Like it or totally indifferent to it, tablet computers, that were first demonstrated by the greasy showmen at CES 2010 in January, have arrived in earnest. Leading the foray, as ever, was Apple’s take on how they think a tablet computer should be and, as ever, the device has been ejaculated on by fanboys and had the piss ripped out of it by everyone else. Other tablet’s are coming up to their release dates, a preview of which can be read at my CES 2010 post. The most vocal competitor to Apple’s iPhone Jumbo at the time of writing is HP with their “Slate”, due for release very soon – this post is not to discuss the various merits of either device, which will come as soon as both are released and sufficientely reliable reviews have been written and/or I somehow manage to get hold of a review model.

I am writing to consider one major aspect of technology, having been interesting in consumer electronics for so long, and having only recentely turned that interest into a creative outlet, such as this blog, I found myself ferventely reviewing every minor detail, every review and everything possible about the iPad and the Slate to decide which one I would buy. I found myself going through the normal motions that one does before a significant purchase, including considering the price and even checking my own bank account to see how it would fair £500ish lighter. It wasn’t until I had thoroughly considered it that I remembered that I have absolutely no intention of buying a tablet computer either way, indeed I had absolutely no clear use for a tablet computer whatsoever. So why was I so meticulous in my scrounge for every last detail………journalistic thoroughness? Perhaps, if I am going to advise people on the best gadgets I better know my friggin facts – but I couldn’t shake the idea that it went deeper than that, hence the inception of my ‘Need It’ Theory.

I am not, despite how it may sound, awarding myself some sort of intelligent credence for voicing something so painfully obvious, but as far as I know there’s no eloquentely put description of this tendency. Newton’s Laws were, however, known in every long-lived human in a practical sense, everyone took care when disembarking a boat lest the opposite push of the boat leave them falling in the drink. However, Newton’s Third Law, and all his other laws for that matter, took what was noticed in humans and explained them using the science – which has been tremendous in the advancement of the human species. On a mediocre, nobody really gives a fuck, level this is what I am doing – taking something noticable and known and doing my level-best, albeit probably failing, to explain this articulately.

The ‘Need It’ Theory is simply that people who are technology enthusiasts, writers or magpies (like shiny things) spend so much time following the releases of new products onto the gadget market, observing their competitors and in some way expressing opinions, at least for the writers, tend to make the assumption that they need this product. Founded, perhaps, on the idea that if one was to advise somebody on the best product in a certain field, for the sake of arguement let’s say tablet computers, they should put themselves in their shoes. However, the effect, subconciously, overreaches itself and the subjects come to believe that they need to buy these products. The effect is horribly visible, a lot of tech shows I watch have had their (apparentely well-paid) presenters asking one another which tablet computer they’re going to buy, forgoing the normal procedure of deciding if you need a type of product before deciding which specific product to buy.

Of course, for companies selling these products, that’s the entire point. Apple, in a show of balls-out ‘Need It’-ness, have developed their entire following around the central idea that theirs are products you need to have, that somehow this is the product you never knew you wanted, until you buy it and, having dropped anywhere between five-hundred to several thousand pounds, realise that you don’t need it. It’s easy for Apple, they have such a cult following and fanboys who, before I quote the Kevin Rose survey for the billionth time, would buy this product regardless of….well….anything. For Apple, it is quite literally a case of, to paraphrase ‘Field of Dreams’, “if you build it, they will come”.

Going back to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and that’s certainly observable here as well. As loud and obsessive as the Apple fanboy crowd are, there’s an equally as vehement, though significantly smaller, anti-Apple crowd who will do literally anything to avoid buying an Apple product and, for no discernible reason, omit the half-eaten fruit logo option of anything in their search when looking for a type of gadget. These people would buy something that isn’t Apple simply as an act of defiant AT Apple, something which their competitors know all to well – they leave Apple to get people talking about a type of product and leisurely bring out their rivals, *insert Apple product name*-killers, to stand as the “Apple-alternative” which people will also buy in droves, believing that this is a product they need, but not wanting to buy into an Apple product.

I have written, often, about the long-standing rumours of Apple’s tablet computer and, as an outside observer, it hinders on conspiracy. Collectively, every tech company with tablet aspirations, noticed these frequent rumours and began developing, in full public view, i.e. CES, their own tablets, Apple – possibly fearing someone was going to get their first – sent out their press invitations, at rather short notice I might add, and unveiled the iPad. Now that Apple had people sufficientely talking about the iPad, they can finish up their competitors and release them to market; safe in the knowledge that, though a match for Apple they may not be, they at least have a chance to claim those buyers who would rather do squats on a pinecone than buy Apple, all of whom believe that this type of product is a type of product that they NEED to buy.

Make of that what you will.

CES 2010
Mat Greenfield

Amongst the glitz, glamour and gambling geriatrics of Las Vegas, January saw the arrival of the biggest technology trade shows of the year, the Consumer Electronics Show, parading the latest innovative, shiniest and weirdest tech that bespectacled geeks and corporate suits have to offer. Unfortunately, the Spark* budget didn’t quite stretch to shipping me off to Sin City to attend the show in person, but I’ve still managed to put together a round-up of all the gadgetry-goodness that you’ll be craving in 2010.

New mobile phones were an inescapable point of intrigue this year, as Google showed off their first handset – the Nexus One. While Google have had their Android OS on the market for some time now, this is the first phone that they have designed themselves, with the aim to sell it directly to consumers SIM-free rather than going through network providers. Motorola demonstrated their quirky new phone, the Backflip, a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard on the back that you can flip out rather than the traditional slider. Both these phones are gimmicky and otherwise unremarkable 3G touchscreen handsets, the former dripping with hype, having been promoted far and wide as the “Google Phone”, but lacking any particularly groundbreaking features that set it apart from its HTC cousins. Relatively unknown phone manufacturer ‘Sonim’ garnered more publicity than they’d hoped when they challenged BBC Click reporter Dan Simmons to break the “unbreakable phone”, who subsequently rendered it inoperable by smashing it on the corner of a fish tank.

Netbooks, having well and truly embedded themselves into the realm of the everyday use device, were less innovation and more preservation this year. Asus announcing nothing new to their eeePC range but more carbon-copy models that have barely changed since the last CES besides slightly new cases and more names totally unrelated to their use or purpose (i.e. the Seashell or the Surf with no discernible beach link). The only major innovation on the show-floor here was the theatrics of Alienware in demonstrating their M11x gaming netbook, the first small laptop with sufficient graphics and processing power to run all the usual niche features of a gaming laptop, like customisable case lighting, without breaking your spine when carrying it, a definite plus.

While the turn of the decade didn’t see the invention and full-scale integration of flying cars that we’ve been promised since the mid-eighties, Ford have done their bit in making modern cars seem a little more Futurama by introducing Sync. A user interface fully integrated into the car, allowing you full scale control and customisation, allowing you to almost totally change your displays on the dashboard, console or any display around the car. Along with advanced phone synchronisation via Bluetooth, voice commands, navigation and, most importantly, cup holders.

Other tech treats from CES included the Powermat wireless charging technology, an adorable TV screen embedded in a toy polar bear from Hanspree, media streamer the Boxee Box, more information on Microsoft’s Project Natal, seeking to rid the gaming world of controllers and a NIMble microwave with a touchscreen Android phone built into it – for some reason.

Surprising no-one this year was the appearance of new eBook reader models, devices that can store and display digital books with e-ink screens to avoid eyestrain and glare. To take on the Amazon Kindle, Samsung wasted no time in announcing a range of eReaders, the E101 and E6 models come in 10-inch and 6-inch displays, have built-in Wifi and touchscreen and support ePub formats which allow flexibility with ebook stores instead of tying you to a device’s store. Entourage’s eDGe eReader is a clever dual-screen device has an e-ink screen attached to a tablet computer, allowing integration between the two devices, such as opening links, searching for references and viewing images in colour from the eBook page on the tablet screen. The Que ProReader set itself apart by being “a professional tool, not a leisure device”, which explains it’s cumbersome A4-page screen size, 3G internet and news subscription feature on the home screen. This costly device would look more at home on the desk of a pristine office, not hastily crammed into a bag and would certainly awkward to carry around or read on. The Copia Ocean 9 eReader seeks to turn digital-literature into the next Facebook with social network features built into the device, allowing discussions and reviews between other people reading the same books as you. But if all these different models and features are too much to handle, the simple jetBook Lite solves that issue with a simple, cheap and no-thrills eReader, with 100 free pre-loaded books to get you going, or Bookeen’s small Cybook Opus. It seems that, with the 2009 showing just how profitable the eBook market can be, companies are eager to write their own chapter, unfortunately their desperation to stand out has lead to many bringing out overly expensive and impractical devices that will not, in the most part, stand up to everyday use.

Keeping up with 2010’s futuristic theme, the appearance of several new Tablet PCs at CES this year exploded the ‘don’t need but really want’ synapse in every gadget-geek’s brain. These new devices blur the line between netbook and smartphone, boasting the processing power of the former with the convenience of the latter; even though they can seldom fit in pockets. Dell showed off their Mini 5 Tablet Concept, a prototype device that so closely resembles a smartphone and even runs Android, though Dell were adamant that this qualifies as a genuine computing device and not a phone, despite needing a data plan SIM card to surf the web and its ability to take calls. Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer made an unusually reserved appearance at a keynote speech to talk about new slate computers running Windows 7, with particular focus on the HP Slate, a touchscreen device tailored for the OS. Lenovo came out with their Ideapad UI, a sleek touchscreen tablet that runs a Linux OS for 3G web browsing and on-the-go usage, but also comes with a keyboard attached to a laptop-esque casing. Sliding the tablet into this case instantly turns it into a Windows 7 machine for more intensive work and solving the onscreen keyboard problem that, for many tablet-adopters, will be a bitter pill. Though Apple has been rumoured to be developing a tablet computer since Steve Jobs had hair, the company was, as per usual, absent from the proceedings in Las Vegas. But did, last week, send out invitations for an event on January 27^th to the US press emblazoned “Come See Our New Creation!” so, with ever more persistent rumours and the explosion in tablets so huge it can be seen from space, odds are that Apple will announce their tablet as this goes to print; I apologise if it turns out they announced a new line of toasters.

With the release of Avatar at the end of 2009, 3D films are officially here to stay, and CES was packed with displays showing how home-cinema will handle the new format. Sharp paraded their 3D “quad-pixel” technology adding yellow to the RGB configuration that’s happily been in place for years, whereas Samsung triumphantly brandished (and rotated simply for emphasis) their pencil-thin 0.3 inch display. Panasonic are perhaps the company embracing 3D the most, announcing the best quality 3D-HD television at CES and showing off their 3D camcorders. Panasonic even announced a partnership with US satellite service DirecTV, which will allow broadcast of 3D HD content to homes in the States, as will Sky in Britain later on. Unfortunately, enjoying the new format almost definitely means you’ll need a new TV, new cabling and a new receiver, meaning that (like HD) it will take a few years to become widely used; if it takes off successfully at all.

Yeah I know this isn’t rounded off particularly well but the article had to be in four sections and I don’t know how my editor wants them arranged, but didn’t mention any sort of closer so yeah.

Feedback please! Much love.