At the Electronics Show
04/01/20 04:08
Technically, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) doesn’t start until after Epiphany. The official dates of the show are January 7 - 10, 2020. But technology reporters and others who are interested in the latest cutting-edge electronic gadgets are already descending on Las Vegas for what is one of the nation’s largest shows of electronics.Hot topics for the show this year include 5G cell phones, digital health, privacy, smarter home, and something known by its acronym I0T, the Internet of Things.
I won’t be going to CES. I’ve never attended the show. I am not concerned about being left behind. We have so many electronic gadgets in our home that there is no particular need for more. One of the gadgets that I read about in a preview of the how is a counter-top dishwasher that is designed to hold just two place sets. Since there are only two people living in our home, we often do not use our dishwasher. I’m the main dishwasher in our house. Trust me, I can wash two place settings in the skink, have them dried and put away in less time and with less effort than loading them into a machine. There will be plenty of machines on display at the show that don’t add anything to the quality of life for people.
Smart speakers are considered to be “yesterday’s news” at the show. It is generally assumed that anyone who wants one already has one. You can give voice commands to the device and the device can “learn” your preferences. It also collects data about you in the process. We don’t have one and I don’t want one. I find it to be a bit creepy to think of a device that is always listening to me. The “Siri” in my phone already occasionally will say “I didn’t catch that” when I had no intention of using the service. It creeps me out to think that my phone is spying on me. I’m definitely not a customer for Kohler’s Moxie showered that integrates an Alexa-enabled speakers and microphone. I prefer to take my showers in private, thank you very much.
Hot in the show are applications focused on health and fitness. I have a little bit of interest in such things. After my wife’s scare with AFib and her reactions to some of the medicines used to treat the condition, we decided to buy smart watches for each other for Christmas. Actually, we got them at the beginning of November, well in advance of the holiday, because that is when she was recovering sufficiently for the device to give us some reassurance. The watches can monitor heartbeat and take a rudimentary ECG that can detect signs of AFib. Since we both have some heart rhythm issues, it seemed like a good way to reassure ourselves that things are going well and reduce worry. The watches also have fitness monitors that keep track of how much we exercise, how much overall movement we make, how many steps we take, what distance we walk, and how often we stand for at least part of an hour. The application also sets goals for us. We’ve sort of become addicted to checking our “fitness rings” multiple times per day, and we’ve ben known to adjust our schedules to make sure that we get the rings closed each day.
Before I go farther, an aside: I turned 25 in 1978. We didn’t own a computer for about 7 more years. We had a manual typewriter. I’ve been continuously employed and have worked as a pastor ever since. When I was 25 I wasn’t capable of imagining how technology would impact my life and work. I turned 45 in 1998. By then we owned a computer and used computers in our everyday work life. I still wasn’t capable of imagining at that time how our church would have a seamless Wi-Fi network and a series of remotely-accessible cameras throughout the building. There is a lot of tech that has developed that I didn’t see coming. More importantly, when I was 25 I couldn’t imagine what it would feel to be me at this point in my life. A 25-year-old can’t sense what it is like to be 65 years old. The same is true for a 45 year old. And I’m sure that now, as I face my 67th birthday I can’t imagine what it will b like to be 85. However, I’m pretty sure that I have less physical stamina now than I did at 25. I’m thinking that the primary engineers who designed our smart watches are likely between the ages of 25 and 45. They designed the watches and applications around what they know. I’m sure that they had baby boomers in mind as customers for their devices and applications, but they also built their own experiences into the watches.
Trust me, the fitness application on my smart watch wasn’t designed by a 67-year-old. I don’t want to become a slave to my watch, but I admit that the fitness rings have motivated me to do things I didn’t used to do. For example, I’ve returned home aver a 12 hour day and spent a half hour on the rowing machine or an equal amount of time going up and down staircases in our home or going for a late night walk around the neighborhood just to get those rings closed before I go to sleep. I didn’t used to do that. My problem is that each time I complete a week of fitness goals the devise sets goals for the next week that exceed the previous week’s goals. The assumption behind the program is that I will become more and more fit and more and more able to meet goals. That is pretty much 25-year-old thinking. It might have been true of me 40 years ago, but I’m her to tell you that my future is not one of becoming more and more fit. I will continue to age. I can’t work as hard as I once was able. I need more sleep than used to be the case.
So I’m skipping CES again this year. I don’t need any new devices. At my age it takes a few years to get used to a piece of technology. And I no longer believe in a world where growth and consumption are without limits.
I won’t be going to CES. I’ve never attended the show. I am not concerned about being left behind. We have so many electronic gadgets in our home that there is no particular need for more. One of the gadgets that I read about in a preview of the how is a counter-top dishwasher that is designed to hold just two place sets. Since there are only two people living in our home, we often do not use our dishwasher. I’m the main dishwasher in our house. Trust me, I can wash two place settings in the skink, have them dried and put away in less time and with less effort than loading them into a machine. There will be plenty of machines on display at the show that don’t add anything to the quality of life for people.
Smart speakers are considered to be “yesterday’s news” at the show. It is generally assumed that anyone who wants one already has one. You can give voice commands to the device and the device can “learn” your preferences. It also collects data about you in the process. We don’t have one and I don’t want one. I find it to be a bit creepy to think of a device that is always listening to me. The “Siri” in my phone already occasionally will say “I didn’t catch that” when I had no intention of using the service. It creeps me out to think that my phone is spying on me. I’m definitely not a customer for Kohler’s Moxie showered that integrates an Alexa-enabled speakers and microphone. I prefer to take my showers in private, thank you very much.
Hot in the show are applications focused on health and fitness. I have a little bit of interest in such things. After my wife’s scare with AFib and her reactions to some of the medicines used to treat the condition, we decided to buy smart watches for each other for Christmas. Actually, we got them at the beginning of November, well in advance of the holiday, because that is when she was recovering sufficiently for the device to give us some reassurance. The watches can monitor heartbeat and take a rudimentary ECG that can detect signs of AFib. Since we both have some heart rhythm issues, it seemed like a good way to reassure ourselves that things are going well and reduce worry. The watches also have fitness monitors that keep track of how much we exercise, how much overall movement we make, how many steps we take, what distance we walk, and how often we stand for at least part of an hour. The application also sets goals for us. We’ve sort of become addicted to checking our “fitness rings” multiple times per day, and we’ve ben known to adjust our schedules to make sure that we get the rings closed each day.
Before I go farther, an aside: I turned 25 in 1978. We didn’t own a computer for about 7 more years. We had a manual typewriter. I’ve been continuously employed and have worked as a pastor ever since. When I was 25 I wasn’t capable of imagining how technology would impact my life and work. I turned 45 in 1998. By then we owned a computer and used computers in our everyday work life. I still wasn’t capable of imagining at that time how our church would have a seamless Wi-Fi network and a series of remotely-accessible cameras throughout the building. There is a lot of tech that has developed that I didn’t see coming. More importantly, when I was 25 I couldn’t imagine what it would feel to be me at this point in my life. A 25-year-old can’t sense what it is like to be 65 years old. The same is true for a 45 year old. And I’m sure that now, as I face my 67th birthday I can’t imagine what it will b like to be 85. However, I’m pretty sure that I have less physical stamina now than I did at 25. I’m thinking that the primary engineers who designed our smart watches are likely between the ages of 25 and 45. They designed the watches and applications around what they know. I’m sure that they had baby boomers in mind as customers for their devices and applications, but they also built their own experiences into the watches.
Trust me, the fitness application on my smart watch wasn’t designed by a 67-year-old. I don’t want to become a slave to my watch, but I admit that the fitness rings have motivated me to do things I didn’t used to do. For example, I’ve returned home aver a 12 hour day and spent a half hour on the rowing machine or an equal amount of time going up and down staircases in our home or going for a late night walk around the neighborhood just to get those rings closed before I go to sleep. I didn’t used to do that. My problem is that each time I complete a week of fitness goals the devise sets goals for the next week that exceed the previous week’s goals. The assumption behind the program is that I will become more and more fit and more and more able to meet goals. That is pretty much 25-year-old thinking. It might have been true of me 40 years ago, but I’m her to tell you that my future is not one of becoming more and more fit. I will continue to age. I can’t work as hard as I once was able. I need more sleep than used to be the case.
So I’m skipping CES again this year. I don’t need any new devices. At my age it takes a few years to get used to a piece of technology. And I no longer believe in a world where growth and consumption are without limits.
