CES – Not Just About Gadgets

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Get ready. CES isn’t just going to let loose a slew of new gadgets on the market, it’s also going to give big companies a platform for grandstanding on their favorite issues. With presenters including Comcast’s Brian Roberts and the FCC’s Kevin Martin, expect plenty of public positioning and posturing on the digital TV transition, regulations on the cable industry, OpenCable initiatives, the “explosion of HDTV” and the promise of video on demand (VOD).

One could even (and I’m not suggesting this) make a drinking game out of it. One might drink, for example, if one heard:

  • [Fill in the blank] delivers the best/most/coolest HDTV programming
  • Stats on broadband download speeds that sound a lot better than anything you get in your house
  • Reference to the CEA’s just-released report that more than 50% of US homes own a digital TV!
  • Promises to work toward open standards and greater interoperability
  • Predictions that 2008 will be the year consumers can get TV how they want it, when they want it, where they want it

Got any other suggestions for when to tip the flask?

5 thoughts on “CES – Not Just About Gadgets”

  1. Please add the following to the drinking game list:

    “Sling Media will make the Sling Catcher available on _________ ”

    ;)

  2. Back in 2000 when I was still developing computer-based training, I attended the Techlearn conference in Orlando. They put together a great song poking fun at all the current buzz words. I managed to dig up the lyrics and it turns out the lingo hasn’t changed all that much…

    B2B
    And End-to-end bug free
    Pro-active
    Inter-active
    eLearning is attractive.
    Oh my portal has
    Best of Breed
    It’s service guaranteed
    Bionic
    Electronic
    It’s almost Amazonic.
    My virtual classroom
    Media rich
    Engaging nuggets
    Broadband & open source.
    And now I have community
    Synchronous and asynchronous chat.
    I believe if I built it then they all will really come.
    It’s distributed and functional online
    It’s enterprise wide and reusable & multitasking.
    My WBT
    My ERP
    My IT training
    It’s all in XML
    And I have simulations
    I build intellectual capital
    I believe I have built a robust infrastructure play
    I do knowledge management I’m digital
    IP telephony & streaming videoooooo
    Intranet
    Has made me teacher’s pet
    Performer
    A transformer
    No longer a benchwarmer
    And you all know that
    Well, I’m glad that I have 3 days to chill out in this nice hotel
    I mean find out what a learning object is
    This week before we adjourn
    Get rid of our heartburn
    Welcome esteemed colleagues to TechLearn.

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