philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

THE VERGE AWARDS: THE BEST OF CES 2014

[Philip Lelyveld comment: here's another perspective of what was hot and what was not at CES 2014.]

BEST PRESS EVENT: KAZ HIRAI AND SONY

Kaz Hirai’s CES keynote wasn’t just a list of products or an embarrassing, surreal spectacle – it was an ode to weird, ambitious technology that covered everything from cars that can see in the dark to a “Life space UX” that would replace TVs and monitors with projectors realistic enough to be windows. His speech also heralded the release of Sony’s long-awaited streaming games service and a new cloud-based blend of live TV, video on demand, and DVR service. Sony still has a lot of promises to deliver on, but Kaz made us believe, at least for an hour, that something really exciting might be coming down the line.

– Adi Robertson

BEST TV: VIZIO’S $999 4K TV

Vizio’s first consumer 4K TVs will start at just $999.99 when they ship later this year, marking a major milestone as the technology finds its way into more living rooms in 2014. We’ve seen plenty of off-brand 4K sets fall below the $1,000 mark, but Vizio’s cutthroat pricing delivered an unexpected gut punch to major competitors like Sony and Samsung. Those companies have come nowhere close to matching it, though they may rethink strategy now that the most popular TV manufacturer in the US has undercut them. The cheap 4K TV has officially arrived.

– Chris Welch

BEST PROTOTYPE: OCULUS RIFT,
CRYSTAL COVE

We loved the Oculus Rift back when it was a low-resolution prototype with virtually nothing to do but walk around a castle and spaceship. A year later, it’s still a prototype, but the Crystal Cove version announced at CES amplifies its best features and mutes its worst ones. The headset’s all-encompassing virtual reality is clearer and more detailed than ever, its head-tracking system now capable of letting you lean over ledges or peer around corners. And best of all, developers have started creating the first generation of VR worlds, including a dizzying, fast-paced space-fighting game that we’re waiting for almost as eagerly as we are the final, finished version of the Rift.

– Adi Robertson

See the full story here: http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/10/5277618/the-verge-awards-the-best-of-ces-2014?curator=MediaREDEF