2010: A year in review, January

Posted by Libby Plummer on December 26, 2010 Leave a comment (88) Go to comments

3D TV becomes a reality, tablets take over CES and the Apple iPad lands
2010: A year in review, January

2011 is nearly upon us and with that comes one of the biggest events in the tech calendar - the CES show in Las Vegas. But before we take a look at the products of the future, it's time to take a fun walk down memory lane as we look back at the biggest stories of the last 12 months. So, put your hand in Pocket-lint's as we begin the first of our Years in Review - January 2010.

Boasting CES - the world's largest consumer tech show, January is always one of the most exciting months of all and this year's show didn't disappoint. Although the 2009 event was a slightly reserved affair, as the global recession was still in full effect, things had started to get back on track for the Las Vegas tech adventure. Many of the products unveiled at CES take a little while to actually hit the shops on our cosy side of the pond while some never make it at all but it gives a fascinating insight into what the future holds.

The biggest story at CES 2010 was 3D at home with LG, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic all unveiling their first 3D TVs for the consumer market. Sharp also had some big TV news of its own, with the introduction of its Quad Pixel technology which adds yellow to the traditional RGB (Red, Blue, Green) colour gamut. The show also saw the introduction of Skype to TV, with both LG and Panasonic teaming up with the VoIP brand to offer internet-enabled TVs with webcams to offer the free voice calling service on a big screen.

Tablets and slates were also headline news in January with Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, using his keynote speech at CES to announce three tablet devices from HP, Archos and Pegatron. Hot on the heels of this announcement was the debut of the Dell Mini 5 - a 5-inch touchscreen tablet device, while we were also wowed by the Lenovo Slate.

Other product highlights from CES included Samsung's impressive NX10 bridge camera, Sony's slimmest Walkman so far with (the A845) and the return of the Polaroid camera. Certainly one of the coolest products at CES, was the Parrot AR Drone - a helicoptor-like device that can be controlled using an iPhone/iPod touch app over a Wi-Fi network, enabling you shoot down imaginary ememies on the screen.

During CES, Google made the headlines when it announced the very first Google phone - the Android-based Nexus One, made in collaboration with HTC. It wasn't long before the family of Philip K. Dick, writer of sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, were knocking on Google's door with a cease and desist order. Apparently their beef was that the Nexus name was too similar to the name of the replicants in the story (which went on to provide the basis for the film Bladerunner). As the Nexus name is still be used by Google, we assume that the Dick family were unsuccessful.

CES also provided us with the news that Microsoft's motion-controlled gaming system, Kinect (then known as Project Natal) was to be available in time for Christmas 2010. The show was also where we got our first glimpse of the Alienware Mx11 hardcore gaming laptop.

Apple had a busy month - as well getting ready for its big announcement at the end of the month, the tech giant also has to contend with Nokia filing a second complaint concerning Apple allegedly infringing several "implementation patents". However, the big news from Apple was the official unveiling of the iPad - one of the most talked about products of the year.

The beginning of 2010 also saw the announcement of an official due date for the Nintendo DSi XL as well as US consumer electronics retailer Best Buy crossing the pond to bring us a UK website in preperation for its planned UK shop openings. Janaury also saw the Team Pocket-lint getting some close-up piccies of the Tron Legacy bike from the new 3D film.

Twitter hit the headlines in January when a 26-year old twitterer from Doncaster, UK was arrested when he made a slightly ill-advised gag about bombing an airport, tweeting: "Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!". January also saw Microsoft bigwig Bill Gates signing up to Twitter and chalking up 150,000 followers in less than 24 hours, while the site announced the introduction of location-based Trends.

There were also various events, that although not ground-breaking innovations, caused the Pocket-lint team a certain amount of amusement. One story involved a dozy drug dealer who fled the US, only to be tracked down in Canada, thanks to his love of World of Warcraft. Game developers Blizzard were able to assist the law in finding the criminal mastermind by supplying his IP address, account info and billing address.

For a closer look at these events and the rest of January take a look at our weekly round-ups from the month or head straight to the archive itself.

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