Taking place at the
NEC Birmingham from 12 - 17 April 2011, this year’s Gadget Show Live was the
third incarnation of the annual event, and proved to be biggest and most
successful to date with an attendance of more than 100,000 people over the five
day period. This was a 50% increase on the number of visitors attending last
year’s show.
The actual event itself
was split into two parts: First you have
the stage show featuring, among others, TV series hosts Pollyanna Woodward and
Ortis Daley. Each performed entertainment on stage while incorporating tech
into their performances. You can see highlights
from their show here.
Secondly we have the
Expo itself which took over five of the NEC’s main halls hosting booths from
250 exhibitors, including big names such as: HP, Alienware, Packard Bell, Sony,
Nintendo, EA, Nvidia and many others.
The actual show floor
itself was bustling with activity and filled with all the latest tech you could
hope for. Exhibitors from all walks of
life including fashion, health, sport and the building industry were all
present waiting to display the latest developments of tech in their respective
field.
One of the main themes
I picked up on for 2011 was the introduction of wireless functionally to both
the consumer and commerce market. For
example the wireless kitchen would allow you to cook a meal or boil water from
one central source. Whereas WirelessHD allows you to connect a monitor/TV to a
PC or laptop using a newly developed wireless network card.
Another noticeable
attendee this year was the travel industry with their introduction to electric
vehicles. Toyota introduced their new electrical car ‘The Leaf’ whereas such
brands as Felia, Pacific Europa and Segway introduced more mobile transport
such as electrical bikes and scooters. If
you were feeling brave enough you had the chance to take one of these vehicles for
a spin around the Gadget Show Live test track.
Also in attendance
was the entertainment industry whose primary focus was to show their latest
advancements to their respective 3D tech. I was shown a 5 minute demo by Nvidia
and have to say that what I saw blew me away and highlighted how, in the right
hands, 3D tech really could be the future of home entertainment.
Another highlight for
me was ‘The Centre for Computing History’ booth, which had set up mock living
rooms from the 70s, 80s and 90s filled with all the tech from that era. Not mentioning how old it made me feel but
seeing the size of a Betamax player again certainly made me appreciate my
portable DVD player a lot more.
If like me you have
an interest in tech then I would highly recommend attending next year’s show,
which takes place from the 11th - 15th April, as it
highlights the direction the industry is heading and what future tech is just
around the corner.
Jamie Freer
Information Systems Officer
NMBS Ltd.
No comments:
Post a Comment