About the time you are reading this, yours truly will be engaged in that annual ritual of the 12volt electronics world: attending the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I think, counting all of what used to be called the "winter" CES trade shows held in Las Vegas, as well as the many so-called "summer" CES events once held in Chicago, this year's show should mark my 16th or 17th attendance at a CES event. During my many visits, dating as far back as 1983, I have witnessed scores of wondrous new product introductions, some of which made it to market, and some of which are only memories. I remember being there to marvel at the dawn of the first CD audio systems, sample the first clunky (and enormous) cellular phones, and witness the emergence of the very first remote controlled security systems. At CES I have seen cutting edge ideas and technologies like dbx(tm), Dolby(tm), FMX, ELCassette, AM Stereo, DCC (Digital Cassette), DAT, LaserDisc(tm), Beta(tm), HDTV, and DSS, among others, arrive and stay, or arrive only to quickly fade away. CES is the initial point of contact, the point of origin, where ideas and products first see the light of day. It is always fascinating, sometimes mind-boggling, and never, ever, boring.
One amazing product introduction I remember quite clearly was an electronic "boom box" that just happened to be in the form of a warm and comfortable ski jacket. Equipped with an amplifier and multiple speakers located in special pockets, with wiring as part of the jacket itself, it was designed to be connected to one of the newly introduced "Walkman(tm)" type personal stereos. In operation, this jacket created an acoustic envelope around the wearer, surrounding them in clear, high-energy sound. Amazingly, while I wore the jacket and felt completely enveloped in the sound field it produced, persons standing just a few feet away could hardly hear the sound at all! Of course, by the same token while wearing the jacket I could barely hear anyone either, even if they were shouting directly at me from a few feet away. At the time I thought, "What an amazing product, it should be in every electronics and clothing store within a matter of weeks." However, to the best of my knowledge, it never saw the light of day, and was scrapped shortly after its CES debut. My best resources tell me it was because it was deemed to be unsafe for the ski slopes (or anywhere else for that matter) because the wearer would be oblivious to any sonic warning sent their way. Gee, it sounded great to me at the time. I'm sure glad I had the chance to experience it, even though it never made it to market.
That's what I had in mind, illustrated by this one memorable example, when I considered the idea for this month's article. Since many or most of you will probably never have the opportunity to witness the wonders of CES firsthand, (it is only open to those directly involved with the consumer electronics industry), I wanted to give you a small taste of it, in as real time as possible. To accomplish this I contacted as many manufacturers of vehicle security, navigation, and telematics as I could, and asked them to share with me in advance what they would be introducing at the 2001 CES. While many responded, many others remained silent and secretive. CES is, after all, where all new product secrets are revealed, making some manufacturers very tight-lipped until the show actually opens. While we can all certainly respect that, bear in mind that should you not see any news hear regarding any particular manufacturer, that does not indicate they will not have any surprises at CES, only that they chose to keep their secrets until then. I shall now tell you what has been revealed to me alphabetically by manufacturer.