CES 2011 Summary

note: hit your back button after viewing the blue links as I don't know how to make this thing open them in a new tab for you :-(

CES 2011 was well attended. Almost too well attended. Fri and Sat felt like Times Square on New Years’ Eve! Even though there was 1.4 million square feet of show floor, there were also 140,000 attendees blocking my view of “tomorrow”. But I have 32 consecutive years of experience in navigating and elbowing, and so here’s what I saw:

3D TV. 3D TV. And more 3D TV. (boring! Imho) If 3D TV doesn’t become the biggest thing in consumer electronics (and I don’t think it will), all those exhibitors are going to look pretty silly in a few years having spent so much time and money on this dumb-looking fad.

Tablets. Tablets. Tablets. And more tablets. And a few more tablets. Remember the tablet PC that’s been out for years, were you could draw stuff with a stylus and all? Well Apple decided that we don’t want to draw, that we just want to touch and surf and stuff, as long as it’s thinner, lighter, and boots up fast. So, now that they’ve sold a lot of tablets, everyone else has a me-too version out there. Mostly all running on the Android operating system, and getting great reviews in comparison to the iPad in terms of performance, features, and price. The most popular of these are the Samsung and the Motorola. I don’t quite “get” theses tablets yet. I’m just really not sure it’s the solution to the future of computing. Casual surfing, maybe, but there’s no hard keyboard and the thing needs an easel to stand up. By the time you add those, you basically have a netbook again.

HOWEVER,--- The HOTTEST THING AT THE SHOW, may, indeed, be the future of personal computing!! It is simply a powerful smart phone, with enough speed and graphics resolution to dock at your desk, use a monitor/keyboard/mouse, and provide all of the computing performance we need on a daily basis (no video editing…yet). A dual-core, 1 Ghz processor running Android OS with 1 gig of ram and 48 gigs of memory, and it felt smoother and faster than my netbook that I’ve done all my computing on for the last year. The thing that makes this Motorola Atrix system so attractive is that they made the dock/undock process downright seamless. You can be on a phone call as you walk up to your desk, slide the phone in its dock, and the call instantly switches over to speakerphone, and the monitor displays whatever webpage or other app you were using last. THEN, as if that’s not enough, there’s a laptop-looking thing for it (which is really just a screen/keyboard/battery) that has a little dock on the back of it where you slide the phone into and you’ve replaced the need for a netbook as well! The phone by itself is easy to do most daily surfing on with a 275dpi 4"super responsive touchscreen. My favorite feature of it is the HDMI output cable you can plug into any HDTV and show all your photos and movies in HD (720p)! It comes with a remote control and the face of the phone even converts into a touchpad mouse to navigate through all the phones’ features while on the big screen. Your whole computer in your pocket (all backed up on ext. drives at home). It's what we all imagined would happen one day, but I can't believe it's here already! All your Word docs and spreadsheets with you at all times. All your music and photos and videos and web bookmarks and maps and contacts and email and texts and facebook and skype and calendar, calculator, voice recorder, camera, camcorder, barcode reader, wifi finder,…and , uhm… recipes. Imagine, all your recipes with you at all times! In HD!

I think this could be the total revolution/game-changer we’ve been dreaming of: No more Microsoft. No more big, hot, heavy computers that are always somewhere that you’re not. No more boot-up time!! Android is an open-source operating system. Google developed it when they saw the iphone becoming so big so fast that they were afraid it might become the next monopoly like Windows was for computers. And they were right. Thank goodness (and Google) Android has now become the largest OS in smartphones, and so there are just as many apps for it as there are for iphones. Competition is not just good, it is vital in a free enterprise system.

The Motorola Atrix phone (due out in a couple months) itself is a thin, big screen, every-feature smartphone that looks and acts just like an iphone but with more multi-tasking power, and no big-brother Jobs watching over you, limiting what you can do with it. I played with every app it has, including it’s Firefox browser for hours in the booth and it was so fast, I thought it was in wifi mode, but then I was told it was running on AT&T’s new "backhaul" network! -Welcome to the 21^st Century, Buck Rogers!

Roombas. Every major electronics company had their version of a robot vacuum. And they all looked just like a Roomba. This one, I understand, because these things really suck! (to use the vacuum business vernacular) We got a Roomba about a month ago, and I already can’t imagine being without it. It is really effective and hassle free. If you’re considering one before Feb 15^th, use savings code CES2011 and get 15% off, & free shipping, which nets down to $212.50.

Personal portable sound. My favorite topic. ‘Ever need a small, ultra-portable speaker system to play your tunes on, but everything you’ve tried sounds weak for how bulky it is? Get this. I mean, get this, don’t just understand this. It rocks! (promo code ces11 gets you 25% off for the next 2 weeks). Then, on the never ending quest for killer headphones I have three heart-felt endorsements: For high-end ($300), best-sounding-ever (possible orgasm-inducing), ultra-comfortable headphones consider the B&W’s P5’s. For high-end (~$240 street price) ear buds with 3 modes of active noise cancellation and a talk-thru feature (for when you want to hear someone quick without taking out your buds), check out Sennheiser’s CXC 700’s. And for mid-priced (~$70), very good ear buds with a tangle-free cord and ipod control, you’ll love Logitech’s new 500vi’s.

Still no talk about why music isn’t being sold on Blu-Ray Discs. ? A no brainer, if you ask me. The format is already there, why don’t they use it? 5 or 7.1 24 bit, HD audio at 96 kHz (or even 192 kHz). With supplemental video at 1080p. One disc concept for music and movies. Isn’t that what we’ve always wanted? It’s here. Let’s use it. Wouldn’t you re-buy some of your favorite old albums (Dark Side, etc.) if it was remastered on a heavenly sounding format, with some bonus video as well? The music industry is suffering terribly. This could totally re-vamp it. Why not try it??

There were some cool electric micro-cars there from GM/Segway/a china automaker that drove themselves. There was a Tesla Model S there. –‘Whatta car! That’s the $50,000 pure electric luxury sedan (pictured with us drooling in tent booth) that will be out next year with a 300 mile range. There was a GM VOLT there in the GE booth. That’s the plug-in hybrid that hopes to sell at over $40,000, and is a complete gas engine car, as well as a complete electric car, on the same chassis. Built by General Motors. Imagine what the incidence of repair rate that vehicle will have. And that’s the car that is supposed to save GM? ? We’re getting a Nissan Leaf, pure electric (expecting delivery any day now.- signed up for it in April!?) I wrote a little poem/rap thingy that I’m trying to memorize to recite at parties, etc.:

Pure electric cars are pure logic. Think about it.

No pistons, no valves, no oils, no salves. No gas tank, or transmission, no tail pipe, or Co2 emissions.

No radiator or hoses, no manifold, and no noises! No Gas Pump, Oil Pump, Water pump, or crankcase sump.

No air filter, oil filter, fuel filter or fuel injector. No piston Rings, spark plugs, ignition coils, or engine lugs.

No belts, no alternator, starter or regulator. No Backfiring, or dieseling, running rough, or tune ups.

No more water in the fuel tank, or rusted manifold bolts, no more broken muffler mounts, or big repair bill jolts.

No more stopping for gas, no more pain in the ass. 300 less moving parts, as dependable as a shopping cart!

Instead of going for emission tests, I think the electric car is best. Instead of 15 cents a mile for fuel that’s causing wars, it costs just 3 cents a mile for energy that can be made by the sun, or the wind, wave power, hydro power, nuclear or geothermal.

Sure, it only goes 100 miles ‘till you need to find a wall, but most days I go just 99 miles is all.

If I really need to cruise, like on over to LA, I just go visit Hertz, and rent me a Chevrolet.

‘Hope yall come around to my thinkin’, and stop spending your weekends tinkerin’, to try keep your gas car runnin’, just get an electric and start funnin’.

We need to save the planet for our kids’ kids, so let’s just start with something of ease, try a car that’s green and simple, I think you’ll find it’s a breeze!

There were other interesting things at CES 2011 including: bicycle-riding robots, 4-inch-cube PC’s, a well-thought-out cell phone panic button service, clip-on micro camcorders, cute Casio camera, fur lined sinks, and some dumb stuff too. I know I’m just a wild and crazy guy keeping track of all this silly stuff, but as Ron Popeil says: “if you can find a little device, at a reasonable price, and just set it and forget it…” And if it helps you through your daily life, or even just entertains you a bit, then it’s worth it. And the creator of the gadget feels fulfilled as well. So here’s to all the inventors, and to all the “early adopters” brave enough to step up and try these things out. May the circle never be broken (nor the gadget!)

Tea Partiers: I agree with you...

Tea Partiers: I agree with your desire to get our country back to fiscal responsibility. I understand that you feel that even our recent small amount of health care reform will add to the problem. But I don’t know why you are so extremely mad about it, and that it is all you can talk (or yell) about? You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President? You didn't get mad when, using a lie about WMD’s, Cheney illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us, for access to oil. Or when we spent over $800 billion doing it, and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined, or when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq? You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed, or when we stopped trying to catch Bin Laden? And you didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed, the government was illegally wiretapping us, or even when you found out we were torturing people? You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed. You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits, or when we let a major US city basically drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave our very richest few citizens, who had more money than they could ever spend, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks, and we didn’t hear you complain during the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades? You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and reduced regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values, or when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance. No,… you finally got mad as hell, when a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. - So, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!! ??

re-condensed from author unknown

2010 CES Summary

2010 CES Summary -sort of

32 years ago, I attended CES f or the first time. I was working at a small “wholesale” car stereo business that sold and installed “OEM” (original equipment manufacturer) radios to car dealers. The business was called Liberty Radio, and was owned by Wally and Gloria Nathan, who had done the same thing in NY and had recently moved to Scottsdale, bringing their product lines like Audiovox and RCA, along with their heavy Brooklyn accents. I liked them. They were direct and honest people, and their NY sensibilities seemed sort of exotic to me.

I was a young, green kid, only 19, and had only been to Las Vegas one time, with my girlfriend and her parents. And about the most exciting thing we saw was the tiny circus acts in Circus Circus - like the talented poodles and the unicycle guy. So one day Wally announced to all his employees (both of us), that we would be closed next week for two days, because he would be attending the trade show and that we should consider attending to get a “big picture” of the industry, and also, to have some fun. Wally always put a healthy amount of emphasis on having some fun, and I always appreciated him for teaching me that, along with some other “frugal” business survival skills.

Well, the show sounded like a great idea to Eugene and I, but we were both too broke to spring for the expensive hotel rooms. But when we mentioned it to our friends Louie and Mark, Louie’s Dad arranged for a room at the Stardust for the whole 4 days, and since some guy up there still owed him money on a drapery job, he threw in free tickets to the hotel’s big show! So, we were off to Vegas, with all of the typical anticipations of the bright lights and big city, even for back then, in the 70’s. We were feeling like big dogs, staying in what was then one of the nicest casino hotels, especially when, to our total surprise, we were seated front row center at the show, with the show girls kicking their legs over our heads!

But for me, the consumer electronics show itself was the biggest thrill. Every consumer electronic gadget known to man, at that point in time, along with prototypes of what was just about to come out, perfectly displayed for you to touch, test, and ask any question about! I was in heaven! I think I knew right then that some aspect of consumer electronics would become my life-long passion and career. We did meet up with Wally and Gloria up there and watched him enjoy playing craps, as I continued to do for another 31 consecutive years.

Later when I had my own car stereo store, I would always encourage my employees to go as well, even to the point of arranging “CES-on-the-cheap” excursions with under-construction motorhomes full of young guys, sleeping wall-to-wall in sleepingbags, at the Circus-Circus RV Park. This year, I again stayed at Circus RV park, only it was in our new (to us), quite finished motorhome, and we never needed to use the public restroom or showers at the rv park! I guess some things get in your blood and stick.

But this year, the dynamic of seeing the actual show was quite different for me, as Wendy, Ethan, and Regina and her boyfriend, Dan, were along as well, all interested in different things. So, we tried to “see-it-all”, and find the next new, exciting gadget or trend, however, it is a bit harder to do these days with the industry as mature as it is. The CES show itself is quite daunting, with over 1400 huge booths to try and see. And the electronics companies are so very much more complicated than back when I first attended. Billions of dollars are at stake, and the successful products today are usually a result of sneaky political strategies with allied companies, rather than a superior technological breakthrough, or even clever marketing.

I guess I sound jaded, but I still enjoy attending CES just as much as I did 32 years ago because, in viewing the progress of our technological toys, you can see the continuing evolution of our species and our society, and it’s always incrementally more civilized, even if it’s occasionally less civil. 32 years ago, the average person wasn’t thinking about the advent of such gadgets as personal computers, digital music and photography, cell phones, and the internet. But those of us that attended CES did, because the world’s leading tech visionaries made a point of describing the positive impacts those next-year’s-toys would have, to not only drive their current marketing efforts, but also plant seeds of anticipation that would lead to consumer demand and therefore help drive the R & D that much harder.

I’ve always felt that those in the consumer electronics field are some of the most optimistic about our chances for a peaceful, sustained future. Like Gene Roddenberry, we’re all sure that technology will ultimately save the day, and provide us with the leisure time required to interact with one another long enough to realize that we’re all together on this marble, and really, all just one big tribe.

Was this year’s CES interesting? It was fascinating. Just like the last 32 years, and just like the next 32. Beyond that, I can’t imagine it. If I tried, my head would just sorta explode. So, what did I see that stood out to me as truly whiz-bang? I would have to say, - nothing. No one thing shone above the rest by such a great margin as to be in the “got-to-tell-you-‘bout” category. But one thing stood out… in this huge recession, there were still 120,000 attendees buying billions of dollars worth of gadgets to stock their store shelves and sell to their customers, that still want more and more ways to pass their time, interact with others, and improve their lives. I’m still having a blast, just trying to “dial it all in”.

for details of cool gadgets consider: www.engadget.com or even my ces summary from last year here on this blog.

see new picts:

new photos of our California Coast Trip on my picasaweb page: www.picasweb.google.com/geefred

9 day trip to the coast. 35,000lbs of vehicle, 250 gallons of fuel, 1600 miles of roads. Are motorhomes worth it?

O.K., O.K., O.K., I know, I’m doing just what everyone does with an RV, never get around to using it and it just sits and rots in the back yard. I admit that I’ve had this thing a year and a half, and I just took it on it’s second trip! But it’s because the NY apt took longer to finish and we didn’t get home this past summer to take some longer trips as planned. Next summer. ‘Sound familiar? No, really, next summer we plan to take it out for a while, -like maybe Yellowstone and stuff up thataway. Actually, this January we are taking it to CES and then from there, down along the Colorado River, ending at the huge RV show and Blue Bird Wanderlodge Rally in Quartzite.

But, I digress. We took a wonderful trip mid October, for 9 days with our closest friends, Mike and Tami Putz, and took both of our coaches (something Mike and I had been dreaming of doing someday, since about 30 years ago, when we first got “into” motorhomes). Well, Mike acted on his dream right away, when, about 25 years ago, he bought a bus and started building an RV from scratch! Since then he has taken several short trips each year, no matter what state the conversion was in. A few years ago he was practically finished with it, and I was just finally talking about starting one, when he declared that he was going to sell his, and buy a manufactured motorcoach instead!

Over the years (decades!) of converting his Blue Bird school bus he learned all about the high-end luxury coaches that Blue Bird manufactured, and how, you could get an old used one for reasonable money that was as reliable as the day it was built! It seems they are built with durability and serviceability as top priorities. And with so many top-notch, built-in components and engineering, he decided it was better than the coach he built on a budget, even though he also built it well, and knew every single part of it by heart. So, He and I each got a used Blue Bird Wanderlodge a year and a half ago. This was my second trip,… and it was his tenth!

We headed for the California coast, to see the gorgeous beaches along Hwy 1 that are rocky coves, instead of straight sand. And we wanted to see Big Sur and the famous big trees, and so we picked October, since it’s their dry season and we wouldn’t have to worry about rain spoiling our hiking and exploring. Well, you can’t always count on the Almanac! El Nino was back, from five years ago, and had some plans of its’ own! We planned to stay 4 nights in a Big Sur campground, but just as we were leaving to drive there, they called and explained about the impending weather, and said they’d be kicking everyone out in two days, for fear of mud slides in the canyon, as they had experienced the last time El Nino was in town. So, we went up there anyway, and spent the time before the storm with our friends Phil and Vicky, and Mike’s sister, Missy, who drove down from the Bay area and stayed overnight. We ended up staying only one night due to being delayed from a breakdown (see slideshow), and although it didn’t end up mud-sliding, we headed down the coast to be safe, and camped near Hearst Castle while the storm dumped about 8 inches of rain on the coast, while we mostly stayed in our coaches for the two days, watching movies, and went to Hearst Castle. The next day the sun came out, and we explored Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo, and the wine country near Buellton, where we attended a Wanderlodge Rally, and met up with an old friend of Mike’s.

So, motor coach traveling is terrific. You basically take your creature comforts with you, and then if there’s a change of weather or other plans, you don’t mind because you’re at-home anyway, spontaneously changing part of the trip from the comfort of your armchair, without having to re-schedule planes, trains, or rented automobiles. The rigs really do have everything you’d want in terms of comfort. Wendy spent a lot of the driving time just doing what she does at home – computering, thanks to the $10/month, AT&T 3G unlimited data package, by tethering her phone to the laptop. It works pretty well, although there were parts along Hwy 1 with spotty service. And of course, along there, we were more than content to enjoy the fabulous scenery! (see picts!)

I lost an old friend.

My old friend Wally passed away the other day. Now, when I say “my old friend”, I mean it. In fact, he was my oldest friend that I had. Not that I knew him longer than anyone else (although it was a 32 year old friendship), but what I mean is that he would’ve been 89 next month. I first met him when I answered an ad for a car stereo installer, while I was working my way through college in the late 70’s. I walked in expecting to find a big, bustling retail car audio store with all the top brand names, and young people everywhere buying and selling the best high performance gear, only to find the smallest office I’d ever seen, stacked with white boxes that said “RCA car radio” on them. And an “old guy” with a New York accent, saying, “how many car radios can you install in an hour?” I said: “Radios?” - “No, I’m lookin’ to do Custom Stereo System installs, you know, Retail, with separate amps and….” He cut me off and said “No, No, No,….too many headaches!….We do Wholesale here. You know, stock-looking radios in new cars, right on the dealerships’ lot. Right before the customer buys the car. – You’re in,- you’re out, bing bang,….no headaches!” Well I had never even heard of such a thing. And I equated RCA with the “old days”, and although it wasn’t what I thought I wanted to do right then, the money and the hours sounded great, and there was something about this guy that was very likeable, so I took the job, and although I only worked there a few years, it was the start of a journey that would lead me to owning my own retail car stereo business, and would lead to a 32 year friendship with a very fun, interesting, positive guy that lived his live through a philosophy of “no headaches”.

Wally and Gloria were sort of employers, friends, and even parental figures for me, and they went out of their way to help me out in so many ways. They also gave me some very good advice from time to time. Everything from getting over an ended relationship, to not starting my business as a partnership, and to start small, with as small a rent payment as possible. I can still hear Wally: “Fred!, Listen, I’m tellin’ you, you don’t want the headaches!” He was so right. Life is too short. I really learned a lot from him about enjoying life, day to day. We stayed in touch, over the years, as I visited them with my wife and kids, and they would stop by my store, and see my dozen employees, and Wally would say, “Fred, doesn’t all this give you headaches?” And I’d say something like “Yeah, but once I get it running smoothly…, I’ll be able to be home more….” Until I realized that he was right again, and sold the store. It’s not that he was afraid to take a chance. He just wanted to know the odds going in. And that made sense to me. I’d usually see them at the annual CES show in Vegas. And actually, If I had gone to Vegas any other time during the year I might’ve run into them as well, because they went a lot. Wally liked to gamble. “Craps…this is the only game worth playing”, he would say, as he taught me the game. They say that stress is the number one cause of a shortened life. And I think Wally was proof of that. Just last week he was up at Vegas, a drink in one hand, dice in the other, probably saying something to the dice like, “’Come on boys, bring it home, ...and don’t give me any headaches!” Thanks Wally, for being my friend, and being such a positive, fun loving guy.

Michael Jackson was a freak

He was born a black male but he adopted a persona that was closer to a white female. He was a millionaire who spent like a billionaire, purchasing hundreds of useless glittery art-like objects from dealers like the retail shops in Las Vegas casinos that mark up items to unbelievable percentages! There may be a sucker born every minute, but this guy was the chump champ! He had an ego the size of Cleveland, never uttering one humble remark in any interview, and never acknowledging the talents of other performers. His art was also somewhat of a “freak of nature”. In a segment of the art world, called rock and roll, where gritty and rough and tough messages are the most prevalent and saleable, he consistently wrote and sang (and had success with) songs about very positive messages. He somehow managed to make topics like non-violence and world peace seem “hip” and “cool”. What a freak. His bizarre costuming also never portrayed an image of gang-violence or any other offensive, negative, or rebellious styles. How strange for the rock-world. And his dances were as freakish as they come, seemingly defying the laws of physics.
But his personal life was the all-time freak-out of any celebrity, bar none. Instead of “clubbing”, “drugging”, sleeping around, and spending millions on uber-elaborate parties like most celebrities, this weirdo chose to do things like build a Disneyland at his house and invite handicapped kids and their families over for a weekend of rides and ice cream, just to see them smile. What kind of freak gets a kick out that? I guess because he started show biz young, and didn’t have a normal childhood, he tried to re-live it vicariously through his guests. But, apparently, his early success kept him from having any normal relationships with anyone, on any level. He was so out of touch with reality, that he didn’t even see the potential pitfalls of sleeping in the same room, and even bed, as the kids, and was terribly, personally hurt when some families accused him of inappropriate behavior. Hell, everything he did was inappropriate by normal standards. Would you let your kid sleep over at some guy’s house that dresses like a girl and acts like a child? I actually think those parents were a little more naïve than Michael on that deal. And even though the investigations seem to prove that there wasn’t any actual molestation, the whole ordeal was a bit out of control and turned Michaels’ positive intentions into a nightmare for everyone. What a freak.
He may have looked at the man in the mirror, but could never really see himself. A world-class celebrity and entertainer, who couldn’t even carry on a normal conversation. But just like so many tormented genius artists over the ages from Mozart to Kurt Cobain, he could handle complex art forms, just not the details of daily life, normal relationships, and personal contentment. It’s always a really sad situation for them, but a good thing for the rest of the world. Because not only do we benefit from enjoying their wonderful art, we get to look at them, and reflect on our own lives, and realize how lucky we are that even though we can’t make art like them, we have discovered the much more important artistry of obtaining personal happiness. Thank you Michael, for being a freak of nature, and entertaining us on many levels. May you rest in peace.

P.S. I can’t wait to see the bio-picts about him. I wonder what actress they’ll get to play him?