VCR technology wouldn’t become mainstream until later in the decade. Still, this early effort proved the technology’s potential and sparked consumer interest in the tech. This announcement was part of a shift in focus in CES. Initially centered on music and then video, the show’s expansion made room for new categories throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Today, CES hosts announcements that span every type of consumer electronics, from amplifiers to robot vacuums. Atari would remain competitive in that market throughout the early 1980s but would later fall behind with its disappointing Atari 1200XL, announced at the Winter CES of 1983. However, the company would continue to produce home computers until 1993, when it discontinued its last PC, the Atari Falcon. Though the companies showed only prototype players in 1981, the technology’s promise was actualized in October 1982 when Sony released the CDP-101 in Japan. Philip’s CD100 followed in November of the same year. Variants of CD technology, such as CD-ROM drives for computers, would appear at CES time and time again throughout the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the CD-ROM had replaced vinyl records, floppy disks, and game cartridges (in some game consoles, at least). Despite its capabilities, the C64 sold for just $595 U.S. dollars (about $1,600 today), which was incredibly aggressive pricing. Most home computers sold for at least $1,000 in 1982, and many exceeded $3,000. The Commodore 64 would sell over 12 million computers and become a dominant force in computing throughout the mid-80s. The console’s 1985 debut also served as Nintendo’s introduction to the North American market. Although popular in Japan, Nintendo’s operations in the U.S. were made up of about a dozen employees when they introduced the NES. CES 1985 was the company’s breakout moment in the U.S. market, putting Nintendo in front of families across the nation and filling a vacuum left by Atari’s collapse. Nintendo also reaffirmed gaming’s place at CES. Large game companies repeatedly attended CES through the 1980s and 1990s, a trend that changed when the gaming industry grew large enough to found E3, its industry conference. Even the Blu-Ray, now used today for all physical copies of high-definition movies, had to fight off HD-DVD. The agreement came from an unlikely meeting of minds across multiple industries. Past media formats usually grew from a specific slice of the tech industry before expanding into others. This time, the entire consumer tech industry agreed that the DVD was the way forward for disc-based media. The consensus included significant companies in the PC industry, such as Microsoft. Although best known today as a standard for movies and television, the DVD was equally crucial for the PC, as the expanding size of programs had forced companies to ship software on multiple CDs. The DVD’s adoption stopped this growing annoyance in its tracks. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images The introduction of the TiVo, and other DVR devices, made recording and storing television easier and more reliable than any VCR ever invented and paired nicely with the rise of HDTV. Unfortunately for TiVo and other companies making similar products (like ReplayTV), the idea proved easy for others to emulate. TiVo had some success, seeing nearly seven million subscribers at its peak. TiVo merged with a technology licensing company, Xperi, in 2019. Today, most cable companies provide a form of DVR as part of their monthly subscription fee, making it a fixture in homes across the United States. This innovation marked the start of two trends in televisions; the rise of flat panels and the arrival of HDTV. Today’s televisions have 3,480 x 2,160 resolution and use either advanced LED or OLED technology, but the basic look and feel haven’t significantly changed. Plasma technology eventually went out of fashion. Plasma televisions were heavier and used more energy than the LED and OLED TVs that followed them. Retailers sold the last plasma televisions in 2014. The HTC Thunderbolt’s mobile data speeds blew away all competitors, including the iPhone. A modern 4G phone can sustain data transfers of several hundred megabytes per second. A 3.5G phone, by comparison, could manage a peak of about 15 megabytes per second. That’s a huge difference and one that people could quickly notice. Unfortunately, the HTC Thunderbolt had an array of issues, including poor battery life and overheating. Alternatives launching shortly after stole its thunder, and the phone is considered one of the smartphone industry’s all-time biggest flops.
