2012 Consumer Electronics Show

Ford EVOS-  Electric Concept Car

Earlier this month I was given the opportunity to go to the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES for short) in Las Vegas.  For those of you who are not familiar, the CES is the show where most of the big name brands roll out their new technologies and updated models of their product suites.  It is the show where you can glimpse into next generation technologies and find trends in mainstream consumer products.  It is the show where everything from $10 headphones to $10,000 personal home servers are on display for all to see.  It is quite simply THE Show.

It is the largest convention of the year in Vegas.  There are nearly 2500 companies presenting, over 15 miles of booths and aisle ways, in 5 huge convention halls.  It over runs the entire Las Vegas convention center and spills over in to The Venitian and The Las Vegas Hilton.  Throughout the whole town surly yet appreciative cabbies line up by what seems like the hundreds just to move the 159,000 industry affiliated attendees from place to place.  Maybe next year they will invent teleportation, but as it stands now it is a huge mangled mess of droves, flocks, and gaggles of people.  All bustling about to see "the next big thing".

The difficulties associated with attempting to take it all in are fairly obvious.  There is simply too much to see in 4 days.  And I am sure there are some fascinating stuff that I just wandered by in a mid-afternoon daze of over-stimulation and malnourishment.  But I will do my best to cover some of the highlights and give you a few thoughts.  First off, some mechanical issues, the CES is simply too large to cover in one blog post, so I am going to cut it up in to a couple different bite sized entries.  Second, I am not an industry technician, so I don't have all the specs, requirements, and analysis of "This" vs "That".  What I do have is a four day experience seeing myriad competing technologies and thoughts and observations of what I saw.   So, without further ado...  Let's get to it!

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Arrested Development Returning for a 4th Season

In case you have fallen in a "Sudden Valley", or are forced to live in an attic since your escape from prison and the Polymouth is your only source for current events, do we have good news for you!  Arrested Development, AKA the funniest sit-com of all time, is returning for a truncated 4th season to set up the long awaited feature film.  They are expecting a 10 episode mini-season catching fans up on "The Lost Years" since the premature cancelation of the cult classic.  This is all hearsay and rumor, but here are some links to some sites that seem pretty certain, including some tweets from the cast confirming reports.

http://bluthfamilyreunion.com/41/arrested-development-to-return-for-4th-season/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/arrested-development-will-return-with-new-episodes-and-the-movie/2011/10/02/gIQAMszQGL_blog.html

http://news.yahoo.com/arrested-development-announces-4th-season-movie-230333253.html



We're gonna get "Hop-Ons"...

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The End of an Era (Many of TVs Best Shows are Nearing Their Finale)

***SPOILER ALERT*** (see bottom of page)

There are few things filled with more disappointment and anticipation than when a popular TV show decides to call it quits.  After all, fans nearly regard the characters of their favorite shows as friends and family.  Successful shows often run for the better part of a decade, and they become ingrained in our lives and daily routines.  Finales in particular are able to gather crowds, the M*A*S*H finale is still the most watched broadcast in American history (of course M*A*S*H wasn't only well done and incredibly popular, but it had the advantage of limited competition because few homes had cable at that point, and the big 3 networks still ruled the day).  Everyone wants to know "how it ends", whatever "it" might be.  Finales can create quite a buzz, Seinfeld, The Sopranos, and Lost all made big news and water cooler chatter when they came to their end.  There is usually a big finally every few years or so, and there is a built up to the main event.  But this year there is an inordinate number of fan favorites and critically acclaimed programs that are winding down.

For some reason 2011 will be the end point for 4 shows that in one way or another have shaped television and pop culture over their run.  This summer is the last season for The Closer, Weeds, Rescue Me, and Entourage.  DVRs across America are going to have plenty of free space with these massively popular shows leaving a huge vacuum behind.

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