I was looking through all the reports from the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), and the thing that struck me, was how little innovation there was the year.
For me, the most interesting thing was the Zboard, an Electronic skateboard.
That is a sad statement, and shows that for 2013 consumers can expect marginal improvements in various smartphones, tv's and tablets.
CES is technically a hardware show, but it was clear the App's and smartphone and tablet software was where the innovation was occurring.
For many consumer electronic products, the hardware is generic and it is the software that is the star.
I guess we will have to wait till next to see if innovation will rise from the dead and reanimate consumer electronics.
Today at CES, Nvidia showed it's own consumer product - Project Shield, an Nvidia-brand handheld game device with a dedicated 5-inch display that will also stream games wirelessly to your television.
Until today, Nvidia made parts that go inside gadgets other manufactures build, but with the new Tegra 4-powered handheld gaming system with both an integrated controller and screen, all that has changed.
Nvidia says the device, nicknamed "Project Shield," will pack a 10-hour battery life, audio quality on par with a Jambox, a console-quality controller (bumpers, triggers, analog sticks, and a d-pad), and it runs Android (like Apple would let them play iOS games). In the back are plenty of ports: HDMI, micro-USB, microSD, and audio-out.
The integrated screen is a 5-inch, 720p touchscreen and the entire package is about the size of an Xbox 360 controller. This is a serious shot at not only Android gaming, but all mobile gaming, and even the likes of Wii U.
Project Shield (still, think it is a stupid codename) is a mobile set top box and computer, capable of playing 4k movies to a full 4k TV via HDMI, hopping around Facebook, multitasking with your music in the background, and pretty much everything else you'd want from a modern tablet or smartphone. It is not just a Android Gameboy, it is a lot more and it is powered with nVidia graphics.
It does a lot of things that other devices can do, but it puts them all in one little package.
Now all we need is for more Android games, and ones that are really worth playing.
