Samsung CES Keynote Focused on Vision, But Was Blurry

Anticipation was high Samsung has been teasing some type of AI called quotNeonquot for weeks It would be something completely new as the company said it wasn39t an upgrade of its quotAlexalikequot AI Bixby Perhaps the focus would be on its threequarters bezelless TV set Pure screen except a tiny little bezel running across the bottom I knew it was unlikely to be the Samsung Galaxy 11 which the company usually previews around Mobile World Congress Note Samsung actually did release a new phone the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite at CES that is getting rave reviews but no mention of it at the keynoteSamsung chose to focus the keynote on people amp8212 declaring it to be quotthe Age of Experiencequot amp8212 versus their products I can appreciate the focus on people especially in light of the current technologydata backlash but this is CES You have the world39s attention via live streaming and press Yes you had an official press conference prior to the keynote and keynotes should be somewhat visionary and inspirational but you have products to talk about And the product that Samsung focused on was a decapitated BB8like robot called quotBalliequotFor a few minutes I seriously thought this was a Saturday Night Live skit Ballie is a ballshaped robot embedded with AI and a camera that can follow you at a safe distance and take a selfie Given the time that Samsung spent on explaining that we are no longer pet owners but pet parents I imagine Ballie is meant to be the quotnannycamquot for your dog or catSamsung is also marketing Ballie as a way to keep an eye on your aging parents OK I kind of abide by that but if Ballie runs out of juice I can also see my dad amp8212 who has very little knee left amp8212 tripping right over BallieNow here39s what you need to keep in mind Ballie is not a conceptual product amp8212 it is the product that they chose to spotlight at CES in the premier keynoteThen things got even more bizarre We were treated via video to a vision of a smart home where the home thinks and anticipates your needs via all the devices in a Samsung ecosystem I kind of dug the idea of the addition of a biosphere to a refrigerator allowing a vertical panel of your fridge to actually grow fresh herbs I39m 99 percent sure this is just a concept but I39ll see on the show floorAnother part of the concept video of the future home was a pair of robotic arms coming down from the ceiling onto your kitchen island preparing your meal All I could think about with this livinghome concept was this is how I am going to die My kitchen will realize that I39m the one who eats all the Talenti and one day AI will decide that as I clearly don39t respect the AIs effort to keep me healthy and in shape I could be a threat to its mission prompting those robotic arms to reach down and strangle the life out of meYes there39s moreamp8230Last year Samsung introduced healthcare product GEMS Gait Enhancing and Motivating System an exoskeleton designed to give support and balance via AI to people with mobility issues I absolutely see the health benefits of this product for example I can see it helping with my dad39s aforementioned kneesSo during the keynote Samsung has a fitness model outfitted with the exoskeleton and Samsung AR glasses work out with the help of a virtual fitness trainer WTF Samsung has AR glasses That39s huge news Apple is still a year or two away from that and I just saw Samsung39s huge leap towards perfecting this technology as a throwaway piece in a cheesy trade show bit about GEMS I am going to stalk down those AR glasses today but this perhaps could be absolutely gamechanging for the XR world Yet the focus was the exoskeleton that no one who wouldn39t need one aside from health reasons will ever work out inThere were a couple of interesting moments of the presentation Samsung in partnership with Kaiser Permanente has created an appbased platform to allow postcardiac patients to rehab at home which has the potential to save and extend many lives Samsung Next showed its vision of a smart city ecosystem to deal with logistical overpopulation challenges as megacities cities with a population of more than 10 million are set to grow dramatically over the next decade The company also highlighted a progressive partnership with USbased Greystar Real Estate a large global real estate developer to create smart residential buildings that are fully integrated with Samsung technologyLastly HyunSuk Kim returned to the stage and spent a few minutes reiterating Samsung39s commitment to data protection and privacy The company is moving most of app processing away from the cloud stating that Samsung will never sell data to third parties without quotprior and direct consent from you We39ll stand by this promisequot Kim announced that to go further to protect data the foundations of Samsung39s efforts will be ondevice AI EDGE computing and blockchainGenerally in a year when you don39t have much to say and are given the opportunity to present a keynote you may come up with a broad quotvisionquot message and a more aspirational presentation I just believe that Samsung had more than enough to wow the crowd with productwise that it could have toned down the vision thing While I may not love the quotBalliequot brand I do think there is likely some extraordinary technology embedded into it But as a showpiece for a CES keynote it bounced right off the goalpostsBut Wait That39s Not Allamp8230Oh yeah remember that whole Neon thing I mentioned earlier The one that Samsung has been teasing for weeks that wasn39t mentioned once Well the company did finally release information about it They are digital video avatar chatbots that can learn people39s preferences and respond to their questions in a quothumanquot way Imagine giving Alexa or Siri a hyperrealistic human body Samsung believes that these Neons may be licensed by companies to be fitness instructors yoga instructors TV anchors salespeople movie actors and other roles previously done by humans I39m going to go watch WallE nowPhoto courtesy of CESClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Samsung CES Keynote Focused on Vision, But Was Blurry

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Jeff Minsky

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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Samsung CES Keynote Focused on Vision, But Was Blurry

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Jeff Minsky

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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