UnderCurrent thoroughly enjoyed its first day of the 2013 International CES! There was plenty of fodder for its lighthearted and at times cynical look at the electronics industry.
Don't Mention The War
Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CES organisers the CEA, drew a round of applause from the press and delegates when claiming victory over the US Congress on the SOPA and PIPA laws that sought to place greater regulation on the internet. There was a more chilly reaction to his follow-up quip: "There will be never be SOPA or PIPA legislation with that name on it – it's kind of like calling your kid Adolf".
Room For Growth
Australians are very popular at the CES – there are pleny of locals working the booths and lots of dealers checking out what products will be on shelves this year. So popular are Australians, or at least Australiana, that this enormous blow-up marsupial greets delegates on arrival:
Galaxy Quest
UnderCurrent barely reads technology manuals these days – it's more a learn-by-doing scribe – so it was surprised to see this makeshift sign at Samsung's Galaxy Camera design studio:
Just how popular is a guide to Galaxy cameras?
Celebrity Watch
There are rumours of Bill Clinton and Taylor Swift making starstudded appearances at the CES but the closest UnderCurrent got to a celebrity was Bob Marley's son and former Ottawa RoughRiders footballer Rohan Marley:
Countdown To 4K Apocalypse
Not only is Sony persisting with using the '4K' name instead of Ultra High Definition for its magnificent new 4K Ultra HD TVs, COO Phil Molyneux referred to the old Full HD 1080p resolution as '2K'.
In talking up content for its 4K TV, Molyneux specifically referred to three upcoming films that have been filmed in native 4K: After Earth, Oblivion and Elysium. Considering all three are super-intelligent nightmare visions of a distopian future, UnderCurrent is already afraid of 4K's impact.