Reflections on CES 2013

Every year I read about the death of CES. Which to some degree, I agree with them. Each year they take away all the stuff that draw men to these types of things. Willingly. I mean, other than the electronics which they are forced to be there for.

First they took away the AVN awards and moved it somewhere else. I always meant to go in one year, but now that they have moved it - I just don't have enough time to get there. And now it seems like more of a creepy thing, than a part of CES.

Then they took away the over the top vehicles. In favor of rows and rows and rows of cell phone case manufacturers and boring green energy cars. Having new tech inside the cars is not a help. If you could manage to get your ass in one of the seats, it just isn't that exciting. Although you will be glad to know the giant sub woofer trend is back. So exciting to look at speakers. Eye roll.



And honestly, if you've seen one tablet - you've almost seen them all. Yeah. Tablets of different sizes. Hurp.

This year it also looked like there were substantially less booth babes. I'm assuming because there was just so much of an uproar last year at how demeaning it was. It's practically prostitution you know. /Sarc.

TV's are thin. Got it. And they are super crisp. Check. So crisp it doesn't matter because there is no infrastructure to support it. But it will come. I think. If you look at the G in LG, that tiny sliver is a side shot of a TV. Impressive, but we all have giant TV's that you can watch from down the block. Just drive down any residential street at night.



Sure they brought in more celebrities this year. But it was just a little bit funner to spot randoms.



You get the occasional sighting of emerging tech to drum up excitement like Google glasses. But honestly I wasn't that excited. Other than bragging rights. Has anyone seen a display from these things? We know they exist. That part isn't exciting now. I would have been more excited if I thought those glasses had some secret conference hall mapping software. Half the problem of CES is just trying to find the things you really want to see. Especially with emerging technologies. I knew there were going to be about six 3D printing companies there, but I don't know who they all are. They don't group them in any logical fashion really. At least not this year. At least the previous years they had a "robotic zone".


Cont....

People you probably know.

I wasn't going to even get Jay Leno this year. He shows up at the Concours every year I guess. And, he wears the same thing. Tells the same stupid jokes.

I've never been a big fan myself - but, I thought those old money types were his base audience. They seemed really non plussed. When he was introduced people barely clapped. My flipcam accidentally got turned on, and I wound up with 7 minutes of his bombing. No video. Just audio. And anyway...it was just really an asshole move to announce retirement, and then take his show back. I'm not a fan of anyone involved. It was just a chump thing to do.

He was on the stage for something like 10 minutes, and I eventually walked right up and got a picture. Last year you couldn't even get close enough to get a good shot.



Mr S. spied this guy from Ferris Bueller. I'm not even going to list his name. He didn't seem that happy to be recognised.



As we were leaving it looked like the hired police were setting up for a police escort. So I waited around for about 10 minutes, and out pops Smokey Robinson. I only got a shot of the side of his head. The whole thing literally was probably 5 seconds. Three of which I had to figure out who it was that was famous.

I think the even funnier shot is - if you look closely at the patrolman in this next shot. He has the most shit eating "I've got Smokey Robinson" grin on his face ever.

Today's completely random celebrity sightings.

Erica Eleniak from Baywatch.



John Schneider from Dukes of Hazzard.

Which I have to admit, they both looked really good. Erica gets extra points because she looked straight at my camera, for which I mouthed a "thank you".

I have to admit, a lot of time when you see celebs they act like they don't want their pictures taken. Which is weird because they are at events to have their picture taken.

I didn't even know they were going to be where I was at today. I'd actually passed them by because I'm short and didn't see them. Mr S. walks up to me and says "hold on, I think I see a celebrity". Which I thought would be someone really obscure. But, it turned out to be someone I actually knew who it was. Go figure!

More tomorrow. I'm tired.

Red Eye.

Even though I've lived in California most of my life - I've only set foot in Berkeley a handful of times. I've been to the Greek Theatre, but I've never actually set foot on the UC Berkeley Campus. I thought my skin might burn.

So, when Mr S. found out that Greg Gutfeld from Red Eye was talking to the campus Republicans - my first thought was "There are Republicans in Berkeley?"

Anyway, we decided to scope out the campus. Which is pretty nice. It made me think that if my parents were rich and I wasn't such a dummy I could have gone to Berkeley. If I would have taken another path I would have fit right in with the hippies.

Even though Greg jokes on the show all the time about how short he is, you aren't prepared for how short he really is. However tall you think he is - cut that in half.

About an hour into the talk it reminded me that maybe I didn't go to college because I was stupid and poor. It was because I was too ADD. All those hours of sitting around listening to people talk. Just not my thing. He might have been talking about boobs in the photo above, but I'm not sure. But, he was entertaining and personable.

If you don't watch Red Eye, you should. It's one of the funniest shows on TV. They put it on at three in the morning for a reason. The TV censors are a little more forgiving at that time.

For your enjoyment.

Weekend rundown.

It's been a ridiculously busy weekend. Went to a small toy faire. Saw Richard Hatch. No - not the one from survivor. I only spent about 10 minutes there. I don't know how they get these guys to fly in. I can't imagine what it must do to their egos. Because this thing was really small. And it wasn't new toys. It was old toys, and the place sort of smelled like a grannies house.





Then saw District 9. Which actually was quite good. It's so rare I go into a theater and not walk out bored. So, that was awesome.

There's a bunch of other stuff, but I'm too tired to talk about it right now.

Bad Ass cars - stuff you can't afford edition.

Devon GTX.



Aston Martin.



Morgan LifeCar.



Spyker C8 Spyder.



Rolls Royce.



Oh yes - that is Jay Leno. In case you were wondering.

Look who I got ya'll.

I'm such a douche. Arnold pisses me off so much - yet I got so excited when he turned up where I was. I didn't even know he'd be there. Hey, you don't get celebrities that often here. I can get excited if I catch one.

Even if they piss me off.

I'd tell you all about it, but I just had the most savage commute from Monterey. Pre-recession style traffic. Almost 3 hours of it.

I've had some pretty bad commutes to Monterey, but I've never, ever seen anything like this. No accidents. Nothing.

Maker Faire 09' - THE END.

Adam Savage from Mythbusters.



I might as well get the interesting stuff out first, because this post is going to go dramatically downhill fast.







There is a point where something goes so mainstream - it becomes completely ruined. This is where Maker Faire finds itself today.

Sure, it is great for Maker. They managed to pull in more people than they probably ever could have imagined. A great revenue stream to be sure. For everyone else it becomes the most un-enjoyable event on the planet. You couldn't even walk 2 or 3 feet before having to dodge someone or adjust where you were walking. You couldn't get close to anything. There is a Telsa Roadster somewhere in this shot.

Everything to see was this way.



I wasn't even in the gates 10 minutes before I was completely feeling hostile. Who the eff are these people I ask Mr S. I don't even get the demo. There aren't that many nerds. There aren't even that many hippies. Who are these people?!

Mr S. replies - they look to be just about anyone bored enough to come down. A perfect snapshot of what you'd see in a mall. And he was right. It even had just about as much enjoyment as shopping at a mall the week before Christmas. People didn't even seem to be enjoying themselves. They were just milling about.



Gone was that electric creative energy of the previous years. Only to be completely hijacked by the green movement. It was less "Maker" and more just Trash Faire. Tinged with complete guilt bullshit. Tinkering to make things and recycling to make things aren't really the same. One is an interesting project. The other is just stuff from the dump.



How disturbing is this shot?



It was today that I realized how the greenies get away with all their crap. They capitalize on how most people don't feel good about themselves. And, they are oh so successful.

Once I did find an area where people were selling stuff, it was the most ridiculously overpriced stuff you can imagine. I finally had to leave early. It was the most self absorbed annoying group of people on the planet.

When we got to the parking structure I asked Mr S. "do you think those people will be gone next year". He said "probably not - it's too mainstream now". So, unless something becomes really interesting, I doubt I'm going next year. It was that unpleasant.

This is a test.

Name em'.

I know you weep for me. Part I. It's okay.

Do you know know to revive the economy? Comic book shows. Apparently.

I'm not so much into the comic book thing. But, I love to take pictures. And Mr S. can be. Into the comic book thing, I mean. I would have preferred FanimeCon. But, that is much later in the year. Wondercon did sound like a fantastic picture taking opportunity. And, if the place wouldn't have been so packed it could have been really enjoyable.





It started out pretty good. Soon however, I started suffering from battery problems. So instead of taking multiple shots I was reduced to one offs. Which sucked. The people were packed so tightly I'm suprised I was even able to see Adam Baldwin.





At one point I ran into this massive line. I heard "whisper whisper whisper - Carry Fisher".

Me - Mr S! Is Carry Fisher here?

Him - I don't know.

I made my way to the front of the line, and sure enough. Carry fisher was there.



I didn't get a great shot, so I had to make my way up again. But, this time Mr S. had taken up a position in the back. The line was ridiculous. After braving the line again and making my way back to him I said "Mr S.! Who's this guy"?



I know readers. It's okay. I'm not so bright. I'm pretty sure at that very moment Mr S. died inside. Yes. I didn't recognise Mark Hamill.

Celebrity sighting.

I got Drew Cary at CES ya'll! CNet link here.

No one, but no one was noticing him. He blended right in. I barely noticed him myself, because he looked much younger than on TV. He didn't have a big entourage. It was great.

Nvision '08 - Part 3.

Wednesday was the more interesting day.

We got to the show a little late. When we got into the building I realised I forgotten my badge in the car. Mr S. went on to stand in line. I went back to the car. When I finally met up with him he tells me "it's a good thing we split up - they are only letting a hundred people into the meet and greet". We were now about 25 people from the front. I start figuring out the lighting. Often in these situations you have about 10 seconds - so you need to have your act together. So I furiously start taking test shots.



We make our way up to the front, get some t-shirts signed. I get one shot. And it's all over.



The show is at 3. So, we get lunch and try to decide how we are going to burn an hour and a half. We start out thinking we might go to the Tech Museum. But, we want to get good seats. And - it is a million degrees in San Jose that day. So we decide to go and just get in line for the event. People are already queuing up. Mr S. thinks we should start going up levels to see if we can get a better place in line.

We wind up in the balcony level. No one is there except the lighting guys for the show. We are trying desperately to not get kicked out - because we know we technically aren't suppose to be there. So, we start catching up on blogs on our phones. Being as quiet and unobtrusive as we can. When the lighting guys walk by - neither of us even look at them. Nothing to see here folks. We are just a part of the furniture.

We burn about an hour. When one of the ushers comes in. Crap! She's kicking us out. I am as polite and nice as I can be as I tell her we are being quiet and respectful. Then I ask her if we can stay. She is really nice, but tells us we have to go. But if we hurry we might be able to get front row seats.

Mr S. makes a stop, and I start to go down levels to get in line. On the second level - all the game players are having a meeting, or are queuing up. I'm not sure which. At any rate.. I'm not getting close seats there. So, I go down another level. The line has started to get long. But, they have the two levels roped off so people can't go up to the second floor. Which means I'm sort of trapped. When Mr S. meets up with me I tell him I think the ushers will be focused on the crowd, and we can walk behind them and go down the corridor to the seats. Which is what happens.

Now, we are pretty much at the front of the stage seating. There are a couple of people in front of us. This is where we begin to wait.

After about 15 minutes some of the game chicks to the back of us start to bitch. They've been up for 36 hours. They want to be seated. No one really pays much attention to them, until one of them approaches the usher holding back the crowd and asks her when they will start seating us. The usher doesn't know. This is where the girl gets all bitchy on the usher and says roughly the following "way to not take responsibility for your job".

This gets a reaction from those of us in the front. Clearly the usher is just doing her job. None of the other doors are letting people in either. The guy next to us says something about the girl being spoiled.

Finally they let us in.

Since my pictures can never describe what they did. Here are links for your enjoyment. Part 1, 2, 3. Gizmodo link with better slomo.

Nvision '08 - part2.

So - we watched the opening ceremonies where they talked about all the great stuff happening in computer graphics.

I'm not going to go through them all. But, car design was obviously highlighted.



Avatars.

Which - I think is a fad. At least - I hope. I just find it weird to create a "make believe" life. I mean.. how far can you go with that before it becomes boring, or reality creeps in?



We popped our heads into a few of the talks.



Hit the show floor.



And the gaming area.



Finally winding up at the Buzz Aldrin meet and greet later in the day. Where we found out he was taking pictures with people. I wasn't really that interested in that. He wasn't signing stuff. I think the only reason he was there was to promote a movie.



I managed to get one candid shot before he got in place to take photo's and I'm glad I did, because the lighting was horrible.