OCD For All Things Tech
I forgot that we had a “bunch” of bananas sitting in the fridge that were originally intended to be used with my protein shakes but something about cold, rainy weather compelled me to bake some homemade banana bread…
This weekend’s entrees consisted of sauteed shrimp with kale and ribeye steak cooked medium rare with steamed yellow squash. Absolutely delicious…enjoy!
Due to personal / business obligations, today was my last day at CES. I didn’t feel too bad about leaving early especially since Day 4 is a shortened day and from my experience, most exhibitors are busy packing things up and want to get home ASAP.
Today, I visited the Westgate hotel which hosted all of the new Smart Cities exhibits and automation technology related to it and how it can benefit any community now and in the future. Being that this was a first for CES, it was a good start but I feel that most of us viewing the exhibits couldn’t fully grasp or visualize exactly what that means for a community that opts in to this movement. I’m sure that this will become easier to understand in the years to come.
After the Smart Cities exhibits, I returned to the Central Hall and took a second look at some of the larger exhibits being hosted by the bigger companies namely from Samsung, LG, and Sony. I’m reminded every year at how many different product lines these companies have to offer but their main offerings seem to always be centered on high end TV; they become more and more impressive every year. Too bad that the actual programming available (still only HD and some 4K) doesn’t quite matchup with the actual products themselves as there were so many 8K TV it would make your head spin (in a good way of course!)
I then made my way back to the South Hall to review some items I may have missed namely relating to what I like to call “personalized” technology and contained lots of wearables and accessories for the devices that we keep in close proximity to us on a regular basis. One item that I came across was an external flash drive that can be hooked up to my iPhone and my computer for the purpose of storing, backing up, and saving all of my videos and pictures. Boy, I wish I would have come across them on Day 1 as I was always dealing with freeing up space on my iPhone and iPad as I was shooting video and taking pictures of all the scenes at CES. Nevertheless, after an impressive demo that showed how I could do all of my intended tasks and never have to touch the storage on my iPhone, I decided to purchase this device containing the highest possible capacity (256GB!) for only $130 (sale price at CES, normally $150).
After my purchase, I thought what better place to put my expanded storage to the test than to head back to the Sands Expo and walk through Eureka Park. I was able to do a 30 minute walk through and was very impressed with the results. Perhaps, I’ll post the video and have everyone take a look for themselves. Overall, it was an awesome three days at CES! It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year will play out from a technology perspective and see how the trends and products will evolve…See you next year!
So Day 1 of CES 2019 is in the books. Just to recap, the drive to Las Vegas was very smooth giving me ample time to get settled in before heading to the Las Vegas Convention Center for the opening of the exhibits at 10am.
I spent the first three hours in the South Hall which to my surprise had lots of neat hardware available namely in the form of cloud storage devices, server equipment, and lots of different types of drones.
After a short lunch break, I was able to attend a couple of keynote addresses into the afternoon which centered on the growing cyber security threat facing today’s world. It was a very informative panel discussion with the main points being 1) we are ill prepared to handle the potential threats posed by the many gadgets that can now be connected to a home or business network and 2) there is an alarming labor shortage in the field of cyber security which has led to a potential shortfall of over 1 million (!) workers. If you or someone you know wants to get their foot in the door of the IT industry, it’s safe to say that the easiest way to get in is to specialize in cyber security.
After the keynotes, I spent the remainder of my day (until the closing of the exhibits at 6pm) in the North and Central Halls which had lots of big name vendors such as Samsung, LG, Qualcomm, Sony, and Intel displaying and debuting their latest offerings. I was amazed at how lots of auto manufacturers (i.e. Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, etc.) and accessory companies (i.e. Pioneer, Diamond Audio, Kenwood, Powerbass, etc.) literally had the biggest presence I’ve seen since I started attending CES many years ago. It goes without saying that technology in our vehicles is a major focus in the competition for new auto buyers.
Tomorrow, I plan on heading to the Sands Convention Center and the Venetian hotel which looks to have some more promising exhibits and keynote addresses. Until then, time for my feet to rest and onward to day 2…
One of the best ways to prepare Turkeys is to use cooking bags although many have told me that the #1 way to cook a Turkey is to deep fry it! Perhaps one day I’ll make the investment on a deep fryer but in the meantime…the cooking bags will do!
So it looks like I got the cooking bug again. I had been meaning to prepare the duck I had stowed away in my freezer for sometime. After thawing out the night before and marinating with sea salt, black pepper, olive oil, fresh garlic, and onion while proceed to bake in the oven at 375º F for 2 hours and 15 minutes…the final result was a beauty!
And since my wife doesn’t care for duck, my cast iron skillet didn’t get the night off and had to help whip up a nice piece of New York Steak rubbed with assorted ground pepper, sea salt, and chili flakes cooked medium rare. Happy Friday!
