LIVEdigitally

Tag Archives: consumer electronics show

Expectations and Thoughts for CES 2013

Posted on by

I love the smell of CES in the morning.  Seriously, I *love* CES (here’s my walkthrough the show last year with Robert Scoble – be warned – its 45 minutes long), though I’d love to see them move it back in the year a few weeks.  CES is like SXSW, except people actually get some work done in addition to all the partying.  I love the vaporware demos sandwiched in between the unnecessarily huge screens and the neon. Lots and lots of neon.  LOVE IT – and no, this isn’t a long, drawn out sarcastic rant.  But I’m taking a break from my annual “CES Tips” lists, as there’s nothing substantive to add.  Instead, here’s some thoughts on what I’m expecting next week:

Nothing Revolutionary
That might sound weird, but I’m just not expecting any “big new thing” at this year’s show, instead lots of “mostly better things than last year”.  Bigger screens.  Thinner screens.  Lighter phones.  Longer batteries.  The major keynotes are from Qualcomm, Panasonic, Verizon, and Samsung – not one of these companies has a history of revolutionizing the show.

But yet, lots of cool updates
While nothing should blow us away, I’m expecting tons of improvements to other products.  More smart TVs with more smarterness to them.   Lots of UltraHD/4K TVs (sigh). More well-done AirPlay integrated devices.  It’ll be fun.

Especially OLED
Coolest thing at CES 2012 were the 4MM thick OLED TVs that didn’t ship in 2012, despite promises they would.  Coolest thing at CES 2013 will be the 4MM OLED TVs that might actually ship in 2013.

Meme Prediction: Complaints about the lack of stuff
If there’s one thing that follows the theme of “nothing revolutionary” its listening to everyone, their mother, and their mother’s facebook friends complain about nothing being new at the show. You shouldn’t be expecting something big, and whining about how you could’ve stayed home is just annoying.

Potential sleepers: Verizon & Qualcomm
Interestingly, both have keynotes, and both have large booths (and near each other).  If I had to put money on “doing something unexpectedly big” I’d place on either, or both of these companies.

What I’d love to see, but don’t expect
Flexible displays.  I’ll go so far as saying there’ll be *nothing* exciting in consumer electronics and mobile devices between now and when the first generation of devices with flexible/bendable displays arrive.  So I’ve got a secret hope that even prototype stuff will emerge from someone’s labs at this year’s show.

What I’m already bored of: More Tablets
I still haven’t seen a single product from a single company that defines a “tablet market” and I’m not expecting that to change at CES.  But, I am expecting loads of cheap tablets that might do well overseas, which is all fine and good.  Yawn.

I’m Betting On: Smarterer TVs
Every single TV company will announce new Smart TVs.  And every one of them will continue to make TVs that are harder to use than they were before.  Bummer.

Who Will Be Missing?
Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple – the four companies that would make the show dramatically more interesting.

That’s about all I can think of.  Shame is I’ve got so many other commitments at the show this year I have no idea if I’ll even get to walk the floor.  C’est La CES, C’est La Vie!

CES Tips: CES 2012 Edition

Posted on by

One of my favorite CES moments. I'm 1/4 of the way to winning an EGOT!

Over a dozen CESes later (is that how you pluralize CES?), my tips for attending CES have shifted a bit, but not too much.  But for a personal first, my tips aren’t changing at all since 2011’s CES Tips list.  So, here’s that list, copied and pasted for your convenience.

  1. Wear Comfy Shoes!
    Of all the feedback I get on these lists, this is the one people appreciate the most.  CES isn’t supersized like it was back in ’08, but it’s still big, and tired feet equals sore back equals unhappy attendee.  Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
  2. Stay Clean
    I’m not a purel fan in general, but for a show like CES with over a hundred thousand people visiting from every continent, you are guaranteed to bump into someone who has exposure to some bizarre strain of something that’s going to make your next few days pretty miserable.  Keep your hands clean, wash before every meal and snack, and you’ll at least up your odds of avoiding the CES Flu next week.  Good luck.
  3. Pack Light
    My recommendation is to walk the floor with either nothing or a near-empty backpack. Forget shoulder straps, you’ll be aching by the end of the day. Bring nothing you do not need during the day. Also, try to dump your bag prior to dinner, so you can spend the night on the town without having to remember anything later. What happens in Vegas…
  4. Be Nice to the Staff
    Booth workers have likely sacrificed their entire holiday season to prep for CES.  They have to answer a thousand questions or so an hour.  Their demos are probably going to go awry as they are probably dealing with brand new gadgetry that doesn’t really work so great.  Treat them nice – don’t pester them as if they are tech support – they aren’t.  Don’t ask them hour-long questions on some weird technology nuance.  Don’t badger.  And don’t suck up all their time considering there are folks standing right behind you with questions to ask too.  Just be nice, they could use a little break from time to time.
  5. Plan Everything
    Figure out which booths in which halls you are going to prior to getting there.  Figure out where your dinner is, and book enough time to get a taxi.  Figure out where to get your badge before going there.  Figure out where your parties are, and plan that properly.  ”Winging it” utterly sucks when it comes to CES and Las Vegas.   Traveling between any two destinations could easily take an hour, even as early as 8am. If you try to leave the show, go to a hotel, then come back, your day is done.
  6. Skip the Swag
    Do you really want a Panasonic pen, or a Sony plastic bag, or a brochure from TiVo? Really? My wife has actually forbidden me from bringing home anything, period. Also, for those of you into conservation (which should be, you know, everyone), no better way to send a message than to leave Vizo with an extra truckfull of mints (note that for the 2012 edition I changed Samsung to Vizio, just for funsies – yet I kept the same gag in from 2011 #lazy).
  7. Stay Hydrated
    If you carry only one thing (a simple backpack, remember?  no?  back to #3 for you!), it should be a bottle of water.  Also, since your hotel room will be quite dry, leave the bathtub 1/4 full of water overnight, you’ll feel better in the morning.
  8. Get Connected
    Since about 80% of everyone at CES will be using an iPhone, odds are y’all won’t have much of a signal.  Further, wifi is going to be spotty at best.  I recommend relying on texting as your go-to method of staying in touch with folks.  Either that or grab a MiFi for the week.
  9. Share Cabs!
    When you get to your hotel taxi line in the morning, and it’s huge, here’s a simple trick to save yourself 30 minutes per day(or more).  Walk to the front, ask if anyone’s going to the convention center, if they say yes, offer to pay for their cab.  You aren’t actually “cutting” in line, because the person who was 2nd in line remains 2nd in line and you have no impact on their wait.  Easy one, eh?  By the way, you should be sure to tip a little extra when you do this, since you’ve taken away a full fare.  Plus, sharing is caring (I don’t know how that fits in here, but it sounds so nice to say).  Oh, and don’t forget – you can’t hail a taxi in Las Vegas, so grab them at hotels, restaurants, or the LVCC.
  10. Layer Up
    Vegas is in the middle of a big desert, and while it may be warm during the day, the nights are very cold in January.  Bring a jacket or a sweater when you go out.  But don’t forget to leave your CES badge in your hotel room before you leave for the night!
  11. Bring Business Cards
    I would say roughly 97% of the people that I’ve met at CES over the years who don’t have cards regret not having them. Maybe it seems cool now not to carry them. Maybe you think they are so 1990s. The truth is, there’s almost no reason not to carry cards, and even looking at it from a potential loss vs potential gain perspective says: carry the darn things! And Moo cards don’t count, people.  Updated for 2009201020112012:  Still true.
  12. Follow Live Online
    Engadget puts up a post every 3.8 seconds during CES (this is not a fact, I am just guessing – it’s probably more frequent than that). Make sure you tap into theirs (or Gizmodos or your own favorite gadget blog) during the course of the show.  If you are AT the show, you might find out about something cool to see; if you are stuck in your office, it’ll be kinda like being there, except you are stuck in your office and they’re in Vegas. Loser.

Oh, and if you missed it, here’s a video of myself and Robert Scoble talking about whats in store this year.  Have fun at the show!

Talking Future of TV & CES 2012 With Robert Scoble

Posted on by

I first met Robert back in my Slingbox days, and now we get together a few times a year to chat tech in general, kid stuff, but especially gadgetry. He sat down with myself and Maksim (the CEO of Dijit) this past summer, and a couple of weeks ago I went to see him and his new digs at Rackspace HQ. Here’s the video:

A quick summary of what we discussed:

  • CES 2012
  • Gadgets
  • Future of TV
  • Social TV
  • CES 2011
  • Kids
  • Tech
  • Facebook
  • CES 2010
  • Gadgets
  • TV
  • Dijit’s iPad app
  • CES (all others)

And for a fun flashback, here’s the video from our chat right before CES 2009:

good times, Robert, thanks!

CES Tips For 2011

Posted on by

This is my fifth consecutive year of posting Tips for Surviving CES (note – nobody typically dies at the show, so the whole “survival” thing is a bit tongue-in-cheek, though the CES Flu is a pretty much guaranteed thing), you can find prior editions for 2007 (and part 2), 2008, 2009, and 2010.  If I go to the show (game-time decision due to recently expanded family) it’ll be my 11th consecutive time attending (there’s a picture of me winning best of CES in 2004 – gosh I look young!).  Much like the past few years, little has changed, so here’s the minorly edited version…

  1. Wear Comfy Shoes!
    Of all the feedback I get on these lists, this is the one people appreciate the most.  CES isn’t supersized like it was back in ’08, but it’s still big, and tired feet equals sore back equals unhappy attendee.  Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
  2. Stay Clean
    I’m not a purel fan in general, but for a show like CES with over a hundred thousand people visiting from every continent, you are guaranteed to bump into someone who has exposure to some bizarre strain of something that’s going to make your next few days pretty miserable.  Keep your hands clean, wash before every meal and snack, and you’ll at least up your odds of avoiding the CES Flu next week.  Good luck.
  3. Pack Light
     My recommendation is to walk the floor with either nothing or a near-empty backpack. Forget shoulder straps, you’ll be aching by the end of the day. Bring nothing you do not need during the day. Also, try to dump your bag prior to dinner, so you can spend the night on the town without having to remember anything later. What happens in Vegas…
  4. Be Nice to the Staff
     Booth workers have likely sacrificed their entire holiday season to prep for CES.  They have to answer a thousand questions or so an hour.  Their demos are probably going to go awry as they are probably dealing with brand new gadgetry that doesn’t really work so great.  Treat them nice – don’t pester them as if they are tech support – they aren’t.  Don’t ask them hour-long questions on some weird technology nuance.  Don’t badger.  And don’t suck up all their time considering there are folks standing right behind you with questions to ask too.  Just be nice, they could use a little break from time to time.
  5. Plan Everything
     Figure out which booths in which halls you are going to prior to getting there.  Figure out where your dinner is, and book enough time to get a taxi.  Figure out where to get your badge before going there.  Figure out where your parties are, and plan that properly.  “Winging it” utterly sucks when it comes to CES and Las Vegas.   Traveling between any two destinations could easily take an hour, even as early as 8am. If you try to leave the show, go to a hotel, then come back, your day is done.
  6. Skip the Swag
     Do you really want a Panasonic pen, or a Sony plastic bag, or a brochure from TiVo? Really? My wife has actually forbidden me from bringing home anything, period. Also, for those of you into conservation (which should be, you know, everyone), no better way to send a message than to leave Samsung with an extra truckfull of mints (note that for the 2011 edition I changed LG to Samsung, just for funsies).
  7. Stay Hydrated
     If you carry only one thing (a simple backpack, remember?  no?  back to #3 for you!), it should be a bottle of water.  Also, since your hotel room will be quite dry, leave the bathtub 1/4 full of water overnight, you’ll feel better in the morning.
  8. Get Connected
    Since about 80% of everyone at CES will be using an iPhone, odds are y’all won’t have much of a signal.  Further, wifi is going to be spotty at best.  I recommend relying on texting as your go-to method of staying in touch with folks.  Either that or grab a MiFi for the week.
  9. Share Cabs!
    When you get to your hotel taxi line in the morning, and it’s huge, here’s a simple trick to save yourself 30 minutes per day(or more).  Walk to the front, ask if anyone’s going to the convention center, if they say yes, offer to pay for their cab.  You aren’t actually “cutting” in line, because the person who was 2nd in line remains 2nd in line and you have no impact on their wait.  Easy one, eh?  By the way, you should be sure to tip a little extra when you do this, since you’ve taken away a full fare.  Plus, sharing is caring (I don’t know how that fits in here, but it sounds so nice to say).  Oh, and don’t forget – you can’t hail a taxi in Las Vegas, so grab them at hotels, restaurants, or the LVCC.
  10. Layer Up
    Vegas is in the middle of a big desert, and while it may be warm during the day, the nights are very cold in January.  Bring a jacket or a sweater when you go out.  But don’t forget to leave your CES badge in your hotel room before you leave for the night!
  11. Bring Business Cards
    I would say roughly 97% of the people that I’ve met at CES over the years who don’t have cards regret not having them. Maybe it seems cool now not to carry them. Maybe you think they are so 1990s. The truth is, there’s almost no reason not to carry cards, and even looking at it from a potential loss vs potential gain perspective says: carry the darn things! And Moo cards don’t count, people.  Updated for 200920102011:  Still true.
  12. Follow Live Online
    Engadget puts up a post every 3.8 seconds during CES (this is not a fact, I am just guessing – it’s probably more frequent than that). Make sure you tap into theirs (or Gizmodos or your own favorite gadget blog) during the course of the show.  If you are AT the show, you might find out about something cool to see; if you are stuck in your office, it’ll be kinda like being there, except you are stuck in your office and they’re in Vegas. Loser.

And there you have it, the elusive Top-12 list in action.  Hope it helps, hope you have fun, hope I can be there myself (can’t break the Ironman streak!!!).

The Goofy Side of CES 2010

Posted on by

What would the Consumer Electronics Show be if it didn’t have it’s fair share of weird, wacky, zany, and otherwise silly technology proudly on display?  It’s easy enough to catch the 3D displays, the ultra-slim TVs, and other hot new stuff. But seeking out the “take a picture of yourself and print a custom press-on nail kiosk” take a lot more effort.  Here were some of my favorite fun things at the show:

DIY Personalized Press-On Nails
Thanks to the digital camera and modern inkjet technology, the trappings of instant print-your-own-anything are here to wonder and delight. Custom shirts, hats, mugs, skateboards and stickers have been all the rage of late. But that era is now past, thanks to the make your own press-on nail system. It’s funny, but in reality, someone’s going to make a killing setting these things up in malls across the country.
Personalized nails

The Changhong Panda
Not sure why the panda was there, what the company was doing, or really anything other than there was in fact a six foot tall panda. And his new friend Adam.
Adam and a panda

The Sony Bloggie
This camera hits home with the “we’re gonna try to appeal to them bloggerators” marketing pitch. Yup, from the company that basically invented portable music, numerous industry standard playback formats, the plasma display, and more. Next year they’ll ship the twittie, a micro-camera.
the Sony bloggie HD Camera

The “real” headphone
If you think your ears are the only part of your body that can hear noise, well, ok actually you are correct in that regards. However, if you think hearing noise is just about the external part of your ear, well that’s where you’re wrong. Turns out your entire head can absorb sound, it’s a concept called bone conduction, and it’s actually been around for a while. But nobody’s quite mastered the art of the demo and pitch like these guys:
Headphones, literally.
Do you still use earphone?
Do you still use ear?

Programmable Color Keyboards
Let’s face it, keyboards are boring. Every other accessory, from mice to USB drives, come in hundreds of flavors and varieties. But thankfully the wait is over, you too can have a customized keyboard. American Flag pattern? Got it. Rainbow? Check. Jersey Shore theme? Sigh, it’s inevitable.
Programmable Color Keyboard

The 4th-gen iPhone?
Could this be it?
Is this the next-gen iPhone?
(no – it’s just a 3/4 size knock-off by some random Asian manufacturer. it might turn on, probably can make a phone call or two, but there’s definitely no app store)

Automatic Bottle Opener
Just think of all the wine bottles you open over the year. If you are American, it’s a grand total of about 6 bottles per year (as opposed to your French cousin, who is closer to 40). Assuming you exert about 12 calories per bottle opened, just think of all the muscle energy you’d save if only you had a gadget to perform this laborious recurring chore for you. Ta da:
Automatic Bottle Opener

Space Station Styled iMac Workstation
In all fairness this isn’t really as goofy as anything else on the list, in the right kind of office this could actually look pretty interesting. Not *my* office, but…
iMac workstation

The Nickelodeon Oxygen Bar, Massage Center, and Nap Station
Why wouldn’t Nickelodeon, a popular children’s TV network be at the Consumer Electronics Show? And why wouldn’t there be an Oxygen Bar in the middle of a booth? And why wouldn’t there be a place for people to just chill and, well, fall asleep? And while we’re at it, why wouldn’t we think of the same network that brings us shows with insanely loud music and bright colors to “inspire” our children as the same place to deliver us such a restful location? Convergence.
Nickelodeon relaxation zone

SpeakerShoes
This is clearly the first generation of products from CONTROL, as a prototype for next year’s edition which’ll have the phone inside. I think I can summarize by saying “missed it by that much”.
Shoe Speakers (sorry, no phone inside)

Forget 3DTV, CES was all about E-Cigarettes
I am not exaggerating nor incorrect when I state there were more demonstrations of “e-cigarette” products than there were 3DTV products. Why? Because every third or fourth Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and other manufacturing representatives were showcasing them in their booths. As I am not a smoker, I don’t get the appeal of regular cigarettes, but I am willing to wager these don’t quite replicate the experience.
E-Cigarette is good for health.

Automatic Head Massager
Unfortunately there were no demonstration units to try out. I am a big fan of all massage-related technologies (and if someone from Panasonic wants to send me that amazing $6000 massage chair, I will happily accept it as a permanent featured addition to the man-cave). Not sure how the head massage feels, but I think you can slip it an extra $20 for a happy ending.
Automatic Head Massager

And for the perfect combo…
Head Massager WITH e-Cigarette

That’s it for my CES wrap-ups, coming in the next few days will be some thoughts and analysis on the trends and themes for gadgets in 2010.  If you aren’t satiated yet, here’s Engadget’s “CrapGadget” post, oddballs from CNET, and a huge list of lists of lists of CES stuff from Robert Scoble. Thanks for reading!

What I Saw at CES 2010

Posted on by

To be clear up front, this is neither a “Best of” nor a “What’s Hot” type of list.  It’s literally the stuff I saw.  Further, I purposefully avoided the most popular stuff, which you can read more about here, here and here (though they somehow missed the whole 3DTV meme, which was fairly unmissable).  I unfortunately only have a few of the videos I made, as the quality was so poor, but I did get a handful of only semi-grainy Droid-cam pix.  So here are some of the things I saw, in chronological order:

Skullcandy
Saw new headphones designed by DJs for DJs.  New models at CES have the “Aviator” influence. I could so see Tom Cruise sporting these (pre-jumping the couch crazy Cruise that is):

Shure
My long-time favorite in-ear headphones have new updates shown at CES, coming later this year. Quick interview with them:

Optoma
I think a lot of the pico projector as concept.  Optoma now has 4 different models for you to consider:

Chat with Roku’s Brian Jaquet
Met up with my old Sling Media officemate, had a fun chat about convergence, new media vs TV, 3Dtv, etc.

3DTV & 3D Gaming
If you managed to get through any CES coverage without hearing about 3DTV, well… I just don’t think it was possible. Virtually every company I saw displaying any kind of TV was also showing some type of 3D demo. Personally, I’m highly skeptical of 3D for TV, but also very bullish for 3D gaming.  More to come on the topic in the next few days.

3D gaming will be hot

Funky Cases
The era of the black laptop briefcase is definitely at an end. I saw some very cool laptop cases, sleeves, backpacks, and more from a variety of companies. Here’s a shot of a laptop sleeve from Built that I really liked:

at Built cases

Additionally, there were just as many (maybe even more) cool iPhone accessories and cases (virtually none for Droid – more later). Here is Griffin’s custom iPhone case designed by Threadless (three great things that go together).

Threadless "CES Edition" Griffin iPhone case

I wasn’t able to find ANY Droid or Droid Eris accessories! I will blog about this shortly, but in a nutshell, there’s simply no “made for Droid” program. Not good. But I did find a nice screen protector from BodyGuardZ:

BodyGuardZ phone protection

Really, really, really, really thin TVs
There was a 7mm thick TV set from LG at CES this year (pictured below). It was just a prototype, but clearly an indicator of what we’ll see next year. A slightly under-hyped bit of CES 2010 was the prevalence of LED TVs, and while purists will complain on their picture quality, they were unquestionably sexy-thin.

Really really really thin TV

And if you didn’t believe me on my word alone, Peerless (one of the major players in flat panel mounts, and the brand I personally purchased) launched wall mounts for thin TVs:

Super-thin Peerless mount for your Super-thin TV

Cinq laptop monitor
I’ll blog more about these guys later this week (and I have a video interview to boot), but a company I’m on the advisory board of launched this week (disclosure: I’m on their advisory board). The product is called Cinq, it’s a portable lightweight laptop monitor. If you recall my blog posts on a dual-display laptop, this is probably the closest thing to it that’s actually coming to market.

Cinq laptop monitor

Cool booths
While they are ostentatious in virtually every way, there were some very cool booths at CES. And since the show is held in Vegas, which is ostentatious in virtually every way, I guess it’s hard to argue against it. Ideally it would be less brightly lit and more eco-friendly (considering there is a “sustainability” pavilion at the show – more below), but I don’t think that’s coming anytime soon. My favorite booth, in terms of design/presentation, was Samsung’s “kaleidoriffic” display:

Samsung booth - kaleidoriffic
Samsung booth - even more kaleidoriffic

E-readers/E-books
Another category I’m really not bullish about is e-readers. I think there’s a market for the Kindle, the possibility of an Apple device, and that’s about it – and I’m being generous. This is still a niche segment for those with a lot of disposable income, and I don’t see the mainstream (aka paperback) book-buying market investing heavily in a gadget that brings them more expensive (though cheaper than hardcover) anytime soon (especially not pre-rebound economy). However, should someone figure it by devising a new model for e-book purchasing, like say, subscription-based, I think there’s a shot. One of the readers that got people pretty excited this year comes from Plastic Logic:

Plastic Logic e-reader

Green(ish) Stuff
This is a tricky one. I’ve personally woven more sustainability into my day-to-day life, and still look for ways to improve. It’s clearly “buzzy” to be green, despite the tremendous amount of greenwashing going on. So when you’re in Vegas (a city in the middle of a desert) at CES (with huge displays on all the time) and there’s a sustainability movement, is it ironic or noble? Hard to tell. But I do applaud the numerous LED technologies, batteries, recycling, and other effort to help improve the overall consumer electronics industry. My highlight was probably a chat with the folks from Greenpeace, who also issued this year’s “Guide to Greener Electronics“:

Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

More to come…
I have a lot more to say about CES 2010, the hot (and not), the trends, my predictions, etc.   Will try to get one post up per day all week with the thoughts and more.


Not-So-Live at CES 2010

Posted on by

En route to Vegas, I got myself completely ready for “liveblogging” CES 2010.  My plan was to walk the show floor, find interesting stuff, and either make a quick video or take a picture and blog.  In order to achieve this goal, I had the following technologies prepped:

  • My Droid Eris.  I was fairly confident that the Verizon network would hold up well during the show, giving me 3G bandwidth when and where I’d need it.  Further, it has a 5MP camera – good enough for CES picture taking. Usefulness: 9/10.
  • Ardica jacket w/Moshi Power Pack. Stage Two is doing some consulting work with Ardica, so they gave me a jacket to use during the show in order to keep my Eris charged (since the battery while doing 3G connectivity drains ridiculously fast). Usefulness: 10/10. And as a bonus it kept me warm outside!
  • Flip minoHD. As my backup to my Droid, I had a Flip ready to make all sorts of interesting videos, just in case. Usefulness:2/10. I only made one video with the Flip, but it did work when I needed it.
  • WpToGo (Android App). Gave me near-perfect mobile access to the WordPress blog. Usefulness: 8/10
  • Ustream Broadcaster (Android App). Gave me live videostreaming directly from the phone. Usefuless: 9/10
  • TwiDroid (Android App). Gave me access to Tweet and monitor Tweets. Usefulness: 9/10

Right now you’re probably thinking “well golly jee, Jeremy, it sure sounds like you were set up as the ultimate mobile blogger. What ever could have gone wrong?”

First, while the network connectivity far outpaced my iPhone friends, it still just wasn’t good enough for really watchable mobile video. My friend “Tivoboy” sent me a note that said “live stream is cool and novel, but vid quality is poor doesn’t make for real viewing or ANY future use.”  After receiving that (4 videos later), I pretty much stopped.  Here’s a sample video:

So, now that I was reduced to still imagery and blogging, I ran into the next hurdle: I’m amazingly slow at typing on my Eris, and CES is really busy.  Every time I took a pic, I wanted to upload and write right away, but in reality I pretty much had to keep moving.  So I decided to keep the major storytelling for after I returned, and used Twitter for any “real-time” updates.  I’ll spend the rest of the week getting all the content online (depending on how much MW2 I end up playing).

Overall I thought it was a pretty decent CES.  Nothing outstanding, but then there really hasn’t been much amazing to see at CES in years anyway.  It’s the fundamental branding problem of the show.  Further, the rapidity at which content was shared by Engadget and others radically diminished the in-person wow factor.  When you already know about the various 3DTV, ultra-slim TVs, netbooks, tablets, e-readers, and everything else that’s being shown, it takes a bit away from the in-person showiness of it all.

I think this is the fundamental challenge to keep the show interesting and excited for the attendees (beyond their busy schedules full of meetings).  By Friday afternoon (day 2) when I was walking the show with Robert Scoble and Rocky, we had already seen everything we wanted to see.  This is compounded by the (and forgive the word) “lemming-ness” of the big players.  Once 3DTV was pre-established to be a hot thing, it became the only thing, and as a result, boring.  You simply can’t get excited by 5 different demos of the same technology (especially not one that many of us just aren’t excited about).

How-To: Survive CES 2010

Posted on by

I don’t think I’ve ever cut this quite so close to the wire before.  But, with 24 hours to go, here’s the updated version of my ever-evolving “how to survive CES” post. Per last year’s CES tips post, I’ll be including anything that was relevant then, again.

  1. Wear comfortable shoes. Still the #1 most useful tip in my opinion. Even if you are the guy wearing the $6500 suit (come on!), put on your Adidas or Reeboks or whatever to go with it. Few will notice, and if anyone questions, saying “yeah, I decided it’s smarter to be comfortable than look pretty at CES” probably trumps any kind of rebuttal. It’s a BIG show and you’ll end up walking a few miles every day. Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
  2. Bring Purel and some chapstick. Wash before eating, because CES is also International Germfest. Just imagine all the happy little viruses (virii?) meeting so many new friends.  Also, Vegas is in the middle of a desert, so having chapstick (and some moisturizer) helps.
  3. Skip the swag. Do you really want a Panasonic pen, or a Sony plastic bag, or a brochure from TiVo? Really? My wife has actually forbidden me from bringing home anything, period. Also, for those of you into conservation (which should be, you know, everyone), no better way to send a message than to leave LG with an extra truckfull of mints.
  4. Don’t harass booth workers. They all have jobs to do (booth babes included), and just because they are there doesn’t mean they are the right person for you to give your 30 minute lecture as to why you are unhappy with your DVD player. It’s also not fair to beat up on some marketing guy who doesn’t have a uber-techie-detail question (although if they don’t help find you the right person, well, then they’ve asked for it). Also, if you see 12 people from CNN trying to set up a video shoot, you should probably realize you’ve become a lower priority, try to grab a business card and head out rather than wait for that awkward moment…
  5. Don’t hide your badge. First, it’s just a nuisance. Second, people like me train all our booth staffers to ask people like you who you are. Third, good booth staffers will treat you the same as anyone else, although they might just filter you to the right person. If you are an important member of the press or a senior guy at a huge company, well odds are you shouldn’t be talking to the 23 year old QA person who was roped into coming to CES to help with some booth shifts. Flip side comment here: if you are working the booth and someone comes up that is a competitor, don’t be rude or glib. Treat them the same as any random booth visitor. It’s just stupid to tell them they can’t see something or take pictures, when any random schmo can do exactly that.
  6. Hydrate yourself and your hotel room: If you carry only one thing (and you should – more later), it should be a bottle of water.  Also, since your hotel room will be quite dry, leave the bathtub 1/4 full of water overnight, you’ll feel better in the morning.
  7. Plan ahead. If you have not registered for the show, you aren’t getting in (this happened to a commentor here back in 2007). If you forget your badge, you are paying a fee to get it back. Pick up your badge at one of the non-primary locations (hint: most hotels!).
  8. Don’t Travel too much. Traveling between any two destinations could easily take an hour, even as early as 8am. If you try to leave the show, go to a hotel, then come back, your day is done.
  9. Need Connections? Figure it out ahead of time. Every year it gets better, but every year it’s still bad. Internet connectivity is unreliable anywhere in the convention center. Even the press room’s Internet service went down last year. If you MUST be online for a call/meeting/briefing/WoW session, have a place in mind to do it. Get a MiFi!
  10. Use SMS to coordinate. Texting is the easiest and most reliable means of communicating across the extremely loud and busy show.
  11. Bring business cards. I would say roughly 97% of the people that I’ve met at CES over the years who don’t have cards regret not having them. Maybe it seems cool now not to carry them. Maybe you think they are so 1990s. The truth is, there’s almost no reason not to carry cards, and even looking at it from a potential loss vs potential gain perspective says: carry the darn things! And Moo cards don’t count, people.  Updated for 20092010:  Still true.
  12. Pack lightly. My recommendation is to walk the floor with either nothing or a near-empty backpack. Forget shoulder straps, you’ll be aching by the end of the day. Bring nothing you do not need during the day. Also, try to dump your bag prior to dinner, so you can spend the night on the town without having to remember anything later. What happens in Vegas…
  13. Check the live coverage. Engadget puts up a post every 3.8 seconds during CES (this is not a fact, I am just guessing). Make sure you tap into theirs (or Gizmodos or your own favorite gadget blog) during the course of the show. They might find something you hadn’t heard of before, and you might miss it otherwise.
  14. Get a chair massage. They’re all over the place, and worth it.

Yup, we’ve lost a tip this year.  But CES lost the Sands exhibit hall, so that probably makes up for it.  See ya in Vegas!

How To Fix CES in 2010

Posted on by

I agree with my friend Harry McCracken that CES 2009 was definitely smaller than past years. But I vehemently disagree with Dean Takahashi’s assesment that this is a “grim” stat.  In my opinion, the show had swelled well past the breaking point over the past few years.  This is what killed shows like Comdex and E3 (though for differing reasons of course).  Any industry dealing with excess bloat must find a way to trim its own fat or it will sooner or later get overtaken by it.  I think the smaller show, you know, with only 110,000 attendees (that was meant to be read aloud with a highly sarcastic tone and some eye-rolling) is a good thing, and I think there are a few other changes that should come with it.

In no particular order…

  • Make a limit on booth sizes. The biggest booths (and I use the term lightly) are over 20,000 square feet (Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, etc).  From some fairly reliable sources I’ve been told these companies are spending over $15,000,000 each on the show (I was told over $20MM for one of them).  This is not money well spent.  While I’m all for capitalism, if the CEA takes proactive measures to help curb these kinds of spending, they will be less likely to have these budgets questioned in future years (think about it – would you rather see a downsized Panasonic, or no Panasonic???).  Also, it’d be hard to argue that anyone is really “losing” anything by being “constrained” to a 100’x100′ booth.
  • Get rid of the Sands. As much as I’ve enjoyed demoing from the Sands over the past few years for various companies, it’s unquestionably the poorly cared for stepchild of the show.  The hours are worse, and so is the traffic.  There’s plenty of room in the LVCC for everyone, and if my predictions on a smaller ’10 show are right, a fully packed show will “feel” a lot better than trying to do a little “combover” to hide the thinner regions (trust me on that one).
  • Move the event back two weeks. I’m filing this one in the “I’m right, but it’ll never ever happen” category.  The current schedule is utterly painful for everyone involved in the show, and causes strains on personal lives for the tens of thousands of families who don’t get to enjoy December vacation times because they are prepping for this show.  Also, it always overlaps with other events, such as Macworld and the NFL playoffs.
  • Embrace Showstoppers (and Pepcom too, I guess). The CEA treats these media events as if they are parasitic, but they are not, they are symbiotic.  As a guy who has successfully brought multiple no-name companies to the forefront of the show, I can tell you even the best contacts in the world still won’t guarantee decent press coverage with all the surrounding noise.  This year alone, the 4 clients my firm brought to Showstoppers generated literally dozens of extra articles written, all of which reflect CES in a good light.  It’s a clear win-win, and even if it’s not a direct profit generator, it should be welcomed.
  • Improve the press list process. I wrote a guest post over at Technosailor trying to share my insights into “the CES pitch” from both perspectives. The process from both the pitch-or and pitch-ee is terrible.  I received hundreds of pitches, of which at least 1/2 were about products that I’d never write about, ever.  On the other hand we pitched about 400 writers, of which I’d assume no more than 1/10 (probably more like 1/20) would’ve found our clients uninteresting (which I can say with confidence based on the coverage they did receive at the show).  The problem was many of those 400 had already received so many other pitches, their “CES” filter was in high gear.  The press list needs more “rules” about how it is used, specifically to help the right stories find the right audiences.  I’d suggest that both exhibitors and press must pick specific categories to send/receive pitches, and the list be database-controlled by CEA.  If anyone is listening at all, get in touch and I can outline my thoughts in much more constructive detail.
  • Clean up your database and registration system. My fellow Canadian Saleem Khan reminded me of this one.  Even though I pre-registered with my media credentials in August (or so), somehow my email address continued to receive biweekly reminders that I needed to sign up to attend CES 2009.  Further, once I had registered, I needed another account for the MyCES portal, and I think a third account for another subsection of the site.  While the first step was clean and flawless, the entire rest was messy.
  • Prep the net. By 2010, I’d wager a strong majority of the “interesting” demonstrations will show fully connected devices.  We already saw the Yahoo TV widget system on numerous sets (my prediction: nice try, but no adoption – more some other time), and that’s just the beginning. The topic of my session during Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle was “The Convergence of CE and Social Media” and it’s all about IP-enabled consumer electronics.  Internet connectivity in booths and at the show in general was spotty.  That was okay for CES ’99, but was disappointing during ’09.  Fix it (and the WiFi) for ’10.
  • Figure out the social media integration. There were a lot of “social media folks” hanging out at the show, or more to the point, kinda near the show.  I’m not exactly sure where the integration was, but it’s weird to me that the “famous social media video wine guy” was a sought-out “internelebrity” for the show.  No offense to Mr Vee (or any other of my colleagues from the social media scene), but considering the founders of Engadget and Gizmodo were there, not to mention all the rest of us whose actual jobs sit at the intersection of the gadget world and the social media world, it seemed a bit… forced.  This should be spearheaded by CEA, and built from the CE-side up, not from the social media side down.  As a result, the grand majority of the 110,000 attendees and millions who followed the event online had no awareness of things like The Ultimate Blogger Dinner, the miscellaneous TweetUps, and other endeavours which had potential, but just poorly integrated to the show.
  • Fix up the Innovations Awards system. While the judges do a dandy job every year, there are way too many awards being handed out.  For awards to have merit, they need to be limited, it’s simple supply and demand.  Modernize and reduce the categories from 34 (yes, 34) to 20 or less.  Integrate some method of public voting and commenting (you could use uservoice.com to do it) to complement the judges (definitely don’t do away with the judges.  for reference, check out what happened to this year’s NHL All-Star voting!).  And less finalists per category – five would be plenty.
  • More Monoliths.

Well, I’m sure I’ll come up with more 15 minutes from now, but I think that’s a healthy start.  If anyone from CEA would like more details, I’ll happily provide.  I’m looking forward to next year’s show, though hopefully I won’t get sick this time.  Yes, even after all my own advice, I somehow picked up the CES Flu this year, and it was a doozy.  I guess some things don’t stay in Vegas after all.

15 Tips to Surviving CES 2009

Posted on by

JT at the LVCCI guess it’s time to call it a recurring theme, but with only 3 days left to go, it’s time for my annual “how to survive CES” post.  As per my disclaimer last year, I am copy-and-pasting anything that is still relevant (and with so little time I don’t think I have a lot of the funny in me right now).

  1. Wear comfortable shoes. It was #1 last year and is again. Even if you are the guy wearing the $6500 suit (come on!), put on your Adidas or Reeboks or whatever to go with it. Few will notice, and if anyone questions, saying “yeah, I decided it’s smarter to be comfortable than look pretty at CES” probably trumps any kind of rebuttal. It’s a BIG show and you’ll end up walking a few miles every day. Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
  2. Leave your remote control where it belongs – at home. There is absolutely zero upside to pranking booths. Don’t do it.
  3. Bring Purel and some chapstick. Wash before eating, because CES 2009 is also International Germfest 2009. Also, Vegas is in the middle of a desert, so having chapstick (and some moisturizer) will help.
  4. Go counter the traffic flow. I’m not the only one with this theory – the Sands Expo is opening at 8am on Thursday, while the Convention Center only opens at 10am.  Skip the huge taxi lines and head over to the Sands on Thursday, then save the LVCC for the rest of the show.The worst thing that can happen is you won’t get your hands on some crappy t-shirt you’ll never wear. Which brings me to
  5. Skip the swag. Do you really want a Panasonic pen, or a Sony plastic bag, or a brochure from TiVo? Really? My wife has actually forbidden me from bringing home anything, period. Also, for those of you into conservation (which should be, you know, everyone), no better way to send a message than to leave LG with an extra truckfull of mints.
  6. Don’t harass booth workers. They all have jobs to do (booth babes included), and just because they are there doesn’t mean they are the right person for you to give your 30 minute lecture as to why you are unhappy with your DVD player. It’s also not fair to beat up on some marketing guy who doesn’t have a uber-techie-detail question (although if they don’t help find you the right person, well, then they’ve asked for it). Also, if you see 12 people from CNN trying to set up a video shoot, you should probably realize you’ve become a lower priority, try to grab a business card and head out rather than wait for that awkward moment…
  7. Don’t hide your badge. First, it’s just a nuisance. Second, people like me train all our booth staffers to ask people like you who you are. Third, good booth staffers will treat you the same as anyone else, although they might just filter you to the right person. If you are an important member of the press or a senior guy at a huge company, well odds are you shouldn’t be talking to the 23 year old QA person who was roped into coming to CES to help with some booth shifts. Flip side comment here: if you are working the booth and someone comes up that is a competitor, don’t be rude or glib. Treat them the same as any random booth visitor. It’s just stupid to tell them they can’t see something or take pictures, when any random schmo can do exactly that.
  8. Hydrate yourself and your hotel room: If you carry only one thing (and you should – more later), it should be a bottle of water.  Also, since your hotel room will be quite dry, leave the bathtub 1/4 full of water overnight, you’ll feel better in the morning.
  9. Plan ahead. If you have not registered for the show, you aren’t getting in (this happened to a commentor here back in 2007). If you forget your badge, you are paying a fee to get it back. Pick up your badge at one of the non-primary locations (Sands, several hotels, Hilton, etc). Traveling between any two destinations could easily take an hour, even as early as 8am. Despite “CES is sounding light” stories, I’d rather be pleasantly surprised and adjust accordingly than be late for anything.
  10. Need Connections? Figure it out ahead of time. Every year it gets better, but every year it’s still bad. Internet connectivity is unreliable anywhere in the convention center. Even the press room’s Internet service went down last year. If you MUST be online for a call/meeting/briefing/WoW session, have a place in mind to do it.
  11. Use SMS to coordinate. Texting is the easiest and most reliable means of communicating across the extremely loud and busy show. Forget any “advanced” types of technology and go with something that works.
  12. Bring business cards. I would say roughly 97% of the people that I’ve met at CES over the years who don’t have cards regret not having them. Maybe it seems cool now not to carry them. Maybe you think they are so 1990s. The truth is, there’s almost no reason not to carry cards, and even looking at it from a potential loss vs potential gain perspective says: carry the darn things! And Moo cards don’t count, people.  Updated for 2009:  Still true.
  13. Pack lightly. My recommendation is to walk the floor with either nothing or a near-empty backpack. Forget shoulder straps, you’ll be aching by the end of the day. Bring nothing you do not need during the day. Also, try to dump your bag prior to dinner, so you can spend the night on the town without having to remember anything later. What happens in Vegas…
  14. Check the live coverage. Engadget puts up a post every 3.8 seconds during CES (this is not a fact, I am just guessing). Make sure you tap into theirs (or Gizmodos or your own favorite gadget blog) during the course of the show. They might find something you hadn’t heard of before, and you might miss it otherwise.
  15. Lower your expectations. If memory serves, the last time a company introduced something that was genuinely new and interesting at CES was Moxi, about 6 years ago (which was about the last time they were really interesting, unfortunately). The show is rarely the place where a company will launch newly innovative products, although it is a great place to see the ones that were announced in the past. Expect bigger/flashier screens, cameras, etc, but don’t expect something new and amazing.
    Expect some cool stuff. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this year will be a cooler one than expected at CES.  First, the way mainstream media is positioning it sounds like there’s only 4 companies left demoing and about 17 attendees at the show.  Sure, the count is down from last year, but so what?  The truth is we’ve seen more, and pardon the phrase, “riffraff” come to CES than ever before.  This is an industry show, not just some random tech meetup or Web conference, and major manufacturers and retailers are here for business.  I’ve received tons of interesting pitches so far, and I think we may be pleasantly surprised with CES 2009.

Lastly, for a moment of brash self-promotion… I’m working with five cool companies at CES 2009 (several of these have new stuff coming just in time for the show!), and would love for y’all to get some time to see them at the show.  They are: Boxee, Bug Labs, DeviceVM/Splashtop, TuneUp Media, and a new startup who’s actually launching a new gadget at the show. Yup, it’s going to be a very exciting CES!

And it’s not an HD Video Scuba Mask (yes, that’s a genuine product being pitched at the show)!

CES 2009 Countdown: Getting Scobleized and Some Booth Tips

Posted on by

I’m roughly shoulder-deep in CES prep now, with 5 cool clients at the show (Boxee, Bug Labs, DeviceVM/Splashtop, TuneUp Media, and a new startup launching a gadget at the show), plus ShowStoppers, and also figuring out the booths I’ll go visit.  It’s a lot of work, and I’ve been at it for quite a few years now.  My friend Robert Scoble came up to San Francisco this past week, and we had a chance to sit down and chat about CES planning and strategy.

Robert refers to me as “The Three-Time CES Champion” (blush) as I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in three different products worthy of Best of CES distinction.  All three times were utterly exhilirating, all for different reasons.  At the end of the day, I completely enjoy the entire process of demoing products at CES, and can’t wait for CES 2009!

By the way, for those of you who manage or staff booths at the show, I put some suggestions up on the Stage Two blog.  Read the full post for details, but here’s the cheat sheet:

  • Ignore the anti-hype.
  • Wear comfy shoes.
  • Bring supplies.
  • Know your audience.
  • Funnel your traffic.
  • Emphasize the team spirit.
  • Don’t mistreat competition.
  • Ignore nobody.
  • Expect to be on the record.
  • Adapt your script.
  • Engage in discussions.
  • Give no schwag.
  • Be neighborly.
  • Take and give business cards.
  • Be on time.