The Australasian Consumer Electronics Show has returned to the Sydney's Exhibition and Convention Centre at Darling Harbour for another week of technophile, sensory overload. Rather than screaming "I'm technology, I'm here!" this year the tone of the show seems a little more subdued. The major players in the industry are back promoting their technology with expensive presentations, dumbed-down with the usual combination of ham acting and eye-pleasing spokes-models. But apart from a few notable exceptions there's a lack of software vendors, smaller innovators and niche technology developers.
If you need a unit of measurement to gauge the size of the 2001 gathering you might be advised to choose Giga-Hertz. Wireless is a fashionable theme at recent technology shows, but this year the Australasian show's EM radiation level is being boosted by a multipartite effort to promote digital TV to consumers. This is not to say that digital TV has upstaged the rest of the technology circus -- there is enough of cool gear to satisfy every variety of tehcno-fetish -- but it has broadened the potential appeal of the show.
Digital TV: What's in the air for consumers?
Digital Television broadcasting commenced in Australia at the start of 2001 but uptake of the new technology has been slow. CES 2001 has provided a forum for promoting the new broadcasting standard and an ideal way for Australian consumers to familiarise themselves with the technology that' they'll need to experience it. It shouldn't be surprising to find that that commercial broadcaster, Channel Ten, is the show's chief sponsor and that home entertainment manufacturers have followed, eager to showcase their latest digital television equipment.
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