WEBVTT - The CES Story 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:11.280 Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from dot Com. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.400 Hey guys, and welcome to tech Stuff. This is Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.079 Because of the holidays, recording time is scarce around here, 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.040 so that's why I've decided to look back at another 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.599 classic tech Stuff episode. This one is from two thousand 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.840 and twelve, and it's all about the c e S experience. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.319 In just a couple of weeks, I'll be in Las 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.519 Vegas for c e S two thousand fifteen. Now, in 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.400 this classic episode, Chris Palette and I talked about the 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.360 history of the show, what it's all about, and what 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:46.040 it feels like to actually attend check it out. Today, 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.400 we're going to talk about UM the event formally known 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.600 as the Consumer Electronics Show, but I think it's it 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.320 bears throwing that name in there for people who aren't 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.640 as familiar with the acronym which the organization behind it 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:00.800 wants us to use when we talk about it, E 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.480 E es yeah and uh. And when this episode goes 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.840 live will be while I'm in Las Vegas at the 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.280 two thousand and twelve c e S. We're recording this 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.920 in December, but by the time this goes live, I 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.600 should be if I if I've counted my calendar correctly, 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.800 I should be in Vegas as you're listening to this 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.560 if you downloaded it the day it came out, right, 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.600 So if you're listening to this right now and it's 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.840 it's the second week of January, just remember Jonathan is 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.240 in Las Vegas and is exhausted and crying. Yes, and 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.520 I'm not right, although he may be still crying because 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.720 Chris does do that. But let's let's talk about Let's 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.440 talk about the the show, it's background, and then I 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.240 think we'll we'll concentrate on that in the first half 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.040 of our episode and the second half. This is one episode. 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.360 It just the first section of our episode. In the 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.480 second section of our episode, we'll talk about what the 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.960 experience is like being at c S because both both 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.080 of us have been. Yes, the fact that we we 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:07.560 were both there at the most heavily attended ce S ever. Yeah. Yeah, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.040 the the show, um, may you may actually be familiar 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.160 with it, Yeah, there are, there are a lot of people. Um, 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:18.240 the consumer, the organization behind c E s UM basically 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:20.880 is right in thinking that a lot more people know 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.639 about this show than than they used to. Yeah, it's 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.960 the consumer Electronics Association that puts on the show and 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.920 that that's an organization of around two thousand companies that 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.720 are in the consumer electronics industry. And these companies have 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.320 formed this organization for many reasons. Part of it is 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.440 the organization conducts a lot of market research to kind 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.640 of find out what consumers are interested in, what the 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:44.840 trends are going to be, so that companies can kind 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.320 of get a jump on things and start developing products 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.400 that are going to really appeal to people. You know 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.080 that there's always a challenge figuring out what people are 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.040 going to be interested in and and developing that because 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.600 you know, most of these products have development cycles that 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.320 last a couple of years. So yeah, so to be 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.720 able to identify what a trend is going to be 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:09.040 not tomorrow, but two years from tomorrow is a huge challenge. 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.119 So that's part of what the c e A does. 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.880 They also have networking opportunities. UM. I mean, obviously you've 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.200 got a lot of these really important folks in various 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.960 major companies and they all tend to know each other 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.079 through organizations like the c e A and UH. It's 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.919 also about education around things like legislation and regulation. There's 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.560 a lot of these industries do have legislation and regulation 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.680 surrounding them, so it's important for companies to be aware 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.920 of that and to know what is and isn't cricket 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.680 before they go into developing a product. Well but I 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.320 but CES is they're big, Like, that's the thing everyone 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.720 knows them for because c e S is just it's 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.640 it's the public face of the organization and it's and 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:56.880 it's become such a huge event, especially from its humble beginnings. Yes, yes, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.880 but in in essence, um, it's a trade show. UM 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:05.120 basically a big open floor with booths where companies are 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.200 showing off their products and there are people representatives from 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.760 the company, not necessarily company employees. Sometimes they're they're pr 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.080 people that they've hired to talk, hired guns who come 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.920 in and they've got fact sheets about all the different 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.279 products that they have all memorized and they're happy to 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:23.160 spout off. But if you ask them anything that's not 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.840 on the fact sheet, then they give you an email. Hey, 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.919 here take my card. Um, we'll get into into what 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.960 it's like. It's it's interesting to note, um that this 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.120 you know, we were in a gadget hungry world now 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:37.960 in the in the two thousands, when the twenty one 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.640 century uh before that, you know, it's like the nineties 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:43.720 were kind of like that. To the eighties. We had 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.280 the Walkman, we had the the debut of the compact 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.040 disc player, um, which we'll get into in a minute. Um. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.599 You know, we we we live in an electronics crazy world. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.120 But the show goes back a little before that, to 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:02.599 a time when there weren't um, you know, fifty different 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.960 things plugged into our walls in our living room, uh 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:10.039 sucking down juice. There were there were this organization and 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.560 this event dates back into the nineteen sixties. Yeah, nineteen 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.279 sixty seven in New York City. That was the first CES. 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.479 And back then electronics consisted of one radio and a 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.920 television that didn't work yet not true. No, that's that's 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.479 why that was a complete and well, the nineteen sixty 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.160 seven part was true, but the rest was a lie. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.360 I did find a flicker set of photos from uh 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.120 from early c e s s there was around in 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:44.800 nineteen sixty seven. That's amazing the photos. However, Um, it's 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.960 it's interesting, um to see people lined up at the 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:51.479 registration booth um where you can kunt them wearing yeah, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.479 wearing suits and ties, you know, because hey, you know 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.520 they were members of the press and t show, you know, 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.480 and it was a trade show, so you dressed up. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.240 Yeah it is. And none of them were were clatify 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:07.359 right right, Oh there you are, Perry. Uh. The so 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.400 that that first show, there were two hundred exhibitors at 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.120 that first show, and there were seventeen dollars five hundred 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.880 people attending this show. And we should also point out 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:22.520 that when we say people exhibitors, Yeah, if only I 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.080 could go for half a day and I'd be done. Um, 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:31.480 attendees and and uh, the attendees were all industry related. 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.039 You know. It's not open to the public. Why why 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:35.840 why would you want to go? Yes, because I mean 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:40.799 the idea, I mean I often ask myself that question. 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.160 But now the uh, the well yeah, but I mean 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:48.400 it's their variations on different TV sets and different kinds 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.080 of radio stuff that's interesting. But for the most part, 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.320 what this is for it's it's for the vendors that 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:58.440 the manufacturers to show off new products to retailers so 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.800 that retailers will go in order the devices from the 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.560 manufacturer and starts selling them through their retail stores of 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.760 a trade show. That's what they're four. That's that's the 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.000 main that's the big business that's going on at c 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.600 E S. And then you have the press as well 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.680 that covers C E S. And I think back in 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.560 nineteen sixty seven, there probably weren't any bloggers, but it 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.920 was all journalists, um so. And I'm assuming that a 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.120 lot of them probably wouldn't have been interested in this 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.720 because this isn't as interesting to the reader in nineteen 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.280 sixty seven, uh, the general reader as it would be today. Yeah. There, 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.000 you know, the there did become kind of an interesting 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:42.240 uh history at CES for new technologies to debut there, 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.360 and we'll talk about those in a little bit. But 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:46.560 when it first started, it was pretty it was it 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.560 was fairly modest, and it was not the only big 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:51.440 trade show out there either. I mean, you know, it's 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.760 one of the ones that we hear about consistently today, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.600 but it's not the only one. It was actually a 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.600 spinoff of another trade show, the Chicago Music Show back 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.720 in the day. Interesting but um uh. And then you know, 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:06.840 you skip ahead by a bout a decade unless you 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:08.320 had do you had specific things you wanted to talk 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.200 about in the early history of c e s um, No, 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.040 not necessarily. So I was thinking, like back in around 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.200 the c e A decided to try something new and 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:22.320 hold actually two trade shows per year in summer, right, 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.800 and the winter one was always in Vegas, and the 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.760 summer one for the first first couple of decades was 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:33.160 in Chicago. But then in n e A decided to 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.040 try and experiment and move the summer city to different 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.319 destinations and to kind of play that, play with that 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.319 and see how that went. Originally they were going to 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.480 go to Philadelphia in I think, and then the problem 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.080 was it was scheduled directly against uh, the E three 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.719 UM event and E three the Electronic Entertainment Expo is 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.440 another big trade show, UH. And that's so a lot 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.600 of exhibitors were kind of expressing concern about that because 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.240 they really wanted to be and and retailers too they 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:04.679 wanted to be at the other trade show as well. 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.080 They have to pick between the two. And if if 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.040 you've got one show that has two shows a year 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.240 and one that only has one show a year, well 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.640 then that's easy. You you skip the one that has two, 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.120 you can go to the other show, and then you've 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.800 got you you still have another chance to make it 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.000 to the first one. So they tried that a couple 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:26.480 of times. Uh in they decided, you know, this doesn't 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:28.360 make any sense. We're just gonna do one show a year. 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.480 It'll be that Winter Show and it's gonna be in Vegas. 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:35.679 And that's how it's been since. So, um, you want 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.160 to talk about some of the products, some of the 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.520 technologies that have debuted at c e S. Yeah, we 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:45.400 actually we actually have several um tech stuff episodes about 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.480 some of the technologies that have that we're first shown 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:54.760 off to people beyond the manufacturers at c e S. Yeah. Yeah, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.760 and um, this is this is one of those those 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.920 things about the show. Um, well, we were going to 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:02.520 talk about what it's like to go to the show, 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.480 But if you go to to any of the booths, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:09.320 I mean, you're likely to see incremental changes in a product, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.839 the next version of a technology. Yeah, we've got the 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:17.320 new camera which has a slightly faster, um you know, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.320 ability to do burst photography. Well a few years ago, 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:25.520 burst photography was new. Yeah. Yeah, So I'd say the 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.120 stuff you encounter at ce S is just a slight 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.160 evolution on technology. We've already seen but that one percent, 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.839 and and you know they're there um variations on stuff. 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.680 It'll be uh, you know, things that are slightly smaller, 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.160 you know than last year, or they come in different colors, 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.000 or like the a camera that incorporates a button so 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.520 that you can share photos on social networking sites more 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.080 more readily. Yeah, that kind of stuff. Well, the new 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:58.480 feature that's in a pre existing technology. Yeah. Or you'll 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.720 go to a or we'll go to press event and 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.200 they'll we'll find out that, um, the TVs are not 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:08.240 any particularly larger or or thinner than they were last year, 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.440 but this time they're in blue because blue was the 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.800 trendy color this year. But you will find this stuff 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.760 that is brand new, and stuff that is that was 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:21.400 previously unavailable to the public that will be including UM 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:27.199 And my first device was groundbreaking. And when I mean groundbreaking, 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.680 it's because it was large and heavy. Video cassette recorder 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.839 YEP YEP. Video cassette recorders or VCRs, debuted at c 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.920 e S was the first time anyone outside of the 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.280 the industry got a chance to get a look at 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.480 one of these and um, and for those of you 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.680 who don't remember, VCRs were a big thing. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.240 and one of your your hits now this I have 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.320 a list that came from C E S itself, The 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.280 next of which was the LaserDisc player invent four and 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.520 that was that was pretty huge. Yeah, that was. LaserDisc 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.760 players ended up being more of a niche market. There 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.960 was a like an enthusiast market that it was extremely popular. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.760 And um, I mean there's still devotees of the the 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:14.199 laser displayer out there today, but it never reached a 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.040 kind of widespread adoption. And I'm going to do that 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.200 thing that Jonathan hates it when I knew I want 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.280 to actually hold something up, especially glasses on. Do you 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.080 recognize this device that would be the first cheap digital 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.760 watch from Texas Instruments. Yes, it made its its debut 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:35.000 in the in the mid seventies. I did recognize it. Yeah, 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.520 that was If you listen to our Texas Instruments episodes 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.839 then you know. We actually talked about that about how 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.600 t I helped bring in this era of of less 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:50.520 expensive digital watches. Before that, they were all these luxury 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:55.120 items that cost hundreds of dollars. Transistors transistors, speaking of 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.080 something that has transistors in it, um, a device that 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.560 I owned in the nineteen seventies and this uh, it's 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.400 it's interesting that you brought up E three in the 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.080 mid nineties because E three is much younger. Trade show. Um, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.080 if you wanted to show off the next device, you 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.760 would have to take it to C E S because 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.320 there wasn't an E three UM when it showed up 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.760 in N seven, and that would be ATRIS VCS Video 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.640 Computer System. Other consoles also first debuted at c S, 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.120 including some that debuted after E three started. That includes 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.400 Pong that's that was that was before E three, but 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.640 any s that also debuted c S and in America, 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.679 granted had had already been out in Japan, but made 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:39.000 its American debut in uh A Winter c S show. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:44.640 And then um also the Xbox Yeah. UM. Traditionally, there 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.040 are several keynote speeches that take place at C E S. 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.960 It's not all just out there on the trade show 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.600 floor where you're looking at booths. They also have sessions 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.760 that they hold where they talk about trends and technology 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.000 and and companies will have a press of event where 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.439 they will unveil the stuff that you would be able 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:04.400 to see on the floor, but you'll get an early 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:06.360 look at what it can do before you get to 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:11.600 the floor. Well, Microsoft has had a keynote slot at 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.840 cs for years and at one of these they unveiled 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.760 the Xbox. So that was it wasn't any three thing 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.040 that was before Microsoft was big in games. Yeah, that was. 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.560 It was a huge splash for Microsoft because you know, 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.360 Microsoft had been involved in games on the computer side, 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.200 but not so much on the console side. So this 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.800 was definitely a pretty big move and it turned out 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.600 to be a really successful one, which, you know, it's 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.480 nice to be able to say that about Microsoft. Yeah, 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.880 you're right. I didn't mean to say that they weren't 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.800 because they had done They had been releasing games for years, 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.520 not on the scale that the Xbox, right, it was 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.120 all it was all computer based, like Microsoft Light simulator 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.720 type stuff. You know. The other other technologies that debuted, 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.040 it's yes, Um, well you're talking about laser discs and VCRs. 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.120 Let's stay on that topic. There was a big year 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.640 because that was when the cam quarter and Compact Disc 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:13.080 Player was shown off c d S and then DVDs 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.760 also debuted at c e S and as did um 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.440 Blu Ray. Yes, it also debuted at CES yeah. Oh, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:26.200 and don't forget that earth shattering announcement from Sony the 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:31.480 mini disc. Yeah. Very popular in other parts of the world, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:34.760 not so much in the United States. Um you know, 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.280 hi hi d F TV here in the United States, 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.280 Um you know, plasma TVs, um, you know, all kinds 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.160 of stuff, and of course three d H D t 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.240 V in the in the two thousand nine Yeah. Yeah, 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.360 So let's talk a little bit about Um. Well, first 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.680 of all, let's talk about two thousand. Uh. I've got 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.200 one event in two thousand five. This was before we went, 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.000 but in two thousand five, we have to talk about 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.240 all the the embarrassing moment for Bill Gates. Yeah, that 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.200 that you know what, and doing the research for this, 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.720 I wanted to look for products and things that made 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.720 their debut, and that one was mentioned in several and 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.440 it kind of kind of feel terrible about it. You 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.520 know that so many people remember it. Sometimes stuff doesn't 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.960 be that's the problem. So yeah, for that to happen 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:25.160 to the company's founder and on a keynote speech, here's 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.240 here's what happened, because you know, we're dancing around it. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.640 So Bill Gates is up on stage and he is 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:35.760 uh uh He's demonstrating a Windows Media Center to a 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.480 crowd at c e S and as he's demonstrating it, 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.040 the system crashes and he gets the blue screen of death. 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.840 So imagine being the CEO of a company. You're showing 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.240 off your latest product on on a device that has 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.040 had its share of jokes directed at it for its 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.000 the you know, the fact that it does tend to crash, 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:58.800 and that the when it does crash, you get this 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:03.160 blue screen. For that to happen in public on the stage, 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.639 that had to have been a little, uh, you know, 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.080 a little bit embarrassing, and the press had a pretty 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.160 good time with it, and it still does. So anytime 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.200 you see like a wrap up of big moments and 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.240 c e S like Chris was saying, it tends to 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:19.680 be included. Um, Um and I have one more big moment, 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.320 uh in a similar vein that I think can can 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.359 easily launch us into the second half of our podcast 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:27.960 where we talk about what it's like to be at 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.080 the show. Um, Jonathan and I. The only time that 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.119 Jonathan and I attended c e S together was in 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:39.200 two thousand eight. Yes, and there was another Um. I 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.040 hate to use the term epic fail but this is 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:46.399 this was painful and in its obviousness, Um, I know 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:47.879 what you're going for, but I want to hear it. 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.280 We had an opportunity to be on the show floor 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:54.119 early because we were members of the media, so we 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.240 got a chance to kind of see. Now, most of 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.800 the booths were kind of wrapped off so that you 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.119 couldn't see it. But um, if you look at some 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.359 of those old photo sets of old c e s s, 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.480 the boosts were very bland. It would be a white 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.119 booth with the name of the company written on it. Well, okay, 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.280 it was black and white, so it looks like a 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.440 white booth with a name in the company, very very 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:17.040 sober in comparison with today's where they have elaborate displays 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:23.040 with speakers and all kinds of brilliant marketing materials. They 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.960 might even overlays of stuff so that the cubicle doesn't 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.320 look like so that the cube doesn't look like a cube, 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.440 it looks like something else. Sure, sure, yeah, And in 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.399 some cases, um, you know, you can't really see in 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.240 it before they've started the show, and in some cases 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.840 they can't hide what's going on. So we're walking around 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.119 the show floor and getting an idea of what what 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.360 we're going to get an opportunity to see the next day. 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.479 And on on one side we see Sony's enormous pirate 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.359 ship of the Blu Ray display. Yeah. So yeah, they 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:59.520 actually had a this this UH set essentially and it 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:02.320 was of pirates of the Caribbean. Uh. And they had 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.720 this big pirate ship type set in the middle of 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.000 their booths. Now, now, some of these booths are small, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.040 like some of them, some of them are only as 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.640 slightly larger than what you would find an office cubicle. Yeah, 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:16.160 I mean their marketing. Marketing dollars don't grow on trees 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.120 for some companies because they are paying for square footage 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.960 at this event and other other ones especially you know 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:27.120 of course from the big companies are enormous, enormous booths Panasonic. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.600 So this is taking place. Most of these booths are 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.640 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which has I think 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.200 three and a half million square feet of space. Yes, 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:40.600 and and and c e s these days. It's not 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:47.400 just one building, No, it's in many other floors. Um. 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:49.680 But anyway, you were saying, so the Blue Ray, the 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:53.240 Blue Ray presence is there, and it was obvious and 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.720 then a couple rows over. It wasn't even that far. 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:57.920 It was on the same show floor. It was was 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.760 the and this is again one of our very first 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.440 podcasts that we did back when we were five minutes long. 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.800 HD DVD versus Blu Ray. Right, h D DVD was 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:11.720 supposed to be at CS and the week before c 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.480 E S there was a big stink because Warner Brothers 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.879 announced that it was going to be exclusively Blu Ray 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:19.520 from that moment on. And that was one of the 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:24.280 few big movie studios that had still been backing h 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.280 D DVD at that point. H D DVD they which 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.119 was from Toshiba, right had the Toshiba had decided to 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.240 pull the h D DVD presence from c e S 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:41.960 rather than have to endure a week long uh onslaught 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.000 of questions about what are you going to do now? Yeah, yeah, 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.840 and that was that was the thing they were. Um, 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:50.960 there were rumors that there was something going to happen 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:56.200 with h D DVD. UH, I guess in the weeks prior, 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.400 and then it happened right before they had the set 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:05.960 in place on the show floor and it essentially never opened. UM, 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.840 and we didn't know. We got the announcement while we 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.840 were there, um that they were they were going to 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:13.560 do it, and then as we were there they said, yeah, 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.199 we're done. Yeah, So that was pretty much the end 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.080 of h D DVD. I had that down too. Yeah. 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.400 That also was two thousand eight was a big year 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.639 for UH for cs There were a hundred and forty 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:31.360 one thousand attendees, so up from that seventeen five hundred previously, 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:36.640 just just a few more. Now. I actually wrote down 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.840 the a couple of just little facts about every year 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.320 from two thousand eight to because we were you know, 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.920 I attended all of those, So just a couple of 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.159 little notes. So you covered h D DVD, which was 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:50.639 one of the notes I had for two thousand and eight. 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.440 The number of attendees was another. And also I have 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.480 what c net picked out as the best of CSA 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:01.960 because c is the official streaming partner of c E 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.080 S or was in for those years, and so c 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:09.560 net always holds an awards um ceremony where what they 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:11.960 do is their editors go and hit the floor and 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:13.960 they all look at all the different tech out there, 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:16.200 and then they get together and they decide what is 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.280 the what is the best thing on the floor, and 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:22.360