Everyone is trying to NOT admit CES this year was the saddest year ever. Have any of you read the "best of's" from any site? Super sad. And I've been there when the world was literally falling to pieces. They still managed to have stuff I've never seen before.
On the flip side, Vegas seemed more optimistic than I've ever seen it. The people who work there. We are just going to have a rough tech year. I mean - Silicon Valley has been so focused on selling all your data I'm not sure they know how to make products people actually want to buy anymore. The operative word there is WANT not forced. When they didn't know what to sell - they sold YOU.
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So an overpriced treadmill with an integrated entertainment tablet system (that you presumably pay subscriptions for), a funky branded speaker bar, an upgraded Game Boy, a wireless VR headset suite, a tabletop, some better-than-average NVMe sticks that are a little bit small, some slightly evolved TVs, and ... *drum roll* ... a weird prototype of a wireless reprogrammable smart wallet card, but one with such unproven provenance that it'll probably wind up being used as a loyalty card, which would defeat the purpose of having unique branded cards.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, of all of the stuff they're selling, it's the "wallet card" that's the hardest sell. It's a solution looking for a problem. Most shops these days accept the fact that you don't actually have the card on you and use the phone number that you give them instead. Plastic cards that aren't smart are also much cheaper.
BUT IT'S SMART AND IT'S WIRELESS, HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE IT?
I can see what happens to this thing already: it's going to get wrapped in three layers of RFID blockers just so I don't have to deal with the auto-update feature, and then I'll shove it into the safe, and then I'll ignore it and continue to give out that phone number.
BUT IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT PRIVACY VIOLATING THING OF GIVING OUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER IN A PUBLIC PLACE!
Yeah, that number goes straight to this evil IVR system I put together for people I don't know who call me on my Least Important Phone Number. Unknown callers have to answer a 1980s pop trivia quiz in order to get to voicemail. Good luck! :-)
Anyway, you're right, this is pretty grim even if the people there are trying to put a game face on it ...
They had a smart sensor that would tell you when you needed to pee. I was going to make fun of it... but maybe there is some actual purpose for something like that.
ReplyDeleteThat medical sensor is actually going to sell pretty well, come to think of it ...
ReplyDeleteThere are people with recurrent urinary tract infections and other problems who simply can't tell when they actually need to go to the bathroom.
Nerve damage also can cause this, and it appears to happen for short periods after childbirth for some women.
So this is actually the least stupid idea out of CES I've heard so far, because there will be just enough demand for it in the medical sector for it to be a success. :-)