CES – the dark side?

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Adam is clearly not enjoying himself as much as I am here at CES.

Aside from the digital picture frames… What you talkin’ bout Willis?!

I’m pretty unsympathetic to the silly life challenges faced by those of us who can afford a trip to CES. There are technology guys here from Kenya which is now falling into chaos after questionable elections, and Rwandan’s President who watched (and stopped as opposition forces leader) the butchery of almost an entire culture. What are they to make about concerns that CES isn’t hip or cool enough for snotty suburban tech elitists? Sure, have some wrath – but use it to tool up those without technologies rather than bash those who have too much of it.

Mary J Blige Rocks the Monster Retailer Awards at Paris Las Vegas

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You have new Picture Mail!

Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Mary J Blige was awesome last night as she performed after the Monster Retailer awards party held at the Paris Casino Ballroom. Monster wasn’t a name I thought of as a technology giant but they sure make a mark here at CES, often having the best entertainment of the conference as part of this awards show.

Wikipedia says that MJB got her start recording in a mall soundbooth. A friend shipped her recording to record folks. Some 23 Grammy nominations and 6 Grammys later Blige is one of the finest and most respected R&B performers in the world.

Cadillac Provoq debuts at CES Las Vegas 2008

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Cadillac Provoq debuts at CES Las Vegas 2008
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

The Provoq is a concept car, and will be ZERO emissions, using fuel cell technology.

GM CEO Rich Wagoner’s Keynote here at CES 2008 contained some impressive innovation in the automobile space. He showcased OnStar innovations which to GE’s credit they started developing some ten years ago. (In a case like OnStar I think people need to sort of socially evolve into acceptance of the new technology rather than pushing for adoption). OnStar moves into China this year.

He brought a Chevy VOLT hybrid on stage and noted developments in that space, and showed film of the DARPA challenge, recently won by the GM “Boss” adapted SUV Autonomous vehicle which is here, on a test track at the Convention Center. I just talked to another blogger who’d ridden in it and he said it was remarkable to be riding in a car with no driver.

One of GM’s themes in the presentation was that the automobile in some ways is now a giant computer, and that this change offers new flexibility in design and usability, especially now that GPS can be integrated into the driving experience. GPS is a technology that appears to be going completely mainstream without us even really noticing. Auto navigation, phones, cameras, and more.

As a finale Wagoner introduced the Cadilla Provoq, a new high mileage high style offering from GM.

Meraki – Mesh networking & portable solar power. Awesomely innovative.

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Meraki – Mesh networking & portable solar power. Awesomely innovative.

Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Sanjit Biswas, CEO of startup Meraki. Speaking on bringing technology to developing world.

Meraki was a real standout here at CES in terms of bringing cheap, powerful innovation to the connectivity space. They are using mesh networking to bring cheap connectivity to remote areas like a Chilean fishing village (see this mesh network real time at Meraki.com). Surprisingly they are also after some pretty big markets such as San Francisco, where even Google is conspicuously failing to bring free ad supported wireless broadband .

TechCrunch noted about a week ago:
The company expects that it will only cost a few million dollars to cover all of San Francisco, compared to the $14 to $17 million estimated for the Earthlink/Google plan. “There is a pretty drastic cost advantage,” says CEO Sanjit Biswas. “Our network will come in at the low, single-digit millions,” he predicts. Meraki will even offer residents free repeaters to amplify the WiFi signal inside their homes, and shoulder the entire cost itself rather than ask for public funds.

CES 2008 South Hall Convention Center

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CES 2008 South Hall Convention Center

Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

Several companies here have video screen glasses and I’ve tried a few of them. Not impressed so far although I did not try the total immersion gaming specs that might make some sense.

I think this technology is simply not ready for prime time. I’m not convinced we are designed to pull information in this fashion – part of the reason the glasses tend to have about a 40 degree field of view “screen” rather than full view, which can create motion sickness. None appeared to connect to internet (via smartphone seems simplest) although this would not be a big deal and we’ll see it soon. I think I’d rather watch a tiny ipod screen than wear these – but maybe it’s just me? Fashion seems to be important to the mass market, but I’m not convinced people really *want* this techology – do they?

CES 2008: Hemp Webcams!

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CES 2008: Hemp Webcams!

Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

This one got a double take from me so I thought a picture would work better than a description. Turns out the company makes high end personal webcams in designer colors like wood, steel, and … hemp?

It’s probably an oversimplification, but CES is almost divided into two camps of companies – perhaps a few hundred global players like Intel, Microsoft, GM who spend hundreds of thousands if not millions advertising and partying and working at this show and getting most of the press buzz, combined with thousands of little players from all over the world. Part of the CES appeal to those folks – who get very little media attention – is that they can meet with suppliers and buyers and presumably learn about the latest in their industry as well.

The diversity is staggering here – from concept cars to robot lawn mowers to ipod cases. From junk to the latest good stuff.

CES Coverage – Scoble Rules!

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I was wondering how the amazing Scoble was going to cover the CES hurricane of news and products and should have known it would be with a hurricane of Scoble video podcasts.    I wish I had more time to hang at the Bloghaus but there is more going on here than you can possibly even figure out.

Here’s Robert’s CNBC coverage.   

I give Scoble huge credit for having “walked the walk” about blogging for many years and helping others get involved and understand the power of the medium.    He’s also been showing companies how powerful corporate style blogging can be and it’s nice to finally see (some) of them “get it” and use blogging to elevate the quality interaction and the amount of connection to their customers and potential customers.

Here’s more from the MSNBC folks on the CES Floor

Hey!   I’m still looking for Donny Deutsch  Donny where are you?  Wait – he’s NOT on the road to CES after all.  He’s in New York! talking about CES.   Tech from New York?   Where is that exactly – isn’t that where they make Saturday Night lives and Rudy Giulianis?

CES 2008 – What?! I missed Ryan Seacrest?

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Shortly I’m off to the Wagoner – CEO of General Motors Keynote.  He’ll be talking about vehicle innovations including work on “autonomous” cars that drive themselves.   Hmm – hope they have perfected that if they bring one into the ballroom! 

Sorry to have missed the Comcast but here is SFgate’s summary of Comcast’s ideas for a *fast* future.

Gaming drives a lot of innovation

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Here at CES it seems to me two very powerful themes are technology as a *social and lifestyle experience* and technology as a *mobile experience*.     At the MMORPG gaming session it was noted that games in many ways were the first online social experience  and continue to be a powerful and dominant social force in the online world.   Dr. Lars Buttler of Trion (formerly with Electronic Arts) was very optimistic about the future of gaming, and along with others felt that current distinctions between console and PC would break down but the social nature of gaming would increase, including ways to move between multiple games.  Buttler also suggested that the European market has been underestimated in gaming.

Other key items discussed were the secondary markets, where real money is exchanged for game items, and micropayments which many on the panel felt would become a much larger part of the gaming experience.   MMORPGs like MapleStory rely on micropayments rather than subscription fees, and this appears to be a key strategic item for MMORPG makers.

Yesterday I spent time with some of the gaming innovators.   The most impressive things I saw:

Motion-enhanced driving cars created by D-Box.   These simulated the driving experience in an arcade fashion with a high powered HP gaming PC plus an elaborate car simulator and 1-3 monitors.    Very cool, but at something like $14,000 depending on configurations it’ll be out of range for many.   D-box won an innovation award for this.

A similar “virtual transport” product that also won the innovation award is the flight simulator, Dreamflyer, which at about $2800 seemed conspicuously cheaper than D-Box, which I think is partly due to D-Box’s real motion in the carriage vs Dreamflyers virtual motion on screen, though I’m not clear on the details of either product yet.   

Alienware debuted a prototype gaming / immersion monitor that won’t be available until middle of the year, but it was a simply awesome looking monitor which stretched *around* the viewers head in an arc of (i’m guessing) about 60 degrees and about 60 inches wide by 16 inches tall.   It’s like having 3 high resolution  screens stiched together in an arc.   Very impressive, and looked like a killer environment for hardcore gamers though the immersion glasses some are showing off here are more likely to get widespread use due to much lower cost.   More on the glasses later as I think that is a really provocative technology that is finally going to see some widespread adoption.