CES 2011 – 6 Tech Trends To Watch

Las Vegas is currently gearing up for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s biggest consumer tech expo. From Thursday January 6 through Sunday January 9, companies from around the world will convene at the Las Vegas Convention Center to debut their latest and greatest innovations.

We’ve been culling the rumor mine and staying on top of the buzz to bring you the hottest predictions for CES 2011. While some of last years hottest products–including tablet PCs, smartphones and 3D TVs–are back again, there are also exciting new gadgets that could prove to be the next big trends this year…

Read more from the source.

Android Tablets

A new crop of powerful Android tablets could steal the limelight at CES, thanks to the Android 3.0 (aka “Honeycomb”) operating system, which is expected to be “optimized for tablets” and set to launch in the early months of 2011. CNET predicts that Acer, Archos, Asus, Creative, Dell, Entourage, Fusion Garage, LG, Motorola, MSI, Notion Ink, Samsung, Toshiba and ViewSonic will all unveil their latest slates this week. SlashGear is hoping that last year’s crowd-pleaser, the never-released Lenovo U1 Hybrid, gets its overdue resurrection.

Alternative Tablets

According to Fox News, HP is rumored to have several new PalmPads ready for CES. “All three [of these tablets] will run a new iteration of the WebOS operating system, version 2.5.1; they’re collectively a spin-off of the never-released HP Slate,” according to Fox. RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook could also make an appearance, PCMag suggests.

4G Smartphones at CES

The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon will trot out 4G smartphones (and perhaps a tablet, as well) by Samsung, Motorola, HTC and LG. All these Verizon devices are expected to run on the Android operating system. Though WSJ predicts that Verizon smartphones will be the stars at CES, Sprint and T-Mobile will also debut 4G products of their own.

3D TV, Internet TV

3D TV was a big hit at CES 2010, and this year we could see improvements that aim to draw in consumers. For example, Samsung has created lighter, less obtrusive 3D glasses, and Toshiba will be showcasing glasses-free 3D technology. TechRadar predicts excitement surrounding 3D Blu-ray. ReadWriteWeb, meanwhile, excitedly anticipates mobile TV devices and 3D TV devices, as well a mobile TV receiver for the iPhone.

Microsoft Announcement at CES 2011

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer could drop a bomb on the tech world during his CES keynote address on Thursday. Ballmer might announce a Google TV competitor, which, Business Insider suggests might be “a stripped-down version of Windows tailored for set-top boxes and connected TVs.” Since last year’s Windows Tablet (the HP Slate) never came to fruition, there’s a chance that Ballmer might unveil a fresh model for 2011. ReadWriteWeb speculates that a Microsoft tablet could run on a version Windows 7, or that we’ll see the introduction of “a tablet-friendly Windows 8.”

I’m not holding my breath regarding any Microsoft Announcements at CES 2011, unless they say they are going to make Microsoft Word be more user friendly.

Smart Appliances

I won’t got into much detail here, but I do expect to see a number of home appliances, like washers and dryers that can be connected to the Internet and/or mobile devices.  I like the idea of a Smart Coffee Maker that would delay my coffee being made when I snooze the alarm on my mobile phone.