NAB Show veterans usually know what parts of halls to visit to see the “really cool” things; but inevitably, hitting all of the cutting-edge technology requires grinding footwork in the farthest reaches and obscure little corners of the LVCC to ferret out the truly amazing … at least before everyone else finds out about it.
The convention technogeek wranglers have taken pity upon the poor technology addict and turned a section of the South Hall (lower) into what it calls the International Research Park.
Admittedly, it’s a tall order of a name. ’Twill will be seen whether the Park can live up to it; but a guest list has been circulated.
The list is, not surprisingly, heavy on 3-D technology. Few things are more unadulterated eye candy than the possibility of 3-D movies, sports programs, video games and whatnot though 3-D infomercials and commercials for laxatives might be pushing it. A 3-D Larry King is frightening as well but a 3-D Wendy Williams might be fun.
Another area of interest is the steady development of “broadcast” technology, especially mobile TV and IPTV.
Several park citizens are working on “interfaces” of all sorts, including futuristic artificial intelligence actors while others are figuring out controller user interfaces.
Participants range from Georgia Tech, Rochester Institute of Technology and Carnegie-Mellon University to Japan’s NHK and Korea’s ETRI to England’s University of Southampton and Canada’s Communications Research Center. A number of small, research-oriented companies fill in the cracks. Hey, what about NPR Labs?