The official start to the Consumer Electronics Show is really a joke at this point. While CES actually kicks off tomorrow, most big name companies actually got their press conference out of the way today. Microsoft, Sony, Nvidia, Samsung, the list goes on. That aside, lets take a look at some of the more interesting announcements so far.
Kinect for Windows
CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer took the stage for the last time before their ‘break’ at CES. During his keynote, he took time to discuss Australia is confirmed as one of the launch countries for Kinect for Windows on Feb 1st 2012. US$249 RRP, Academic price US$149 later.
Sony Crystal display
Sony has a 55" LED TV with 6 million individual LED’s lighting it. The Sony prototype uses 6 million LEDs (2 million each of red, green and blue). It’s nowhere near ready for retail release, but it’s an interesting development, while we wait for OLED displays to drop in price.
![Sony Remote[7]](http://techau.com.au/images/CES-news-before-it-officially-begins_FEF0/Sony-Remote7.jpg "Sony Remote[7]")
New Remotes
Boxee Box led the way with a qwerty backlit keyboard on the back of the remote. TV manufacturers are now copying the idea, but adding a couple of important features. The front control pad is a touchpad and the keyboard is backlit. While it sounds like an improvement, they’ve lost the simplicity of Boxee’s design in an effort to control smart TV’s.
Connected devices
Washing machines, fridges, garage doors will all be connected in the future. Most of these are prototypes and those that aren’t will cost your first born.
