14/01/2012 Click

of a woman and a girl, aged eight. Another girl in the House suffered

minor injuries. This is my past from the world's biggest technology

trade show. -- pass. This is the Welcome to Click. I am Spencer

Kelly. While everyone is struggling back to work after the holidays,

tech execs are clambering aboard planes and heading here, at to Las

Vegas, for a spot of gambling. They are not gambling their hard earned

wages, they are gambling their brand new products will catch the

world's attention at the massive consumer electronics show. This

week we will check out some new ideas around smarter TVs, future

uses for your Tablet and a brand new window on the world. We

discover a new way to remember all that important news in Webscape. It

is quite a few. That is the Nevada desert. Here is part of the world

famous Las Vegas skyline. You have these Stratosphere Hotel in the

distance. Here is where Elvis performed and this is the last

Vegas Convention Centre. It is here that 20 Tup is starting to take

shape. They are releasing big projects. -- 2012. The small

outlets are announcing innovations which may change the world in the

coming months. Around 20,000 products were announced during the

show at press conferences... new series nine weighs 2.5 lb.

AA have done a fabulous job with this design. -- they have done.

show this year, personalised tech for every part of our life - from

the morning drive, to the daily chores, and the evening meal. One

of the most eye-catching features of the shows are the sheer numbers

of TV screens that blaze at you from every direction. Competition

is fierce. Samsung claim to have the biggest LEDs screen. LG saw

that and raised it. They make their 3D. They were both so thin you can

shave with them. Both companies were also showing off ultra-high

resolution screens was poor times as many pixels as normal high def.

LG's was 3D. It you are worried that he BTEC his advancing so fast

that your new set will be out of date next week, why not try this

Samsung TV which comes with an upgrade slot? Does put in

tomorrow's shiny new processor. The start of the show was the connected

TVs. It plugs into the net and allows you to screen videos and

download apse in the same way as a Tablet or a smartphone. A lot of

people are making a lot of noise about their TVs. Will 2012 be the

year of connected TVs? There are a lot of them being sold but not many

are being connected to the internet. Lisa Montgomerie is here. You

watched a lot of TV. I do. What is the problem? Right now people are

trying to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. The more ants

they do have, the more different they become from competitors. Some

offer more than 1000. That is hard to manage. That makes it more

complicated. People say, forget it. Right now we're seeing a trend to

making all that content easier to find, and at the date, control and

enjoy. -- navigate. We are moving away from the hard butter and

remote so. We're going on to Tablets which are like a mini TV

screen. That is the same as is on the big screen. You get a more

interactive feel. The big news is manufacturers are incorporating

facial recognition and for his control as a way to navigate

through the content. You can go directly to your chosen service

just by speaking to the TV set. could or it could recognise your

face. What do you make of the actual content you get? Is it good

enough? They are becoming more and more diversified. Social media will

always be a hot button. Now we are seeing applications that make the

TV a helper to you. It can monitor in the back grant a sporting event

- monitors the noise level. -- background. If it gets crazy, the

TV will lead to an tell you what Channel to turn to because it might

be a kid to watch. -- alert to you. Apple are the king of interfaces.

They introduced millions of people took iTunes. It has all kinds of

But this show has more to offer than just connected TVs, more in

fact than any one person could hope to see. Exploring all 1.8 million

square feet would take even longer than it would take for my body

would take to digest our Las Vegas breakfast, then to the tablets -

big ones, small ones, some with keyboards and some sporting the new

Android operating system called Ice Cream Sandwich - ooh, back to that

breakfast again. What will the portable computer of

2012 look like? With me is Rudi Aunkofer, who is an IT market

analyst. Rudi, hi. We're starting to see some serious contenders that

are smaller than the traditional large-screen tablets, seven, eight-

inch screens, for example, the Kindle Fire. Do you think that size

tablet is going to catch on? Both factors are needed. We have a huge

variety of content. People have accessed nearly everywhere to

online content to the Cloud. They may need smaller ones for maybe

travelling. They need a bit larger one for watching some kind of clips,

downloading from the web. Therefore, small as well as mid or large

screen sizes are needed for the market. One of the trends with

laptops now seems to be the introduction of touch-screen. I

guess that's following on from the tablet to the laptop. Touchscreen

on laptops - interesting? Yes, touch screen the big trend coming

from the smartphone side. Touch screens making tablets so

interesting, and tomorrow, every netbook, every notebook, from our

understanding, will have at least limited touch-screen functions.

There is a lot of talk about these UltraVox we have been hearing about,

a new type of laptop. Can you just remind us, what features are we

seeing in UltraVos? What is making them a class in their own? I just

look at this more as a synonym for a new cool design, long battery

lifetime, very thin, instant on. They're much more convenient, and

therefore it's the right time for them. Consumers are looking for

products which are offering an ease of use. Also packing a big punch

are the phones of 2012, starting with this one - a prototype from

Fujitsu packing a quad-core processor with a 13-megapixel

camera and 4G capability. We expect to see more of this baby next month.

As well as firsts, there was also a last. It's goodbye to Microsoft,

which has decided not to attend the show from now on. It highlights the

history of Microsoft and CES together. Still, at least the CEO

got to them here. Thanks for a great partnership. We have decided

to have the opportunity of beer tonight. Let's go get started.

Although we did get to see more of its new operating system, Windows 8,

it was confined to a small desk on the show floor out of reach of

inquisitive fingers. Microsoft didn't mention it, but we're going

to anyway. We have found someone else who's willing to talk about

Windows 8. This is Jay Greene, a senior writer from CNET. Windows 8

isn't here, but it is expected later this year. Why do you think

we're not seeing more prototypes at least? I think Microsoft thinks the

noise of CES is so loud, the volume from other companies doing things

here will overwhelm the message. I also think they want to control the

event. So when Windows 8 comes out, they want that message to be theirs.

They don't want to have to compete with everyone else or do it on

someone else's stage. And they're not going to be here next year?

That's right. Microsoft have said this is their last CES. That's the

reason. They want to control these events. Is there a possibility when

we do see Windows 8 it will be this merge not just between tablets and

the PC operating system, but also the Windows operating system?

Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7 both become Windows 8? That could happen

a ways down the road. That's not going to happen with Windows 8. But

Windows 8 will have a lot of the things Windows phone users will be

familiar with. The interface - it's going to be a touch interface. It

is going to use what's called "the metro style," which is a tile-based

interface, so for consumers, it will have a lot of familiarity.

you think it will put Microsoft back in the game when it comes to

portable computing with tablets? That's the big bet. Microsoft is

going to be in the game with that. It's a real open question as to how

much - certainly people love their iPads. Here in the US folks are

jumping on the Kindle Fire from Amazon. Microsoft is late, and it's

going to be three years late by the time Windows 8 comes out for

tablets. That is going to be a fight for them. It does give users

some advantage, doesn't it? It means they can carry their laptop

and desk-top applications through to a tablet experience. You can't

run Microsoft products on Android or an iPad. That's true. One

challenge is there are so many Windows applications out there that

are written not for a touch-based device. Now it's hard to imagine

how you would use an Excel spreadsheet in a touch-based

environment. It doesn't make sense. Let's look ahead to a couple of

other big trends for 2012 you have identified for us. Take us through

the big things we should watching for over the next 12 months. One of

things I think about it gets to the conversation we were just having -

is Cloud-based computing, so that is industry jargon, but it's

storing stuff on the internet. That's not new. It's not new.

What's interesting is you get these tablet devices that are always

connected you get your phone that's always connected. You're going to

want to have access to all those photos you took of your kids on

vacation. That'll be stored on the Cloud. There are going to be all

sorts of devices that can really use it. What's really interesting

to see in the industry right now are the behemoths are really

fighting one another for this space. You have Apple, Google and

Microsoft really pushing hard and butting heads to try to win that

area. CES is always big, bright,

colourful and pretty noisy, and as we said, it is almost impossible to

see everything on show, but here's just a few of the really cool

innovations of the team here CES have come across.

Microsoft's connect motion-sensor controller is breaking away from

its gaming roots. Ever since its launch, enterprising types have

found ways to plug the connect, originally used with the X Box

video games console into new PCs, finding new applications for its

two cameras and its ability to measure distance. Now the software

giant from Seattle has launched its own official development kit for PC

and Connect. Microsoft research in Cambridge have developed this. It's

called Connectfusion. It turns the whole idea of the device on its

head. Instead of moving around in front of Connect to control the

video game, you actually move the recorder to measure and record

objects in 3-dimensional space, turning it into a 3D scanner. So if

I show you these objects on the table here, I point the Connect at

them, slowly paint in like this, and it creates a full 3D model of

all the objects on the table. As long as an object stays still, it's

possible to scan it. We're going to scan me right now. Take it away. As

the device is moved around me, it generates more data, building up a

more accurate 3D model. In just a few seconds, a full 3D model of

myself appears on the screen. What a handsome chap.

Picture the scene - you have a recipe on your tablet. You're in

the kitchen following the recipe, then you accidentally spill your

accompanying glass of wine all over the screen. Suddenly it's not just

your eggs that are fried. Well, here' the solution,apparently. It's

a tablet that has been made especially for cooks. It's called

Qooq, Q-o-o-q. As you can see, the operating system has been written

especially for this tablet. That's what I think the world needs is yet

another tablet operating system! But seriously, you have access to a

number of standard features down the right - the weather, your

social networking. There is a video player there, a stopwatch there.

You can actually watch videos or listen to your music on here by

side loading them. There is a number of standard ports there, an

SD card, for example. But as you can see, most of the screen is

given over to cooking. You can download recipes and search on

different types of food. You can select the recipe you want, and

this will send the shopping list to your smartphone. Let's cook

something. You can - the tandoori shrimp in a masala sauce - why not?

You can watch the preparation by clicking on the button there. And

you can follow it either in pictures or in text here. And if,

for example, you already know how to do step four or five, then you

can just touch this, and the video will skip to the next step, which

is chopping the onions, the bit I always have problems with. Guess

which country this tablet made for cooking comes from. Correct, France.

You're in the living room. You want to watch the football. The other

half wants to get lost in a period drama. What do you do? Probably

have a blazing row about it. Well, not if you have a duel-view TV, you

don't. As you can see, it's displaying both images at the same

time. It looks a bit of a mess, if I'm honest with you - until, that

is, you put on some active shutter specs. These specs synchronise with

one or the other of the images at the press of a button so you can

watch your football highlights while the other can weep into a

hankie. In terms of sound, there's a couple of speakers on the arms of

the glasses to take care of that. I have to say, it does sound a little

bit tinny, but the real question I have is, do you want to be wearing

a pair of specs while you're watching the box? I'm sure I've

asked that question before! Want to hear a secret? I've got

really small ears. Now, generally that doesn't cause me a problem

apart from when I am trying to wear in-the-ear headphones. My canals

are so small, they keep falling out. The solution would be custom ear

headphones. Those are generally quite expensive, and you need a

specialist to do them. Meet EARS. This is a do it-it-yourself in-ear

head moulding kit. You take it home, in these babies is silicone. When

you flick a switch, a balloon in these pumps starts to inflate with

silicone. It takes five minutes to set. Once it has hardened I'll have

two ear buds specially made for my canal shape. I am not allowed to

talk during these five minutes, so I am going to bring in Joceline,

who will explain the procedure for you. OK. You're actually going to

start to feel the silicone flow into your ear and start flowing

into the plug, expanding that balloon, and any of the excess

flows out. You're now starting to experience all of the sound, all of

the noise in the room to disappear, and you're starting to get into

your quiet zen zone. Once they're moulded, it will never

change shape again. There's my ears. Hello, ears. And that is what the

inside of my ear holes look like, and the theory is I should now have

a pair of earphones which are so tightly moulded to the inside of my

ear that they provide complete sound isolation because there is no

gap around, and also the sound reproduction should be - and indeed

is - quite good. Oh, Adele - again. What a surprise.

Some devices have more noble aspirations than others. This is

the OLPC XO 3 tablet. It has been designed by the One Laptop Per

Child initiative, a project designed to bring low-cost

computing to developing countries. The XO13 uses a touch-adapted

version of the operating version which featured in the original One

Laptop Per Child computer. It has been designed to be simple and

intuitive. In many cases this will be the first piece of technology a

lot of the children using it have ever seen. One of the hallmarks of

the programme is a consideration for power in countries where

electricity isn't in abundance. You might be able to use this prototype

solar cell which is fitted in the sleeve which fits around the tablet.

Or if all else fails, you could just reach for the trusty hand

crank. One minute's worth of cranking results in ten minutes'

worth of juice in a tablet. That might seem labour intensive but

it's a technological lifeline for those who might not have anything

at all. Back in the day before the web

arrived and turned everything on its head we used to get our news

and information in these bulky, flimsy old devices, but as these

things continue to become yesterday's news, the number and

range of stories we need to sift through online continues to explode.

Well, Kate Russell has a tool to help us all do exactly that right

now in Webscape. Catching up with your social

networks is much more than a lunch hour distraction these days unless

you use Summerfy to help filter out the noise. Connect with your

Twitter, Facebook and Google accounts and you can set the app to

compile an update between one and four times a day applying certain

content fitters if you want. Sharing through Facebook and

untwitter can be automated but be careful you don't update your

followers with excessive spam. # I have never dreamed it #

Summerfy looks at what your friends are sharing and also keeps a note

of what you choose to read so that it can make assumptions about the

kind of content you'll enjoy, then it packages it all up in a neat

little website that is easy on the mouse pointer as well as eye. The

ranking process isn't as sophisticated as NewsWhip, a site

we looked at a few weeks back, but for a neat little lunch time digest

of what your friends are currently talking about, this is a friendly,

flexible service that shouldn't be overlooked.

# Dreamed a night like this # If you've ever sneaked a peek at

your Facebook page while you're supposed to be working, here's a

social site with a to movil focus, connecting and building

relationships with your co-workers, and they want you to use it with

the blessing of your boss. # Let's work together #

As well as helping you find colleagues to have lunch with or

maybe even set up a carpool, there is the usual swathe of badges and

rewards, which your company is encouraged to personalise to

recognise your achievements in the workplace. Now, I like the idea of

this website. I really do, but let's step back from the marketing

blurb for a second and really think about this. Is any employer EVER

going to encourage you to use a social network whilst you're at

work? I mean, it's bad enough with clan testine Facebook status

updates and surreptitious instant messenger chats without adding a

company-approvedas to time waster to the list as well. That said, if

you do have the world's most enlightened boss, maybe it's worth

showing them this site. It certainly can't help to have a

place to connect with your colleagues especially if you work

in a company with hundreds of employees.

# Down a tunnel # We do so much more text inputting

on our smartphones now than just sending the odd text message - e-

mail, blogging, updating social networks - they all require rapid

key typing and deliver equal amounts of frustration if you make

a mistake, so why not make your life a little easier with Adaptxt?

# The shape of things to come # And you're seeing the writing on

the wall # It's based on a predictive text

model that makes intelligent guesses about what you're trying to

write. The developers have worked really hard to get your software to

understand language use and context, and for me, the accuracy really

shows in the results. This free app also learns how you write as you

use it to make the results even more accurate and personalised.

Once installed you can download language and grammar add-ons with

an impressive catalogue of 40-plus languages casered for. It's an

impressive app for people with clumsy fingers all over the world.

Kate Russell, and that is it from the Las Vegas Convention Centre for

this week, but we're back in Vegas with more tech from CES next week.

In the mean time, you can watch this programme again through the