Anand Bhatt's READY FOR THE RED CARPET Blog

 
Read the Full Article HERE: https://redcarpetblog.certaire.com/cool-computer-monitors-and-why-were-suddenly-thinking-about-them/
 
 

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is going on right now, and like in previous years, Chinese innovations garner a great deal of attention. However, due to Donald Trump's "One China" categorizations, bullet points in his trade plan, and today's Twitter War between Trump and China (via Xinhua) the status of Chinese products in the American marketis up for speculation. Will goods still be cheap? American's have become accustomed to low cost tech products imported from China, and the atmostphere on the CES show floor is palpable.
 


Trump's trade plan has 3 points which challenge the current ease of Chinese distribution in the United States:
* Instruct the Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator.
* Instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO. China's unfair subsidy behavior is prohibited by the terms of its entrance to the WTO.
* Use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes if China does not stop its illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets - including the application of tariffs consistent with Section 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Trump even seems to be lumping Taiwan into this plan as part of "One China" which has angered some Chinese officials. Up until now, China has remained mostly silent about these challenges, however today Xinhua states ""The obsession with 'Twitter diplomacy' is undesirable." Late Monday, Trump tweeted, "China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!"

How does this affect the CES atmosphere?

There are many promising products that have garnered public attention and demand, but have yet to negotiate U.S. distribution. 2017 may prove to be challenging for these products (In American at least, their global demand may hold out just fine). For example, there is the anti-snore mat from newcomer Somnova who is not only hoping to secure distribution but is fundraising via kickstarter! And Note: They are already at $23k of their $10k goal, a testament to the demand for the product - but will they be able to maintain their pricing model once Trump's plan goes into place?
 
Another example is the InTao Smart Washer who still has yet to secure promising U.S. distribution despite the fact that there currently is no such U.S. brand equivalent (it's a pocket device when thrown into a tub of water, washes clothes anywhere - we don't have those in America). Will this be another technological innovation whose U.S. release is stalled this year?

Another example is the Longhao Computers. Longhao, who makes portable gaming computers and power pc's, has an office in California that they may be able to leverage. The technology involved in putting gaming level power into a small portable device has yet to be optimized by an American based company especially with the low-cost pricing model that Chinese tech is known for - a pricing model that may be coming to an end.
 
 

 
 
The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation Lounge in the Venetian opens soon for this years's Consumer Electronics Show. It'll prove to be a fun lounge with wi-fi and more, next to the media registration desk. A welcomed oasis, especially if my favorite hang out - The Grand Luxe - has their usual 1 hr. wait (hint: they never make me wait8-pI love you Grand Luxe ). So if you spot me there while walking by, I'm usually with Johnny - you can't miss us, long haired indian guy sitting next to the man with the glue-on horns coming out of his head - feel free to hop the fence and sit with us to avoid the line.

We reached out to Kristen Gallerneaux, the communication and information technology curator at The Henry Ford, who identified a correlation between the Google Tilt Brush, one of the this year's Innovation Awards honorees, and the IBM Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair. Kristen is offering tours of the Innovation Awards Exhibit tomorrow and the day after, and we wanted to get her opinion TODAY on how all is going so far!

She says. "As an information and technology curator for The Henry Ford, I am continuously researching the consumer technology landscape and staying abreast of the latest innovations, which CES is great for. Most new innovations are rooted in the technological advancements of the past, and it's my job to make those connections and determine which innovations have staying power. Many of the CES 2017 Innovation Award honorees have interesting connections to innovations of the past."

She adds about the museum, "Our technology collection includes the Apple 1, an early lineage of laptops and cell phones, as well as a variety of games and gaming systems including material recovered from the infamous "Atari Dig," an interesting story wrapped up in consumer trends. The games recovered from the Dig included “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” This dig was by many credited for the demise of the brand. These artifacts can be seen at The Henry Ford in Michigan through museum and private archive tours and are also available to anyone, anywhere, through the digital archives at www.thehenryford.org ."

Awwww yeah! The Atari Dig!! Keep in mind those old E.T. game cartridges were later ebayed for over $100k. Hmmm I wonder what I can get for my current 2600 cartridge collection? I embarrassingly still play them though, so ....