This year’s annual Consumer Electronics Show from the Las Vegas Convention Center features over 20,000 products (meaning 10 products every minute), is the length of 28 football fields, and was the location for yesterday’s episode of Dot Complicated!
Our guests are all major players at CES 2015, which wraps up tomorrow. First up were Michael Gorman, editor-in-chief of Engadget and John Biggs, editor of TechCrunch:
“Past CESes were always tent pole devices. The show has changed. It’s not about the big companies. It’s about the smaller companies. It’s a huge shift.”
“Companies give us information under embargo, but the weirdest stuff is on the floor.”
Weirdest gadget yet: “Half-circular shaped controller for VR that you use your feet for.”
“It’s a lot of evolution and maturation of areas we’ve known before. New car technology, wearables, smart home stuff.”
“Everything is wifi connected. Even for your flowerpots. LG has a wifi washing machine with a secondary delicate area.”
“The iPhone was launched, the new Palm Pilot all came around CES. But today nothing is ready for mass market yet.”
” RZA announced their newest Wu-Tang album on a Bluetooth speaker.”
“Tech used to be geeks and nerds and it’s becoming closer to everyone since we all have a phone in our pocket. It’s a financial opportunity for all.”
“We try to cover as much as we can. We have 30 people and a trailer out in the parking lot. At the end of the week it’s Red Bull and power cords strewn everywhere.”
“The Drone Rodeo happens when every company does their press conference so I missed it but essentially it’s DJI drones with filmmaking cameras. Amazing stuff.”
“We’re in charge of the best of CES awards. It’s hard to cut through the noise. Submit through our page. We look at everything. The weirder and more bizarre it is the better it is. Tell us ahead of time, before CES. Don’t bang our inbox, send once and let it be.”
“I got to speak with people from iRobot and BMW talking about the future of robotics. It’s interesting to be able to talk with folks on the bleeding edge. Ekso Bionics had a soldier put on one of their suits after being paralyzed from the waist down. Those are the kind of things I’m most interested in.”
“Oculus is brilliant it’s the best VR I’ve ever seen but it requires a lot of computing power. It’s not yet what people are expecting VR to be.”
“Hardware Battlefield is about hardware startups before anyone cared about hardware for people to show off new products.”
Wacky product: “Fishbit for when your fish are sick and which fish to buy.”
“Pet feeders are big right now. Z Board electronic skateboards. Personal locomotion.”
“50 Cent has his own headphone line. Who wouldn’t want 50 Cent on their judging staff?”
“We started livestreaming of the show floor.”
“HDDVD died at the show. Some devices don’t live up to the hype.”
“Don’t launch here. If you’re trying to sell stuff, great. But if you launch here it’s too cluttered.”
“Naptime is a silent buzzer that goes on the wrist of mom and on dad. It alternatively goes off when the baby cries so you take turns. These French guys who don’t have kids at all invented it.”
“This is a show for the buyer. It’s got suites entirely dedicated to order 50,000 wearables out of Best Buy. We’re ancillary to that operation. “
“CES is bigger because everything is CE nowadays.”
“Everyone who has something technological is going to want to be here.”
Lauren Thaman of Procter & Gamble discussed the newest P&G and Whirlpool collaboration, SWASH— a 10-minute clothing care device that puts dry drying bills out to wash:
“Swash is the first at home-clothing care device and CES is the place where all the different home care products are displayed.”
“Clothing is about who you are, they make you feel a certain way. I don’t want my time micromanaging my clothing.”
“I never expected to be this overwhelmed. We got here at 8:15 and there were people 5 deep to get in. We were bombarded with questions by 9:30!”
“The amount of questions I’ve had have helped me think about what the consumer needs are.”
“We knew that the device appealed equally to men and women but men are passionate about this because it’s easy clothing care and can lead to a 50% reduction in the dry cleaning bill.”
“CES is so international. It shows how connected the world really trying to make things easier.”
“CES is like a Disneyland overload and every ride at once. It makes the Vegas strip look calm.”
Wackiest product: “A scale that tweets your weight.”
CES tip: ” Wear sneakers.”
Nihar Patel, vice president of North American Business Strategy for Toyota, discussed Toyota’s revolutionary announcement to make over 5,000 patents related to fuel-cell drive systems royalty free:
“CES kicks off the calendar year for us and showcases our corporate technologies. For us it’s hydrogen cars which will be around for the next 100 years.”
“It takes a village to bring these things to life. The reception is amazing. It’s another way for us to learn how people want to engage with our products so we can keep improving.
“Because we believe in hydrogen we thought let’s build the car first and get it ready for market. After 10 years it’s ready. So we said let’s provide infrastructure to have fueling stations. How to get people get excited was to open up our patents we can learn from what they’re working on in this space as well.”
“When you think of the challenges of emissions and safety you need a collaborative approach.”
“Start educating early. Why hydrogen, what’s a fuel cell—it will take some time. We need more manufacturers coming into the space.”
“The things we learn here will help us learn about the audience.”
Best trends of CES: “Connectivity, smart charging and quick charging in the auto space. Mobility for all.”
“We all get ready for CES to showcase our partners. It’s a way for us to become open and refreshed in the consumer market.”
“It’s been amazing to seen the positive reaction to opening up our patents. Beyond the fascination of hydrogen cars, people are impressed with Toyota’s dedication.”
“If you have a big challenge you have to be willing to work with all sorts of collaborations.”
Tips for CES: ” Bring your pedometers.”
Make sure to follow Randi’s continuing coverage of CES on Twitter and don’t forget to tune in next week to Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg on SiriusXM channel 111, 9am PT/12ET.
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