Ericsson takes a peek into the crystal ball to predict what will be hot for 2019-- a year promising more convenience through increasingly capable virtual assistants, emotion-reading AI and even means to appear in two places, at the same time!
To work out what exactly will be huge next year, Ericsson held an online survey on October 2018 of 5097 "advanced" internet users in a number of cities, namely Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. It also makes use of 2017-2018 survey data from the Ericsson ConsumerLab analytical platform, with data from 72067 smartphone users in 50 countries. Anyway, here are the trends:
As the company puts it, the capsule-based system makes it easier than ever to make an cold, tasty beer. The capsules contain malt, yeast, hop oil and flavouring, and creating said beer simply involves the press of a button. An "optimised fermentation algorithm" takes care of the entire process, from fermentation, carbonation and aging, to serving and even cleaning, and users can check on the process through companion mobile device app.
In addition, the market is set to grow with a double-digit CAGR throughout the analyst forecast period to 2022, while HDR is making its presence felt. Over 50% of 4K UHD TVs sold in 2018 feature HDR, even if consumer understanding of the technology remains limited.
IMAX Enhanced was launched back in September 2018. It involves a certification committee of IMAX and DTS engineers, plus technical specialists from Hollywood. Receivers bearing such certification should be able to deliver IMAX digitally re-mastered 4K HDR content and IMAX signature sound mixes delivered by DTS.
According to the company, the AiRadio is a first-of-a-kind product, being a voice-controlled radio bringing together premium components and luxury stylings in a high-fidelity streaming audio product. CES 2019 will see the showcase of 3 AiRadio models, the vertically oriented AiRadio Poco (VR-60) and the horizontally-oriented AiRadio Uno and Duo. The Poco and Uno are mono units with an output for an optional second speaker (VR-62 and VR-72 respectively), while the Duo is a stereo device with two speakers and a 2-channel amp.
The broadcasts kick off after 2 years of testing. The technology, called "Super Hi-Vision" by NHK, has been in development since 1995, and promises 16 times the resolution of HDTV. As for the actual broadcast the BS8K channel features 12 hours of daily programming, including an information digest highlighting the future of the channel, a live broadcast from Italy and even an 8K version of the seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey.
