Ken C. Pohlmann

The third (and final) installment of the Hi-Res panels brought together experts from the retailing side of the business. Each panelist has a footprint in the hi-res market, and is knowledgeable of the inner workings of the market. They discussed ways to promote and retail hi-res products. Also on the agenda were challenges such as the need to demo hi-res playback to customers, and ways to educate and engage young generations of listeners.

The International CES is where new technologies are launched. Experts discuss what the market potential is, what consumers in that market really want, and how companies can deliver it. To that end, a show-within-the-show was created for hi-res music and the emerging market for high-fidelity recordings. Three panels are being presented, each with industry leaders with their pulse on hi-res music. The first panel discussed opportunities and challenges associated with the licensing and distribution of hi-res music recordings. Two subsequent panels will discuss ways to create and archive hi-res content, as well as ways to market hi-res titles.

Epson. The printer and projector guys, right? Well, yes. But Epson, in a display of diversity, has jumped on board the wearable bandwagon. At its Monday press conference, Epson unveiled its vision of wearable technologies, as well as a number of new wearable products. Most interestingly, Epson showed glasses with built-in home theater technology.

For a long, long time, we controlled things with buttons. Buttons are nice because they give us tactile feedback. But buttons are bulky and touchscreens have made them seem even clunkier. Now there is a movement underfoot to modernize the hardware button paradigm. The effort is often called the Neo-Sensory Age. Novasentis is a key player in that movement. Their press conference revealed their plans to bring back the button.