The other day, Disney announced its news streaming service Disney Plus which will launch November 12.  Pricing will be $7 a month or $70 for an annual subscription, which most news reports commented how it compares favorably to $13 a month for Netflix's most popular tier.  The company said that they may eventually bundle Disney Plus with other of their services like Hulu and ESPN Plus.  During the first year, they expect to release 25 new series and 10 movies, documentaries and specials.  Overall, the Disney Plus library will have over 7,500 TV episodes and 500 movies.

It seems like a fascinating venture, with some plus and minuses.  On the plus side, Disney has a huge vault they can draw from, and recently bought the film division of 20th Century Fox, and now have that library, too -- which include the Star Wars franchise, the Avenger franchise and all 30 years of The Simpsons.  And among the new productions for the service are a Star Wars spinoff series, The Mandalorian and prequel to Rogue One (for which Diego Luna will reprise his role of Cassian Andor).  There will be a series Marvel Studios series Loki, that stars Tom Hiddleston reprising his role,; and a Pixar series Monsters at Work, that takes off after the events of the  original Monsters Inc. movie.

On the negative side -- or at least left out of most news stories is that the $7 a month is an "initial" price, most likely to get interest and subscriptions, and it seems probably that that will rise, and the cost-difference with Netflix will narrow.  In addition, Netflix has $9 stream plan, as well, which is much closer to Disney's "initial" offering.  And a significantly larger catalog -- 1,569 TV shows and 4,010 movies. (Keep in mind that the "7,500" figure for Disney is episodes, not shows.  If each Netflix TV series only has two years of 22 episodes each -- and keep in mind that old shows often had around 35 episodes a years and most not only ran for more than just two years, with some like Gunsmoke and Bonanza running for decades -- that works out to 70,000 episodes.

But further, it only compares with Netflix and leaves out Amazon.  An Amazon Prime subscription averages out to $10 a month.  And that not only includes a very large catalog, including international TV shows -- but most importantly includes free 2-day shipping on Amazon (and free next-day delivery on orders over $35), along with music streaming, cloud photo storage, Prime Now with free grocery and restaurant delivery within range, and more.

And no one should expect immediately competition with Netflix.  Disney predicts between 60-90 million subscribers in five years -- while Netflix currently has 140 million subscribers. Disney also says it expect so spend $2 billion a year over most of the next five years, while Netflix spends around $12 billion on content a year.

This is not to say that the Disney Plus service isn't intriguing and won't be a success.  In fact, it's very fascinating and seems poised to do well.  But as a complimentary service to Netflix and Amazon Prime, rather than one that can knock them out of the box.  Mainly, it's to say that most coverage of Disney Plus was pretty sketchy in its description of the landscape.

Besides which, who know how that landscape may be drastically changed in five years.

It's been a while, but time for another of my tech columns, The Writers Workbench, that I do for the Writers Guild of America,  As I've noted in the past, since it's a bother to code the code column for this site and it's already coded for the Guild's site, it's SO much easier to just provide the link to it here. 

The format has evolved a bit over the years -- I've been doing the column for maybe 18 years or so.  What I explain in the introduction.is that I'm going to try just covering one product per column -- along with the small "TWW Notes" at the end.  If any columns come along where it's convenient to compare a range of similar products, I'll continue to do that, but I think one product at a time at this point will let me post a few more columns than I've been doing and keeping them more up-to-date than having to wait on companies sending me their latest products when they're finally ready.

Anyway, this month is a a look at an oddly-designed, but very good surge protector, the Powramid, made by the company Accell. which has turned out decidedly odd, but very good products in the past.  You can find the column here.
​

It's done, it's here, and -- yes -- as always, it's very long.

My annual overview of this year's Consumer Electronics Show is finished, and it's now posted online at the Writers Guild of America website.  Because posting it and the myriad of photos requires a lot of coding, I'm just going to link it it there, rather than duplicate all that work here.  Hat's off to Dexter Kim and Kristin Allen at the WGA for the work.  Much appreciated.  You can find the article at this link.

A good amount of the material has been posted here, but by no means most of it.  So, even if you followed the travails that I wrote about every day during the show, the article contains mostly new material -- and hopefully in a structure that gives it all perspective, rather than just my random ramblings around the show floor.

And one other thing I say every year -- and make clear in the article:  it's long.  Not cute long, but "Oh, my God!!!  I can't believe it's this long and the end isn't even in sight!!!" long.  But it's intended to be a look at the breadth of the full show to get a sense of the year ahead in technology, not just notes about the splashy items.  Hey, don't think of it as an interminably long article, but a blessedly short book.  And you don't have to read it all in one sitting.  One caveat though -- if you don't like looooooooong articles, don't read it.  And don't complain to me that it's so long.  I know it is.  I just told you.  And I explained the reason for it.  But for those who do want to know about as much of CES as possible and get an idea of what the tech world looks like for the home, business, health, communications and more, check it out, here.
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Well, I made it back.  Still decompressing a bit, and lots of CES work to catch up on -- in particular, I now have to dive in to all my notes to start writing my annual Really Long overview article about the show.  I always enjoy writing it...but always dread starting -- going through my notes, structuring the piece and tracking down graphics and such.  And knowing how long it will take.  But once I start, it's fairly enjoyable.  At the moment, I'm in the "dread" state.

I did do my laundry though already.  This may not seem like much of a big deal, but after decades having to use laundromats or my building's one machine when others weren't using it, it's really special to have an actual washing machine now in my new home and being able to dump everything in the machine, push Start and ignore it all as I get back to work.  Huzzah.

I also came back to an email scam.  It was a semi-concerning one because of the threat it made and because it used my real email address to send me the threat, saying my email and computer have been hacked, so send money and we'll give you the special code to clear it.

What made it less concerning are a few things.  First, it was address to "Dear Stranger:  You don't know me but I've hacked into..."  and if they had all the personal information they had, they'd likely address me by name.  Second, I got two of these, and one was from an account I set up by never send out new email from or log into accounts with.  So, they couldn't have gotten the information about me the way they said they said, while watching a video online.  And third, the video I supposedly was watching was from an adult site, so this was a form of blackmail, too, saying they'd release it to my friends -- but happily I felt thoroughly comfortable knowing I've never visited an adult site or watched one of their video.  Still, it's disconcerting.

I was assuaged by three reasons.  One, what I noted above.  Two, from an article I found online describing this same in detail.  And three, checking with my computer Big Guru Ed Bott, who quashed it and said he got these things all the time.

If you're interested in the scam and the letter, if only to be prepared in case you get such a scam email (forewarned being forearmed, and all that), click here to read more about it.

​And now, I got back to decompressing...

As CES headed into its second day, I spent most of it in the Central Hall, with a detour to the North Hall.  Once upon a time, I devoted a full day to the impressive and overwhelming Central Hall.  But over time I realized I could get through it far more quickly, and last year I even zipped through faster than I expected.

The Central Hall is where most of the Big Guys live.  Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic, Microsoft and more.  And more and more.  And that you realize after a while they they all pretty much make and sell the same things.  Some a little better, some with a few different bells-and-whistles, some a little less so.  But basically it's differences in degrees.  So, to go into detail about why what one has that's different and better is an exercise in futility.

Especially with TVs.  The TVs there are very impressive. But they're all impressive, even the low-end ones.  And they all have their own jargon to explain why theirs is The Best, but the jargon is meaningless.  Saying that their sets are best because they use Active Nano Differential VM Technology sounds great, and maybe even is.  But the guy next door has his own Best and Greatest Jargon to balance it.  And ultimately, TV choice is very subjective, and the best way to buy one is to ask friends what they have and like, and to go into a store and look at screens to see what most-appeals to you.  There is a new technology that all major companies are offering this year that makes a difference -- it's not actually new at all, but it was always cost-prohibitive in large screens.  That's been resolved, which is why it's now hit the bigtime -- OLED.  It's still more expensive, but presents a seriously impressive image.

That said, as it happens, I actually recently bought a new TV about six weeks ago and did pretty much just that.  One thing I found in comments and writing is that among all the technologies, the one that was most important was something called "Full array."  That allows for deeper colors and separation for more crispness and images to stand out.  In fact, when I went to the store, I had a pretty good idea what I was going to get -- but when I was there, that brand had two sets next to each other:  the one I was going to get with "array" technology, and the next step up that was notably more (though at a great sale price) but had "full array."  And the difference was actually very noticeable.  And seriously impressive.  So I bit the bullet and took the next step up.  Thankfully it was during the holiday season and there was that great sale price.  For the record, I got an LG SK9000, I believe the model was.  (The step below was SK8000, and extremely good.)  By the way, depending on the set-up where you'll be watching is how good a set handles viewing angles -- if you'll be watching head-on, everyone is great.  But some don't handle watching from the side, as well.  LG is not at the high end of angles, but above average.

And 8K sets are being pushed, as well.  But that's borderline pointless.  There almost no native 8K content.  And the human eye can't really, practically differentiative between 4K and 8K.  And 8K is massively expensive, perhaps in the $15,000-20,000 range for a large screen set.

As for TVs, though, I of course spent some time with the folks at the oft-mentioned here Stream TV Networks, who make the seriously-impressive Ultra-D technology for glassless 3D viewing.  As I wrote a few weeks back, they finally made a major announcement of a deal with the manufacturing giant BOE to put the product into production.  So, as you might imagine, they had good spirits all around.  And two things stood out.  The first is the improvements they made even from last year's high-end product, an 8K-Lite set (halfway between 4K and 8K).  With the use of backlighting and an 8K lens, the images pop out even better.  And the second thing is -- because of this, a lot of TV manufacturers are now coming to Stream TV Networks to talk because this gives their own 8K sets a value they didn't have before.  So, we'll see how things go.

A few random observations from the day's wanderings --

In the robot arena, the Samsung Bot division had something they called GEMS, for Gait Enhancing and Motivating System.  This is sort of a leg prosthetic for the elderly with a balance problem or a person with a walking issue that strap on at the hip that helps with walking.

Samsung and Qualcomm both had notable presentations with 5G, though there isn't much to show yet, other than displays with data about how it all works and how great it will be.  Qualcomm had a Mixed Reality (Virtual Reality goggles mixed with real world action) demonstration for 5G that I tried -- cliff diving in Hawaii that was streamed in.  It wasn't overly impressive for the content, but it was SO data heavy that it wouldn't have been able to be transmitted in the current 4G.

Lots of Smart kitchen appliance and Smart washers, dryers, steamers and the like, from most of the big companies.  That's one thing that was noticeable at the show -- service products have gotten very mature, some with Smart capabilities built in (using the Cloud and artificial intelligence) and others that just work more efficiently and conveniently.

It's been a long day wandering the halls, so we'll leave it at that for now.  Tomorrow I'm off to the Eureka Park area at the Sands Convention Center.  These are mostly start-up companies and pavilions from international companies trying to break into the U.S. market.  It's always fascinating and its own kind of madhouse zoo, with companies more crammed together and vying for your attention than even at the main Las Vegas Convention Center.  Some are products incredibly inventive which alas will never see the light of day (either for lack of funding or lack of a market for who will ever buy the thing), but I've seen a few subsequently make it.

And the start of the journey back home -- always done in two parts, stopping part of the way back in Primm at the Nevada state line for a shorter drive back on the last day, so it's still a day more off...

Onward. 

​

It's here at last.  The doors to CES opened today, and the circus has come to town.  

There's a lot that, like always, I won't be writing about.  There's just too much, and so much is in areas that are either so high-tech they're beyond my ken or beyond my interest.  Lots of accessories for all manner of products.  Lots of high-tech home beauty aids.  Lots of health products -- some seriously impressive and important, many meaningless.  (There are always a lot of products for improving your brain.  One test for that is whether you are interested in buying one of these things...)  And a huge amount of home security systems -- just a small list of some I jotted down when passing by were from ADT, interlogix, LifeShield, Ooma, First Alert OneLink, Alarm.com, Brilliant, Safe...and so many more that I haven't written down.

And yes, as I noted, a LOT of robots and artificial intelligence products this year.  Most of the robotic products so far seem to be either on the toy-ish ends, or an attempt to jump in as an early adopter without filling an actual need.  But a few things are interesting, and and in reality the world of robotics far transcends that, and I' eventually got around to some of those.

Just a few examples: robotic arms used in manufacturing.  The Hobot, a Roomba-like product that can clear windows.  The Breadbot, an impressive device for baking bread in stores where fresh bread would be a bonus (like restaurants or grocery stores, not for the deli section but in the bread aisle).  And Horizon Robotics which uses artificial intelligence for face and body recognition in crowd situations.  (While most people viewing this were identified in limited age groups of 10 years or so, I was identified as "Male, 55-100.")  And lots more.

Also, I generally don't write about mobile phones because that field is SO massive, and they're phones, the worst does what you want and does it well.  But this year, there is a change.  The new 5G technologically is industry-changing and just starting to make its presence felt.  The speed is monumentally higher, like 100 times, which not only let you stream and connect world's faster, but it allows other technologies to actually exist, like usage in medical procedures.  So far, Verizon and AT&T have made tiny inroads, but much more is to come.

Also, there are now some foldable mobile phones ( from Samsung) which open their screens to provide larger, more-usable browsers and screens for viewing movies and playing games.  And even a flexible screen from Royale, the Flexi Pai.  This is already in sale in China.  The standable screen is so thin you can literally roll it up.  (Though when part of a phone, there are more limitations.)  While this allows for expanding the screen, it also eliminates concerns of breaking your screen.

For a long time, I've been trying to find a good, easy device that lets you write on paper, which then converts it digitally into a text file.  Some of have been good, and easier to use than others, but still more of a bother than ideal.  The ReMarkable is not this, but in the ballpark.  It's a table that lets you write on and easily manipulate it all into text files and more.  And can be used as an e-reader.  The quality of the device and its e-ink is seriously impressive, and it seemed to work extremely well and fairly simply.  (Although there are so many options -- a good thing -- it can get a little overwhelming, if you let it.)  Without testing it, it seems very good for meetings and students and such.  The one big problem right now is the cost which is $600.  Whether that will come down, since it's a very new product, remains to be seen. 

(In fact, later that night, at the ShowStoppers event, I spoke with someone from the fine Wacom company that has a similar product, the Cintiq, which is mainly for artists.  The person had seen the ReMarkable and said, "It looks really cool, I'd love to get one.")

Speaking of ShowStoppers, they had a good collection of products this year, and a few stood out to me as very clever and well done.  Just a few --

The myCharge Lumen 20K comes from one of my favorite portable charger companies.  It's a small charger holding 20,000 mAh (which is a LOT, enough to charge your phone about seven times) -- but also provides four levels of light, from normal to overwhelmingly bright.  But what's so special is how long it will hold that light -- important for camping or during a blackout.  At the incredibly bright level, it will last for 16 hours!  At the normal light level, it will glow for a stunning 68 hours.  It should be available mid-year.

The Faytch lapscreen is a good-sized, very thin, light portable screen about 12 inches diagonally that connects to your mobile phone.  So, you can use a bigger screen for watching videos, gaming or presentations.  It looks very good, though doesn't come cheap -- $200, or $300 for a touch screen.

I also liked the Jammy Guitar, which is a respectable digital, electric guitar with three modes  (rock, acoustic and classical) that comes apart for easy traveling.  When taken apart, no section of the neck is longer than 17 inches.  You can put your guitar in your carry-on bag.

Lots more.  And more of CES to come...

The Consumer Electronics Show doesn't officially open until 10 AM this morning, but as I've mentioned they've still had a bunch of events, including a few in the evening where a large ballroom is taken over about 100-150 vendors are invited along with press to have a more focused, semi-congenial experience than the morass once CES begins and the circus comes to town.  Last night it was Pepcom's Digitial Experience, which is close in style to ShowStoppers which is tonight.

The two events are very similar (CES Unveiled is, too, though much more barebones), and which is "better" largely depends on which one gets more companies that year that fit what I write about.  It goes back-and-forth.  Companies aside, Showstoppers is better run, so I enjoy the experience more -- Pepcom always has some "theme" which is generally pointless and annoying.  (This year it was football with "Tailgate Technology.")  They also make the aisles smaller, on the assumption that being crowded gives a sense of excitement and urgency -- which all it does is make things more crowded and difficult to get around.  And their food, while tasty, is more basic.  (Hey, it's at dinner time, so these things matter.)  But they get good companioses there, just like ShowStoppers (some years better, some not, as I said), and that's the most important thing.

So far, between CES Unveiled and Pepcom, there's been a good mix of things to see.  Some wonderful, some very odd, and some very good but nothing I'd ever write about.  Lots of beauty care tech products, for instance, and it seems more this year than in the past.  Including more "Smart" mirrors that connect to the Internet to provide information on the mirror, stream music, change lighting and more -- many explaining that they each are the first to do this, even though I've seen them at CES for the past couple of years.  But then, LOTS of companies tell you they are the "World's First" at CES.  Also, lots of products that are high-end techie -- one, from France, creates multi-dimensional imaging of geography to help cities plan development, including underground for plumbing systems.  Very impressive, but nothing I'd ever review...needless-to-say.  Unless I decide to transition into city planning.

Among some of the additional products that have caught my eye -- for good reasons and other.

The Planet Cosmo Communicator is a combination mobile phone and camera that opens up into a pocket computer.  When folded, it's a bit large compared to today's phone market -- perhaps the size of an All-in-One remote control -- but it's an interesting, multi-use device that will retail for around $800 when it's released mid-year.  That may seem high, though consider that a lot of mobile phones sell for that, if not more.

Lumicharge is the updated, second-generation of a very nicely-designed bedside/reading lamp.  It provides updated time-date-weather information on the stem, is very flexible for where the light will focus, has several adjustments for three types of lighting (bright white, soft white, yellow) and a dimmer.  But also there is a wheel that lets you choose which sort of adapter plug to use for charging your phone (micro-USB, Apple Lightning and USB-C) and even a night light.

On the odd end is Moona -- which is a Smart pillow.  Yes, really.  They say that the temperature around a person's head and shoulders most impacts sleep (whether this is true or not, who knows?).  So, you can regulate the temperature the change throughout the night, letting you  (they say...) got to sleep faster, have a deeper sleep and wake up gently.  Me, I suspect one's mattress has more of an impact than a few degrees at your pillow, but perhaps it does help.

Even more odd is Dfree, which is the "first" wearable device for incontinence.  I do suspect this is the first and perhaps only.  But I also think, odd as it is, it is actually useful.  For people who actually do suffer from the condition, what this does is you stick an ultrasound sensor on your abdomen, and it predicts ahead of time when you will need to go to the bathroom, and then send an alert to the app on your cell phone.

There also was the Navatics drone -- but a very different one from those we see flying overhead.  This was for underwater.  So, it's a device you can manually control from afar to take underwater photography.  Quite interesting I think, particularly if you don't care to scuba dive.  But I'm sure it has even more substantive applications, as well.

I mentioned yesterday that I've received email press releases about several pocket translators, and saw one at Sunday's CES Unveiled.  I ran across yet another at Pepcom, this the Pocketalk and had a chance to check it out -- and from my limited look, it worked extremely well.  It quickly translated my English phrases into French -- and my French phrases into English.  And it did so in text and speech.  The device handles 74 languages and retails for $300.

There were a couple of interesting devices that were basic in concept but with some added twists.  The problem is that both -- perhaps they're still in the early stages of release, and prices may eventually drop (though they'd have to plummet) -- are wildly expensive:

One is the Reviver Auto, which is a digital license plate.  It's been approved in California and Arizona, which about 10 more states on the cusp.  (It can be used anywhere, but these are the only states so far where you can register your car with them.)  It allows you to personalize your plate, include messages, and with upgraded apps will allow registering your vehicle and use auto-pay features (and show you've paid).  But right now, it costs between $500-800, depending on which version.  When I asked the head of the company who they've found is buying these, he enthusiastically said said "Everyone from Toyota owners to high-end cars."  As politely as I could, I smiled and said, "Please don't tell me that 'everyone' is willing to spend $500-800 on a license plate."  After a pause, he replied, "Oh, no, I don't mean that, just that we've found that..."

The other Changer from 49101 -- this is a clever wireless, Bluetooth earphone that allows you to separate the cord and use it not only as a charger cord with a power pack, but also connect to another mobile phone and recharge your own phone with it.  I said to the PR person, "So, all you need is this device...and a really, really, really good friend who'll let  you deplete his own phone's power."  The guy smiled and said, "Exactly."  Quips aside, it's great, simple technology.  The problem is that right now it costs $150.  That's for basically earphones and a cable.  The price has to drop drastically, or this will go nowhere.

As for going somewhere, the doors open pretty soon, so I'll finish up some work here and dive into the circus that awaits.  More later...

Last night I went to the CES Unveiled event that the organization puts on itself, filling a huge ballroom with vendors and press members.  (And only a few appetizers. Perhaps I shouldn't have eaten light during the day in anticipation.)  There were some interesting -- and some odd -- products.  But if I had one overridding comment, it would be a suggestion that other friends of mine there said the same thing --

"Dear vendors:  When you have a booth at one of these events...HAVE A POSTER THAT ACTUALLY EXPLAINS WHAT YOUR PRODUCT DOES!!!  Just putting your name on a sign doesn't cut it.  When you are competing for the attention of hundreds of people trying to decide which of the 150-200 other vendors they want to stop and talk to, you have to do something to get their interest!!!!:"

I would say at least a third of the companies there -- perhaps even more -- had nothing to promote their product, just their name.  And when you're reporting on an event like this, with a limited amount of time, and close to 200 companies to choose from, it's stopping to read those posters or standees or whatever the smart vendors have that explain what they're selling that makes a massive difference.  If a company didn't say what they did, I had too little time to waste spending talking to them all, so I just skipped them by.  Same with the other people I talked with.

I see this at such shows all the time, but never as prominently as I did here tonight.  So much so that it was almost weird.

That aside, there were some interesting products being presented, along with some very odd ones.  The tech of the odd ones was impressive, to be clear, it's just that you sometimes scratch your head wondering who they think they'll be selling the product to.

One example.  There was an impressive-looking product from ForwardX called Ovis, which they described as a robot (I told you there would be LOTS of robots at CES this year...), though it really wasn't a robot like we think, but it uses Artificial Intelligence to do its job and "computer vision".  It's a piece of carry-on luggage on rollers that you could use hands-free, since it follows you around.  It doesn't use a chip that you wear and sensor recognizes -- instead, it scans your body and recognizes you.  Very impressive and it got a lot of attention -- but I think it's a terrible idea.  Most importantly, if there is one thing I'd want to absolutely want to keep my hands on, it's my luggage in an airport.  That aside, it follows-behind you, so you have to keep turning around to make sure it's still there, which not only is sort of annoying but a definite hindrance to having a conversation with your party.  Furthermore, pulling a rolling piece of luggage not only isn't very difficult, it's actually extremely easy.

There were indeed a LOT of robots there, and I'm sure the CES show floor will be awash with more.  But I found none terribly interesting yet.  Most were toys for kids.  I've seen more substantive robot products at last year's CES, so they'll likely show up there.

I was intrigued by something from a start-up company called Heatworks.  It's not ready for the market yet, but it creates hot water...without using electricity.  I didn't get the full science of it, but basically is based on graphite plates that serve as electrodes and create electricity when water naturally interacts with it.  They had a demo, and whatever its future holds, it was certainly fascinating.

​Helite had a very clever idea to complement cycling helme ts -- it was a smart airbag for cyclists.  I saw something similar at last year's show for skiiers, so this is sort of a natural progression.  But that was fairly expensive and bulky.  This is very thin to wear, and is reusable.  They demonstrated it (a bike rider rode down the aisle and crashed), and it worked -- the airbag popping open before he hit the ground.  The bag didn't look like it offered a huge amount of protection, though I suspect any protection is a very good thing.

I also saw one example of a kind of fascinating artificial intelligence product that I got about 4-5 different companies sending me emails for their own version.  So, apparently this is a thing this year.  It's an automatic translator.  The WT2 Plus understands 36 languages and operates in three modes:  automatic (which translates your words and the response back in real time), touch mode (where you touch a button when you speak and when you want to hear the reply, in case you're in a noisy environment), and speaker mode.

Lots more, but we'll leave it for there now.  Tomorrow is Pepcom's Digital Experience.  Another event like tonight, but it's usually more focused.  Then the show officially starts on Tuesday, and that night is the third of these events, ShowStoppers.

And that's the news.  Onward into the morass...