You Say Tomato…: On Innovation and Semantics

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

By Sonya

Yesterday I wandered over to SheGeeks, one of the sites I follow for regular gadget and apps updates. Corvida Raven asked a question that I had been pondering my entire CES experience: “Where is the innovation?”

Like Corvida, my expectations were high. I wanted to be wowed and wooed by innovative technology. As someone who has attended 50-11 CESs (and a COMDEX or two), I still go Lady Gaga for the annual event. And while there were certainly loads of interesting and thought-provoking tech, “innovation” is not necessarily the word I would use. It’s been pointed out to me (by mainstream media) that 3DTVs (with glasses that make my head hurt) and e-readers were the big news at this year’s show. How could I not see innovation? My guess is that I am working with a different set of rubrics.

When we say innovation, what do we really mean? For me, innovative tech is something new that fundamentally changes the way we think and act—it changes minds, behaviours, and lives.
Is it really innovation or a successful evolution of a technology? Is there the potential for tech to become innovative? I think we have to make those distinctions. The word (like the phrase “game changer”) gets thrown around a lot, and given this particular economic climate, I understand why there may the need to get people excited about ginormous 3D TV screens and e-readers. I get it. We have to buy stuff. Or do we?

This doesn’t mean that what we saw doesn’t have the potential to have a great impact on our lives. Here are a few things I saw that I think hold great potential:

Microsoft’s Xbox, Project Natal—and really gaming in general. This is actually the most exciting space for me for several reasons. I have been interested in gaming narratives and the implications of game play in education ever since I first read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Microsoft’s moves with Xbox and Natal, as well as their forthcoming “Alan Wake” serial game, which focuses on a strong narrative, indicate to me the shifts happening on the TV/film front. Given the increase in movies-turned-video-games and video-games-turned-movies, I see that gaming has spotted an opening and will continue to exploit it. As my review of Avatar might have suggested, as great as the tech was, the narrative was a huge disappointment—and just not a good complement to the technology in the movie. Lots of opportunities here for game developers, writers, narrativists, multimedia artists, musicians, and a host of others to enter the space. I’ll save my commentary on the possible synergies between Natal and the adult video industry for another time…
Home Entertainment—Devices like Seagate’s Free Agent Theater+ Home Media Player are also interesting to consider. It’s a relatively inexpensive option for the family that lets users store and share media a well as access Netflix, YouTube, and Media Fly content, among others.
e-readers have now become ubiquitous, with everyone from Amazon to Samsung to iRiver. This year’s CES saw an entire e-reader section on the show floor. And I think some devices have the potential to really change things. But, I still have questions regarding content and digital rights. Had a great conversation about this with an IP attorney (coincidentally, a former UVA law prof—CES can be that random sometimes).
3D TV…I know, I know. I said some stuff above about this. But I am looking forward to the ways in which this particular technology will continue to evolve

So, while this year's CES didn't bowl me over, I was impressed by some things. And I am looking forward to the ways in which the technologies I saw will unfold during the year. Consumers need to ask tough questions and demand more of their tech. And I think this is the year companies will finally begin to deliver on our expectations.

Tags: CES, games, gaming, gaming narratives, innovation, Orson Scott Card, Project Natal, SheGeeks, Xbox

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 6:23 pm and is filed under media // culture, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.