With the high volume of new products and flashy prototypes vying for attention at CES 2013, few have shown the kind of innovation needed to bring humanity one step closer to creating the ultimate consumer electronic device: a holodeck.

Yes, that’s right. The same holodeck from Star Trek: The Next Generation that uses light* to transform a room into a fully immersive and interactive environment of your own choosing.

Fortunately, Microsoft is working on a technology that could serve as the precursor to a real holodeck, (or at the very least a decent upgrade to Troy and Abed’s Imaginarium).

During the Samsung CES keynote yesterday, Microsoft gave a demonstration of a new research project called Illumiroom that fills a room with lights and images that coincide with what’s being shown on a TV screen. The experimental display tech uses Xbox Kinect — in conjunction with a projector — to scan the appearance and geometry of the room.

The demonstration primarily shows off how this kind of tech can enhance video games. For example, playing a first person shooter would adapt your entire wall as part of the screen, with the TV obviously being the center point. (See image below.) The result is the same view you’d see if you were actually holding a gun while standing on a battlefield.

We’ve embedded a demo video below from Microsoft Research showing the Illumiroom display tech in action. The company plans to share more about the experimental tech at the human-computer interaction conference CHI 2013 in late April.

* Technically, a holodeck uses a combination of force fields and photon light particles to give the illusion that you are not actually standing in a relatively small room on a starship. Trekkies, feel free to improve my explanation in the comment section.

Via Engadget

IAC-backed Aereo is expanding its disruptive pay TV service into 22 new markets, it announced today.

Aereo lets you watch free, locally broadcast HDTV channels (from local affiliate stations for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, and others) on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Aereo uses a tiny HD antenna the size of a dime to pick up the broadcast signal for each of its users, which for now allows it to operate legally. Aereo also provides a DVR feature that lets you record up to 40 hours of content.

Previously, Aereo was only available to residents of New York City, but soon it will be available in several cities across the country, including Boston, Miami, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Cleveland, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, Birmingham (Ala.), Providence (R.I.), and Madison (Wis.).

The expansion will start this spring in the warmer cities and continue through the end of 2013. (The company said it’ll take nearly two months to get the service up and running for beta testing.) These cities represent the first phase of growth for the service, which will eventually roll out in more areas across the country.

Initially, Aereo will offer access through a beta version of the service, which you can sign up for today on its website. (The company estimates that it’ll grant access to about 1,000 subscribers for the beta.) And like the NYC service, Aereo will offer a flexible pricing model that allows you to pay $1 per day, $8 per month, or $80 per year.

At the 2013 CES, Aereo also announced that it closed a new $38 million round today, led by existing investors IAC and Highland Capital Partners, with participation from FirstMark Capital, First Round Capital, High Line Venture Partners, and other previous investors. The additional capital will help pay for the cost of expansion.

Presumably, the new funding will also help pay for legal expenses related to ongoing copyright infringement claims from major U.S entertainment companies that fear Aereo will disrupt the traditional  ”pay TV” business model.

Federal judges denied an earlier claim by 17 media companies to stop Aereo’s service until a final decision can be made on whether or not the company’s method of using tiny antennas to stream broadcast channels is legal. Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia told VentureBeat in a phone interview that it is confident that a final court decision will be in its favor, which is evident since it’s moving forward with its expansion plans.

Media companies, many of which are cable TV service providers as well, are concerned that Aereo’s lower pricing and prime-time programming will steal business away from them. Further more, Aereo is also pursuing deals to bring a handful of cable networks to its service. Last month, Aereo reached a deal to bring the Bloomberg business network to its subscribers, a deal that will extend when it launches in other cities later this year.

“We’re working very closely with a few people to bring more channels (to Aereo),” Kanojia told VentureBeat, adding that we could hear an announcement about a new channel agreement midway through 2013. Yet, the company’s main focus right now is in launching and promoting the service in other cities, he said.

“This is a build year for us. and our main concern is in introducing people in these new markets to Aereo, and showing them (its) value,” Kanojia said.

While Netflix is a lot of things well, one of them certainly isn’t managing multiple people on a single streaming account. Fortunately, the company is working on a personalized profiles feature that will seemingly make using Netflix with a four-person family much easier.

Right now, if multiple people use the same Netflix account, it messes up the accounts recommendation engine — effectively rendering it useless. For example, if you primarily watch sci-fi TV shows, you could end up seeing recommendations for your wife’s romantic period dramas, or cartoons that are similar to your kid’s favorite children’s movies.

Additionally, I’d imagine managing a queue of videos for multiple people under a single account would prove irritating — especially if anyone plans to watch the same videos. (That means losing your auto-saved place when you stop watching videos, and making video progress bars ineffective).

Gigaom managed to check out the experimental new feature at the 2013 CES, but estimates that it could take up to six months or more before we start to see the feature roll out to the public. But regardless of how long it takes, this could be a huge hit with families or subscribers who constantly have their Netflix account hijacked by girlfriends, roommates, or siblings.

The personalized profiles feature fixes the aforementioned problems by separating viewing activity for each person using the account. Each person also gets to choose a custom avatar for their profile, and label it accordingly (Dad, Mom, Brother, etc.). Gigaom notes that any profiles for children ages 12 and under will automatically fall under Netflix’s “Just for Kids” user interface.

Photo via Gigaom

Viewsonic debuted a new line of touchscreen display monitors at the 2013 CES today that are targeted at the next generation of PCs.

The company’s TD 40 Series displays are certified by Microsoft for use on PCs that run the new Windows 8 operating system. The displays come in three different sizes, including a 23-inch model for $599, a 27-inch model for $799, and a massive 32-inch model for $2,499 — (because why not own a TV-sized Windows 8 touch screen, even if you have no commercial application for it, amirite?).

Viewsonic said the 23-inch and 32-inch TD 40 series displays will be available for purchase in February, while the 27-inch model will hit retail shelves in April.

The new displays are a good solution for anyone who’s put a lot of time, money, and effort into their current upgraded Windows 8 PC, but still wants the touchscreen capability that the new OS is built around.

From Viewsonic’s release:

Exceptional interactivity comes standard in the TD 40 Series. With the 10-point projected capacitive touch technology, customers get the best in class touch experience with unparalleled accuracy and speed. The TD 40 family features Professional Grade IPS panels with 1920×1080 full HD resolution and 20,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio for stunning picture and color performance. Market leading connectivity inputs including DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA, along with full USB HID compliance and VESA mount compatibility make this Series the best Windows 8 certified commercial display investment.

But the Windows 8 certified displays isn’t the only new line of monitors Viewsonic announced at CES today.

The hardware maker is also showing off  its new VSD240, a 24-inch version of its Android smart display (aka a big tablet you don’t carry around). The smart display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution screen, a quad-core, 1.7Ghz processer from nVIDIA, a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam with integrated microphone, integrated speakers, and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

And for those that want to use it as a PC, the new Viewsonic smart display gives you the option of connecting peripherals (mice, keyboard) via USB ports or Bluetooth. You can also connect a PC or Laptop computer and use it as a traditional display, although I’m not sure why you ever would.

The new display will retail for $499 and be available to North American consumers in April 2013.

Satellite television provider Dish Network unveiled its plans today to let subscribers start using the Dish TV service beyond the boundaries of their home.

Dish’s plan addresses one of the biggest complains people have about the often expensive traditional TV subscriptions: you can’t use it if you leave home. This is contrary to many of the much less costly services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime, which allow its respective subscribers to access the entire streaming video services from a variety of mobile devices, smart TVs, and set-top boxes.

At last year’s CES event, the company tackled a different major complain about traditional pay TV subscription by allowing customers to skip over long-winded commercial breaks on all recorded programs via the Hopper feature on its DVR TV boxes. This year, the company is improving the Hopper box by partnering with Sling Media, a company that produces its own line of devices enabling consumers to live stream their cable TV service when away from home.

Much like the Slingbox 500, the Hopper with Sling will let Dish subscribers stream both live television channels and watch saved shows on their DVR. (Right now you can access the “TV Anywhere” feature via iOS devices and through the web, but I’m assuming support for Android devices will come in the near future.) The box has built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth support, a remote control finder, and the fastest processor available from any satellite TV provider box, according to the company. As for storage, the Hopper with Sling contains a two-terabyte hard drive, which equals about 500 hours of HD video or 2,000 hours of standard definition video.

Another cool thing the box does is allow you to send shows recorded on your DVR to your iPad, which can be downloaded for offline viewing. The feature should come in handy for anyone who travels often, and doesn’t want the added expense of renting or buying a movie to download beforehand. And while not exactly new among TV service providers, Dish is also launching second-screen apps to help people discover new content on their smartphones and tablets.

Creating a consumer-friendly pay TV service

The push to make Dish a “TV anywhere” experience is part of the company’s strategy to be the only pay TV service that actually gives customers what they’re asking for, said Dish CEO and President Joseph Clayton at a press event today. I managed to catch the live stream of Dish’s presentation, which included several references by Clayton about this being “the year of the Kangaroo.”

Other cable providers are starting to come around to the idea that their subscribers want more for their money, but thus far, have been slow to offer anything remotely close to what Dish is doing with the Hopper Sling box. For instance, Time Warner Cable recently announced a new TWC TV app on Roku set-top boxes that essentially brings live TV channels to the streaming web, but doesn’t offer DVR playback or the ability to watch content anywhere. Even more backwards are cable providers like Comcast, who refuses to allow its customers to use services like HBO Go (except for on Xbox Live), even after authenticating that they pay for a HBO package as a Comcast subscriber.

Photo credit: Dish Network, CNET