Having just finished my morning trip through the South Hall at the enormous LVCC, I thought I’d share a couple of the gems I found today.

Nvidia GEForce 3d Gaming glasses

Nvidia’s 3D Gaming glasses make any DirectX based PC game a 3D experience. They split the geometry of the game graphics into two channels – right and left – and render them to the glasses. they don’t work with console gaming, though. For console gamers, you’ll need to keep an eye out for my report on 3D TVs on display at CES. They retail at $199.

Creative X-Fi

The Creative X-Fi wireless music system works like the Sonos wireless music system I saw last year but with a significant difference in price.  The small dongle transmitter (indicated by the red arrow) and the receiver (below) retail as a pair for about $150. The speakers shown above actually retail for about $130, and have the built in wireless receiver.

Creative X-Fi receiver

The receiver has standard RCA jacks to allow connection to a home theater or any powered speakers. The transmitter works on a proprietary 2.4 Ghz band, so you don’t need to consume your wi-fi network bandwidth for music.  The included software works on PC or Mac and is compatible with media players like Windows Media and iTunes or Internet music like Last.fm.

inPerson Video Conferencing

The inPerson video conferencing system takes broadband video calling to a new level.  The video feed is customizable based on your connection from 128k to 1MB.  The camera shoots in 640×480, and includes an output jack that be easily attached to a large screen TV.  The unit retails about $800, making it a bit pricey for most consumers.  However, it starts to make video conferencing more affordable for small businesses with multiple offices, or distributed collaboration.

One year ago today, we launched this blog from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Today, Paul and I are back in Vegas for the show again.  We’ll be bringing you a look at the new tools and toys you’ll be connecting to cable’s broadband network in the future.

As we look forward to the new year, a new administration, a new Congress, and new policy challenges and opportunities, we’ll continue to take a closer look at the impact of policy changes on cable operators, programmers, and customers.  We’ll also continue looking for ways to get the most out of your cable connection.

Thanks for being with us over the past year.  It has been a lot of fun, and we’ve enjoyed the conversation.  And stick with us over the next few days for the best that CES has to offer.

We created this blog to tell cable’s story. The cable industry has spent $130 billion on our network since the 1996 Telecommunications Act was passed. That investment of private capital has spurred fundamental change in how we work, play, communicate, and entertain ourselves.

Today a friend sent a link to a video that illustrates that point beautifully. It’s a spoof of the Fox series 24. Allegedly the ‘long lost’ original pilot made in 1994, the video clearly shows the changes in technology we’ve seen over the period of time that we were building our network. Take a look.

The cable industry has spent more than $100 billion since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to create the most extensive and robust broadband network found in America. This robust technology platform now passes more than 117 million households with high-speed Internet Service, serves 65 million households with video services, and provides telephone service to 15 million customers.

Digital Phone

Consumers now have access to more competition than ever thanks to cable. Digital telephone service provides consumers with a true alternative to standard telephone service. While some cable operators have offered traditional circuit-switched telephone service for years, most are now offering digital phone service. This service often comes as part of a “bundle” where multichannel video, high-speed Internet and voice services are offered as a package and billed in a single invoice, providing a better value and more simplicity for customers.Through the use of software, digital phone service provides all the functionality of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), while making possible new features not available through traditional telephone service, such as Web portals that allows customers to review their calling history or listen to voicemail messages online when away from home. Digital phone service is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to completely change how phone calls are made and how voice services are used.

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There are many ways that the cable industry has expanded consumer choice. You don’t have to be that old to remember a time when you had maybe a half-dozen TV viewing choices – maybe a few more, maybe less – and now you probably have hundreds. Not that long ago, it was the same situation with the telephone.

A couple years ago, NCTA created a video to explain cable’s impact on America. Take a look and skip ahead about two minutes in. That image of the phone industry as stodgy is amusing because it was so true. Rotary dials, touch-tone, mobile phones – the pace of these innovations was pretty slow.

But today, consumers are finally enjoying true facilities based competition in local phone service. Cable’s service is reliable plus it offers many of the standard features for a great price. Generally, you get unlimited calls anywhere in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. You get to keep your current home phones, wall jacks and phone number. Many operators include services like Call Waiting, Caller ID, Call Forwarding, Speed Dial, and so on. But you also see features like digital voicemail that can be accessed over the Internet from any location, and new features like Caller ID on the TV are beginning to be introduced in some communities.

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