Every year companies like Sony, Samsung and other gadget producers meet in Las Vegas to celebrate and show off their new tech trends and toys at the Consumer Electronics Show.But this year was a little disappointing for people expecting big new breakthroughs in consumer technology, something Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recognizes.”It feels like we’ve entered a period of reduced expectation, a time when we may be tempted to temper our optimism and scale back our ambition,” he said in an interview with Reuters.The slumping economy is affecting the MP3 player and TV industry, but it isn’t all doom and gloom.Popular tech blog Engadget.com was at the event all weekend, and while there were plenty of announcements at this year’s convention, there were three major standouts.The biggest news was from Palm. The popular cell phone manufacturer unveiled its new state-of-the-art handset, called the Palm Pre. It comes standard with Bluetooth, a multi-touch display, a three-megapixel camera and 8GB of internal storage.Palm also showcased the phone’s unique charging station. The station, called the Touchstone, will use magnets to position the devicecorrectly so it can properly charge the phone wirelessly. No cables will be plugged into the phone.With this, Palm is in a position to give Apple some serious competition with its iPhone. But some students don’t see the Pre taking down Apple’s beauty any time soon.Jeff Francis, electrical engineering junior, said the iPhone would reign supreme.”At this point in time, I don’t think much has a chance against Apple right now,” he said.He said the Apple brand is so ingrained into mainstream media, and any competitor is going to have a hard time going against them.Smaller bits of news came from popular DVD rental company Netflix. They announced a partnership with TV makers LG and Vizio to stream movies from a customer’s Netflix DVD queue in high-def instantly onto their TV.This means consumers will no longer have to purchase a Netflix-enabled device if they buy one of the new internet-enabled TVs.”Oh, I’m perfectly happy watching my instant-queue Netflix movies on my laptop, but I have to admit … If I were in the market for a new TV I might pause before buying the Sanyo I’ve had my eye on,” said Emily Erickson, mass communication professor.Ryan Yates, mechanical engineering senior, wasn’t as happy about the news as Erickson. “I think it is locking people into choices that they might regret later on after they bought the TV,” he said.Lastly, PC hardware manufacturer Nvidia is at the forefront of the renewed 3D display trend. Other movie and TV companies have tried for years to provide true 3D displays for consumers but fell flat because the products were either inconsistent or astronomically expensive.Nvidia hopes to change things with its new 3D display glasses. Unlike previous 3D glasses made out of cardboard or cheap plastics, these new high end glasses are made with special liquid crystal (LC) lenses.The LC shutters on and off faster than the human eye can detect and forces the user’s eyes to adjust and create a very realistic 3D image off of the screen.The only caveat is that to get the 3D effect, the glasses also require a monitor that can output at 120Hz or higher. This is great for people that already own such a monitor, but it is a steep point of entry for anyone that doesn’t own one and wants to try it for themselves.While it seems likely that most of the products show in Las Vegas will find their way into the many households, some may never see the retail space.Kathryn Traxler, former University computer science professor, said she was excited for the new potential of certain technologies. She spoke about Samsung’s new bendable Organic LED (OLED) displays and sees something special about them.”The bendable displays seem like a good bet to buy stock in for future technology,” she said. “Not to mention — rolling up your screen and keyboard should make it a lot easier to carry a laptop.”
 
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