WEBVTT - The CES 2011 Roundup 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.560 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello, and 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:22.600 welcome to text Stuff. This is Jonathan Strickland, senior writer 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:24.919 for how stuff works dot Com. Now, normally you'd be 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.840 hearing Chris Pallette's voice during this intro, but we're having 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.520 a bit of a snow event in Atlanta, the snow Snowpocalypse. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.600 We've called it Hot Atlanta. So Chris is safely at 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:42.519 home between us and he is a glacier. So instead 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.080 in the studio, I have a special treat special guest 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:51.800 co host Matt Frederick of Coolest Stuff on the Planet. Hey, guys, um, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:53.840 I'm just gonna be quiet and let Jonathan talk for 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.840 most of this podcast. If you want to say anything 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:58.560 or you want me to have an opinion on something, 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.640 if you could just e mail Jonathan as we're recording 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.680 this and then he'll get it that. He'll get that, 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:05.920 and then i'll talk right. So for those of you 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.000 who are able to send email messages back in time, 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.000 send it to tech stuff at how stuff works dot 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.640 com and we'll make sure that Matt asks the deep 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:20.240 probing questions. So what are we covering today, Well, today 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.319 we're going to talk about my recent visit to the 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:28.280 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. For you know, 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:29.800 there are a lot of people jealous of you that 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:31.800 you got to go to this. Yeah. There, I get 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:33.959 that a lot. I get every time I talk about 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.160 going to c E S. I have people right in 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:39.600 and they say, I really wish I could go. I 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:44.160 really want to go. Uh guys, Um, it's a show. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.959 I mean, it's a it's a it's an electronics show. 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.080 It's a conference in order to show the latest and 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.280 greatest technology in a way that sounds really cool, but 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.440 when you dive down into it, it quickly becomes both 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.280 overwhelming and exhausting. Yeah. At any point are you walking 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.040 around and just go, I really wish I didn't have 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.760 to be here for my job? Yeah? Actually that's I mean, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.799 I love my job, but yes, there are times when 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.720 I'm walking around the show floor and I'm thinking, you know, 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.040 if I didn't have any responsibilities, like if I didn't 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.079 have to actually go into all these different booths and 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.480 look at the next eight things that look exactly like 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.000 the last eight things. I saw, Um, then I could 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.880 just hit whatever interests me and once I was done, 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:29.520 I could go and hang out with all the cool 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.840 people and then that would be it, and I go 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.560 to parties and it would be fun. When you're covering 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.320 it as a job, it's a totally different experience. Uh 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:42.720 CS has around one point five million square feet of 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.840 floor space to cover. Yeah, it uh can And you 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.560 can tell from my voice that I'm I'm getting over 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.640 the convention crud. Yeah, I'm going to clear my throat 0:02:54.720 --> 0:03:02.000 hold on one moment. Wow do you see? So Yeah, 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.360 there's like one point five million square feet of of 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.480 area to cover, and there are hundreds of exhibitors. There 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.160 are hundreds of thousands of people there. It feels like 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.080 this year was supposedly the biggest year ever for ce S. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.240 It was definitely more heavily attended than the last two 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.720 years that I've gone. Um, it was difficult to get 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.320 around on the floor and uh yeah, it's it's exhausting. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.000 And so here's what here's what my typical day at 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.760 ce S was like. Alright, if I arrived there on 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.600 the Tuesday of the show, which is two days before 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.440 the show floor opens, the only thing really going on 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:42.680 is a preview event that night, So I landed in Vegas, 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.640 went to my hotel, which was the Sahara Hotel and casino. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.800 Yes on the monorail line is the old school rat 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:54.920 pack style casino. So you know, I got my my 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.600 little groovy attitude going early on. So I set checked in, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.400 dropped stuff off, went to the preview event. Preview event 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.280 had some pretty cool stuff and it things on the 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.400 show floor that you might miss because they're not the big, 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.800 flashy things that take take up a lot of floor 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.880 space at the CS floor if you were to walk 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.800 into one of the main show floors at the conference center, 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.919 because it takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:25.159 the Venetian Sands Expo Center UM, also the Renaissance Hotel, 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:29.000 the Hilton UH. There are several hotels that have yeah, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.760 like they have suites set aside just for all the 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.200 audio equipment, because if you want to listen to these 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.160 stereo systems, you need to go someplace that secluded from 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.280 all the other sound. You can't get down the show floor. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.240 The show floor of the sound systems you'd see are 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.680 the big car sound systems, the ones that are meant 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.760 to shake the buildings as you drive by them. So, um, yeah, 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.320 I went to this preview event, saw a cool little things. 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.640 We'll talk about some of them in a minute. Uh 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:58.120 that that really I thought were interesting uses of technology. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.400 And again this is the quirky stuff that often you 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.359 would just pass right by because you're going to the 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.839 next big TV right then. Uh. Tuesday night, I go 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.400 to bed early because I'm of course from Atlanta and 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.719 Las Vegas is on Pacific time. That's a three hour 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.200 time difference, so it's three hours earlier over there, which 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.840 means I woke up at four am, got up at 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:23.119 four um show floor or the press event didn't start 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.520 until nine am, so I took my time, made my 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.080 way over to the convention center and went to the 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.320 press day. Now press day is back to back press 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.720 conferences from some of the major manufacturers. So we're talking 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:40.279 about companies like Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Intel. These 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.840 are the big, big companies and and these events are 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.680 kind of their way of of giving you a taste 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.200 of what you're gonna find in their their booths. And 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.359 then the goal is to get you to go to 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.120 the booth to get more detailed about the products, so 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:54.799 they're going to show you the best of the best. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.760 They usually save the show stopper for the very end, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:02.080 and often they'll only give you, oh, thirty seconds of information. 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.520 Oh yeah, this year it was all about and we're 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.080 also doing a tablet. All right, we'll see you at 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.039 the Yeah, that was it. That was essentially, in fact, 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.920 specifically Sharp did that. Sharp's press event. They show all 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.479 these gorgeous TVs with their quatro system. That's the woman 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.480 has the four colors, you know. They they add yellow 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.360 to the red, green, and blue. Yes, so it's supposed 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.560 to make it more vibrant. But at the end of it, 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.279 the very end, maybe a minute was you was taken 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:41.040 to cover it, they introduced their tablet called Ghosts. Yeah, 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.240 it was darwin esque so yeah, but that was about. 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.240 All we saw was that it's the Galapa Ghosts. Okay, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.640 so we'll see you at a booth. Yeah, like wait, 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.560 what was the tagline? It's evolutionary it should be that 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.640 would be excellent. I don't know, are you working for 0:06:55.680 --> 0:07:01.799 Sharp because anyway, So, after a full day of press events, 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.719 the final one was Sony and I loved Sony's press 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.760 event because they fed me. Um, I had gone all 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.360 day without really eating anything, and they gave me lots 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:14.680 of food. Yeah, bribing with food always works. The They 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.160 also showed off the Green Hornet in three D, not 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.760 the full movie, but the preview, and then introduced Seth 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.400 Rogan and j Chow. Well there you go, yeah, who 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.360 came out wearing three D glasses And then they did 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.080 some tortured comedy. By the way, this is just a 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.600 note to all of you people who are planning press 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.240 conferences for c e s. From the press perspective, what 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.080 we want is we want to see the technology, we 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.560 want to hear the specs, and that's it. If you 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.440 doing the tortured comedy routine where you've prerecorded or pre 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.720 pre rehearsed some comedic jabs between like the CEO and 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.280 the CTO, that that just doesn't work. People. You might 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:56.080 get an uncomfortable chuckle. But for the most part of 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.960 the press, we're not supposed to react, right, We're not 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.280 supposed to applaud, we're not supposed to laugh, right. We 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.920 are supposed to observe and objectively report. So if you're 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:11.120 doing a press event, just give us the details, show it. 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.680 Lets let the technology speak for itself, and if you 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.520 made a good product, then you're gonna get a great 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.720 right up on your press event. But if you spend 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.160 time doing these corny jokes and stuff kind of the 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.880 way I do my podcast, um, you're gonna get some 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:29.280 you're gonna get some snarky comments. I reserved mine snarky 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.720 comments to aim directly at the other reporters who were 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:34.320 at the show, because they were the ones who were 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:35.880 elbowing me out of the way in order to get 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.720 to the free food. Yeah, I'm not happy about those. 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.600 So then on the third day, that's when the show 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.320 floor finally opens. This is technically day one of c 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.720 E S. I've been there three days now. Day one 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.640 of c e S started at well for the first 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.400 show day started at ten am. That's when the show 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.559 floor opened. So when I hit the Central Hall, which 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.480 is where a lot of the big companies like Sony 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.920 and Panasonic um have their booths. When you hit that 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.719 show floor, it's enormous. It's like the biggest warehouse you've 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.880 ever been in, and it's full of booths that are 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.560 just chock full of gadgets, accessories, all the computers, all 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.600 that kind of thing, and um, you are overwhelmed with 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:22.200 lights and sound and crowds and booth babes and it's 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.240 just a weird situation to be in. Um, if you're 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.760 there for fun, that I'm sure it's a blast. When 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.560 you have to go booth by booth and cover everything. 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.720 I liken it to going to a shopping mall and 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.120 it's your job to go into every store in the 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:43.240 shopping mall and write down what they sell. Yeah, after 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.600 three stores, you you just you're like this, this doesn't 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.400 even sound like fun anymore. Like I can't even imagine 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.280 fun being used to describe this, except all the stores 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.800 are beating at you and showing a little cleavage. Maybe yes, yes, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.920 they ed Hardy Booth in particular was known for that. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:00.679 I actually went by the d the booth when the 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.679 boothbabes were on break. I thought that they had decided 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.120 not to do booth babes this year, and I was thinking, Wow, 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:08.640 they're really gonna stand by their product and that's all 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.800 they're going They don't they're not going to try and 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:14.040 uh entice people in with booth babes. Turned out, I 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.640 was just there at the wrong time. Here's my opinion 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:21.079 about booth babes. Um, ladies, you are gorgeous. You all 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.040 seem to be very well briefed on the material that 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.360 you are, you have to cover for whatever booth you 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.600 work in. I appreciate that, but I have to say 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.400 I really wish that companies wouldn't use booth babes because 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.439 it tends to clog up the traffic patterns around the booths, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.840 because there are too many guys who are trying to 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.760 take photos and video of these women and they're they're 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.000 not even interested, they have no interest at all, and 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.440 whatever technology is being sold in that booth or being 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.960 being shown off in the booth, they just want to 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.360 get photo of this really cute girl in this really 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.760 skimpy outfit chatting with them. And um, I guess they 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.160 knew their audience probably, so you know, I'm not kind 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.240 of criticize because my audience is the best audience in 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:07.199 the world. But to me, that again, it feels it 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.559 feels creepy right that you're using you're essentially using sex 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.000 to entice people to come into your booth. And I 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.839 would rather see companies again stand by their products to 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:19.960 entice people to come into their boots, and a lot 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.800 of the big booths they don't use boothbabes at all 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.240 because they don't need to, you know, they stand by 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.839 their name. So companies like Microsoft, Intel, Sony, these big, 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.400 big companies, they don't have booth babes. Um you know, 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.520 to them, their technology, that's the booth babe. I've got 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.880 an image of a Microsoft to booth babe in my 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.880 head and it's very strange, and she's just holding up 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.679 a blue screen of death. Yeah, I love you Microsoft. No, 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.839 I really respect the fact. But then again, you could argue, well, 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.240 these companies don't need it because they've got the reputations. 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.240 The smaller companies that don't necessarily have that may need 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.280 an edge in order to get you into the booth. 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.640 But again, to me, it just seemed like that didn't 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.600 really old people into the booth so much as it 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.280 made them stop in the aisle, which meant that it 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:05.679 made it harder for me to get to the next 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:07.559 place to go. So let's talk about some of the 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:09.360 big themes that actually there that was sort of the 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.160 personal experience of what it's like to be there. By 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.880 the end of the day, you're exhausted. I was invited 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.280 to parties every single night. I didn't make it to 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.720 any of them, not one. No, it was too tired. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.320 I would I would get back to my room and 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.120 I would think, all right, I just need to drop 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.920 my stuff off, and then if I turn around and 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.800 walk right back out, then I can go to the party. 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:28.880 But no, I would sit down and that was game over. 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.120 The only exception to that was the second night, so 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.120 that would be Friday night. I did go out. I 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:36.680 didn't go to a party, but I went to a 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.240 gathering with some friends. So I met up with tom 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:45.120 Merritt of this weekend tech fame and I as actor 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.120 who is this old nerd? And a whole bunch of 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:53.520 other people. The g men showed up. Uh the Brian Brushwood, 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:58.559 magician extraordinaire and scam school artist. He was there. Um uh, 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:03.240 one of Wired's sexiest geeks of two thousand ten showed up. Yeah. 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.800 I can't really talk about that other than the fact 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.240 that she was there. She also accidentally brushed my knee, 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.920 So yeah, I tried to leverage that into fame. Tom 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.360 Merritt also leverages it into fame, so I don't feel 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.840 so badly about that anyway. Yeah, we all hung out 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:19.520 and we we chat and had a good time. We 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.000 really kind of talked about the show experience. That was 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.040 the only late night thing I did, and I actually 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.120 went really late. Other than that, I just had no 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.559 I had no. So it is really exhausting, guys. It's 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.160 not as much fun as you might think if you're 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.320 covering it. I mean, I guess if you're just attending 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.600 and you just hit the things you want, it's a blast. 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.040 So let's talk about some of the stuff I saw. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.440 First of all, the themes um Just like last year, 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.600 the two of the big themes were tablets and three 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.120 D TV. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing some sort 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.080 of tablet device and some sort of three D TV 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:59.880 being shown, and so uh, companies like Sony we're showing 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.720 prototype three D TVs that didn't use glasses. So it's 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.640 a lenticular displays. Yeah, that's it's a pretty neat technology. 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.559 The biggest problem with lenticular displays in my experience, is 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.720 that the the viewing angle gets divided up into several 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.719 slices of pie. Okay, I think of the TV is 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.920 the center of a pie, and then the slices extend outward. Now, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.359 if you are in the middle of one of those slices, 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.200 you've got the ideal TV viewing experience. But if you 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:31.280 straddle a slice like a line, then the two images 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:35.600 are no longer together. You're getting this blurry double image thing, 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:38.880 which is really disorienting when you're not wearing glasses and 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:40.840 give you a headache and a heartbeat if you if 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.400 you stare at it for too long. So that means 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.920 that you know, you have to position your furniture just 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:52.360 right in order to watch television without glasses. Yeah, because 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.200 if you like, if you screwed over on the couch, 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.720 you're like, oh crap, I can't see what's going on anymore. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.160 You have to scoot back. Um. But still those were 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.840 in the prototypes age, so they'll get better. Uh. The 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.680 three D with glasses was great across the board, and 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:08.960 we saw I mean I saw everything. I saw three 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.760 D with passive glasses, that's what the polarized lenses. I 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.560 saw three D with active shutter lenses, those of the 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.440 powered glasses that are synchronized with your television. I've never 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:20.800 heard of that. You have to tell me more about 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.960 that later. Well, I'll give you a quick just a 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.240 quick explanation. So active shutter glasses they have these l 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.400 c D shutters in them that that go on and 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.360 off so fast that your eye can't really track it. Okay, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:38.280 so they're they're moving, uh, in sync with the TV 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:41.880 that's showing two sets of images alternating back and forth. 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.760 So one lens only shows you one set of images, 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.360 the other lens shows you the other set of images, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.400 and they alternate, and then your brain takes the two 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.120 sets of images and combines it into a three D picture. 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:56.920 Tables and three D were two big themes. Another one 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:01.800 was internet television a again, this was another year for that, 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.120 and also this idea of being able to port your 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:09.080 experience from one platform to another. And by that I mean, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.160 let's say that you're playing an app on your smartphone 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.520 and then you move over to a tablet. Well, some 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:17.680 of these companies are offering up products where you would 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.360 be able to pick up the tablet and continue that 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.680 activity on the tablet uninterrupted from what you were doing 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.520 on the smartphone. Then let's say you're moving from the 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:31.520 tablet to a PC, same thing, or PC to your television, 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:36.120 same thing. So this idea of an ecosystem where all 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.720 your apps can exist and you can just go from 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.160 one experience to another. And it's kind of the this 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.280 idea of ubiquitous computing that we've heard about for years, 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:48.200 we're starting to see it now. Not the biggest problem 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.160 with this is that the systems developed by one company 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.800 don't necessarily work with the systems developed by another company. 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.120 So if you like your televisions from Company A, but 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.760 you like your computer or is from company B, you 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.119 may find that you can't take advantage of this ecosystem. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.000 It seems like hopefully some kind of third party system 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.280 or some kind of standardization will occur pretty soon. I 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.680 would imagine that down the road that would happen. But 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.479 you know, it's like any kind of new technology, you're 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:22.960 gonna see competing well you can't call them standards, but 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:27.639 competing approaches come out. So those were the big themes 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:32.240 that that whole connectivity, portability of your experienced internet, television, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.720 three D tablets, that kind of thing. So let's talk 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.960 about some of the stuff I actually saw while it 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.920 was there, besides the three D televisions which were everywhere 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.480 and everyone had really amazing ones. Everyone, by the way, 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.440 is the leader in three D TV everyone everyone, Yeah, 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.840 because that's how they would start their press event, like, well, 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.560 we've been leading in the three D TV space and 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.280 insert company name here has been leading in the three 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.000 D TV space. Um, so I thought of talk about 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.520 some of the quirkier stuff. For example, one of the 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:08.040 people who showed up on the show floor was Lady Gaga. Yeah, 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.639 she was there too because she she works with Polaroid. 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:17.000 She designs products for Polaroid, at least esthetic designs. And 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.480 one of the things she showed off was a pair 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.440 of glasses with a camera built in. Okay, yeah, it 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.800 would show you the picture you would take, you take 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.439 a photo and showed the picture within your lens so 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.520 you can review it. That's pretty cool. It turns you 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:36.520 into the Papa Razzi. It was either that her bad 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:40.119 romance dude, I gotta go. I mean, I belonged to 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:41.639 the house the guy guy. I don't know what I 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.960 can tell you. My wife. My wife bought some of 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:49.640 those headphones that she put out that were there the 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:54.840 triangle shape. Once those did not look comfortable to me. Okay, 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.359 all right, that's that's fair. Um but yeah, she she 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.360 showed that off. That was one of the quirk things 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:06.400 we saw. There was a smart fish Engage intelligent keyboard. 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.879 It was a keyboard that could change shape, and the 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:14.240 reason for it is to maintain ergonomics. So when you're 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.760 typing in a normal keyboard, your wrist tends to stay 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.920 still for a really long time, and even if it's 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.320 ergonomically designed, that can hurt your wrist. So the idea 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:25.960 behind this keyboards it would change shape and at little 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.840 motors in it, I would change shape so that your 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:30.760 hands would not and rists would not stay in the 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.680 same position the entire time. That didn't constantly change shape 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.240 because that would feel really weird. It's like the hula 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.720 chair of keyboards. Yes, exactly, but that was kind of 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.040 a neat idea. Uh, let's see what else were There's 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:47.159 the body Media Fit device. I love this thing. It 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:48.919 looks kind of like a watch, but you wear it 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.640 around your arm, your upper arm, and it helps you 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.919 determine how many calories you burn throughout the day. It 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:59.320 also monitors your sleep patterns. So you're wearing this all 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.280 the time, SI you take it off when you go 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.919 take a shower, and that's about it. UM and I 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.040 had an online component that would help guide you to 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.639 learn things like you know what kind of food you 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.720 should eat and how how much more exercise you need 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.040 in order to balance out your activities and lose weight. 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:22.159 According to one of the the reps, it's more effective 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.679 than just diet or exercise by yourself because it helps you. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.879 It actually guides you into what you are doing and 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.720 gives you more information. That was pretty cool, yeah, and 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:35.439 they had a really fun promo for that. One of 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.440 the guys from the company warrant and then ran around 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:41.959 Vegas doing crazy stuff like skydiving to find out how 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.800 many calories you burn when you're doing that. Source of Yeah, 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.199 that was pretty neat. Another cool thing I saw was 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:50.480 a Cornings booth. Corning is the producer of Guerrilla glass. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.280 That's the glass that is really good at at scratch 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.200 resistance and impact resistance. It's being used in a lot 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:02.680 of electronics now, so LEUS, smartphones, tablets, even TVs are 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.679 using gorilla glass to protect the electronics. And they had 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.240 a really effective demonstration where they showed how much weight 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.480 the gorilla glass could withstand and it was pretty impressive. Um. 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.359 They also talked to me about the manufacturing process, which 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:17.560 was absolutely fascinating. So I hope to do a full 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.040 episode on Gorilla Glass in the future, just because it 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.720 sounds so cool. It's it's pretty neat. Oh. One of 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.080 my favorite products, and I wrote about this in the blogs, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.640 was the Celestron Sky Prodigy telescope, and it was sort 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.679 of a new approach for amateur astronomers to really dive 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:39.520 into astronomy. So one of the things that's a challenge 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:41.679 in astronomy if you if you're brand new to it, 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:45.320 you just bought your first telescope, is you don't necessarily 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.399