The name “ultrabook” was introduced by chip manufacturer Intel Corporation due to its lightweight, which is similar to that of a notebook and its data processing capability, which is at the same level of that of a laptop.

In just eight months, a total of more than 75 ultrabook models are expected to be manufactured and shipped this year, according to Intel representative Claudine Mangano.

Companies, such as Dell, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Samsung have been cooperating with Intel to manufacture the ultrabooks. They are not shy of showing off what they have to offer.

Lenovo caught some buzz at the CES with their IdeaPad YOGA ultrabook. The name YOGA, derived from the product’s ability to have its screen flipped in a 360-degree angle and thus transform into a tablet.

The YOGA has a thickness of 16.9 millimeters and weighs only 1.47 kilograms. It has an Intel Core Processor with a Windows 8 operating system. It also has an average eight hour battery life and 8 GB of RAM.

“The IdeaPad YOGA multimode notebook will be available in the second half of 2012 with an estimated starting retail price of US$1,199,” Lenovo representative Kristy Fair said.

HP’s Envy Spectre ultrabook has been officially named winner in the Best of CES Awards for the personal computer category. The Envy Spectre has a 14-inch display, 20.06 millimeter thickness, a weight of 1.7 kilograms, numerous ports and runs on a Core i5 CPU.

It also comes with 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM, a 128 GB or 256 GB of solid state drive (SSD) and nine-hour battery life. HP plans to start selling the model in the United States at around $1,400 in February.

With an average of high price tag, it remains to be seen whether ultrabooks could become as successful as tablets and smartphones in terms of convincing consumers to buy.

GfK Boutique Research global business director Steve Bambridge said during the CES that while other electronic categories slowed down last year, the number of sales of smartphones and tablets remained strong.

GfK and CES organizer Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) also predicted that technology spending this year would reach US$1.04 trillion, or up five percent from last year.

Complex gadget with simple operational is also the trend for the future. CES shows that electronic manufacturers are focusing more and more on the so-called “smart technology”, supposedly to make people’s lives easier by having devices which are not only simple to operate but sometimes can even think for themselves, by having the capability to recognize faces, gestures and even brain waves.

The term smartphones might seem common these days, but in CES, the term “smart” has also been attributed to other electronic devices, such as televisions and even cars.

Basically, all the “smart-products” have one thing in common; the capability to access the internet. Due to that, smart products are also able to connect with each other to exchange data and information between them and this activity is coined as getting into “the cloud”.

A demo by Sony Entertainment showed how the cloud actually works, at least in gaming. A gamer, who plays a game in Sony’s handheld console Playstation Vita can pause the game and choose to send it to the cloud via the option menu.

The same gamer, or probably his or her friend, can then access the game from a Sony Playstation 3 by importing the data from the cloud. Due to this capability of accessing other people’s devices from anywhere and anytime, the cloud works on a permission basis.

Another example on how the cloud works is on how Lenovo manage to put its four screens – the smartphone screen, the computer screen, the television screen and the tablet screen – to interact with one another with ease. An application that can be run on one screen can also work properly in the other three.

In short, the cloud technology makes a hybrid of any device as long as it has the capability and features of a smart product. A smart television can change into a smart computer or vice versa.

Although the smart products and all of their inter-connectivity capabilities might seem complex, manufacturers do their best to keep the operational simple for users.

CSA chief economist Shawn DuBravac said during the CES that the future trend for technology gadgets and electronics is for them to have simpler operational that heavily depends on interactive interactions with their users.

“2012 will be the year of the interface,” he said. “Gesture and voice controls are showing up in more devices,” he added.

Shawn also said that nowadays, simplicity in operational have become more and more trending due to companies had learned to provide their consumers with the ease of having their devices to do what they want.

Popular

Hundreds of kitchens halt services due to 'pause' in free meals funds

Number of forcibly displaced people dips to 118 million: UN

Failed system, fake research