2005 CES

[cornercamping]

WOW  :o  That's all I can say.  So, I'm in Las Vegas, sitting here on a dial up in my room because I just lost my ass at the blackjack tables, again, for the 4th day in a row, so I started looking at what applies to the racer population that is coming out soon electronically.  Well, all I can say is video, and WiFi.  

First, the WiFi stuff.   Several companies have introduced camcorders, digital camera's, and "lipstick" camera's with 802.11 G and the new WiMAX technology.  Imagine being on a bike, and your family or friends watching real time onboard video of you as your riding on a laptop with WiFi built in  :o  I'm serious, and it's real.  Panasonic is expecting to ship by the 2nd quarter of 2005.  Originally they designed it to just allow wireless transfer of video (cableless) from camera to PC.  Then they saw the possibilty of remote video access.  What I see is a bunch of racers with laptops in the paddock, and a couple of high gain WiFi antenna's spread about on the infield  ;D   With the range WiMax is going to offer, no additional antenna's would be needed.  To give you an idea, WiMAX is strong enough to cover all of race track at Road Atlanta (biggest track I've been to size wise.)   It'll be neat to see live video in the paddock's during races  :D  Cost isn't really an issue.  The basic DVD Camcorder with WiFi that Panasonic displayed had a suggested retail of $600.00  so no hefty $1K + price tags. All you have to do is set up your laptop, and open Windows Media Player.  Then, connect to the camera, or others people camera's.  It is a secure link between camera and computer.  Password protected and network encrypted. Similar to bluetooth "pairing" for the techies.

Now, mobile video.   So, you're driving from the track with the family in tow come Sunday night.  You missed MotoGP and have a 5 hour drive home.  What is a guy to do?  Uhm... pull out your laptop/PDA/Smartphone and use the new ORB service that streams live video and video on demand from the internet and also has a day's full programming of all cable based programs for download on demand. Using your cell phone, you could download (stream) live TV.   Or, you could use the new Tivo To Go.  :o  It uses a 300GB hard drive that you store your favorite video's on and  just plug it into any TV and you're good to go. Both will be out shortly, and Comcast has "comcast car" coming out in the next 90 days.  This is where you can record your programs from the comcast box to a comcast hard drive with video outputs for mobile use. Should be under $300.00.

Thought I'd share, seeing as I have nothing else to do. I was going to go to the porn show, but, uhm... the wife is with me.
Ooohhh do I have some neat idea's for the racetrack this year.  ;D

[ecumike]

WiMax is old news Dan, sheesh, you're a little behind.   ::)  ;D

As is the ORB video stuff also.

[cornercamping]

WiMax is old news Dan, sheesh, you're a little behind.   ::)  ;D

As is the ORB video stuff also.

Yeah, WiMax was last years news, but this year it's actually being implemented.  All kinds of stuff gets announced, but only about a 3rd of it actually makes it to market within 5 years, if ever.   Samsung had a 80 inch plasma.  That will never make it.  Nobody is going to spend $80K on a TV when a $20K projector will do better and bigger.  
As far as ORB, they just announced they actually have the agreements in place for things like HBO, NBC, ect.  It had to be licenesed before it could be broadcasted.  

[Nate R]

How is WiMax different from the current wireless power limits?

IIRC, The FCC limits power to 1 watt at then antenna with up to like 15 DB of gain, and then 1 db less power for every three of gain thereafter.

[gma]

The rest of that stuff is way over my peabrain head.

However ...

When it comes to blackjack, ask me if you'd like to know - I ALWAYS - without exception - make money at blackjack ...

hehehehe