Random Stuff About CES 2019

I'm in Terminal 3 of McCarran International Airport awaiting my flight home after CES 2019 while Elvis singing "Do the Clam" plays on the Terminal PA. Three days is all I can take of the Strip, so after over five days, I'm... lets call it tired and leave out the psychosis part. In any event, I'm in no shape to do a deep-think analysis of what I saw at CES. Quick and basic is going to have to suffice.

The key takeaways:

1. Everyone is treating 5G as the savior that will make the rich, heal the sick, bring about world peace... I don't know what exactly will happen, but I do know that it will take time. The 5G being fitfully rolled out now isn't what 5G is going to be in a few years, nor will the number of devices that take advantage of it rise to critical mass until sometime early in the next decade. The effect on radio? Eventually, 5G will effectively replace broadcast towers and transmitters and licensed facilities. Plus, practically no latency, which is a good thing for sports broadcasts. No more interminable digital delay.

2. The word "blockchain" has magical powers. Few know what it is, how it works, and how it will affect their businesses, but if you walk around CES with a sign reading "BLOCKCHAIN," people will follow you around.

3. Flying cars are still 15-20 years away, if they ever arrive. The "air taxi" they showed off looked like a hair dryer disguised as an Osprey. YOU go first.

4. Smart speakers caught the consumer electronics industry by surprise two years ago, so they're trying to catch up by putting Alexa and Google Assistant in everything. I saw a toilet with Alexa. Toilets don't need voice command. By the way, Google spent a fortune marketing itself at CES again. Amazon had a small display at which they handed out bananas. Make of that what you will.

5. Interesting thing about the consumer electronics industry: Like radio, it's an embattled category. The days when they could get you to buy a new TV every few years are over. Yes, they'd still like you to buy a new 8K OLED set (but don't, not yet: expensive, with practically no content available in that resolution. Just wait.). However, the industry reacted by shifting to a B-to-B strategy: smart cities technology promises to be a lucrative business. See that, radio? They've changed the definition of what they do.

6. The Internet of Things is still a thing. They have yet to explain why we'd want an Internet-connected breast pump. Or a screen on our refrigerator.

7. Wearables are still hot, but, really, the only ones to matter so far are the Apple Watch and the Fitbit. Health monitoring is nice, but I'm not sure people want it, and they sure don't want it if someone's playing fast and loose with security.

8. Podcasts are still red hot. Spotify is getting more aggressive about it. Watch that space.

9. Self-driving cars are coming, but it didn't seem like we're any closer to that then we were last year. Watch that space, too.

Every year, about two days into CES, I tell myself that this is the last year I'm going to do this. The crowds, the noise, the stupid gadgets (self-propelled suitcases, a Keurig-type beverage maker but for beer)... ugh. But every year, there's something of value to learn, so I'll probably do it again a year from now. And while the future's interesting, there's still no place like home, so I'll go there now. Alexa's waiting for my command.

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That's all I got. YOU try to write something coherent after a week at CES.

Perry Michael Simon
VP/Editor, News-Talk-Sports-Podcast
AllAccess.com