The Hot Trends for 2014

CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics show, is a great opportunity to take a peek at trends that will surround us in the coming year. This is because all the companies send their best wares and their most significant innovations for that year to the show. So here are the leading trends:

Wearable computing – it doesn’t matter if it takes the form of wristlets, glasses, smartwatches or processors built directly into babies’ shirts or overalls, wearable computing is already a fact. All these and more were on show at CES in Las Vegas, and almost all of them will be released to the market this year. If we combine all of these trends, then our computers will no longer sit in our pockets – they will be part of the pockets themselves, or we’ll wear them on our wrists, or else we’ll wear them on our faces.

Flexible screens – you wouldn’t think of calling the giant monsters from Samsung and LG, television screens that are dozens of inches in size, flexible, but they have suddenly begun to display flexibility: screens that are able to curve or straighten as required. Of course, in smaller devices too, such as cell phones, we are likely to see curved screens that withstand pressure fairly soon.

Four times high definition – if some years ago everyone was talking about HD, high definition, then today the buzzword is Ultra HD or 4K. This is definition that is four times  that of HD, which, on big screens, gives the sensation of standing in front of a real scene. It’s a very impressive viewing experience which, according to Koby Bash, who heads this area at Samsung Israel, will reach our living rooms even more rapidly than HD.

The rise of the printers – although they have already come into our lives, and much has been written about then, 3D printers are only now beginning to get to the point at which the average person can afford one. These were the main hit on the floor of the exhibition, and the most interesting among them were those could also print food. One that really caught my eye was a printer that could print… candy.

The internet of things – let’s finish with something along the same lines as what we started with. It’s not only our clothes that are becoming connected and smart, but also our houses and their contents. The trend toward the “internet of things” came to maturity in the recent exhibition, and this year we will already be seeing commercial versions of electrical appliances that can all be controlled from a phone app: ranging from slow cookers, through light switches, to refrigerators and washing machines.

Indeed, the future is already here.

And just a quick one to finish off: for a more detailed review of the CES, you can download and read a special edition of HaHibur, which we issued for the event. Here are links to a version for smartphones and tablets.