Techversation, LLC

Author’s note: this post has been back-dated to reflect that I’ve been rather busy and it took so long to write this.

It’s been a week now since my return from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and a brain dump seems to be in order. While I was initially looking forward to going, and expected to see some really incredible things, my expectations were less than met in terms of looking for breakthrough technologies. That’s not to say that I didn’t see some great things there, or that I wouldn’t go back.

Upon my arrival at the airport Monday morning with my best friend Richard (who is also my business partner), we received our first taste of the scale of the event. Leaving the terminal, we went in search of a taxi only to be met by a large line (which we later determined to be a huge line), which gave us pause and we considered the car rental option. We had a car reserved, but going through with it did not present a high enough value in terms of what we’d get out of its use. We thus went back to the line, where I broke out my Playstation Portable and began entertaining myself – remarking on the nation’s highest geographical concentration of Treo’s and Blackberrys for the brief moment of the convention.

After dropping belongings off at the hotel and a meal, we were off to the monorail to head over and begin the fun at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Upon first entering the area where the convention was taking place, we immediately got ourselves misdirected. Now as men, we were not lost, but rather temporarily delayed. You could even attribute our distraction to the big blowup tents, or the Girls Gone Wild booth. In any event, we took corrective action to get to the “real” destination.

The main convention hall near the Hilton was crammed full of geeks, nerds, and coroprate heads. Oh yeah, and a few booth babes. We stood in awe of the massive amounts of technology and money which were so quickly, yet adeptly, placed in their respective zones: Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Toshiba, LG, etc. The lights were bright, colorful, and even flashing. What more could you expect from Las Vegas?

We wandered a bit amongst the various global vendors, and marveled at the vastness of their empires – but something was nagging at me. It was all so pretty, yet, it was somehow dead. There was no oomph, thrill, or electricity in the air (despite the abundance of it in all the circuits). Sure, there was a buzz, but it was minimal, on the edge of perception. Something I was vaguely aware of, but yet not solid or real enough to feel tangible.

Slowly but surely, the concept solidified and revealed itself as we walked from booth to booth to booth. By the time we had made one pass through the hall, and ended up by the spinning 103 inch plasmas, the concept was fully formed in my head: this is all the same, just a different name plastered across the bezel. I got it in that moment, how many of these companies are all doing virtually identical work, redundantly copying one another, and the damned inefficiency of all that human effort. I think I physically slumped at the glimmer of that insight.

Upon the realization of this insight, I resolved to not let it disrupt the fun I had intended on having here. I spoke my thoughts to Richard, and while he could appreciate what I said, I don’t think he felt exactly what I did. I inquired about “the good stuff”, and where else we could look at cool tech toys and gadgets. He mentioned the Innovation Hall. My ears perked up. “Innovation?” I queried. With that, we were rolling out to the next destination. Since the convention spanned several hotels and buildings, we hopped on a bus filled mostly with Asian guys to make our way to the Sands.

Once on the premises of the Sands, we rolled a “save vs. getting lost” and were unsuccessful. Now, we did make it close, and so we were only briefly “exploring” the myriad, cave-like halls of that convention center. Upon stumbling across the ingress, we found ourselves in a rather different envrionment. Most notable was the Playboy Playmates toting tasers – right there at the entrance! Needless to say, we skirted that issue. The next thing of note was the size of the booths, small potatoes compared to the indoor complexes of the early morn.

This was where I started to feel something tingle. Here we had booths that were maybe 20 feet square, or upwards of 20 by 50 feet. These were small businesses with big dream – and in today’s connected world, they have a global reach, yet not the global consumerism which touches the other companies I mentioned above. I saw companies which base their entire business model on one or two products. I saw a company which was once one product, and is now at about a dozen or more AND I like what they are doing. I’m talking about Wowee, a company dedicated to making fun, inexpensive robots and cool friggin’ toys. One of the great things I saw was an ornithopter – a dragonfly which flaps its wings to “buzz” through the air. Seeing this little toy (perhaps a foot long, and a wingspan of around 15 inches) flap through the air and actually exhibit some degree of control and direction was definately fun. The energy meter was going up, and I could feel the need to get my geek on.