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I was asked specifically about 2 products that were shown at CES. Here is a quick summary of what they are and a few observations.
I like the ideal of an analog watch face. If I had a smartwarch I would probably choose an analog style display (the digital display watches usually give you a number of options for displaying the time). The large battery and added electronics make the watch rather thick and give this watch away as something more than your standard issue timepiece. There is a small text display that can show you part of the name of your contact sending you a message or calling but most information is conveyed by small icons that light up or flash on the watch face. Should I buy this smartwatch. This is the question I always want a reviewer to answer. They seldom do for several reasons. I will tell you how I would answer the question for myself , your mileage may very. I, like most people, am not sure what a smartwatch is supposed to do but I can say for me to pay $180 and give up my Casio G-Shock I want it to do more than what Cogito offers. I don’t have a million people texting or calling me so pulling my phone from my pocket each time is buzzes is not a hardship. Another reason to buy a smartwatch right now is the cool factor. Having the latest tech is fun. The simple black and white icon display just doesn’t have that wow factor. I wish the company well and it’s never too soon to start working on the next version.
Is this the future of PCs or high end gaming PCs? The mineral oil cooling is a cool idea and I suspect there will be more development in the liquid cooling area. The concept looks great, it has a “art meets technology” vibe. As far as the meat of the concept goes – being able to switch out components easily. I’m afraid the truth is, people don’t customize or even upgrade their machines very often, if ever. The people who do, have no problem swapping out some RAM or a hard drive. Since the components are non-standard they will be expensive. A universal trend in computers is that more and more components and functions are being integrated not broken out into components. PCs are mostly a commodity, Project Christine would have been far more viable 10-15 years ago as a strategy for Workstations and high end gaming rigs. But alas, with the razor thin margins and commoditization of the PC industry Project Christine will end up being a terrific exercise in industrial design and thinking outside the box, not the next generation of gaming machines. The big players will be mostly rationalizing their products, positions and strategies internally and with their customers. The second tier manufactures will be planning their adjustments to improve their chances of success in the market that is being made. Most little guys will be wondering if the show was worth their time and money. It’s a high risk/reward situation for them. Once key contact made or customer acquired could justify the whole trip but the odds are stacked against them. Consumers like us have had our interests piqued. We are starting our own rationalization process around why we need that wireless speaker system or bendy TV. The phones in our pocket aren’t quite as impressive as they one were. Perhaps it needs a SmartWatch ! I think our part 1 predictions were confirmed. This year it was about wearables and your wrist was primarily where the battle was fought. So you might as well pick out that fitness band or SmartWatch now because they are headed for the mainstream, at least that is what the manufactures believe. A few parting gadgets that are interesting in one way or another; Garmin who was extremely slow to change most of their life is having to get a move one. They like everyone else wan to be on your wrist tracking your exercise and geo-location. The have a GPS the projects it’s display on your windshield (heads up display) and a windshield mounted camera that records accidents and other ”road incidents” and there is audio. Can’t wait for movie night.
Belkin who is known for computer accessories like cables , routers and surge protectors is now offering a crock pot. Yep, a connected crock pot. It’s part of it’s connected home strategy. There is always a connected home contingent at CES most companies strike out after a year or two and move on. This is one of those areas that is s l o w l y gaining traction because people want it. It just be too expensive, hard to implement and proprietary/ That’s all that standing in the way of success!
The last product I am going to mention has, what I think is one of the coolest names going – Oculus Rift. It’s a virtual reality headset. It’s a combination of screen, sensors and software that makes you feel like you are in the environment you are looking at. I have never tried it but pretty much 100% of the stuff I have read from people who have were very impressed. It’s not new, what you see below is the second generation that just came out. They haven’t sold the first one to consumers yet but they are considered the segment leader. Say it with me, Oculus Rift.
These things are true of course but no one today would describe it that way. Something like facebook was absolutely impossible for those people to see from where they were standing. BUT if you were to go back in time and tell them about it they would have no problem believing you because they KNEW this thing called the internet was gong to change everything. Some people think that way about 3D printing. 3D printing examples and demos aren’t up to the task of communicating the potential of 3D printing and what it means to us. But the light bulb has gone off and they think something big is going to happen. There have been other technologies with devout armwavers that never panned out, but I think this is the real thing. Makerbot is perhaps the industry leader in the consumer 3D printing market. One of the things that makes them unique is they are extremely open with information and hardware/software design. They leverage their users to help with development and support of their product. They have a loyal following. At CES this year they use the Goldilocks product strategy introducing 3 models of their third generation Replicator. They have come a long way from the 1st generation mad of wood that you put together yourself. They also have a scanner that lets you copy an object with your 3D printer.
Of course Makerbot has plenty of competition. In the early phase of a technology the rate of change is extreme. Makerbot’s competitors will make printers and scanners that will be cheaper, faster, bigger . . . you get the idea, than the Makerbot offering but Makerbot has an ace up it’s sleeve that will give it a major advantage. Everyone who buys a printer, no matter the brand wants to print something – now. I can hear some of you now, “well duhhhhh” It is complicated and time consuming to create your own model from scratch and most consumers won’t have a scanner when they buy their first printer. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a web site that had tons of things your could print ready to go. Some would be free and some might cost a buck. Sounds like your app store right?? And of course it’s also a community with people asking question, bragging about the mods and upgrades and just supplying a lot of good information in general. Well you are in luck, there is THINGIVERSE.COM. Want to make a chess set? Get the models to print at thingiverse and the models don’t just work with Makerbot’s equipment. In the future their model marketplace could be more valuable then their hardware business.
And for our fun gadget of the day, how about
ear buds that monitor your heart rate and adjust your music to match it to help keep your pace? It’s a technology demo at Intel. Pretty cool right?
Gratuitous “Tech Video”
#2 CES TV trend – curved screens Yep, your flat screen in obsolete. What you need is a curved screen. So say the TV manufacturers. Why curved? The idea is that when you are sitting in the sweet spot watching your display it will look better if the whole screen is the same distance away from you. Obviously the bigger the screen the bigger the distance difference from the middle to the edge. Of course those on the periphery are SOL as you sit in your sweetness. No problem, some of these screens are “bendable”. They will curve and flatten out as needed. Ever been to an IMAX? Did you notice that the screen was curved? Phones are also going for the curved displays but for different reasons. In this humble translator’s opinion, curved screens will be a need to have on the biggest top of the line models but will not de rigueur for the Most important thing you could learn about looking at all the new TVs at CES – they are connected Many people want to see things on their TV that they don’t have on a disk , that isn’t broadcast from a TV station. They want their stuff on the TV. For this to work, the TV has to be connected to the home network and the internet. This is not new. Most manufactures have been working on this for years. Unfortunately they all tried to position themselves at the content provider, “I will give you connectivity but use my apps, my services . . .”. TV manufactures are terrible application developers. The stuff on your computer or even you phone is 100 times better than what Sony or Panasonic will give you on their TVs. People like Roku popped up and did a far better job at giving you what you wanted on your TV. The manufactures had to change, they began offering the good services (Netflix) instead of their own home grown debacle but they still wanted to control the experience so they owned the app. Unfortunately they are still terrible app developers. Your phone’s version of Netflix might be updated and improved once a month. Your TV’s version is lucky to be updated ever in it’s life.
At CES this year a 2nd tier manufacture Hisense, announced they were selling a Roku TV. Roku would take care of what they are good at, building apps (updating them) and connecting to the most popular services and the TV manufacturer would worry about the hardware and building TVs. One TV, one remote, no boxes, all of your stuff the way you like it, that is the value proposition. Roku is taking this pitch to other manufacturers. I think there will be more than a couple that jump on board. The TV guys are figuring out that connectivity is approaching the top of the priority list and proprietary software differentiation is not the path to the promised land. Of course the old guard haven’t figured this out yet, but that’s what makes them the old guard. The exact opposite is happening with companies like Tivo. Tivo’s real value is not building boxes with hard drives in them it’s creating software that makes it easy to watch what you want when you want it. Tivo will move away from making hardware and your Tivo “box” will be in the cloud.
We talked about connected TVs, what about connected babies ? Intel is showing off a product that combines a onesie with built in sensors, a turtle transmitter and a smart coffee cup. The computer and wifi is in the turtle which can be moved from outfit to outfit. It connects to the green stripes across the front then transmits that info to a phone app or smart coffee cup. You can see the baby’s skin temperature, activity level and position with a glance at your Smartphone. Truth is stranger than fiction, this will be available next week. It will be $100 for 3 onesies, a turtle and the app. I think you are going to see these on the news shows.
, been around forever you say? Not nearly as cool as flying robots or bracelets that know when you are nodding off at your desk? Well, it depends on who you talk to. When it comes time to part with a chunk of your disposable income I’m betting you will pick a shinny new TV over a robot than can bring you crackers or a pair of glasses that recognizes your neighbor and displays their facebook page for you.
#1 CES TV trend – 4K This trend is also for camcorders, steaming services (like Netflix), computer displays and cameras. The simplest translation is 4K is high high definition instead of “regular HD” The “smart guy at the bar” definition is; ” old style tube TVs had about 200-400 (horizontal) lines of resolution, the first HD TVs had 720 lines. The “full” HD TVs today have 1080 lines. The 4K TVs have – wait for it – 4000 lines of resolution.” Think of a painting made only of dots. A 1080 dot painting is going to look better (unless you are into modern art) than a 200 dot painting. Problem is, sooner or later you are going to stop worrying about the dots and only focus on the lady in the picture and wonder why she is smiling like that. In previous years top TV trends were; bigger displays, built in apps and 3D. The first two did quite well, the third was the runt of the litter and may not survive the winter. The biggest challenge for 4K is bandwidth. Sending all those dots from your internet provider to your TV (probably wirelessly) is more than most family’s setups can handle today. I think 4K is going to make it even with it’s obstacles.
CES – Consumer Electronics Show If it runs on electricity or batteries and an individual might buy it, it’s at CES. Also, if it attaches to one of these gizmos, it too will probably be represented at the show. I know you didn’t ask for a CES news translator and it’s a fair question to take if you should even care about the overwhelming amount of information, marketing hyperbole and blatant vaporware that streams out of Las Vegas this time every year. Well maybe you shouldn’t care. Do we really need incentives to up our consumption? Some people get involved in the next great gadget or trend because their job/business depends on it. For others it’s just an interesting and dynamic topic or current event like knowing who the next hot band is or best selling author. And finally, there is a big chunk of people that for them, all this latest, greatest, shinny tech goodness is a guilty pleasure. They like to be teased about what could be, what they really need and how much better life would be with one of those gizmos. I used to be in all 3 groups , that is why I will be a good CES News Translator. A man walks into a bar and asks “hey, what’s the big thing going on at CES this year?” Your response: “It’s all about wearable technology” The other patrons nod their head in agreement Wearable technology can be glasses that have computers built in that let you search the internet with your voice, take a picture with it’s built in camera and show you your web pages on a tiny display on your glasses only you can see. This is not a new CES announcement, this is Google Glass and has been out in the world for almost a year. But because of these kind of high profile efforts, LOTS of companies want to be in wearable technology category. Other popular examples of this tech are; smartwatches that connect to your phone, have GPS and monitor your heart rate. Fitness bands (bracelets) that measure walking/running and how you sleep, calories you burn and more. There are lots of other examples of wearable technology. Companies who already have products in this market will be showing their new and improved versions. Newcomers will either be trying to best the established competitor with a spin that makes them better or going after a niche segment they feel is not being served.
OK how about something fun from CES? This is from a company that really launched the “personal drone” category a few CESs back the company is called Parrot. One of them can clime walls and roll across the ceiling – how cool is that? You control them with your phone.
Gee Wiz fact – At CES, you can’t buy the cool stuff you see. They would like to take your order but you are not walking out with the latest cool toy. Growing up we always had games at Christmas. We played all kinds of games. I use the term “game” loosely . One of my favorite was a ping pong ball gun, my dad both got one. These particular guns I tell you this as background to my never ending quest to recreate that family experience I enjoyed in my youth. Some years I am more successful than others. This year we played a few good games including an old fashion card based game, the classic living room game – RockBand and 3 games played with phones/tablets. One was a variation of charades, one was like the show “name that tune” and the third was called Spaceteam. This is the one I want to tell you about. Spaceteam is a free game that works on both Android and Apple. Everyone downloads it to their phone or tablet (we were using tablets), you can have up to 4 players. On each player’s screen are some spaceship controls and orders to manipulate the controls flash at the top of the screen. To progress to the next level all the orders need to be carried out before time is up. Simple right? Here is the The competition may not have been as primal as the ping pong gun or have the staying power of a game of RISK, but it did have intensity and laughs that on more than one occasion brought tears to my eyes to go with my convulsions. Which by the way, makes it very hard to see your nippleshield controls and set them to stun. What’s the moral of this story? Well, it’s that sometimes, just sometimes, things can be as good as you remembered and you might even be able to pass them on to somebody else. If you know who this is – Bonus points for you!
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![aew9-460[1]](http://thechristys.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/aew94601.jpg "aew9-460[1]")
Wow, since our last story there was a TON of bracelets, watches, glasses and other various wearable technology announced at the show. It’s tempting to list all the ones I think are notable but there are plenty of other people doing that, many of whom are more qualified. So, to add some value and help put some perspective around these announcements and products (i.e. translation), I offer you this little graphic. Understand this is just one man’s opinion but it can give you a frame of reference and help you come up with your own position on the subject.
![spaceteam05-200x300[1]](http://thechristys.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/spaceteam05200x3001.png "spaceteam05-200x300[1]")
![screen568x568[1]](http://thechristys.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/screen568x5681.jpg "screen568x568[1]")
