read:"CES 2017 Impressions"

CES celebrated 50 years last week.  Where there didn’t seem to be a clear buzz around any one product leading into the show, what became clearer, as buzz generated on day one, became increasingly intriguing.  To help build visuals, please visit my Twitter page for photos.

Cars definitely won a lot of the floor chatter and the queues to the driver seat.  Every big vendor (not only auto manufacturers) had a car at its booth to show how its ecosystem worked in tandem.  Linking Toyota’s Concept ‘I’ and not saying a word, because nothing will say it better than watching this in motion.  Impressive.  BMW showed off its HoloActive Touch system, and equally impressive interior for autonomous vehicles.  All manufacturers announced AI and autonomous cars.

     For media in cars, Ericsson pitched 5G-enable seamless experiences.  If you are listening to music or a podcast at home, your phone will sync with your car and pick-up where you left off.  Kids will have seamless experience as their profiles extend to their seats.  Ericsson also pitched the benefits of 5G for enterprise services and speed to market.

Amazon’s Alexa was next as another ‘best in show’.  Amazon has made their service ubiquitous across 17 different devices.  Ford announced adding Alexa to their fleet, for example.  At the Aria’s C Space of the convention, Amazon rented out an entire space pitching Amazon Marketing – they are leveraging the success of Alexa and Echo to create marketing opportunities for clients.

     Here’s a mouthful, but, “machine learning, highly connected, analytics” were the buzzwords from folks like Adstream, Video Amp and Ericsson.  They were all offering products to increase the knowledge of the consumer.  Ericsson was offering analytics-as-a-service, showing off its engagement with NASCAR.  Adstream offered seamless commercial delivery, oversight and analytics (apparently they already worked on Mick-E).  Videoamp offers optimization and analytics tools in a single interface.

Televisions and displays still naturally draw attention.  Sony finally embraced OLED technology with their Bravia.  But LG got most of the chatter, since they introduced the 2.57mm Signature 4K W (‘w’ for wallpaper).  Why it won several ‘best in show’ categories is it not only being only a few coins in width, but how they achieved this: by putting its ‘guts’ in the sound bar.  All this and the LG had visual improvement upon its predecessors to boot.

     Outside of what would be deemed ‘traditional’ sets, we are seeing bezels drift away, monitor walls seamlessly working in parity, and even transparent monitors.  When a screen is not in use, it goes clear (you guessed it, LG) – so no longer will your sets be an intrusive part of a space.  Razer’s project Ariana integrates a television with projector and ambient lights to immerse the room in you are in, where VR seems to be losing steam.

     Integrated services within the television or through stream boxes have become ubiquitous, so there were no surprises.  However, Sling TV’s AirTV, where over-the-air signals are integrated alongside your Sling service finally bridges OTA through one box.  (Side note, DVR usage has been in decline as more of these stream boxes disperse through the market.)  Disney licensed to a company called Snakebyte, putting together a $99 kid-friendly stream box that will provide video and games.  It’s based on Android and comes with an optional Bluetooth controller.

     For CES after hours - I put in some photos of the night 'life' - which was hard to come by.  Am I the only one that can stay up until 4 in the morning?  https://www.instagram.com/edwardianjackal/

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