From streaming media to 3D TV, this has been an interesting year.
December 20, 2011 | by Grant Clauser
As the year comes to a close, it’s traditional to come out with lists of the best, worst, most interesting, most dull, etc. stories of the past year. Lucky for Electronic House, 2011 has been a pretty exciting year for home technology. We rounded up our favorite trends and controversies for a quick year-in-review of some of the biggest stories of 2011 as well as a few thoughts on where some of these trends may be taking us.
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https://www.electronichouse.com/article/biggest_home_technology_trends_from_2011/
Smarter and More Social TVs
While many consumers welcomed 3D TV this year with little more than a shrug, internet-connected smart TVs were a hit. Now you can’t swing a remote in a Best Buy without hitting a few Netflix, Pandora or Angry Birds logos, but we expect more from our smart TVs. Social media is becoming an important part of the smart TV experience, making the TV more interactive (finally).
Big Affordable TVs
TVs of all sizes are getting cheaper. Consumer electronics is a weird business in which some of the most desirable gear get more affordable every year, while the cost of bread and coffee keeps going up. For people with big rooms and lots of empty wall space, this year has been especially good. Big screens have become more affordable than ever with some ridiculous prices coming out of companies like Sharp and Mitsubishi especially. Will this continue? It better, because I’ve already starting moving the pictures around in my living room.
Streaming vs Stored Music
We’ve heard speculation that the media server is getting replaced by the music service. First the iPod came and destroyed the CD business. Now Pandora, Slacker and Spotify is taking huge bites out of the hard-drive based server. Or is it? Companies like Olive, Kaleidescape and Request continue to offer new innovative products that not only allow easy access and selection, but also offer high-end audio quality.
Click here to view the full article
https://www.electronichouse.com/article/biggest_home_technology_trends_from_2011/