Stellar line-up of speakers at CONNECTIONS Summit at CES

Parks Associates is looking forward to CES next week. The CONNECTIONS Summit will be hosted on January 8 and 9 in the back of the South Hall - rooms 106/107. For more information , view the entire agenda online.

Speakers and sessions include:

Thurday, January 8

9:30 AM - 10:45 AM Wireless Networking
David Borison, Senior Director, Marketing, TZero Technologies
Noam Geri, Co-founder, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development, AMIMON
John Marshall, Chairman, WirelessHD LLC
Professor Andrew Nix, Co-Founder & Director, ProVision Communications

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Advanced Video Services: The Next Big Thing?
Charles Cerino, VP, Comcast Center Technology, Comcast; President, MoCA
Ed Forman, EVP, Products and Services, ActiveVideo Networks
Jean-Marc Harion, Vice President, Business Development, North America, Orange – France Telecom NA
John Reister, Chief IPTV Architect, BigBand Networks
Marty Roberts, VP Marketing, thePlatform

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Digital Home Customer Support: From Troubleshooting to Upselling?
Fred King, VP, Sales & Marketing, PlumChoice, Inc.
Art Lancaster, CTO, Affinegy
Anthony Rodio, Chief Operating Officer, support.com
Singu Srinivas, Vice President, Premium Support, Radialpoint
Bill Stanley, Director, Operations Solutions, Telcordia

2:00 PM - 3:15 PM The Five Ws of Social Media
Scott Brown, Director, Marketing, Cisco
Rick Clancy, SVP of Corporate Communications, Sony Electronics
Rajat Paharia, Founder & CEO, Bunchball
Michael Papish, CEO, MediaUnbound
Ron Richards, Director of Marketing & Product Management, Revision3

3:30 PM - 3:45 PM The Changing CE Purchase Decision
Research Presentation by Tricia Parks, Founder and CEO, Parks Associates

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM Never Lost Plus Much More Fun — Navigating Through the Booming GPS Market
Fazal Ali, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies
Luke D’Arcy, VP, Advanced Technology Marketing, CSR
H.P. Jin, President, CEO and Co-Founder, TeleNav
Darren Koenig, Director, Wireless and Internet Markets, Tele Atlas

Friday, January 9

9:30 AM - 10:45 AM Connected Consumer Electronics: Linking Premium Applications and Content across Devices
Richard Bullwinkle, Chief Evangelist, Macrovision
Chenyi Chiu, Strategic Program Manager, HD-PLC Alliance
Robert Eisses, President and CEO, Icron
Kazuhiro Kitagawa, Vice-Chairman, PUCC
Loren Shade, VP Marketing, Allegro Software Development Corporation

11:00 AM - 11:15 AM The Changing CE Purchase Decision
Research Presentation by Tricia Parks, Founder and CEO, Parks Associates

11:15 AM - 12:30 PM The Future of Digital Photo Frames: A Display or Platform?
Stephen Joe, President/CEO, D-Link Systems, Inc.
David Snook, Product Marketing Manager, Digital Frames, Kodak
Mark Vena, Vice President, PC Business Unit, Synaptics, Inc.
Mike Wodopian, VP, GM Media Processor Solutions, RMI Corp.
Richard Yeh, Marketing Director, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

12:45 PM - 2:00 PM Connected Game Consoles: King of the Digital Home
Glenn Broderick, Executive Director, Gaming, AT&T
Ben Huang, Director of Product Management and Marketing, TV Business, Microsoft Corporation
Jeremy Lockhorn, Director of Emerging Media, Avenue A| Razorfish
Susan Panico, Senior Director of PlayStation Network, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Randy Stude, Director, Intel

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM TV 2.0 – The Future of the Set-Top Box
David Foote, CTO, Hitachi USA
Doug Jones, Chief Architect, Cable, BigBand Networks
Aslam Khader, Chief Product Officer, Ensequence
Joe Seidel, Director, Global Business Development, Connected TV Devices Business, Microsoft Corporation
Steve Tranter, VP, Interactive and Broadband, NDS

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM Breakout Year? New Paths for Home Systems
Michelle Leyden Li, GM of Home Control, Zilog
Kevin Meagher, CEO, Intamac Systems
Eric Smith, Chief Technology Officer, Control4
Matt Theall, Technology Strategist, Intel Corporation; President, HomeGrid Forum
Evan Tree, Chief Products Officer, Logitech

Monitoring Energy Use with Agilewaves System

Interested in savings? Of course you are...who isn't? Wouldn't you like to monitor your energy consumption (including electric, gas, water, wind, solar panels, etc.)? An Angilewaves System could be your answer!

With a usage readout including details with by hour, day, month or year, you can monitor your energy consumption and review any savings from alternative energy systems (solar, wind and/or geothermal heating). You can even go back several years to view savings if you change appliances. Can't wait to see those pie charts!

How is it done? "Agilewaves uses sensors at the gas and water mains and electrical panel to measure your energy use. This data is sent over Ethernet cabling to an Agilewaves Data Acquisition System, a small web server the size of Mac Mini and that draws under 20 watts of power. The computations are done there, based on local utility rates, and sent a computer or control system."

What about installation? "A home installation can run anywhere from $5,000 to $85,000, depending on the size and scope and the number of sensors." In addition to the installation, the basic system begins at $5k which includes sensors at the gas main, water main, five individual electrical circuits, and all software and all hardware. Additional sensors can also be added to individual electrical outlets.

Source: www.agilewaves.com/ and Steven Castle's article "Agilewaves Monitors Your Energy Use" posted on Electric House.

Northwest Technology Companies Showcase New Products at the 2009 International CES

55+ technology companies from the NW United States will showcase their latest consumer electronics (CE) products at the 2009 International CES ' the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow. These exhibitors represent more than 30 consumer technology categories.

The 2009 International CES runs January 8-11 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will feature 2,700 exhibitors, including more than 300 companies exhibiting for the first time. These companies will unveil their latest CE products on more than 1.7 million net square feet of exhibit space.

In addition, the CONNECTIONS Summit at CES is being held from January 8th-9th featuring over 50 speakers addressing the topics of Wireless Networking, Advanced Video Services, Gaming, Social Media, Consumer Electronics, Customer Support, Home Systems, TV 2.0, GPS, and Photo Frame.

For more information regarding the CONNECTIONS Summit at CES, click here.

U.S. consumer interest in home networking migrates to mobile and portable devices

Parks Associates survey identifies features driving demand for new digital cameras and mobile phones...

A new study from international research firm Parks Associates finds consumer demand for networking features will drive the next wave of consumer electronics purchasing, particularly for imaging and mobile devices such as digital cameras, photo frames, and mobile phones. Digital Media Evolution, a new survey from Parks Associates, finds nearly 50% of U.S. broadband households want a digital camera with networking capabilities, with nearly 40% similarly interested in a networked digital photo frame.

Digital Media Evolution is a nationwide survey of U.S. consumers in broadband households and focuses on 2008 consumer electronics purchases, including planned and completed holiday purchases. It also examines consumer interest in networked consumer electronics and willingness to pay a premium for connected devices.

Parks Associates will present research from this and other projects at CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, January 8-9, 2009. Visit http://www.connectionssummit.com/ for information. During CES, visit Parks Associates at Booth #25556, South Hall 2, Ground Floor.

Roku Upgrades Hardware to Support HD Content

Roku, maker of the player that lets Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) subscribers stream online movies to a digital TV, said Monday it has upgraded the hardware to support high-definition content.

Roku plans to roll out over the next few weeks at no additional charge software that adds advanced compression technology to the $100 player. The application, which will be sent over the Web as an automatic update, makes it possible to stream HD movies over an average consumer broadband connection, according to Roku.

More info