The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held from January 7 through January 10, was a Techie’s dream come true. Held annually in Las Vegas, CES is the world’s largest and most important consumer electronics tradeshow with the newest electronic gear, gadgets and gizmos from over 2,700 different exhibitors. The show was so large that it is spread out over three different locations in Las Vegas and covered the equivalent of over 35 football fields. That’s a lot of technology!
A history-making keynote speech by Bill Gates kicked off this year’s show. Gates’ first CES keynote speech was in 1994, the year of Windows 95, the internet, and the beginning of the First Digital Decade. Since 1994, Gates’ CES keynotes introduced the world to the futuristic technology of tomorrow. History was made when Gates announced that, after 12 years of keynotes, his 2008 keynote will be his last. Gates formally announced he will retire from Microsoft in July 2008. He described the past ten years of technology as the First Digital Decade, the era where PC’s, broadband internet, mobile phones, digital photos and digital music were embraced and implemented into daily life.

Gates predicted that the Second Digital Decade will be the decade of connectivity, connecting people through a user centric experience and changing the way we live. He explained that “applications will not only run on the PC, they’ll run up in the Internet, or in the cloud, as we say, on the phone, in the car, in the TV.” He envisioned that future devices will have a user interface that is simple to use. Touch screens and voice recognition will replace the common mouse and keyboard. Manipulation and editing will be simple and quick. Graphics will be rich with 3D renderings. Devices will be simple to use and easily interconnect with one another.

The Second Digital Decade is a futuristic dream… or is it? Many products showcased at the 2008 CES prove that the Second Digital Decade has already begun.

I competed with over 140,000 other attendees to navigate through the show floor just to catch a glimpse of what the Second Digital Decade will bring. Most of us simply passed by booths packed with gadgets suffering from iFever, booths packed with digital photo frame after digital photo frame, and booths filled with strangely colored and oddly shaped digital audio/video players.

Instead, most attendees were on a quest seeking the booths with jaw dropping proof of concept products. Products such as the 3D displays by Pioneer and Zalman (yes, Zalman the CPU heatsink company), Panasonic’s colossal 150” Plasma TV, and Pioneer’s truly flat 9mm thin, 50” Plasma TV. Nothing could stop us from gawking at the latest high tech devices, except maybe to briefly interact with one of the robots that wandered around the show floor. The most impressive products at CES, verified by large crowds of people, communicated with each other or to the internet. These products will change our lives as Gates describes in the Second Digital Decade.

Microsoft is beginning the Second Digital Decade with the launch of Windows Home Server (WHS). WHS simplifies automatic backups, network file storage, file sharing and multimedia streaming. This product is a necessity for families with multiple computers and for small and home offices.

According to CNN, nine out of ten computer users store personal information such as photos, contact information and important documents on their computers. Of the users that store personal information on their computers, only 57% backup their data. ( HYPERLINK "http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/07/technology/data_loss/index.htm" http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/07/technology/data_loss/index.htm) Microsoft is attempting to increase these numbers by providing a simple way to backup all home computers.

Imagine having an automated nightly backup of your computer and being able to able to access your files from anywhere on the Internet. Worrying about losing important files and documents in a hard drive crash becomes a thing of the past. WHS automatically creates backups of the user’s computers and stores it in a central location. Backups can be made either through a home network or via the internet while at a remote location. This means that you can run your backups from your laptop while on a business trip!

In the event of data loss, WHS allows quick and easy restoration of either the entire hard drive or individual files or folders. By storing files in a central location, WHS can also share them via remote access. Instead of resizing images and clipping videos to share via email or sites like Picasa or flickr, full resolution photos and full length HD video can be shared with anyone on the internet using the built in web server. The guest just needs the proper login credentials. This lets you share entire folders of pictures and movies with anyone on the Internet.

Also acting as a Media Server, WHS streams DivX, Xvid, Windows Media Video HD and H.264 video to any Windows Media Extender on the local network. This allows instant music and movies on any TV or stereo connected to the network via a Media Extender, such as an Xbox 360.

Although WHS was just recently released to the retail market, there’s already a WHS community ( HYPERLINK "http://mswhs.com" http://mswhs.com) and ( HYPERLINK "http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/" http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/) that provides support and develops add-in applications. Third party applications add functionality such as torrent clients, automated web page creation, and web hosting.

One of the applications I want to try is LobsterTunes Media Server (http://lobstertunes.com). LobsterTunes is an MP3, WMA, WAV and Internet Radio player for Windows Mobile that allows the mobile device to remotely play files stored on WHS via a Wi-Fi or 3G EVDO/HSDPA connection. You can listen to your entire music collection from your cell phone! Think of this as a Slingbox for music. LobsterTunes even caches the music so it will continue to play even after losing the wireless connection.
Right now most people are thinking that WHS requires a computer science degree to install and set up, but in reality it’s fairly quick and easy. The typical WHS only requires two cables, a connection to the network router and power. That’s it! Configuration is handled by a simple and easy to use Graphical User Interface (GUI). Although the GUI is simplified and geared towards the home environment, it still has many features for power users.

The hottest items displayed by HP were not the latest desktop computers, laptops or printers, but the latest in home entertainment and home servers. HP showed off their MediaSmart Server, which is one of the first Microsoft Windows Home Servers to hit the retail market.

The HP MediaSmart Server has a total of four internal drive bays and four USB ports for external drives. It comes configured with either one or two 500GB SATA Hard Drives installed for a total of either 500GB or 1TB of storage. HP demonstrated their MediaSmart Server by streaming 1080p video to their MediaSmart TVs. The 42” and 47” 1080p LCD MediaSmart TVs include a built-in Microsoft Windows Media Center Extender. Pair this up with a Windows Vista PC or a Windows Home Server a wired 10/100 mbps or wireless 802.11a/b/g/n connection and start streaming HD video to the TV. The MediaSmart Receiver is a Windows Media Center Extender and allows an existing HD TV with HDMI or Component Video inputs to stream HD video.
The Life|ware ( HYPERLINK "http://www.life-ware.com" www.life-ware.com) booth encompassed many different products to demonstrate Gates’ vision of life in the Second Digital Decade. Pay attention if you’re remodeling or building your dream house. The booth was a full blown multi-room, fully operational, smart home and could easily be mistaken for a typical house in Mililani or Kapolei.

The Kitchen, Great Room, Game Room, Home Office and Bedroom highlighted products that were connected to the Life|ware system, which allows them to communicate with each other. The house featured the latest products such as a DSC Security System ( HYPERLINK "http://www.dsc.com" www.dsc.com). In addition to the typical security system functions, the Life|ware connection allows voice announcements throughout the house over the Russound ( HYPERLINK "http://www.russound.com" www.russound.com) Avenue multi-zone audio system.

For example, when Mom comes home and uses the keychain remote to disarm the system, the system will announce “Mom is home” over the multi-zone audio system. The system can also adjust the Lutron Sivoia QED ( HYPERLINK "http://www.lutron.com" www.lutron.com) window shades and Lutron HomeWorks lighting system based on the time of day to a day, night, or other custom setting.

In the kitchen, appliances were connected to the Life|ware system to allow them to communicate to any Life|point touch screen within the house. These appliances included a TMIO oven ( HYPERLINK "http://www.tmio.com" www.tmio.com), an LG Electronics ( HYPERLINK "http://www.lg.com" www.lg.com) refrigerator and a HP TouchSmart Windows Vista Home Premium PC ( HYPERLINK "http://www.hp.com" www.hp.com).

The Life|ware system allows the appliances to announce alerts and warnings throughout the multi-zone audio system and also allows the appliances to be controlled by any Life|point touch screen in the house. For example, the oven timer alerts will be broadcast throughout the house via the Life|ware system. The Life|ware system also allows the appliances to be controlled. For example, the oven temperature and time can be controlled via the nearest Life|point touch screen. The HP TouchSmart PC not only functions as a typical PC with Microsoft Office, e-mail access and media playing, it also provides tools to show status, control and customize the lighting and audio system.

The Life|media Media Server showcased in the Great Room was connected to a Russound multi-zone audio system, Denon Home Theatre receiver ( HYPERLINK "http://www.denon.com" www.denon.com) and a HP 47” LCD HDTV. The Life|media Media Server becomes the center of the entire entertainment center and not only performs the duties of a typical DVR, but can also store digital photos, and home videos which can be streamed anywhere in the house.

Connected to four TV tuners, the Life|media Media Server can record or display four different channels simultaneously. The server has different environmental presets and can automatically recall lighting, audio/video and AC presets depending on what the system is doing. For example, a Movie preset is automatically recalled when a movie is played. The system will automatically adjust the Lutron lighting and window shade system, audio video system, and the thermostat on the AC to the user’s preferences.

An Xbox 360 in the Game Room demonstrated how it can be used as a Media Extender in addition to just playing games. When gamers need a rest from playing Rock Band, they can use the 360’s Media Extender functions to stream HD Video to their TV. The 360 can access HD video stored on the Life|media Server, and if it’s too late to run to Blockbuster, the 360 can connect to Xbox Live Marketplace to download HD movies and TV shows.

A Home Office demonstrated how HP’s Blackbird 002 Gaming PC, MediaSmart Windows Home Server, and Zune integrated together to provide file security, web servers, and full multimedia entertainment. The Mediasmart Windows Home Server automatically backed up the Blackbird 002 Gaming PC, stored music that could be downloaded to the Zune MP3 Player and streamed to the Russound multi-zone audio system.

The most innovative room in the Life|ware house was the Bedroom, which included the astounding Starry Night Bed by Leggett & Platt ( HYPERLINK "http://www.starrynightbed.com" http://www.starrynightbed.com). This bed does everything. Not only does it automatically adjust itself when you lie down, it is connected to the Life|ware system and will automatically recline itself for TV viewing, reading, sleeping, and “romance”.

The Life|ware system also helps to control the Sleep Diagnostic Center. Using sensors in the bed, the Sleep Diagnostic Center records body movement and breathing patterns. If the system detects changes in the breathing pattern, it will send an alert and make suggestions on how to get a better night’s sleep. These sensors are also used to detect snoring and will automatically elevate your torso to help alleviate it.

In addition, the bed has dual temperature zones which use a liquid circulating Peltier heat pump to cool the bed down to 68 degrees or warm the bed up to 117 degrees. When not used for sleeping, the bed can play audio and video stored on the Life|media Server or play media stored on the internal 1.5TB storage. Video is projected from a 1080p LCD projector built into the headboard, and audio is played via a built in surround sound system featuring 4-8” subwoofers and 2,500W RMS of amplification.

Although many products displayed at CES are only prototypes or proof of concept models, most of the products discussed in this article will be available on the retail market by the time this article is published. Just as our lives changed with the adoption of broadband, digital photography, digital video and MP3 players during the first digital decade, the Second Digital Decade will bring us products that communicate and integrate with each other.

This technology, as demonstrated at CES 2008, will significantly impact our lifestyles by changing the way we use the products that we already have today. Although the era of Bill Gates’ CES keynote speeches has ended, his vision of the Second Digital Decade has only just begun.