OMG - I just met Jimmy Fallon
By Bonnie Optekman, NBC News
OMG - I just met Jimmy Fallon! He may be the NICEST person on the PLANET. I don't get too star struck being in this business but he is an exception. And he is exceptional.
Ok - on to why I'm here.
"But Cap'n, there isn't enough power!" Remember Scotty from Star Trek saying that to Captain Kirk whenever he was asked to make the Enterprise do more? Well, that came to me during all three of the sessions I went to today.
Wait, I'm way ahead of myself. Let me briefly bring you up to date on my travels thus far. Wed, my 10am flight from JFK to Vegas was delayed by FIVE hours. There was, as the pilot described, a "ding" in the aircraft that had to be repaired before they'd let him fly. So 12 hours later I arrived in a "dingless" plane, checked into Caesar's Palace, dragged myself to my room to find it wasn't ready yet. But a gorgeous room it was so I put down my bags (carry-on! i was so proud of myself), changed my blouse, let the housekeeper get back to work and wandered down to the lobby. Deciding to carpe diem, I walked over to the Bette Midler theatre and they had tix for the show starting in 10 minutes. How spontaneous of me! Expensive but better spent than left on the tables. One magarita and a quesadilla later at Mesa Grill, I finally called it a day/night. This morning told me I should've skipped the former.
General impressions - only slightly less crowded this year but the exhibits just as overwhelming. Haven't had time to do much exploring but I did pass Motorola where they were showing off their Moto bluetooth earpiece and since there's about a 10 minute window when I actually own something before it's obsolete I couldn't resist. They had some other cool stuff like portable music speakers, interactive TVs and 4G devices but no handouts, pamphlets or literature of any kind. Interesting. Wonder if they're just not here yet or that's a cost saving measure. LG has a really cool "skycharger" powered by the sun and wind outside where you can put your cellphone in a locker and pick it up fully charged. Box lunch in the press room not bad. Vegetable quesadilla, chips, apple, Oreos.
But back to where I started. Went to 3 "super sessions" What Will They Think of Next? Consumer Technology in 2025 first. And, by the way, that's way too long to forecast. All the predictions focused on 3 to 5 years if not sooner. Everyone on the panel agreed on the following -- simplicity, power, bringing the Third World up to speed. Simplicity - think iPod, Wii, Flip. And no tangle of wires. And easy interactivity. Power - people are going to want all functions available on all devices and choose the one they want to use based on what they're doing and where they're going - form as well as function. So even the handhelds will need reliable and long lasting power. Next came Wireless Meets Consumer Electronics: The Fundamental Shift to Mobility - interestingly, the first wireless supersession at a CES. The entire panel agreed that 2008 was the year of wireless and now companies have to deliver the goods and that within 3-5 years all consumer devices will have at least part of their designs be wireless. Wireless was defined as freedom - and here comes that power discussion again - from wires as well as location. And that leads to the other theme I'm hearing - the cloud, which was the subject of my favorite session - CNET's Next Big Thing-Living in the Cloud-Devices, Services & Bandwidth.
Ok, my time is coming to a close. More later. I haven't plugged yet! Follow me on Twitter @boptekman. And sign up for some of our text alerts. Text to 622639 one or more of the following: NN (for Nightly), MTP (Meet The Press), FIRST (First Read), JOE (Morning Joe), HB (Hardball). Or BUZZ to 46833 for entertainment.
