WEBVTT - Jonathan Visits CES 2012 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camri. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.840 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:14.400 tex Stuff from how stuff works dot com. This episode 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.360 of tech Stuff is brought to you by Hover dot Com. However, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.800 is all about making domain registration and service simple. Rather 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.720 than selling a ton of services, they focus on making 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.000 it easy to register and manage domains and emails. However, 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.920 has two noon domain services, Premium Domains and Clunker trade Ins. 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.040 If you have any Clunker domains registered with Hover now, 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:36.440 you can trade them in. 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I am an editor of 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:13.840 how Stuff Works dot com and sitting across from me 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.520 a guy who UH had to stop flapping because his 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.560 arms were so tired from flying back from Las Vegas. 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.080 Senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Someone must have slandered Joseph K 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.920 for one morning without having done anything truly wrong. He 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.839 was arrested. What happened to the Biggest Things? The Biggest Baby? 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:37.600 So we're talking today about CE selve. This podcast, of 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:41.320 course is publishing well after the show, but it's as 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.280 early as we can get it out there. Um, we 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.479 wanted to kind of talk about what I saw at 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.360 the show and sort of the trends and what the 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.400 show was like. This this year there were actually some 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:54.560 pretty big announcements, some of them not directly connected with 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.480 what was on the show floor, but still pretty important. Nonetheless, Yeah, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.800 c S. They've they've asked us to just call it 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.760 CES but for branding purposes. But the Consumer Electronics Show 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.640 right right, And this UH started out a few decades 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.760 ago basically sort of as a small trade show. And 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.480 because electronics are such a big part of our lives now, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.359 people are really interested in in the stuff that people enveil. 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:21.839 Some of it is uh, stuff that's going to show 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.200 up on on shelves, some of it now, other stuff 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.800 will be available later on, and then a few products 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:29.960 are kind of in the prototype stage which we may 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.600 never see implemented into an actual consumer product. Yeah, sort 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.440 of like the the auto shows. Actually the Detroit Auto 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.440 Show was going on at the same time, um, but 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:43.239 that wasn't in Las Vegas. Curiously, Um, must have something 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.080 to do with the name of the Detroit Casino. Yes, um, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.480 so yeah, I mean they're they're they're hundreds of companies 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:54.120 I guess technically thousands of companies um exhibiting on at 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:57.320 the Las Vegas Convention Center and at several hotels around 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.000 the area, The Venetian, the LVH what was formerly known 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:02.880 as the Las Vegas Hilton but is now just the 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:07.360 Las Vegas Hotel. Yeah. Yeah, so um uh it's it's 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.600 always extremely busy. I mean for the people who go. 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:11.720 For those of you who don't, it may sound like 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.320 it's really cool because you get a lot of time 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.920 checking out the latest gadgets, but you know, not for 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.160 the for the people who are working the show, both 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.800 as exhibitors and the media, it can be exhausting because 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.840 you're you're sort of uh uh uh and enveloping yourself 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.040 in tech from the time you get up until the 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.960 time you go to bed and at night, and it's uh, 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.960 it's a lot. Yeah and uh and this year was 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:41.360 a record breaking year as far as attendance goes. The 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.480 the attendance was over one hundred fifty three thousand people. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:47.560 So that's a lot of people, even in in a 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.800 building as as big as the lvc C. Yeah. I 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.280 think they said they had one point seven million square 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.520 feet of exhibition space in the convention center this year. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.720 Uh yeah, even in that size, it's it's still crowded, 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.520 and you gotta you know, if you've listened to our 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.840 ce S podcast, we've talked about the experience. So we 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.119 won't dwell on it too much here because we don't 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.440 want to repeat ourselves too much. But yeah, it can 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.280 be overwhelming, especially to someone who has never been to 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.880 the show before. Now, and this was my fourth c 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.239 e S, so I kind of knew what to expect. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:24.159 Although in years past the attendance level had dropped a 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.400 little bit. Last year was was fairly was fairly well attended, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.400 but twelve was a record breaking year, which was that 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.800 was new to me. It wasn't since two thousand eight 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:37.400 that it had felt that crowded. Yeah. Um, And and 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.119 often at these shows, not always, but often at these shows, 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.480 there's there's a product or a handful of products that 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.760 absolutely steal a show. Um. Speaking as someone who didn't go, 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.520 I didn't get the sense that there was one product 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.000 that people were just you know, it was just so 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.279 jaw dropping lee awesome that everyone was talking about it. 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.000 But it does seemed like they were a handful of 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.599 products that people were sort of going, Okay, now that's 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.000 pretty cool. Yeah, there were there was a collection of 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.640 products that I think got a lot of attention during 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.560 the show itself. And while there might not be like 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.120 you can think of like the Palm pre or the 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.000 or the smart watch from a few years ago, like 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.040 those were devices that got people buzzing on the floor 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.520 and almost it almost became their show. I agree that 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.880 I don't think there was any single product that really 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.200 dominated this year, but there were a lot of products 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.520 that got quite a bit of of mention and uh, 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.919 and then there were new product categories they got a 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.880 lot of attention, like the ultrabook category is a very 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:43.159 good example up to you know, last year's CEOs. Even 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.200 though there were a couple of computers out there that 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.240 probably could have qualified to be an ultra book, the 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.800 designation itself really had not emerged in the first part 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.080 of it was the second of twenty eleven when we 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.000 started to hear about ultra books. Yeah, um, specifically, actually 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.640 they made and tell is behind the term ultra book, 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.040 and you made their announcement after ce S last year. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.840 So uh, just in brief, and we're gonna have an 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.400 episode all about ultra books coming out later, so we 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.800 won't go too into detail here, but it's an ultrabook 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.400 has to have an Intel Core processor, it has to 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.039 be a certain thickness or thinner, uh, and it has 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.400 to be able to boot up from sleep mode to 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:27.520 active mode in seven seconds or less. So really it's 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:31.920 an competitor to the MacBook Air. That's ultimately what ultra 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.360 book is and tablets and tablets, you know, and to 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.320 a to a certain degree, really, the ultra book was 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.640 almost an a response to the way tablets had affected 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.520 the netbook industry. So ultra books are kind of you 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.920 know that they're they're more powerful and larger than netbooks, 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:52.159 but they're also still very portable because they're very, very 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.960 slim and light. Because tablets were a big thing at 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.320 C and they were still a big thing in too, 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:03.880 there were odd of tablets on display, a lot of tablets, 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:05.919 but they weren't they weren't show stealers like some of 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.200 the ultra books that you saw. No ultra books, I 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.560 think mainly because it was a new category took a 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.680 lot more attention. Because tablets at this point, really, especially 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.200 Android tablets, we've seen so many of them that it's 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.200 hard to get people excited about tablet, even if it's 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.720 a really good device. It's just, you know, it's almost 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:26.320 like the Boy who Cried Wolf, right, You hear it 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.280 enough times and you're just like, oh, okay, it's another 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.080 Android tablet, and you may not pay the attention that 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:36.760 that device actually deserves to that device. But so there 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.680 were still plenty of tablets. I would say that just 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.320 about every major company had at least one or two 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.840 different kinds of tablets on display. We also saw some 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.560 Windows eight tablets on display. One of my favorite devices 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.800 was an Android tablet on display, which was the Asis 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:58.560 Transformer Prime. UM very very sleek, very uh, very responsive. No, 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.800 it does not transformed, but as it was, you can't 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.360 get a docking station that's essentially a keyboard, so it 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.680 turns it almost like into a laptop computer, but a 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:12.000 very very snappy processor and that it was very responsive. 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.560 So that was one of the devices that I actually 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.080 sought out on the floor. I had heard about it 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:18.800 and I had to find it. And that was a 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.440 little tricky because it was it was it was lumped 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.680 in with other companies. It wasn't like there was the 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:26.560 ass booth you would go to and see it. It 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.280 was more like you'd go to these other booths that 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.600 had one on display in order to showcase something else. 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.880 But I'm really just interested in the hardware. Um, So 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.319 that was you know, tablets were still a big deal, 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.880 but I would say ultra books definitely were more of 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.520 a show stealer as far as a category goes. And 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.440 Intel had said that in we should expect between sixty 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.840 five and seventy different ultra books coming out onto the market. Uh, 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:53.600 some of the ultra books that were on display at 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.199 CES may not ever go to market, like Intel's Nikishi, 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:03.160 which had a clear window in the keyboard section, of 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.400 the notebook and you close the notebook. Uh and the 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.080 clear section gives you an actually touch screen interface, so 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.760 even when your notebooks closed, you still have an active 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.520 computing element there and you can run certain apps, check email, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.040 that kind of stuff. This is very Windows eight Metro 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.880 kind of layout. So, uh, you know, we saw a 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:26.520 lot of that and and other innovations and ultra books, 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:31.840 mostly esthetic designs, like really super slim, sleek designs to 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.719 kind of go head to head with the MacBook Air. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:39.320 Samsung Series nine was probably one of the more striking designs. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.559 HPS Envy Spector was also very striking, very pretty design. 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.280 What had gorilla glass on on the outside of the Yes, yeah, 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.720 to help protect against scratches and things like that. There 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.040 was gorilla glass all along the back of it. Gorilla 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.920 glass also represented ces corning headed booth. It was a 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.960 gorilla glass too that when the unveiled grill to it's 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.520 thinner than the original gorilla glass and just as strong 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.880 and uh so we saw demonstrations of that where they 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.120 showed people trying to scratch the glass or break the glass, 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.760 showing how it stood up to force compared to previous 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:20.880 versions of gorilla glass. And competing glasses that have you know, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.760 the protection built into it. Um. So yeah, they were there. 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:28.439 We also saw I mean, of course CES, it's hard 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.000 to talk about CS. We'll talk about television's TVs again. 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:35.319 We're a huge deal now this year, I would say 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.520 that the you know, in years past, it's all been 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:44.640 about better resolution, faster refresh rates and and the size 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:48.439 of the TV. Yeah, this year, those are still important, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.400 but smart TV really was another thing that's being pushed 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.880 heavily at CS. And you know, you went to c 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.720 S two thousand eight. You remember the Internet, the I 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.120 P t V s we saw, right, Yeah, we really 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.360 took Yeah, no they didn't. Yeah, And see that's one 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.760 of those things that it's weird to say that four 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.080 years later we're starting to see it actually kind of 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.400 get more support. But then you think about it. Back 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.000 in two thousand and eight, the widgets, the applications you 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.880 saw and smart TVs were very limited. They were so 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:28.120 as things like weather reports or stock prices or news 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.480 a news feed, but that was about it. Well, now 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.240 you go and you look at a smart TV, and 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.800 a lot of the smart TVs are concentrating on alternate 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:42.640 ways of getting content on your television. So having Netflix 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:47.400 Instant directly integrated into the television set, or Hulu Plus 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.160 or Amazon Video. These are are things that are being 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.400 put into TVs from the get go, so you don't 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.360 have to have a video game console or a set 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.079 top box like Roku necessary in order to be able 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:05.000 to access these things. Um Now, I would definitely say 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:07.320 that there's not really any danger of those set top 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.120 boxes going out of business anytime soon, because it's pretty 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.160 expensive to go and replace your TV, you know. So 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.240 I think those companies have to really look at what 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.120 their future is going to hold, like they need to 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.200 have a long term plan in place, because maybe five 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.679 years from now you might start seeing companies like Roku 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.120 having issues because if it's built into more and more televisions, 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:34.200 then it becomes less relevant of a product. So hopefully 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.720 those companies are starting to develop long term plans that 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.880 can take into account the the fact that a lot 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:41.920 of the stuff they offer right now is going to 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:46.640 be built into televisions in the near future. Roku, by 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.160 the way, also introduced a USB dongle. Yeah, that's exactly 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:51.680 what I was going to mention. Even the set top 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.760 boxes themselves are sort of changing form factor in Yeah, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:56.959 it's kind of funny because the Roku two came out 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.760 in eleven and that was a smaller form factor than 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.520 the original Roku. Right. You look at and you're like, oh, 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.040 it's so tiny and it's pretty and it's not just 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:09.760 a black box. Wow. And then ces they bring out 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.280 a dongle that connects to a USB port. A lot 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.920 of televisions now come with USB ports where you can 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.880 do things like like load photographs directly to your your television. Uh, 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.760 and it interacts with the TV and becomes essentially your 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.120 Roku set um. You know, it has the functionality built 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.640 into it, but it's it's now it's not even a 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:33.480 set top box anymore, right into the TV itself. Yeah, 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:35.920 so that's kind of cool, uh, you know. And and 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.920 again that's the way of differentiating itself from other set 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.880 top boxes and still trying to keep the price point down. 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.280 The one of the things that attractive things about Roku 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.360 is that it tends to be around fifty dollars, and 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:49.960 I think that the USB dongle was going to be 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:54.880 priced at around still pretty attractive, especially when you're thinking like, hey, 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.160 it's one less box, one less set of cables I 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.280 have to worry about, you know, I don't have to work. 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:01.800 It doesn't have to look like an octopus exploded behind 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.960 my television. You Yeah, that's the way my TV looks 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.319 right now. Uh. I would say that probably the television 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:11.840 that got the most attention while I was there was 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.920 an LGO LED display. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's partially 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.080 because oh lad is still such a it seems kind 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.160 of foreign, like it's an elusive category to make an 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:26.280 organic LED TV. Now, a lot of us have smartphones 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.880 with o LAD screens on them, but they're far more 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.320 common in small form factors than in large. Yeah. Even 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.680 back in two thousand eight, we saw prototypes of oh 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.600 led televisions, but in those cases they were very small 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.200 TVs and expensive, very expensive, and things like, you know, 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.080 a twelve inch television screen and you think, wow, that's 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.800 you know, in the era of the of the super 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:52.480 enormous big screen TV, that's nothing. Well, this was the 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.600 year where we started seeing oh lad screens being pushed 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.480 in the large television form factor and l G had 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:04.000 a fifty five inch television oh lad screen three D capable. Um, 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:08.560 it was gorgeous and and depending on who you ask. 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.920 It was between four and five millimeters thick, which meant 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.160 that if you looked at it in profile, it looked 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:18.000 like a pane of glass. I mean, it was so thin, 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.320 and and it was just everyone's jaw dropped when they 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.600 saw how how the profile of this device. People were 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.440 trying to take pictures of it and having problems taking 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.920 pictures of it because it was so thin that it 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.840 was not really registering in the photo very well. And 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.880 in fact, I have a picture of one. I took 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:37.680 it on my my phone, so it's not a very 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.840 high definition photo, but I took a picture on my 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:46.240 phone and it has one of these television's face on 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.080 in the background and then one in profile in the foreground, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.560 and it just looks like there's a line like like wow, 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.280 that television is terrible because look at the line of 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.120 distortion right in the middle. And no, no, no, that's 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.080 another TV in profile in front of the one that 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:04.080 you're looking at. Whoa so um. And also they did 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:08.200 something kind of cool and that they have a proprietary 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.920 port on the LG television that connects to a control 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.360 box and so you plug in all your peripherals to 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.880 the control box and then you put the proprietary chord 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.120 between these control box and the television set, and that 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.720 way you cut down on all those chords going to 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:26.920 the TV. Because when you get a form factor that thin, 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.960 suddenly chord management becomes a big deal, right because you 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:32.600 know you're like, well, I've got the power chord and 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.720 then I've got all my H D, M I chords 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.200 or whatever component composite whatever you have, all of that 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.000 has to go to the TV from my peripherals. Well, 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.560 now suddenly I've got this gorgeous television with all these 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.120 ugly bulky chords hanging off. Well that that was sort 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.880 of the approach of getting the control box in there, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.880 So that way you would have a different device. You 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.040 plug everything into that almost act like a receiver and 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.520 then feeds all of that stuff as a switch to 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:03.680 the television in itself. Um, there's a there's a bit 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:07.760 of a caveat. I have to add this lad screen 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.679 and that's Uh, it'll cost you a pretty chunk of 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:14.320 change if you want to buy one. They did not 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:18.040 have an official price mentioned at c E S. Then 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.920 if you have to ask, you can't afford it. Kind of, 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.600 but there are there's the devices. These TVs have launched 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.240 already in Europe. Okay, and if you look at how 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.160 much they cost in Europe and you were to translate 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.880 that to American dollars, we're essentially looking at a ten 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:38.600 thousand dollar television TV. Meanwhile, you had other companies like 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:43.280 Sharp looking at pushing larger and larger form factors, trying 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.000 to get those popular in the consumer market. So Sharp 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.200 at their press conference had an entire video about how 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.480 an eight inch television just that's not that big. Eight 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.520 inch television isn't too big for your living room. Okay, Well, um, 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:01.399 I just got I just moved into a new place, 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.280 and I've got a fairly spacious living room, not not huge, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:11.280 but bigger than what I'm used to. Uh. I can't personally, 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.639 I can't imagine having an a d inch television in 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:17.280 that space. It would to me it would look up scene. Um. 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.840 I'm sure the experience is great because the televisions were fantastic, 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.080 don't get me wrong about that. The quality of the 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.560 TV screens were amazing. Uh. The size, though, just was 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.560 so enormous. I don't know that I would ever get 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.320 over the fact that it was that big. UM would 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:37.639 be pushing it for me. Yeah. So, um, also, not 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.960 to be out done, Samsung announced in oh led TV 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.800 ed TV, so they're competing right with LG in that 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.200 same space. And uh, meanwhile, you had Sony coming out 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.879 with a technology they were calling Crystal l e ED, 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.479 so not O l e ED, they called it crystal 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.960 l e ED. I am not entirely clear on what 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.919 that means, not crystal clear anyway, So I don't know 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.359 what the technology behind crystal LED actually is. That's something 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.880 I have to look into. But that's kind of their 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.680 approach to this ultra high definition era. That was another 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.879 big deal, the move to ultra high definition. So you know, 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.000 we talked about ten A D being the the uh, 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.639 the cream of the crop right now. Yeah, they're talking 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.439 four K sets and there were even a couple of 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.760 prototype eight K sets on display. The trick about these 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:32.479 is that there's no one producing content for them yet. 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:35.120 That we have an article about ultra high definition. Yeah, 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.639 that was written by Jessica Toothman. Uh, one of my 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:39.720 favorite articles on the site. It is. It is a 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.200 very good article. You guys, If you have not read 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.680 how ultra high definition television works, I highly recommend it. 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:49.560 I've had industry experts tell me that that's a great article. 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:53.440 So props to Jessica from some of that. UM. But yeah, 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:55.960 the four K and eight K sets, that's they're even 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.520 higher resolution than than what we think of as HDTV 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.880 right now. But the problem is that if you went 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.000 out and bought one right now, you wouldn't have anything 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.119 you could watch on it that could run at that resolution. 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:11.520 You know, we need the rest of it. We need 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.159 the next level and Blu ray technology, We need the 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.600 next level in broadcast technology because otherwise you just you 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:20.720 just have you have a set that's capable of running 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.080 at a very high resolution. You just won't have anything 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:26.959 that can that can take advantage of it. Um. But 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:29.919 we saw some of that. That was like a fairly 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.879 big move. Another thing that was big at CES this 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:37.560 year we're apps. Apps have become a big deal. Um. 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:41.400 I was gonna stop you before we left TV for good. 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.120 One thing I didn't notice you mentioning was big hit. 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.720 Oh the big buzzword three D. Yeah, I understand it 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.400 was understated. This year, three D was still a thing. 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.879 There was still I think every press conference that I 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.919 went to the head Television has had a no, not everyone. 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:03.359 I take that back. Most of the press conferences I 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.800 went to that had a manufacturer that made televisions is 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.280 part of their main line of products, had a three 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:12.000 D portion where you had to put on glasses and 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.280 watch lgs. Big deal was that they were really pushing 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:20.320 passive glasses technology as opposed to active glasses. Active glasses, 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:22.919 of course, have a shutter in them that goes on 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.600 and off in time with the refresh rate of the television, 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:30.000 so that each eye seems just sees just one set 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.120 of images, and the two sets together combine in your 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.960 brain to create this three dimensional environment. But they those 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.360 are powered glasses. You have to you have to have 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:41.080 some sort of power source to keep them going, so 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:42.760 that means you have to keep recharging them. They're also 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.080 a little bulkier than passive glasses. Passive glasses just use 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:49.760 polarized light and they only allow one kind of polarized 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.439 light through, so that you know, each eye gets again 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.080 one set of images, but both sets of images are 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.520 being displayed at the same time on your television. They're 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:03.000 not alternating like active glasses. And then's like the active 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:08.320