Your consultant is among 160,000+ tech-followers who attended the 2015 International CES.
If you are attending, these tips.
Couldn’t be here? Hear here:
Monday radio report, Talkers column
Tuesday radio report, Talkers column
Wednesday radio report, Talkers column
Thursday radio report, Talkers column
Friday radio report, Talkers column
Lots of the TWO MILLION square feet of what’s-on-display here is SO new that it’s not even for sale yet. Some are prototypes seeking investors. And much of what was so-shiny-and-new last year never made it to store shelves. These are “the risk takers” politicians praise when they ask for your vote.
“It’s all business here…honest!
On MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,” live from The Strip.
VIDEO: We were talkin’ elections, not electronics.
Radio: Note: Reinvention, Innovation
Some of what’s-new-here is…what’s-old. Big signs…all around the Las Vegas Convention Center…boast “When people think instant, they think Polaroid;” a brand that’s leveraging its 50-year product position for the selfie era. Its smartphone-size Zip Mobile printer prints without ink. The color is embedded in the paper. And new-tech has updated good-old-fashioned pinball machines, with Wrestlemania and other now-popular themes.
Smart Guys, Smart Homes
“Real Estate Today‘s” Stephen Gasque interviews one-of-many inventors here who are making home-sweet-home more energy-efficient and secure and comfortable and entertaining.
What if Fox News Channel just…disappeared?
Think “content is king?”
Even with digital self-publishing so hot, old-school distribution matters. When clearance contract negotiations hit-the-wall, Dish Network pulled-the-plug, and plugged-into Glenn Beck.
Handiest accessory I saw for talkers and podcasters.
Wear your gear like a gunslingler with Techslinger. Pack your iPad, smartphone, microphone, and other go-kit gear in this shoulder holster, designed by a defense contractor.
Quick! What is it?
No, not Pac-Man-for-the-New Millennium.
It’s a windscreen for the iPhone microphone.
The Connected Car Accelerates
In “Total Recall,” Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped into a “Johnny Cab,” driven by a chatty humanoid robot. There was NO robo-pilot in the car Sandra Bullock and Sylvester Stallone rode in “Demolition Man.”
Ten major automakers are exhibiting here. Among them, Mercedes Benz, showing-off the “F015 Luxury in Motion” concept car above. NO driver. Inside, it’s shaped like a living room, seats-facing-each-other!
The Connected Car focus here isn’t radio’s dilemma.
The last several years’ conversation about radio’s position in the new-tech dashboard remains largely academic. As new non-AM/FM audio competitors appear there – and drivers’ attention is shared with so many non-audio apps now factory-installed – draconian radio cutbacks continue to dilute the localism that would continue to make stations unique among competitors.
In his keynote, CEO Mark Fields outlined Ford’s “Blueprint for Mobility,” which he says is being driven by 4 trends:
- Urbanization: There are 28 “megacities” today and there’ll be 40+ in a few years. “The existing infrastructure simply cannot sustain coming traffic.”
- Growth of the global middle class, which will double by 2030.
- Air quality
- Changing consumer attitudes and priorities: Millennials behave differently when it comes to mobility.
No gas tank!
That’s industry analyst Larry Jamieson at the wheel. He and I test-drove the electric BMWi3.
It’s roomy and utterly silent; and when we punched it, it took off.
And WE would’ve, but the battery would’ve run-down long before we got back East.
Not too hot, not too cold, JUST right.
Too few radio people attend CES.
Two we always look forward to seeing — and hearing — are Las Vegas personality Heidi Harris; and “Into Tomorrow” host Dave Graveline, celebrating his 20th year on Talk Radio.
