Instead the trend everyone’s been gabbing about in the tech industry is digital convergence, where appliances and gadgets can be controlled with a single remote.
"There’ll be a time when you can switch on the air-con in your house from your office using your cell phone," says Abenson Avant’s Walter Lim. "So when you get home, the air-conditioning will already have reached the right temperature."
Convenience may be the catchphrase of 21st-century living – and that is the general direction technology is heading – but certain trends, some unusual, others surprisingly practical, have been making themselves more noticeable as more and more gadgets are hitting the consumer market.
MP3 players have followed suit, providing consumers an entire library’s worth of music – and data storage – in a slim, compact chassis thinner than most cigarette cases. The iPod Nano still reigns supreme as the king of all players. Utilizing the same iconic face on a noticeably thinner package, the Nano has made itself the best friend of hip-hugging, slim-cut-jean enthusiasts the world over. Why? Because its reduced size makes less of a bump on back pockets or shirt fronts.
"Tech gadgets are becoming more fashionable as time goes by," claims Lim. "They’ve become accessories."
The iPod has spawned a chic litter of accessories, some from its own maker Mac, and others by outside labels trying to hitch their products on the success of iPods.
The Oregon Scientific iBall is the latest in a growing number of wireless speakers that cater to the "iPodding" market. Shaped like a bowling ball with a center cavity, which allows music to project around an entire room, the iBall broadcasts music from up to a hundred feet. Strong signal and a cool design make this product a conversation piece at large, filled-to-the-rafters parties, and intimate dinners.
"Some refrigerators have vacation mode," says Lim. Program the length of your vacation into the unit’s computer and the ref will maintain a uniform climate most beneficial to keeping the food at its freshest state.
Families who spend most of their time in the kitchen will find the TV-rigged icebox the most practical. Additional services include barcoding, when a scanner can input the products, amount and date of expiration, so that no one will have to experience the sight of a moldy mayo jar ever again. The ref will indicate the expiry of a product several days before it hits the inedible zone.
Perhaps the most interesting refrigerator could be the Samsung fridge. "Samsung has a refrigerator with a mirror finish." Originally intended as a sleek design element for those sparsely furnished loft-like kitchens in swanky condos, the shiny exterior has a secondary function.
"The mirror allows consumers to take a good long look at themselves before they grab a bite to eat," explains Lim with a laugh. Now there’s technology stick-thin, diet-crazed fashionistas can ride with.
Battles have been waged over millions of living room couches over who gets to control the remote. Well, the war’s about to get even bloodier with the arrival of the Sharp Aquos 65-inch LCD-TV. Currently the largest LCD TV in the world, this sleek behemoth has 65-inches of ultra-HD resolution images, making it the king of primetime – at home at least.
The LCD display means the quality of program being broadcast won’t be affected by ambient glare, so you won’t have to dim the overhead lights to get cinema-quality images. Thinner and lighter than most, this TV proves to the world that sometimes bigger really is better.
Abenson Avant, the modern, brightly lit space in Greenbelt 4, specializes in electronics, appliances and home entertainment, has a well-trained, competent staff to assist even the most time-warped, tech-illiterate of the metro. (Paging my mom.)
With the store’s interactive display of live phones and cameras, consumers are encouraged to handle and test out the actual products so they can feel the functions and judge the user-friendliness before purchasing.
"We even encourage customers who are in the market for new TVs to pop in a DVD and watch a film, so they can get a feel for the product," says Lim. They’ll even serve you drinks and popcorn. "We do fresh microwaved popcorn," he adds. "It’s really good."
Lim advises consumers to check out all their options before settling on anything. "If you’re planning to invest in a big product, it’s best if you research, talk to our staff and try it out."
No doubt the Jetsons would find many of the products on sale today delightfully retro, but, to most of us regular folk, a 65-inch plasma TV and Internet-capable refrigerator look like the wave of the near future.