Goal: Keep us connected 24 hours a day
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SCOTT JAGOW: The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is all about showing off. This year’s event officially gets going this morning, but the gadget bragging has already started. Nokia unveiled a new phone that’s 13 millimeters thick. It’s supposed to compete with Motorola’s Razrs and Krzrs. TV makers think bigger is better. LG Electronics rolled out a 100-inch flat-screen, only to be outdone a few hours later by Sharp. It’s new high-def TV is 108 inches. Marketplace’s Bob Moon is in Vegas with a preview.
BOB MOON: As the world’s biggest technology show kicks off, a weekend of sneak previews is already generating lots of buzz here. It’s mostly over something industry leaders are calling the “connected experience.”
In his pre-show keynote, Microsoft chief Bill Gates said the software giant is focusing on tying together the growing variety of gadgets and content consumers have to choose from.
BILL GATES: Our ambition is to give you connected experiences 24 hours a day. We admit that when you’re sleeping, we haven’t quite figured out what we’re going to do for you there, but the rest of the time, the minute you get in the kitchen, look at that refrigerator, pick up your phone, hear the alarm clock tell you about the traffic, whatever it is, we want you to have the information that you’re interested in.
Over the weekend, Microsoft and Ford announced they’re teaming up on an in-dash system that controls handheld cell phones and portable music players and lets drivers listen to email, read by a computer-generated voice.
Connected tech is the theme here from TVs able to play Internet video, to live video over cell phones.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I’m Bob Moon for Marketplace.
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