CES 2017 - The Shape of Things To Come

The ol' Schmoidster managed to finagle himself a trip to the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year.  It's not really that hard if you don't mind working a booth and spending time in Sin City without actually sinning too much.  With that in mind, I want to thank ZTE USA for having me out there to help and talk about their Axon 7 unlocked phone (a steal at $399).

Because I was working a booth though, it did mean that I was not able to get out and see all of the IoT offerings until the afternoon of the last day of the show.  A time when many of the booths are beginning to shut down, the employees that are left are burnt out and are tired of discussing their stuff.  Many of the presentations that were not at the Las Vegas Convention Center were either already shut down or in process.

The Intel 'Tiny Smart Home' getting packed up

Still, I was able to hit a few booths and come up with a two spins that I doubt that the mainstream media are spending much time on: Market Crowding and Design.

Weaving the Brillo into Android

I'm not sure what winter solstice gifting tradition a computer celebrates, much less a search algorithm or tentacle-like technology company, but whatever it is (maybe, just 'Holiday'?), Google-Alphabet wants Things.

(Image courtesy Google, Inc.)

Last week, they announced the developer preview for Android Things, a (sort of) new OS for the Internet of Things.  It's only 'sort of' because it replaces 'Brillo' which has been around for a year or so.  'Replaces' might be too strong a word as well.  Maybe 'Renamed' or even 'Re-branded'.  Which of course begs the question: "Why?"