Displair, a startup out of Russia, was showing off its new display technology at CES last week. As its name suggests, it creates an interactive touchscreen out of a wall of water vapor. In a way, it’s kind of like a hologram, but it seems much cooler based solely upon the fact that it was totally unexpected.

Terrific movie about Displair by Victor Kossakovskiy from Displair on Vimeo.

One of the more interesting applications of Displair is in film. The technology’s creators say that they can display 3D images naturally without the need of glasses. Even more impressive, the technology could see the true return of smell-o-vision by loading the vapor with custom scents that compliment the on-air action.

Like most crazy new technologies, Displair is still in its infancy. Those at CES got to see it in action though, and even played around with it for a bit. Check out Huffington Post’s Jason Gilbert playing a round on Fruit Ninja on Displair. It’s absolutely wild.

As commenters have pointed out, the technology has quite a bit of input lag. That’s fine at the moment as it’s not exactly geared towards consumer consumption nor gaming. It’s primarily meant for enterprise applications. Even then, most businesses would probably be more interested in using something like Microsoft’s PixelSense. That being said, it’s only a matter of time before technology like Displair catches on to project images into three-dimensional space.

In a strange post-CES reveal, ASUS announced a new cheap tablet for those who think the Nexus 7 is still a little too much. It’s called the MeMO Pad, and it will retail for $150 when it launches in the U.S. in April. The device will be launching in other territories this month.

As you would expect from the price, the MeMO Pad doesn’t offer the latest technology. Instead, its specs are really just a modest offering that’s intended to get the job done. The tablet features a 1024×600 display that’s powered by a 1GHz CPU and Mali-400 GPU. It also has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The storage can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD. As for Android, the MeMO Pad is rocking 4.1, or Jelly Bean.

It’s strange that ASUS didn’t show off its latest tablet at CES, but the company may have held off on this device since its CES presence was focused primarily on its upcoming lineup of slates. Besides, a cheap tablet wouldn’t have set the world on fire at such a press heavy event like CES. It was probably for the best to wait until after the event to unveil it.

As stated, U.S. consumers will be able to pick up the MeMO Pad in April. Those looking for a basic tablet experience could do much worse, but they could also do much better. ASUS’ own Nexus 7 is only $50 more and features much better specs. If $50 is deal breaker, however, the MeMO Pad should serve your mobile computing needs just fine.

The Hill reports that Wyden spoke on a number of issues facing the tech industry this year in a speech entitled “The Freedom to Compete.” While he was primarily speaking from a business perspective, he encouraged innovation that would bring new freedoms to the Internet in 2013.

Do you think 2013 will bring new Internet freedoms? Or will special interests get in the way of meaningful innovation and reform? Let us know in the comments.

The idea of people, businesses and others having the freedom to compete is the centerpiece of Wyden’s policy suggestions going into the new year. He says that the Internet is threatened by economic stagnation brought upon by “established economic interests:”

The incumbents often seek special help from the government, claiming they want a marketplace from government intervention; but they don’t get it. The role of the government is to address market failures, and to block cartels, monopolies, and anti-competitive forces that interfere with the effective operation of free enterprise. A legitimate function of the government is to defend the market against the forces interfering with its efficient function.

To effectively break through this stagnation, Wyden calls upon the innovators of our time to “play offense around an agenda for Internet innovation.” To do that, the senator has a number of proposed policies that he hopes will make the Internet more free to innovation in 2013

First and foremost, Wyden wants to protect consumers and businesses from ISPs throttling traffic. His goal is to classify such actions as being in violation of antitrust laws:

“If a provider wishes to slow consumers’ Internet connections in order to discriminate against a provider of content, my view is that they should face the antitrust laws. Sen. Franken and I are working on legislation to do just that — to strengthen the antitrust laws in order to ensure that the major ISPs cannot use their market dominance to pick online winners and losers.”

He also criticizes the FCC’s weak net neutrality laws that don’t cover all forms of online communication:

Here is what the freedom to compete in the marketplace means. First, it begins with access to the Internet. Internet Service Providers – wired or wireless – must be barred from practices that discriminate against specific content. The Open Internet order established by the FCC is a good start but it doesn’t go far enough because, in reality, it is not comprehensive. Most of Las Vegas this week, for example, will access the Internet through their wireless connection, which is not fully subject to the FCC order.

Currently, being found in violation of FCC rules is pretty much equatable to a slap on the wrist. Turning net neutrality into an antitrust issue would turn the eye of the FTC onto ISPs and cable providers – something that these corporations would probably want to avoid.

Wyden also spoke briefly on software patents, a rather contentious topic since patent trolls began suing legitimate companies for using common functions, like text entry on a Web page:

A related concern is the affect of software patents on America’s ability to innovate. Congress should begin a review – a cost-benefit analysis – of software patents’ contribution to the economy. The acquisition of these patents appears less about deploying innovation and more about employing a legal arsenal. The patent system should not, as Julie Samuels at EFF says, operate as a tax on innovation, as it does now. How are you promoting innovation if you stand behind a law that enables a few lines of code to be patentable for 20 years? Software is different than a new invention. It is a building block — a new set of instructions — that should be continually built upon and improved.

Wyden also touched upon his broadband data cap bill from last year that would have prevented ISPs from monetizing data consumption for no reason other than greed:

The Internet is too important to our common interest to enable bits and bytes to be viewed only in terms of dollars and cents. It is time for legislation to establish disciplines on data caps that give innovators and entrepreneurs the opportunity that is a pillar of our nation’s economy: the freedom to compete. Promoting this freedom begins with the Internet connection, but it must be rooted throughout the Internet ecosystem.

Do you think Wyden’s policy proposals will bring new freedom to users and businesses on the Internet? Should Congress makes these a priority in 2013? Let us know in the comments.

Up until now, you could argue that Wyden has been directly addressing how the Internet can better serve innovators, entrepreneurs and businesses in 2013. What about protections for the common Internet user? Wyden has some ideas that he’s ready to start working on this year.

For starters, he says that cyber security is incredibly important, but last year’s CISPA was the wrong way to go about it:

Let’s address the goals of CISPA without creating a cyber-industrial complex that would produce an endless, losing, cat-and-mouse game in which nimble hackers win all the time. And let’s make sure cyber security isn’t used in a way that exposes the electronic communication of every American to government and corporate snoops.

In a bold move, Wyden also calls out copyright maximalists as a cause of economic and creative stagnation:

But what chills the sharing of ideas and collaboration is the maximalist approach to copyrights and patents. Rights-holders are too eager to use their power to scare off challenges to the status quo, and this perpetuates stagnation. Indisputably, the protection of intellectual property is important. The balance between providing rights-holders a monopoly and promoting competition and innovation is just as important. It must be continually re-examined and reconsidered.

Despite these policies being little more than pipe dreams, it instills a hope that the Internet may truly be a better place in 2013 despite the looming threat of multiple parties that want to control it. Ron Wyden isn’t the only Congressman either that is advocating for Internet freedom that would help innovative businesses thrive and consumers safe from the prying eyes of corporations and governments.

Before we get to any of the above, however, maybe Wyden and his allies can take care of FISA first?

Do you think 2013 will be a year of Internet freedom? Could Wyden’s proposed policies help usher such an era? Let us know in the comments.

Now, all of us can’t be at CES, but Nvidia has deemed it proper to give us all a tour of its massive booth. From the booth, you can see all the new products the company is bringing to PC gaming, including GRID and Nvidia Experience. The former is Nvidia’s take on cloud gaming, while the latter is new software that will help inexperienced PC gamers get the most out of their machine without having to edit video settings.

The company also showed that it was not afraid to branch out of the PC gaming market. There were multiple smart cars on display that had touchscreen interfaces powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 4 processors. The Tegra 4 is also found in Nvidia’s new gaming handheld – Project SHIELD. It will play all the latest and greatest Android games as well as stream PC games to the handheld using GRID.

All in all, Nvidia had one of the strongest showings at the annual tech show. All of the products it showed may not be successful in the future, but they’re at least really interesting.

As an added bonus, here’s a more detailed look at Project SHIELD:

That’s what you get if you watch Samsung’s CES 2013 keynote. Watch an hour of announcements coming at you from all sides as Samsung assaults your brain with the latest marvels of technology. Obviously, the big deal is Samsung’s new Octo-core Exynos 5 chip that will power the next generation of mobile handsets – including the rumored, but totally real, Galaxy S IV.

Check out Samsung’s CES keynote in all its glory below:

At CES 2013, Audi showed off a new car that’s able to drive itself, and more importantly, park itself in the closest thing to hell on earth – a parking garage. The concept behind this particular test shows that a person can drive up to work, and leave their car out front as it drives itself into the parking garage. It saves time and the frustration of trying to find a parking place. You can now just let the car do all the work for you.

Of course, it doesn’t become really cool until the driver summons her car from the garage using only her smartphone. That’s the kind of amazing futurist stuff that I never thought possible. I mean, sure, self-driving cars are cool, but summoning your car to pick you up is just too awesome for words.

It should be noted that this is only a concept for now. It’s not like these are going to show up on the streets anytime soon. Still, self-driving cars are the future – a future that Google thinks isn’t very far away.

At CES 2013, TrackingPoint is showing off what could be called a “smart gun,” but the company calls it a “Precision Guided Firearm.” The guns are outfitted with a computerized scope that provides a hunter with a number of metrics including wind speed, incline, temperature, distance to target and more. TrackingPoint is also manufacturing its own ammunition that works well with the scope’s guidance systems.

By far, the most interesting addition is the ability for the scope to stream video to an iOS device. Speaking to Ars Technica, the company said that more experienced hunters can now more easily help younger hunters with spotting by being able to see exactly what they’re seeing through the scope. It’s an interesting concept and one that many hunters stand to benefit from.

The gun could potentially be much safer as well. Some injuries during hunting are caused by somebody having an itchy trigger finger and they fire at the first sight of movement. TrackingPoint’s rifle increases the pull strength of the trigger until the the reticle and the target are aligned. In this way, the hunter is more likely to hit their target and accidental firings can be largely avoided.

As Ars points out, a more accurate gun being released so soon after the recent string of gun violence across the nation may be looked down upon, especially a gun that makes the process of firing more like a video game. It’s indicated that the system is only being produced for bolt-action rifles which are largely intended for hunting, and tend to be ineffectual for anything else.

For those interested in TrackingPoint’s technology, the company will start selling the rifles for $17,000 in the near future.

Tactus Technology, a touch interface developer, showed off a new technology at CES 2013 that allows the formation of physical buttons on a touchscreen. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s absolutely magical when you see it in action. Check it out:

Tactus Technology – CES 2013 from Tactus Technology Inc. on Vimeo.

Tactus’ technology is absolutely mind blowing. It might not seem like that big of a deal, but just watching those buttons immediately form and then retract back into a flat touch service is the kind of magic that we don’t see in tech that much anymore. Not to mention, the technology would drastically improve the usability of many apps.

Of course, magic isn’t real and there’s a very complicated explanation on how Tactus was able to achieve its results. You can read all about it in the company’s white paper that details all the technological research that went into bringing the physical button back to the touchscreen. It’s utterly fascinating and definitely worth a read.

IllumiRoom is a proof-of-concept Microsoft Research project designed to push the boundary of living room immersive entertainment by blending our virtual and physical worlds with projected visualizations. The effects in the video are rendered in real time and are captured live — not special effects added in post processing.

The system uses a Kinect for Windows camera and a projector to create the effects seen in the video below. It scans the geometry of a room using the Kinect, then uses its measurements to adapt its projected visuals “in real-time without any need to custom pre-process the graphics.” Microsoft claims the feature can extend the field of view beyond the TV, change the appearance of a room, or induce apparent motion.

It sounds silly, yes, but give the video a look. This is the sort of impressive technology that gamers should hope is part of the next generation of console hardware. Also, it may very well be a precursor to the holodeck-style gaming experiences of the future.

After a long wait, Redbox Instant by Verizon finally launched in beta last month. It’s a gradual rollout, and as of right now you still need an invitation to be able to join.

The service costs $8 a month, and gives subscribers access to a library of 4,500 films. Film, specifically, as the service doesn’t yet offer any TV shows.

Of course, Redbox Instant will be competing with other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video. As you would expect from any brand new streaming service, it’s starting off kind of slow. That is, the selection is not quite on par with its competitors. A recent analysis showed that out of the “first 50″ titles streaming on Redbox Instant, 40 are available on Netflix too. Redbox Instant will continues to add titles leading up to its public launch, but it has a ways to go to match the content options available on other services.

What it does have, however is that nice little bonus built into the subscription: 4 free DVD rentals from Redbox kiosks. That alone is worth $4 of the monthly price.

[via VentureBeat]