CES2019

What the gods would destroy they first give to corporate brand managers


That’s a TikiTag there.

Took a first look at TikiTag. It’s perfect for Santa Cruz. It could put geeks on the beach. If we can save it from the suits.

Saw it at the Showstoppers event at CES last month, and the TikiTag people were kind enough to send me a demo kit.

Technically, it’s simple. The kit contains a USB-enabled RFID reader and ten sticky RFID tags. Download the app from the website, set up an account, plug in the reader, swipe a tag and something happens.… More

Live from CES, Friday, 9 January 2009


Last to first, real-time tweets from Las Vegas

  • On my way home, via Virgin America. An excellent CES, could have stayed longer.
  • TEC seminar takeaway: development needs financial, institutional, information & energy infrastructure.
  • Chambers’ development keynote devolved into a tacky Cisco sales pitch.
  • Cisco CEO John Chambers, standard corporate stump speech, interesting but generic.
  • Windmill powers mobile phones & radio, info gained lets farmer grow & sell crops efficiently.
… More

Tweets from Showstoppers at CES, 8 January 2009

  • New adult IPTV platform Fyretv.com sez 5K subs at launch a month ago, 27K more signed up & waiting for equipment. STB, basic lineup: $10/mo. Some biz models are recession proof.
  • HD downloads caching on 1GB USB stick on Fyretv roadmap. Subs buy content but store it on Fyretv servers. Miami HQ, headend in Dallas colo.
  • Fyretv OEMs STBs in China: Broadcom 7401 chip, mostly text & menu-based inhouse user interface on Linux kernel.
… More

Live from CES, 8 January 2009

Last to first, real time tweets from Las Vegas…

  • WirelessHD press conference. Certification ready. 60GHz standard to link devices inside the same room to HDMI standards.

  • Clear thinker: Paul Liao, CTO Panasonic. Uses Maslow’s hierarchy to rate & rank tech features.
  • Clear, though, that there’s still a battle to be fought over how to split up content and application revenue in the wireless world.
  • Recognition that consumers will have lots of devices, but don’t want to pay lots of money to connect them all.
… More

Ho-Hum IPTV is Software Dev Opportunity

Internet protocol television is the it’s-good-to-be-boring story of CES 2009. Everyone (or nearly so), from Netgear to Sony, integrates some kind of IPTV functionality in their consumer product lines. It’s going from being a distinct and geeky category to just being a standard feature of mainstream television products.

It’s good news for software developers and component manufacturers. Drive manufacturers, to pick one example, have an opportunity to sell their products into television sets, more set top boxes (not just DVRs), and home media centers.… More

Live from CES Press Day, 7 January 2009

Last to first, real time tweets from Las Vegas…

  • Bill Gates is the UrGeek. Love or hate him, he’s an original with historic scope. Heroic in classical sense. Ballmer…
  • Listening to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. Microsoft will rule the world. Honest.
  • Sony shows great respect for mobile telecom carriers. Has WiFi Walkman in pipeline, but no 3/4G product that would cause consternation for Sony Ericsson’s mobile carrier customers.
  • Sony sez not in negotiations for NZ/Australia mobile carrier deals for netbook, sorry Lifestyle PC, but GSM deals in Europe are locked.
… More

Cisco is here to help. But whom?

7 January 2009 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Cisco builds stuff for service providers. They’re at CES primarily to talk about their latest effort to extend their brand into the consumer realm, but there’s no doubting they’re network guys to the core.

Interesting comment from their service provider group SVp & GM Tony Bates: they’re deploying technology that makes service provider networks video aware. Of course, it’s with the consumer’s best interests in mind. If a service provider knows that video is streaming through it’s network, it can take steps to optimize the consumer’s experience.… More

Mobile Carriers' Walled Garden Under Siege


This little beauty ties a 3G modem (this one is running on the Verizon network) to a WiFi router. Lots of people can share one mobile data connection, all at the same time. Netgear thinks they’re doing a favor for the mobile phone carriers. Oddly enough, they don’t have relationships with any yet.

The Consumer Electronics Association identified four major trends that will drive the consumer electronics in 2009. Two depend on the wireless data industry to make it happen: mobile devices that provide the same user experience as in-home or in-office gizmos, and devices with embedded Internet capability.… More

Live from CES Unveiled, pre-press day, Tuesday 6 January 2009

Last to first, real time tweets from Las Vegas…

  • Tethering is deciding battle between mobile carriers & CE industry. CE guys don’t get it, think it’s a tech problem. It’s the money!
  • Novatel Wireless hasn’t signed any carriers yet. Expects to Real Soon Now. If they do, it’s a significant market signal re tethering.
  • Novatel Wireless also into tethering. Selling gizmo combining mobile data card, embedded Linux, WiFi tethering. Serves 5 users at once.
  • Blaupunkt has Internet car radio.
… More

Recession Can't Hurt Consumer Electronics Retailers. They're Already Dead.

21st Century retailing will be governed by a new Iron Triangle:

  • Consumer information.
  • Volume selling.
  • Physical presence.

Online retailers have inexhaustible information and limitless volume. Consumers save time and money.

Big box retailers have as much volume, and a physical presence that allows consumers to touch and feel products however they choose, and have the instant gratification of an on-the-spot purchase. Customers stay in control.

Manufacturers can sit back and enjoy the ride, or they can build the value of their brands by combining their ultimate control of information with a physical and/or virtual presence that promotes a direct personal relationship with consumers.… More