At Tuesday’s keynote, Mercedes-Benz CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche introduced the new SL, the first vehicle equipped with the second generation of the company’s mbrace technology that provides full Internet access and a host of apps designed for in-vehicle use.
In addition to the SL, Mercedes also brought along its F-125 concept to demonstrate how it envisions technology shaping the future of the automobile.
The F-125’s infotainment system can predict and adapt to the user’s needs by performing tasks like suggesting an umbrella if the forecast predicts rain at your destination three hours from now or by automatically downloading podcasts and news based on your previous interests.
Zetsche announced that Mercedes will kick off the world’s largest car-to-x communication test in Germany in the next few weeks to prove that “a connected car is a proactive car.”
The car-to-x communication system uses driver’s smartphones, in particular their GPS data, to connect every vehicle on the road, providing not only real-time traffic information on an unprecedented level but a road condition warning system that the company hopes is the first step towards “accident free driving.”
Daimler AG will continue rolling out its Car2Go car-sharing service and has introduced its Car2gether app that combines ridesharing with social media for safe carpooling alternatives.
The company is also working with Apple to develop apps in support of its connection-based initiative.
Comrex Corp. is making professional news gathering more nimble with LiveShot, “a compact solution for doing live low latency video delivery for electronic news gathering — or what the industry is now calling IP ENG.”
Set to ship in March, it will work in conjunction with an IP network (in the case of this video demo, the 4G LTE network from Verizon) to transmit broadcast quality audio and video over the Internet.
Comrex already has thousands of customers in the field using a similar technology to produce audio feeds for radio, using its LTE-enabled Access device.
“With $15,000 worth of hardware mounted onto a camera and the use of a 4G LTE network, television news crews can do the same thing they did with a quarter million dollar satellite and microwave truck,” Comrex’s Chris Crump said.
LiveShot works with any professional camera equipped with an Anton/Bauer mount (or adapter) and an HDMI port (it also works off a composite or HD-SDI signal).
The camera-mounted encoder costs $7,000 and the studio-resident decoder $5,000.
Panel members: Lori MacPherson, EVP Global Product Management, Walt Disney Studios; John Calkins, EVP Global Digital & Commercial Innovation, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; Ira Rubenstein, EVP Digital Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox; Matt Jacobson, Head of Market Development, Facebook; John August, screenwriter (“Corpse Bride,” “Big Fish”); Thomas Gewecke, president, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.
Impact of the cloud: Consumers want to be able to see their content anywhere. They also want to have their purchased DVDs put into the cloud. Excited by the cloud. The cloud should be easy to use like an ATM. For example, Disney Studio All Access helps consumers build their own Disney library. With UltraViolet, the cloud is an opportunity for ownership and choice of playback device.
On managing content: Windowing works. You offer the product at different price points, in many regions, at different times. It ultimately gives consumers more power. We need to create the right value equation with consumers. Enhanced content is value. Quality is value.
Impact of social media: “As long as they’re frictionless and you’re able to deduce what your friends want, new tools make it really powerful for people to find things,” said Matt Jacobson. Facebook is already driving traffic to YouTube. Facebook worked with Sony to see if great awareness would increase the intent to see a movie. When people said they were going to see a movie, they actually did so. A 1% increase in intent led to $1 million increased box office.
Effect on content creation: Some well-known artists (e.g. Ed Burns, Louis C.K.) have been able to go directly to their fans via online channels and social media with initial success.
As part of Variety’s Entertainment Summit, industry leaders were asked about the future of media.
Included on the panel: Darcy Antonellis, president, Warner Bros. Technical Operations; Chris Cookson, president, Sony Pictures Technologies; Ed Leonard, CTO, DreamWorks Animation; Arnaud Robert, SVP Technology, The Walt Disney Company.
On content over technology: Consumers should not have to think about technology. The focus should not be on the device but on creating and providing access to great content. UltraViolet, as one example, was created to enable a connected experience — seeking to make technology transparent, cross platform and optimized for the device.
On mobile platforms: Mobility is a way to engage consumers and build a deeper relationship. Adapting to mobile platforms is an extension of cross platform support. Studios are evolving to support multiple screens. The challenge is how to provide the best experience.
On user interfaces: Unlike before when studios created the UI for videocassettes and DVDs, today content aggregators are creating them. We’re moving towards collaborative interfaces developed with partners.
On social media: It’s an opportunity to create a dialog with the consumer. We can create a community around movies. It’s becoming woven into everything we do.
On innovation: Innovation is accelerating and studios are tapping the skills of all their employees. You don’t have to be an engineer to have a great idea that becomes a new service or product.
As part of Variety’s Entertainment Summit, the trade’s Andrew Wallenstein moderated a conversation with Jonathan Miller, CEO of News Digital Media and chief digital officer of News Corp.
Video consumption is growing. Portable devices and multitasking are good news for consumption. It’s a fascinating media era since everyone wants content, including the CE manufacturers.
Must serve the existing model of MSOs and MVPDs but also need to serve the consumer with new distribution channels.
Future content strategies will be different than existing ones. However, what will become the new services? And who will build the alternatives?
As producers, we need to give consumers more content or risk declining over time. We should expect to see the channelization of the Web. But we will still have on-demand. News Corp. will provide a range of content to Xbox Live: Fox, Fox News, IGN and Wall Street Journal TV.
Fox also remains committed to Hulu in an authenticated world. Authentication determines who gets content sooner, and consumers understand the tradeoffs.
Hulu co-owners opted not to sell, despite bids. They recognized we are in the very early days of digital, a market that has not fully developed. Hulu+ is doing very well as a paid service. Subscriber growth will be a multiple of last year. Hulu also has an ad-supported service, suggesting that dual revenue streams work in this space.
New distributors such as Apple and Amazon are servicing hundreds of millions of homes or more. While traditional distributors like Comcast only provide service to tens of millions as video becomes a secondary business to them compared to their broadband business.
“Content companies want to have a view of what the market becomes.”
Sony provides a demo of its new network media player powered by Google TV.
The video shows Sony’s new scrolling remote, features of the Google TV UI, and the ability to directly download apps from the Android Market.
“We give you a lot of apps already installed on it, but we can take it a step further and go to the Android Market and find other apps that you might want to download that are optimized for your television.”
“It really gives you a very customized approach to finding all that content and information that you’re looking for.”
There are two Sony products: a standalone Google TV box and a second unit that has a Blu-ray player built into it.
No pricing yet, but they should be available by late spring, early summer.
Verizon Wireless briefly discusses some of the possibilities with augmented reality technologies that can take place over its network.
In this demo, we see the interactivity possible between marketers and consumers in bringing magazine advertising to 3D life with the help of a QR code and an app.
“Rather than a one way advertisement, it becomes two way. It becomes more of a relationship.”
The mission of theBlu is to present the world’s oceans via a Web app as a globally shared art and entertainment experience.
MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito, National Geographic explorer in residence Sylvia Earle, and Oscar winners Andy Jones, Kevin Mack and Louie Psihoyos are involved.
“The really interesting thing about theBlu is how it brings together the biology, the activism of conservation, the beauty and the artistic elements as well as the grassroots, participatory social media movement,” explained Ito.
Wemo Media, the Venice, CA-based start-up behind the project, just received $2 million in seed funding.
The company plans to release additional titles through its media creation platform and invites artists, software engineers, animators, composers and other creatives from around the globe to collaborate.
Wemo Media is already working with the MIT Media Lab, USC School of Cinematic Arts and Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center.
TheBlu is currently in private beta. Invites are available by request.
Speaking at a keynote event, Robert Kyncl, vice president of global content partnerships for YouTube explained that the video site would continue to expand at a rapid pace, as it moves more toward a channel model.
Kyncl pointed out that the five most popular YouTube channels now have as many viewers as the top 20 cable channels, and further explained that content on the video site is instantly global, avoiding many of the complex licensing and distribution hurdles that exist in traditional television.
He highlighted a number of well-known personalities who would launch YouTube channels in 2012, including “The Office” co-star Rainn Wilson, and Marvel comic book legend Stan Lee.
A panel of speakers at the event, including “CSI” creator Anthony Zuiker, and a number of advertising executives, highlighted YouTube’s unique ability to target specific audiences, in contrast to the wide net cast by traditional television advertising.
“The problem with TV is that you can’t sell the same can of beer to a six year-old and a sixty year-old,” said Zuiker. “We are seeing the beginning of the extinction of traditional television.”
Los Angeles-based Neustar Media demos its UltraViolet-ready Catalyst system in this video report.
Catalyst is Neustar’s working title for its white label and completely customizable retail storefront.
This turnkey solution includes a storefront, media player application, and content distribution capabilities.
According to Neustar, Catalyst also provides “retailers the ability to offer custom merchandising and promotions, social media integration and the opportunity to upgrade physical DVDs or Blu-ray purchases to digital.”
Connected TV has taken center stage, and at this CES we are seeing production model TVs equipped with Intel’s WiDi capability out of the box.
WiDi, or wireless display, extends the laptop to the television screen.
Intel introduced the technology in 2010, but it’s just now beginning to bear fruit, with a multitude of WiDi-ready devices coming to market, including all new ultrabooks and models from 100 different OEMs.
It will also be enabling WiDi on Intel-chip tablets and phones. Intel is only now entering those markets, and was showing at its booth pre-release Lenovo tablets and phones.
Samsung and Sharp are among the manufacturers shipping sets with built-in WiDi, as is AT&T on its U-verse boxes, and consumers can expect “Intel WiDi” badges to become as ubiquitous as “Intel Inside.” Adapter boxes that retrofit existing sets hit retail last year for $100.
Connectivity-wise, WiDi is also going to be used to connect computer-to-computer, or computer-to-phone. Intel is emphasizing the creation of an optimized Android SDK for the Intel chip architecture, which should result in a number of interesting mobile apps.
CES marks the first public showing of Canon’s new digital cinematography camera, the EOS C300, since November’s launch.
Available in two weeks priced around $20,000 (body only), and in two versions: industry standard PL-lens mount or an EF mount for Canon lenses.
Records 50Mbps, 4:2:2 MPEG-2 MXF format to dual Compact Flash card slots.
Contains a Super 35mm-sized CMOS sensor, and can shoot up to 60 frames per second at 720p resolution and 30fps at 1080p.
A new set of Canon lenses is also available for the camera: 14.5-60mm and 30-300mm cine zooms in EF and PL-mount versions and 24mm, 50mm and 85mm primes for EF-mount only.
Richard Crudo, ASC has already used the camera to shoot the indie feature, “Max is Back.”
Where to see it: Central Hall 13304, North Hall N109
A technology demonstration showed how music could be transferred from a Blu-ray player to a set-top box simply by human touch.
Each of the devices is network enabled and includes electronic capacitors.
When a person — who also carries with them a digital identifier such as a smartphone — touches one of the devices the human body itself completes the circuit. Personal content stored in the cloud is downloaded to the hardware.
“Ultimately, we are the network,” said Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg in his first ever CES keynote. He estimates there will be 50 billion connected devices on networks by 2020.
“We see a change in how we communicate — from always having our communicator in our hand and having to find ways to link it to things — to becoming more human using proximity, touch, eyes and voice,” explained Keith Shank, Ericsson director of advanced technologies. “We need to be able to link not just a few devices, but all connected devices regardless of the vendor’s ecosystem.”
The cloud is a huge presence hovering above CES, but for those who are squeamish at the idea of using mass shared storage, Iomega is offering mini-servers that function as “personal clouds.”
The concept is essentially an easy-to-use means of accessing an NAS server at home from anywhere via the Internet.
Iomega Personal Cloud also allows users to share files with up to 250 members.
When not in use the unit automatically powers down to a 1-volt sleep mode.
An entry-level 4TB setup costs about $899, and the units scale up to 12TB. Available from Fry’s Electronics and online.
Where to see it: Intel Booth, Central Hall 7253; Iomega, Venetian Renaissance Suite
At Tuesday’s keynote, Mercedes-Benz CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche introduced the new SL, the first vehicle equipped with the second generation of the company’s mbrace technology that provides full Internet access and a host of apps designed for in-vehicle use.
