The Buzz: January 7th, 2013

The executive summary of the top 5 things to be aware of this week. Sorry, this week is quite CES tech heavy, but it’s kind of a big deal.

1. The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (aka CES) is the mother of the annual tech geek parties. It takes place this week from Tuesday to Friday. Here are a few expected highlights:
2. TVs are the big buzz this year (that being said, they were last year too and nothing really changed).• Everyone is expecting Apple to release their Apple TV soon. Everyone’s trying to beat them to the punch.
   • Samsung wins the pre-show buzz with their TV teaser featuring what appears to be a transparent TV (Read more).
   • Also expected are ultra HD (typically called 4K), OLED, and voice and gesture controls. The problem to date is that all of these TVs have been extremely expensive (as in $20,000+).
   • Apps: We also expect to see more app enabled TVs, which brings us to our next two points.
3. Apps!• We expect to see a lot of app enabled devices (Read more).
   • Expect to see more apps that are cloud-enabled and work across multiple devices (phones, tablets, computers and TV)
   • Expect to see app integration in household appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, lights, and coffee makers. More smarter, energy efficient appliances.
4. Thunderbolt devices• In case you missed the backlash, Apple’s iPhone5 used a new adapter called Lightning (not to be confused with their new computer adapter called Thunderbolt).
   • Expect to see a lot of Lightning devices to replace all of your old iPhone and iPod devices that no longer work!
5. Bluetooth & AirPlay• A big part of the reason Apple made the adapter change on the iPhone when they did is because of the growing adoption of wireless technologies. Apple doesn’t actually want you to have to buy new cables. They want you to use Bluetooth and AirPlay enabled wireless devices. We expect to see a lot of these at CES as well.
6. Laptops and tablets• Despite the notable absence of Microsoft and Apple at this show, we expect to see a plethora of laptops and tablets from competitors trying to steal a piece of the pie.
   • Expect to see a large number of inexpensive Android tablets to grab market share from the “I can’t afford an iPad” market.
   • While some initial clamor around Microsoft ditching their OEM partners to build their own device, the Surface, it has opened up a huge market for convertible laptop/tablet devices. We expect to see a lot of creative “trys” at being the one to hit the design jackpot for a convertible device running Windows 8.
7. Check out more CES news.
8. Google is forcing people to subscribe to Google+• In a move seen by Microsoft Live in the 2000’s, Google is forcing users to sign up for Google+ in order to use their other highly used applications, including Gmail, YouTube, Zagat, and more.
   • Move in response to Facebook, Amazon’s growing competition with Google, and Microsoft’s integration of Facebook and social into their Bing search engine.
   Read more
9. Facebook gets increasingly shady, but no one seems to care• In the past month or so, Facebook (and Instagram, now owned by Facebook) has gotten backlash on three consecutive occurrences. That being said, usage, memberships, and stock prices all appear to be unfazed.
   • Facebook took major backlash when they updated their Terms Of Service (TOS) and started offer paid options for brands to increase their reach. Marc Cuban has had some thoughts on the issue. Facebook eventually rewrote their TOS to help keep users happy.
   Here’s what Marc Cuban had to say
   Here’s an overview of the updated TOS
   • Instragram changed their TOS stating that they essentially owed all photos on Instagram and could use them however they liked. They later stated that it was a miscommunication and clarified their wording.
   • Facebook lost a class action lawsuit for using users profile data (including photos) in their ads.
   Read more
   • Oh, and they straight up copied start-up Snapchat’s app with the release of their new Poke app.
   Read more
10. Starbucks pushes sustainability with reusable cups• Starbucks, who has been a long-time leader in corporate social responsibility, announced a $1 reusable cup that they will be selling in stores, helping to cut down the estimated 58 billion paper cups that are throw away annually.
    Read more
11. College football close to taking over MLB in viewership• Despite which team wins the BCS championship game tonight, the NCAA is the big winner, as college football challenges MLB for the #2 most watched sport in the US. And advertisers are starting to notice as well.
    Read more