Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a 3-D TV out of my hat!
That trick never works, you’ll groan, and the consumer electronics industry will respond: “This time for sure!”
Gadget manufacturers will try a similar rabbit trick with tablets this year, too, hoping that the doodads they hyped a year ago will actually take off in 2011.
But, like Bullwinkle, what comes out of the industry’s magic hat might be a little different than what the hypemasters are hoping for.
3-D televisions are still as useless in your living room as they were last year, but there’s an array of new gadgets and software to let you create your own 3-D photos and video.
Tablets are poised to hit the market en masse in 2011 — just in time for Apple to release the second generation of its hit iPad.
Phones and wireless media will be seeing some seismic shifts in the coming year, too, with the advent of Windows Phone 7 and a new crop of Android phones. Although here, too, Apple will steal thunder, most likely by announcing a Verizon version of its massively popular iPhone. The real winners might be ARM and Nvidia, makers of the ultra-low-power chips inside many smartphones.
Whatever gadgets wind up dominating 2011, we’ll get a preview of them at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which Wired will cover January 4-8. (Check our CES 2011 tag page for the latest stories from the show.)
Here’s a preview of the top gadget trends that will rock CES in January — and rock your world later in 2011.
3-D Consumer Cameras
Panasonic's $1,400 3-D camera is just the tip of the iceberg. Expect lots more — and cheaper — 3-D cameras and camcorders in 2011. Photo credit: Panasonic
Thanks a lot, Avatar.
Yes, the cinematic phenomenon from James Cameron has helped usher in a new era of fascination with 3-D and all its potential consumer applications. But with little 3-D content to watch on them, and a slow economy besides, the 3-D televisions touted last year just haven’t taken off.
Instead, look for 3-D to break into a new arena in 2011: Consumer-priced cameras.
Last year, just as Avatar was building box-office momentum, 3-D cameras made few waves at CES, but offerings such as a $21,000 3-D-enabled camcorder from Panasonic were hardly budget friendly.
Camera manufacturers are more serious this time around about enabling consumers to produce their own at-home, three-dimensional media. Sure, it won’t be enough for you to act out your favorite Na’vi fanfic pieces, but it’s a critical step — and those Paris vacation photos would look great in 3-D, wouldn’t they?
Expect to see plenty of big-name manufacturers expanding on last year’s models and dazzling us with fresh ones, with price points for 3-D-capable point-and-shoot digicams hovering, for the most part, around $500.
The inherently annoying thing about shooting in 3-D is that it often requires a bit of savvy on the shooter’s part, often necessitating the shooting and re-shooting of a scene from a slightly different angle to order to let the camera generate the intended 3-D effect. Those models that can incorporate an easy-to-use 3-D functionality for those down on the far end of the digicam long tail will immediately jump out to the front of the pack.
Those 3-D camcorders should still remain prohibitively out-of-budget for most show-goers, but Panasonic has led the way so far, especially considering this summer’s release of the $1,400 HDC-SDT750. Whether the volume of new releases at CES can help the market push that price point down below $1,000 is doubtful.
Still, the tech (as it relates to consumers) is still relatively green, so we’ll look to 2012 as a potential tipping point for all you budding Cameron wannabes. Until then, you’ll have to do with the ever-expanding roster of budget 3-D pocket cams, like those from Aiptek, DXG and Viewsonic.
So yes, we’ve come a long way from the red-and-blue-lensed glasses of yesteryear, but 3-D has also encountered a newer, more tech-savvy generation of users, as well.
Unfortunately, 3-D TV penetration will have to explode over the next few months (and years, really) in order for consumers to go all-in on 3-D-capable cameras. But the beginnings of a major new art form are in place. – Erik Malinowski
Top photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
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