January was a big month for technology. The 45th Consumer Electronics Show (CES) saw tech enthusiasts from across the globe travel to Las Vegas to see what’s new and innovative in 2012. The CES attracts big companies, with the likes of Samsung, Google and Panasonic exhibiting new products and ideas, but is also a place for lesser-known companies to show what they can do. The ‘connected home’ category continued to grow in this year’s show with more companies putting the focus on producing intelligent home technologies. Here at Intecho we’ve picked out some of our highlights.
One of the key trends at the Consumer Electronics Show was ‘intelligent kitchens’. Smart appliances such as refrigerators and microwaves exhibited by Samsung and LG gathered a lot of interest. With 68% of Brits now aiming to dine at home more often, fridges that monitor temperature and freshness, and microwaves that are both space and energy saving could be great assets at meal times.
Away from the kitchen it was all about entertainment. 2012 is expected to be the year when the smart TV really comes into it’s own. Companies including Samsung, LG and Sony demonstrating Internet linked televisions were all competing to be the biggest, lightest and brightest. The rise in demand for online streaming of film and television in the UK means more people are looking to move away from their laptops and onto the TV screen.
Finally, we couldn’t talk about the Consumer Electronics Show without mentioning a favourite of ours, home control. Home control is a center point of our business. As one of Britain’s leaders in KNX technology we’re able to create truly connected homes through a variety of products. The likes of Motorola, Samsung, Belkin and Lowe’s announced their ideas for new home control systems at the show. These consisted of tablet based energy management, home automation gateways, iPhone control plugins and cloud networking.
Overall we’re very excited about what we’ve seen from the CES. And the good news is, whether it’s tablets or full home networks stored in the cloud, 2012 is set to be a great year for intelligent home technologies.
