The Revolution Will Not Be Digitized : The Scene

The Sin in Sin City ... and the Low-Brow in High-Def

Brian Braiker — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:12:02 GMT

Today in breaking Vegas news: the Adult Entertainment Expo has kicked off in earnest, if you can use that word to describe anything the adult industry does. The porn show and the gadget show usually occur concurrently, planets in parallel orbit, peeking at each other from a safe distance. The vast majority of CES's show space is at the Las Vegas Convention Center. But there is a fairly large number of exhibitors located a quick bus ride across town at the Sands Hotel. As it happens, the Adult Expo is also being held at the Sands hotel this year--and by a delicious twist of fate, about 100 yards away from the "Sandbox Summit" for child-friendly technology. Ah, Vegas, you saucy minx of a party hostess you.

In the interest of, uh, hard news, I finagled myself an Adult Expo press pass and sauntered around the exhibition space (and boy howdy, do these people ever live up to their status as official "exhibitors"). Now this is a family CES blog, so I am going to really try to keep things relevant here. As I sauntered around the floor, failing utterly to not look completely awkward, I saw just as many flat screen TVs on display as there are scattered about CES. And, weirdly, I kept noticing signs for HD-DVD. Two thoughts instantly occurred to me:

1. I wonder if Warner Bros.'s recent decision to go with Blu-ray is going to have ripples through the porn world. And ...
2. High-definition porn? Eeeew.

A year ago, some media folks were inclined to think that porn was going to be the deciding factor in the high-def format wars. This, of course, assumed the industry was as big--and therefore as influential--as it claims to be, which it probably isn't. (When VHS beat Betamax as the dominant home video tape format, one theory was that Betamax lost because porn cast the deciding vote for VHS--also probably not true.)

Now that Warner Bros. has chosen sides in the latest format war, it seems likely that Blu-ray will emerge the dominant technology. But here in the Hustler booth is a big HD-DVD sign. I asked Drew Rosenfeld, Hustler Video Group's creative director, if he now regretted having apparently cast his lot with HD. "At this point, we're thinking of shifting gears and going completely Blu-ray," he says. The industry has been reluctant to fully embrace Blu-ray, he says, because it's more difficult and expensive to replicate (that is, to put the content onto disc). Hustler has so far released one DVD on the format, he says, and they've had to have the discs replicated in Taiwan--a hotbed of piracy, which is a massive scourge on the industry. He anticipates releasing "a full range of Blu-ray products" by mid-year.

Bruce Whitney at Adam & Eve Pictures says his company has been slow to jump into the high definition market precisely because there wasn't yet a single dominant format. "We've been unsure how the high-definition market is going to work out," he says. The company, which also had a few HD-DVD logos up in its booth, has released four titles on HD-DVD and none on Blu-ray (the first Blu-ray release won't come before May, says Whitney).

In this way, Adam & Eve is part of a broader industry trend, says Justin Bourne, an associate editor at Adult Video News, the trade publication that sponsors the Expo. "I think, just to be safe, the industry is going both ways," he says with no trace of irony. "[Warner Bros.] will have an effect, but I don't think it's going to happen for a while."

The old aphorism is that porn peddlers are the earliest of high tech adopters (also seen at the Expo: a vibrator that plugs into your iPod and buzzes in rhythm). But this time around the adult industry needs to take the same wait-and-see approach the rest of us do. Fortunately for them they know a thing or two about staying power.

Provoqative

Brian Braiker — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:56:11 GMT

"We believe the future of automobiles is bright and electronic." So said GM CEO Rick Wagoner last night at his keynote address, the first such speech delivered by a Detroit chief at CES. To prove his point, he unveiled its new hydrogen-powered Cadillac Provoq--certainly one of the biggest pieces of hardware to debut in Vegas this week. Good thing there are so many hydrogen refueling stations in this country! Oh, wait ...

Like the Chevy Volt, the Provoq would run on GM's new "E-Flex" architecture. It won't be ready for several years, but the Provoq, with its fuel cell stacks and lithium ion battery pack, is certainly an exciting prospect as fuel prices hover at the $100-per-barrel mark. It could also be the first zero-emission luxury car, running up to about 100 mph and emitting only water vapor. And yet. What Wagoner neglected to mention is that hydrogen fuel is made by reforming natural gas, a process which releases CO². Not so efficient ... or, for that matter, green.

Vegas is Funny

Brian Braiker — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:50:42 GMT

So I'm staying in the Las Vegas Hilton, which is directly across the street from the convention center. To get from my 7th-floor far-east-wing room to the center of the action, I only have to walk 12 miles. You see a lot of stuff on that journey--slot machine zombies, frozen in time; some fairly righteous facial hair; despair. By far the most excellent thing I've noticed so far is the Las Vegas Hilton Barry Manilow gift shop.

The Hilton, of course, is where Fat Elvis performed 837 consecutive sold-out shows, performing before a cumulative 2.5 million people. The Vegas Hilton is the site of greatness! The King's castle!

And now, well, there's this:

Yes, that is a fridge stocked to bursting with Barry brand agua. Refresh. Re-hydrate. Manilow. I don't know about you, but nothing evokes the quenching power of cool, fresh mountain spring water like the He Who Writes the Songs. Drink deep of Manilow, America. Savor his essence. I know I will.

Wookin' Pa Nub

Brian Braiker — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:03:11 GMT

You would think the press room at the Consumer Electronics Show would have some pretty tech-savvy reporters in it. Well, you'd be right. But you'd also be surprised at how dumb they can be.

I was typing an email on one of the eleventy thousand laptops available in the corral and I thought I had properly hit Ctrl-C to copy a chunk of text. When I hit Ctrl-V, something very different popped up on my screen: a personal ad, complete with an email address. Apparently the person who had been on this computer before me had been dabbling in some extracurricular computer time--and neglected to cover her tracks. Unfortunately nothing too scandalous was involved. To wit:

If you had three wishes, what would they be?: 1. Good health for myself and my family. 2. The resources to continue to travel for the rest of my life. 3. A husband and 1-2 kids.

Well, now! As it happens, I am a husband with exactly 1-2 kids. Maybe I should get in touch?

Describe an interest you have that you would truly hope your partner could share with you.: Entertaining. Nothing makes me happier than filling my house with friends, good food, and good drinks. I would want a partner that enjoyed the same.

Oh, maybe not. I hate good food and good drinks. And especially my friends.

Personal ads are boring! Let's see what's going on over at good old dependably sleazy Craigslist. What do you think you get when you navigate on over to the "casual encounters" section and type in the search term "CES"? Let's find out ...

Oh my! Nothing you should be reading at work, that's for sure.

A Reporter’s Day at CES

Steven Levy — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:03:33 GMT

Times approximate

7:00 A.M.: Send report of last night’s Bill Gates keynote to editors.

7:50: Walk out of hotel, get in endless cab line. One cab pulls up five minutes later, two people get in. Valet asks if anyone wants to go to the Convention Center and share the cab. People on line, mostly Japanese convention-goers, are frozen. New York City instincts kicking in, I leap forward.

8:15: Arrive at Convention Center for Sony Pictures Television breakfast. Look at Sony booth while coffee is being set up. Admire the new super-bright OLED TV’s, which, with 11-inch screen and fingernail-thin width, are like cufflinks compared to 150 inches of high-def screen elsewhere on the floor.

8:30: Talk to executive for a very big company that’s on top of the world who used to work for a very big company whose good fortunes have turned rotten. Hear devastating stories about the former company and interesting insights on his current employer. It will probably be the best conversation of the week.

9:30: Sony Presentation for Sony Pictures Television opens with introduction by Vanna White, then has Alex Trebek (looking good after heart attack) chatting with Steve Mosko, head of the division. He introduces a digital service with content in 4-minute bursts, cut out of full-size dramas and Seinfeld episodes. Jerry Seinfeld appears, does 15 minutes of jokes about toiles and commercials--but very funny. Tony Bennett comes out and sings a song.

10:30: Struggle with iPhone to get it to resend file I sent in early morning, which didn’t go through.

11:00: Go to “Industry Insider” speech by Chief Yahoo Jerry Yang. Before he takes the stage there are slides of “fun facts” about Yahoo, all of which have to do with its huge user base, like telling how many times Yahoo users would circle the earth if they were arranged around the equator (three). He shows new mobile software.

Noon: Go to Microsoft press building (a separate structure outside the hall) to interview Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie supposedly over lunch. There are boxed lunches in a waiting area, but I don’t take one, figuring we’ll have food inside. There isn’t. PR person asks if he could tape the interview. I say OK, and take out my own recorder. Brief discussion on how great digital tape recorders are.

12:03 P.M.: My tape recorder stops. Screen says “low battery.”

12:05: Microsoft PR guy has extra batteries, so interview resumes. Discussion of spectrum auction, Microsoft’s impact on consumer electronics, Bill Gates’ departure, and personality of One Laptop Per Child leader Nicholas Negroponte.

1:00: Food outside the interview rooms is gone. I go to press room where there is a long line for the lunches provided reporters. Someone calls out, “There’s only rice and beans.” Go into a room full of computers to do email.

1:10: Internet goes down in press room.

1:20: Walk around some of the 1.7 square feet of exhibition space. Lots of noise and big TVs.

2:00: Take Las Vegas Monorail back to hotel and eat lunch in a facsimile of a Paris bistro under a fake twilight sky.

3:00: Internet in hotel room.

3:20: Get email from a Microsoft PR person. I left my tape recorder on the table there.

4:00: Walk to Venetian Hotel for meeting and press conference. Sidewalks lined with people passing out cards for “Girls Direct to your Room in 20 minutes.”

4:30: Interview Ron Sanders, head of Warner Brothers Home Video, the guy who just stuck a dagger in the heart of the HD-DVD hi-def format fight by announcing that his company--the biggest studio in home video--would support Blu-Ray exclusively. (Previously Warners was the only studio supporting both formats.) He says he was just following the consumer, who is buying Blu-Ray two-to-one.

5:00: Press conference of Blu-Ray consortium, with Sanders and reps from other studios promoting the format, is an hour-long gloat-fest. Old message: We’re better than HD-DVD. New message: Now that format war is over, we must “educate” consumers to buy new players and the more expensive disks.

6:00: Almost get killed crossing the street to the Wynn. Attend ShowStoppers, a show-within-a-show with more than 100 companies presenting new stuff. See an air-guitar variation on Guitar Hero, test a Wi-Fi picture frame, taste beer made from BeerTender, a Krups product that taps a keg of Heineken. Interviewed twice by different people on Podcast Network. Run out of business cards.

8:45: Decision time--there are two parties at the Palms (Intel and Digital Freedom party sponsored by Consumer Electronics Association), and a Sony party at some hotel I’m staying at. Ponder this while waiting in cab line with a friend who’s going to the Palms.

9:30: Get to head of cab line. Decide to go back to hotel.

10:15: Sony “After Hours” party is happily low key, with three-piece acoustic band playing classic rock covers. Talk to a few people--“See anything new?” “Not really”--and get a brew from a bartender, not a BeerTender. Someone asks the band to play “Free Bird.”

11:15: Back to room. Email. Sleep.

Descending into the Rabbit Hole

Brian Braiker — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:31:35 GMT

This place is overwhelming. You've heard the stats, but they bear repeating: 2700+ exhibitors, 1.8 million square feet of floor space, 140,000 attendees, one too many Germans. I've been ambling around for the past couple of hours and I've only seen the bulk of one hall (there are three at the Convention Center alone, not counting the various other CES-related displays and events scattered throughout town). I'm not complaining, really, it's all very shiny and flashy. But you have to feel sorry for the exhibitors—how do you stand out in an environment like this? I saw a photo-editing display set up next to a high-tech sewing machine display. CES: daring to take Bedazzled into the 21st century! Too much ... technology ... having ... seizures. People are trying really hard to differentiate themselves. There are lots and lots of scantily clad and heavily made-up ladies—tech tarts!—who leap out at you and want to know "Are you sick of listening to your voicemail?!" (Not if it's from you, hotpants --Ed.). It all smacks of desperation a little.

By far the best thing I've seen so far was a display that involved a performance by a hip hop trio that called itself The Hip Hop Opera. At first I was skeptical (I was, after all, on my way to track down Chuck D, a true godfather, whose appearance here may be evidence that he is no longer fighting the power. I would later learn he is in the South Hall ... of a different hotel.) The Hip Hop Opera is fronted by a guy who goes by Supernatural and who claims to hold the world record for longest free style rap. A quick search on the Internets bears this out. First he introduces his beat box buddy who does a dazzling display of expectorational pyrotechnics, replete with Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa quotes. It would have made Dough E. Fresh proud. It would have brought tears to Rahzel's eyes. Then Supernatural himself grabbed the mic, encouraging the ever-ballooning audience to pull anything they had had out of their pockets. Dude masterfully incorporated everything into his rhymes for a good 20 minutes: Bluetooth, aluminum trinkets, mirror, keys, a crochet needle. Here he is in action (pardon my Blackberry photo-taking non-abilities):

It was a masterful display and it would have gotten me curious about any product that had his support. The only problem: I have no idea what product he was there to support.

Paying Respect to My Blogfather

N'Gai Croal — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:52:06 GMT

Gawker Media managing editor Noah Robischon (right) in the CES 2008 press room

When I decided to finally take the plunge into blogging in September of 2006, I consulted a handful of friends who work as journalists for their advice. Foremost among them was Gawker Media managing editor Noah Robischon: since he's the James Truman to Nick Denton's Si Newhouse in the Gawker Media blog empire, I thought his counsel would be invaluable as I prepared to embark upon this new endeavor. And even though I flagrantly disregarded his advice on the length of my blog posts (75-150 words or less) and their frequency (12 posts a day), his wealth of knowledge and willingness to share his insights with me prompted me to dub him my Blogfather, a role he's continued to play with unfailing good cheer.

We ran into each other yesterday in the press room before and after CES Unveiled, where he was gathered with the Gizmodo crew (most of whom were wielding MacBook Pros as their weapon of choice) plotting their assault on CES. Robischon introduced us to the team, including Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, who, among other things, was planning his and senior associate editor Jason Chen's "Mission Impossible"-style covert entry to the CES show floor. The Blogfather was kind enough to invite me to the team dinner later Saturday night at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Hotel, where we all exchanged wicked-smart opinions (theirs, of course) about Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, Apple vs. Sony, Microsoft vs. Google, "The Wire" vs. "The Sopranos" and Walt Mossberg/David Pogue vs. the rest of us ~~pikers~~ tech journalists. An informative and tasty close to a merely so-Saturday at CES.

Underwhelmaton: What A Difference A Year Makes For CES Unveiled--And Not For the Better

N'Gai Croal — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:05:56 GMT

The entrance to CES Unveiled at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas

As readers of this blog know, I was very much looking forward last night's CES Unveiled press preview, for reasons both professional and social. The social aspect didn't disappoint, as I was able to reconnect with journalists I already knew (among them, PC Magazine's Brian Bennett and the San Jose Mercury News' Dean Takahashi) and meet some writers whom I only knew from their bylines (like Reuters' Scott Hillis and Fortune's Jon Fortt). Professionally speaking, however, the 2008 edition of CES Unveiled was a bust, a sentiment that was echoed by most of the journalists I compared notes with. Especially when compared to last year's event.

I can usually count on CES Unveiled for five or so products worth mentioning, but after making a leisurely sweep of the crowded room, I found that I'd only bothered to jot down notes on four gadgets and services, of which only two held up to ~~the harsh light of day~~ subsequent Internet research. My guess is that a lot of companies were holding back the good stuff for today's press conferences. But if the CES organizers don't want next year's event to turn into a ghost town, they really ought to prevail upon their members to throw us a bone and show a more interesting lineup.

On the Ground In the City of Sin, Patiently Waiting For CES 2008 To Commence

N'Gai Croal — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:56:17 GMT

Last year, I declared that I had a love-hate relationship with the Consumer Electronics Show, and upon arriving on Friday evening, I felt that same rush of mixed emotions wash over me. I love the fact that I got in so early--the show proper doesn't begin until the 7th--because I was spared the singular pleasure of standing in a 45-minute long taxi line at the airport. But I hate the fact that I'll be in Vegas for an entire week. As much as I love the Strip's kitschy decadence, more than three or four days here is enough to make most people start hating it; it's the travel equivalent of eating too much cotton candy. I love seeing a slew of intriguing new products, but I hate the way everything starts to blur together after awhile, a numbing haze of product numbers, gadget dimensions and other fact sheet minutiae. There's a thin line between love and hate, and CES breaches it every single year...but I wouldn't miss it for the world.

The key to surviving CES as a working journalist for a general interest outlet like Newsweek is to take in the smaller pre-show events, like Digital Experience and ShowStoppers. Since these three-hour events are designed on a much smaller scale than the main monstrosity, exhibitors are forced to focus on a handful of their best products, which helps prevent us pixel-stained wretches from being overwhelmed. There is a wrinkle, however: these events are generally scheduled during the dinner hour. Now, the organizers are kind enough to feed us--and ply us with liquor--but considering that many of us journalists in attendance know each other, the eating, catching up and rumor-mongering aspect of these events can easily overshadow the actual gadget coverage. It's a delicate balance of priorities that must be carefully calibrated every time. Hopefully I'll get it right this year.

The first of these pre-CES events is CES Unveiled, which is put on by the organizers of the Consumer Electronics Show themselves. They give out awards to a number of products that are debuting at the show, and at 4pm local time today, the press will get to see those products and speak with the company reps at CES Unveiled. I've always found this event particularly useful for getting a jump on the week ahead, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. That's it for now, but check back for more of Newsweek's CES 2008 coverage.