WEBVTT - The Dead Future of Big Tech 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.400 Things fall apart, the center will not hold, and journalists 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:10.520 will make a pretty good living writing about at all. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.320 It's a good time to work the dystopia beat. The 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.160 pillars of our society have been crumbling for most of 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.360 my adult life and probably yours too. One exception to this, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.000 up until recently, has been the tech industry. When the 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.200 rest of the economy shipped the bed back in two 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.040 thousand eight, big tech roared into the gap to prop 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.760 up the groaning timbers of capitalism. Sure, the housing market 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:34.959 was in free fall, huge numbers of people were out 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:37.960 of work, and American infrastructure was crumbling like a twice 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.280 baked pot brownie. But then Steve Jobs magicked up the 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.320 iPhone and the iPad and the app store. Google brought 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.239 us Android and a dizzying array of smart and connected 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.919 devices followed. Companies like Uber disrupted massive industries and briefly 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.000 made hailing a cab the cheapest it's ever been, although 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.960 they did this by lighting massive piles of VC cash 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.920 on fire. It was in this period of what would 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.640 prove to be a rational exuberance that I started my 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.720 career as a tech journalist. That was the job title 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.360 my boss gave me, and it's what everybody else in 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.160 the industry called themselves. In reality, most of us were 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.839 just extensions of big text pr agencies. All the big 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:21.560 tech news websites of that era, slash gear In, Gadget Boy, 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.160 Genius Review, and the place I worked for I FORU News, 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:27.880 made most of their money off the back of a 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.920 peculiarity in Google search algorithm. The gist of it was this, 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:34.720 if a bunch of websites all published articles that were 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.440 basically rewritten press releases about say a new gadget, or 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.880 rewrites of someone else's report on rumors about an Apple product, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.800 Google would assume that this was a hot topic, and 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.680 they would bump everybody up on the algorithm. You could 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.400 make a tidy profit just paying a handful of writers 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.520 to rewrite press releases or copy reports from some of 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.880 the few sites doing actual tech journalism. And this is 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.480 where I got my start in reporting. I wrote ten 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.000 articles a day, five days a week for several years 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.840 until Google fixed their algorithm and wiped my silly little 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.360 industry out in the blink of an eye. It's fine. 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.200 In this case, we kind of had it coming. It 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.160 was nice to get paid to sit home and write. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.880 And the experience putting out a shipload of words every 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.440 single day that were polished enough to print was pretty 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.679 good for me, but it wasn't journalism, and so while 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.720 I was doing it, I started seeking opportunities to actually 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.680 get out into the world and do original reporting. And 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.440 that's what first brought me to the Consumer Electronics Show 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.160 in Las Vegas in two thousand ten c s as. 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:37.320 It's known as a tech industry insider event for analysts, manufacturers, 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.680 and media. They come and they show off new products 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.960 and gadgets and apps, and journalists walk around and look 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.880 at everything and then write articles about it. Companies spend 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.720 millions of dollars every year on massive, multi acre show 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.799 rooms for their products and dream up ludicrous demonstrations of 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.280 their new tech. One that sticks out to me from 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.639 again about thirteen years ago, is watching some company or 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.959 another charge an electric car inductively. That means there was 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.600 nothing actually plugged into the vehicle. They just parked it 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:07.800 like you would put your phone on an inductive charger, 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.760 and they charged it that way. The whole process was 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.360 so energy intensive that it dimmed the lights in the 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.079 Loss of Vegas Convention Center, which if you've never been 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.160 inside of. It is about the size of a small city. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.320 The spectacle was always the best part of CS and 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:24.360 with all the money pouring into big tech, it was 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.120 a great place to be a reporter. Every big booth 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.000 had free wet bars and piles of free swag. I 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.440 left every year with a sack full of USB drives 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.160 and thousands of dollars in products to test. There was 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.040 so much goddamn money everywhere that even a dumb kid 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:42.240 like me with no real connections could do okay. Collapse 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.360 was always and has always been present at c S, however, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.560 looming in the background overdomed product categories and vast tottering 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.040 businesses that didn't realize they were already dead. I'm thinking 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.240 primarily of r I Am, the people who used to 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:59.480 make blackberries here. Another good example would be Motorola in 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.080 two thousand eleven. Their booth was one of the largest 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.400 at c E s now Apple was and still is 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.320 the biggest name on the block when it comes to 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.720 making consumer gadgets, but they don't go to c E S, 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.080 preferring to hold their own annual event to announce new products. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.640 This has always irritated the people who run the show, 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.240 and so in the early two thousand tens, when androids 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.800 started to blow up as a rival to Apple's iOS, 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.839 a huge deal was made about Motorola's Droid line of phones. 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.880 They actually had to license the name from Lucasfilm for 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.159 obvious reasons. In two thousand ten, Motorola won the Best 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.839 in Show award for their Droid phone, despite the fact 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.520 that they hadn't actually brought a working example of it 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.039 to the show, something that kind of pissed me off 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.440 at the time. Now today, Motorola is basically dead. It's 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.599 a shadow of its former self. It's been bought and 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.200 sold several times. His companies like Samsung and HTC beat 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.600 the piss out of it on the open market. Other 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.400 famous collapses from c e s has past include the 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.520 entire three D television market. If you can remember those 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.200 heady day days after the release of the first Avatar movie, 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:04.880 the tech industry blue billions in R and D and 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.800 ad money trying to convince everyone that people would actually 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.599 sit down in their actual glass living rooms and wear 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.240 fucking three D glasses to watch movies or TV. It 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.560 was preposterous and obviously doomed. I have fond memories of 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.600 harassing pr hacks on the show floor, asking them, isn't 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.200 this just a big con from the entertainment industry to 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.760 make it harder for people to pirate media? Are there 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.760 any actual signs that regular people will pay thousands of 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.200 dollars for one of these things? At one point, a 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.960 rep from Samsung, I think, tried to show me a 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.919 glasses free three D TV. It only worked if a 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.000 trained professional told you precisely where to stand in order 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.760 to view it. I laughed so hard I snorted whiskey 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.080 and lukewarm Starbucks onto a stack of glossy product brochures. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.640 Despite how obviously doomed it all was, the Internet filled 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.760 with fawning articles about all of the exciting new three 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.400 D televisions that were surely going to be in homes 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.840 in the very near future. Now, because the Internet moves quickly, 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.400 most of the websites that did tech news back then 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.159 are dead, and the ones that remain are filled with 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.960 busted links. But you can still find monuments to the 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.200 failure of three D television if you know where to look. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.359 Take this excerpt from a PC World article on the 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.479 best of c E s two thousand ten uh. It's 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.719 titled the three D Revolution is here, and underneath a 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.200 broken link to an image that is no longer available, 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.360 is the line I don't think it's a false start 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.880 this time. The three D product plans for the coming 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.160 year represent the initial salvos of the coming three D revolution. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.359 Panasonics three D demos were among the most convincing, but 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:36.440 the best implementation I saw, unfortunately, is one that won't 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.400 be coming to market anytime soon. Sony showed us it's 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.360 twenty four point five in three D O l E 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.880 d H D t V is a technology demo only 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.960 now in retrospect, I think the hilarious failure of three 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.560 D TV technology is actually what prepared me more than 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.640 anything for crypto. If you actually just go over that 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.640 paragraph I read a little earlier, you could replace the 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.200 words referring specifically to three D t V s with 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.960 various shit coins or blockchain related tech and it would 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.560 more or less work. The thing that set me off 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.080 with crypto was how similar the claim was that, like, 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.240 this thing is obviously legit because look at how many 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.640 people are talking about it. It's got to be real 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.720 now because suddenly it's all over the news This is 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.520 why folks like Sam Bankman Freed bought the naming rights 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.320 to stadiums and stuck f t X and crypto dot 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:34.160 Com up as publicly as they possibly could. It was 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.840 all a con to convince casual observers that the crypto 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.960 market was a serious thing they should invest in. It's 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.040 one of those things that really made me think a 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.960 lot about the role journalists play and hyping up nonsense 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:47.400 like this, And you can see it in three D 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:49.640 t v s and Crypto and a bunch of other spaces. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.440 A big part of what convinces people that this stuff 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.800 is real is suddenly they start seeing articles everywhere talking 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.880 about it. Suddenly the press all over the place is 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.640 talking about the price of bitcoin or talking about this 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.200 this new thing as if it's it's going to actually 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.560 change people's lives. And so folks who maybe are not 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:11.240 super high information media consumers just assume that, Okay, I 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.160 guess this is here to stay. Um, it's it's a 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.560 danger that still exists. All of this brings me to 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:21.760 c E Sree collapse looms larger over the proceedings this 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.760 year than in any other prior event I've attended. Prior 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.040 to the pandemic attendance that c S had topped out 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.440 at around two hundred thousand people last year, though only 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:34.040 forty thousands showed, which is probably still vastly too many 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.520 folks to cram into hotel conference rooms that can see 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.800 a restaurants during a pandemic. And yes, c e S 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.560 two was a super spreader event. Korea particularly had a 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.640 problem as a result of it. The show itself for decades, 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.320 a central event in the global tech industry, seems to 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.480 be teetering. It is not alone there. The top ten 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.320 big tech stocks lost a combined four point six trillion 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.520 dollars in market cap in two, that significantly more than 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.559 the GDP of the United Kingdom around three point two trillion, 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.800 or the state of California three point six trillion. At 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.200 c S. The rot is most evident in the utter 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.960 lack of any kind of hype beast product this year. 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.920 So far, I've seen a flying hydrogen car, or at 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.400 least I've seen three d renders of one. Also, it's 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.480 meant for Formula one style race, is not actual civilian use. 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.000 The guy at the booths somewhat angrily told me the 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.480 anticipated retail price was around three million dollars. The MACA 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.440 flying car was one of many products that I looked 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:33.880 into at c S Unveiled, which is one of the 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.680 headline events of the show. It's basically a bunch of 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.360 manufacturers and booths showing off their gadgets to an audience 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.000 of journalists to drink heavily from an open bar, walk 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.040 around and prod things. In years past, smartphones and tablets 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.640 and their consumer gadgets tended to be the main focus, 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:51.960 but all that kind of stuff is boring as hell 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.760 now the smartphone market has stabilized. It's just not as 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:57.880 exciting as it used to be, and c e S 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.400 knows it. The big hype and Unveiled is around a 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.960 mix of electronic and autonomous vehicle technology and virtual reality. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.920 Now at present, I'm not in a good position to 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:11.320 thoroughly analyze the specific promises made by individual autonomous driving 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.120 companies at CES. I'll just note that tech Crunch, normally 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.880 all in for hype about this kind of stuff, published 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.960 an article last October titled It's time to admit self 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:24.280 driving cars aren't going to happen. Here's a relevant quote. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:26.680 Ford announced that it would be winding down our Goo 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.320 AI the company, backed by itself and fellow automaker votes Wagon, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:34.720 focusing on developing full level four autonomous driving technologies. Ford 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.240 explained their justification in doing so when they release their 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.000 Q three earnings a few hours later, noting that not 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:41.839 only were they shutting down our GOO, but they were 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:46.160 also essentially deep prioritizing L four technologies altogether to instead 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:50.320 focus on advanced driver assistance systems with internal resources. Ford 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.160 CEO Jim Farley justified this by saying on the company's 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.800 earnings call Wednesday evening that profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.120 scale are a long way off, and we won't necessarily 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.760 have to create that tech chnology for ourselves now. Obviously, 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.800 autonomous technology will of course have niche applications automating transport 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:09.880 of heavy loads at job sites and minds where routes 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:13.480 are predictable and controlled, but mass adoption of full level 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.200 four autonomous driving technology is at present a fantasy. The 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.360 same is true for one of the other major product 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:24.840 categories at c S, unveiled virtual reality metaverse nonsense. The 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:28.240 fact that Facebook let fifteen billion dollars on fire last 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.199 year chasing Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse dreams has convinced some people 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.120 that the idea is inevitable. This excerpt from a market 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.200 Watch article published during c e S is representative. You 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.679 can see the same thought process that led people astray 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.560 with three D TVs and crypto. In the long run, 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.040 the metaverse will be a major substitute for in person 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.120 conventions like c e S, said June Nichigucci, CEO of Tararu, 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.680 a Japanese company developing its own metaverse. So one of 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.440 the barriers to any kind of popular metaverse is the 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.600 fact that VR is actually not as immersive as it 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.480 needs to be. The technology does a pretty impressive job 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.439 of convincing your eyes that you are, in fact somewhere else, 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:07.880 and this is pretty neat, but the rest of your 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.600 body is inevitably standing or sitting awkwardly in a room somewhere. 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.160 This has led to a whole host of products that 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.400 are in development right now that attempt to engage the 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.280 rest of your body and basically trick it into believing 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.800 that you're somewhere else. I tried two products at c 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.319 e S that were meant to do this. The first 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.960 was the tax suit X from b Haptics. It uses 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.640 haptic feedback technology which is the stuff that makes your 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.960 phone buzz when you press a button on your touch screen. 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.360 Companies like b Haptics hope to use advanced versions of 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.480 the tech to mimic physical sensation. This would make the 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.680 metaverse feel much less awkward and associated, and also provide 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.480 a whole new market for online sex workers. There are 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.360 several of these suits at c S, and all of 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.320 them seem to have won innovation Awards, or at least 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.760 their honorees and the CS Innovation Awards, which is a 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.040 thing that basically anyone seems to get if they make 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.560 something expensive and and bring it to the show. To 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.640 be frank, I think these suits are bullshit. The one 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.160 slightly cool thing about the tax suit is that the 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.319 gloves it had like gloves and a feat component. Um 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.120 I was able to test the gloves and the the 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.320 actual chest suit thing. The gloves do a pretty okay 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.560 job of emulating a physical keyboard, or at least a 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.280 small keyboard on like a smartphone style device. Now that 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.319 is not a cool enough thing for someone to pay 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.000 hundreds of dollars and deal with the hassle of wearing heavy, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.640 battery powered gloves every day. The b haptics. Folks eagerly 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.360 showed me how their suit could simulate hugging and touching 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.760 another human being in VR, and this seemed to be 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:37.960 the major selling point they saw for what they were 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.720 bringing to the table. I actually tried all this and 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.240 it was among the saddest experiences of my life. Hugging 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.160 someone in a haptic suit through VR feels like having 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.439 a dozen or so in sixty four. Rumbull packs activate 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.480 up your chest in arms. If you touch a virtual 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.160 person's shoulder, your hand will buzz and vibrate. Now, buzzing 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.079 and vibrating are not sensations I attribute to physical intimacy 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.320 with a physical person. I actually found this attempt at 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.440 mimicking the sensation of human contact much more disturbing than 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.000 the lack of contact in most VR experiences. The tech 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.000 industry has also penned a lot of hopes on augmented reality. 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.600 I think this is closer to being realistic, but there 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.280 is still a metric fun ton of vaporware and snake 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.840 oil products often marketed as increasing accessibility. One example would 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.280 be the luvic. This is a device you wear around 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.640 your neck. It's roughly the size of a pair of headphones. 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:30.960 It's supposed to buzz on one side or the other 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:32.920 of your body to let you know when to turn, 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.040 all the while delivering audio map directions for you. Luvic's 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.840 press materials highlight what a win this is for accessibility, 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.280 saying Luvic is a device designed to solve the challenges 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.840 of those who have difficulty with spatial cognition. It is 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.600 an IoT Internet of Things device that is one around 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.640 your neck and uses tactile notifications and bone conduction voice 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.840 to guide the user along the way naturally. Now, this 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.120 tech does identify a real need, but I'm sorry to 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.520 say it does not work at all. I tried this thing. 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:01.800 Luvic people put it on me and ran through a 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.200 walking root of New York City. I couldn't tell which 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:06.880 side of my body was being buzzed, so that was useless. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:08.880 It just felt like a smartphone was ringing on the 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.400 back of my neck, and the speakers weren't loud enough 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.280 to hear directions. Now, when I mentioned this, the Luvic 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.480 people told me, well, there's too much noise in the 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.800 conference room for you to hear it, of course, new 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:22.040 York City being famously quiet. And then there's the stuff 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.560 that I suspect was just outright snake will rather than 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.920 being broken like the luvic. This is probably best embodied 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.920 by the electric circlet I saw there that's supposed to 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.800 stimulate your brain to reduce your stress while you sleep. 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.360 Uh they advertised, I think the number was eight percent 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.400 reduction and stress while you sleep. This is not a product. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.480 I feel the need to review some claims they're not 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:45.160 worth taking seriously, and this is one of them. So far, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.840 I've seen little at c S that struck me as 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.680 likely to be a massive financial success. But there were 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:55.600 some potentially groundbreaking products on display. Unfortunately, nearly all of 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.000 these were in the realm of health and medical technology. 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.040 Let me explain why this is troubling with an example 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.760 from the show. The most potentially influential device I saw 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.920 there was called Viral, worn by Optive. It is a 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.840 multiple use breath analyzer self test that will tell you 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.480 if you are positive for COVID nineteen R s V 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.800 or influenza UM. It just lights up if you're positive 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:18.760 for one of them. They promised that in the future 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.400 it'll tell you what you have. But then that's still useful, right, 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:22.960 Still a hell of a lot better than anything we've 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.680 got right now. Rather than sticking a thing up your nose, 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.320 you just blow into this thing like a breathalyzer. It's 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.240 about the size of a key fob, and you can 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:32.840 charge it with a normal USB cable. It can be 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:36.720 used dozens of times before being reloaded. Optive's rough price 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.520 point is around a hundred dollars if this thing works 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.960 the way they say it does. I cannot exaggerate what 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.200 a big deal it would be. Imagine being able to 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.240 blow into a little device and know in a couple 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.200 of seconds if you're safe before you go into a 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.200 store or a bar or a party, go see you know, 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.240 an elderly relative for a birthday. Lives could be saved 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.200 by this thing if it works. And to their credit, 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.600 the good folks Adoptive immediately told me that this was 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:01.720 not on sale yet, as it was still waiting for 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.399 FDA approval. I take this as a good side, and 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.439 I sincerely hope it works as well as advertised. But 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.240 products like this do present a problem for the tech press. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.280 When I'm at a show like c e S, it's 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:16.000 generally easy to determine if something has promise by step 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.840 into a booth for a company advertising rugged speakers. Well, 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.840 I can drop those speakers from a height, I can 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.600 drop stuff onto them, I can throw them. I can 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.560 test if they're rugged because I can try to break them, 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.199 and if I can't, then they're rugged. Likewise, I can 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:31.959 strap on a VR suit and I can tell you 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.200 if it makes the experience more immersive. Neither I nor 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.440 any other members of the press can tell you how 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.960 well a medical diagnostic device works in the same manner. 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.240 This isn't anyone's fault, but as connected tech and AI 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.840 are included in more healthcare devices, the potential for snake 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:52.359 oil and for dangerous failures to generate mass hype increases exponentially. 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.320 I want to be clear that the medical devices I 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.560 have seen so far at c S do not strike 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.159 me a suspicious and company representatives were extremely good at 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.160 explaining what stage in the FDA approval process they were at, 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.199 and I saw some really cool shit. My favorite was 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:18.760 probably a new streamlined a E D from Life a 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.399 Z at a thousand dollars or thirty five dollars a 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.560 month with a four to five years shelf life. This 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:27.359 thing makes having a defibrillator on hand affordable for regular people. 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.240 It's extremely light and small and can be easily carried 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.359 in a backpack. I do have a little bit of 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.080 medical training, and I tried this thing out on a 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.760 dummy and test mode. I can confirm it appears to 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.800 work like any other more expensive a d The device 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.320 is still awaiting FDA approval, but it has been approved 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.320 and as being sold in France and Germany, so I 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.720 feel pretty good saying this thing probably works the way 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.080 Life a Z says it does. And then there's my 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.720 favorite product from c E s unveiled, the nan She 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.640 domestic violence app from ath Bash, which is a French company. 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:57.879 This was first suggested to me via one of the 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.639 most awkward PR emails I've ever received. Eaved forward Media 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:07.159 Alert groundbreaking domestic violence reporting app launching at CS and 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:09.680 when I got it in my email, it just said 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:15.159 forward Media Alert Groundbreaking domestic Violence, which fun thing to 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.640 get in your inbox. In fairness to their very nice 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.080 PR lady, there's probably not a non awkward way to 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.480 title an email about this kind of thing. The app 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.520 itself is really innovative, though it provides you with options 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.399 to record voice or video and to take photos of 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.240 documents or to photographically document your own injuries. All the 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.960 data that you save is stored off site, so you 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.600 take a picture or your record audio and it's immediately 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.639 off the phone and off the app. You actually can't 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.959 access it without contacting the company directly to get it. 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:46.320 All of it is stored on the cloud, and it's 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.840 also on the blockchain, which is used to verify data integrity, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.320 making this probably the first blockchain related product I've ever 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.520 heard of with a realistic use case. Nan She seems 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:58.640 to be pretty well thought out from the top to bottom. 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.119 Once you start recording, you can swipe away from the 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.960 app and it will keep recording without being visible anywhere 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.600 on your phone. So if you're in a fight with 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:08.879 a domestic abuser and they take your phone away, they 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.400 will not see that you're recording, but it will keep recording. 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.080 You can also change the logo and name that the 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.800 app displays itself under on your phone, so that it 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.080