broadcast-based mobile services later this year. But neither had a launch date or particulars about programming. Meanwhile, Syncbak demonstrated its authentication technology designed to give copyright holders comfort that the programming TV stations put on broadband networks will stay in their local markets.

Sony used the backdrop of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to talk about the company’s plans to revitalize its struggling television division. Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said new technologies, such as the Crystal LED prototype the company showcased Monday in its news conference, will factor in plans to return the TV group to profitability by March 2014.

The Consumer Electronics Association says the annual show has more than 3,100 exhibitors, up from a pre-show estimate of 2,800-plus. The show usually has just over 2,700 exhibitors, but dipped to 2,500 in 2010. It opened Tuesday and is expected to draw more than 140,000 attendees.

This summer, NBC will air 200 hours of the London games produced by the host Olympic Broadcast Services using Panasonic 3D gear. The 3D coverage of gymastics, diving, swimming and other events will be recorded and broadcast a day later.

LG Electronics will sell a remote with its high-end flat-panel TVs that contains a microphone. You’ll be able to speak into the microphone to enter text on the TV for Twitter updates and Web searches. But you still won’t be able to change the channel or control the volume by yelling at the TV.

Apple casts a huge shadow over the world’s largest consumer electronics show as rumors continue to spread that it has its own TV in the works.

Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Channel, IGN Entertainment and the Wall Street Journal will launch apps for Xbox this year.

Dish Network is looking to make a splash at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — but one announcement, which leaked out prematurely, could raise the ire of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Dish’s new multi-room DVR, Hopper, will automatically record primetime broadcasts from local stations for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC and retain those shows for a week — in effect turning Hopper into into a catch-up VOD service.

A few things we know — the buzz around 3D continues to peter out after peaking at CES 2010, tablets and e-readers continue to find their way into more consumers hands, and “thin is in” as the hottest TV’s, laptops, tablets and phones will be thinner than ever in 2012.

The Consumer Electronics Association has made an aggressive effort to broaden its appeal and roster of members in recent years, expanding the categories of companies it represents to include automakers, major retailers and medical device manufacturers, among others.

What’s generating buzz in the buildup to that technology industry bacchanalia known as CES? The most talk is still around tablets but TVs are seeing the biggest year-over-year gains in online buzz, according to new data from Nielsen’s NM Incite unit.

LG has taken the wraps off its first Google TV-powered television set, even as rumors of an Apple television loom over the industry.

When the annual conclave kicks off next week, organizers expect more than 140,000 people  to descend on Las Vegas. The 2,800 or so exhibitors are hoping to set the tone for the year by showing off tons of tablet computers, throngs of 3D TVs and untold numbers of slim, light laptops called ultrabooks. But a look back at the products heavily promoted at CES in recent years reveals few successes.

In three weeks, thousands of consumer marketing executives will descend on Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show.

Microsoft said the next Consumer Electronics Show, to be held Jan. 9-12 in Las Vegas, will be the last show at which it has a booth or the CEO delivers the customary kick-off speech. Microsoft says it will continue to use CES as a place to connect to customers, but it won’t have a booth because its product milestones don’t align with the show’s January timing.