Yep, it’s one of the best weeks of the year for the geeks and nerds, CES 2015! The Consumer Electronics Expo has plenty of great tech stuff coming out from it, I am very excited about the driverless cars from Audi. And a smartwatch to control your car from Audi, sign me up if I had that money!
But, there are also a few things coming from CES that I believe will not be very popular. The first thing, the new Sony Walkman. Remember the Walkman, the popular hand-held gadget that allowed you to listen to music from a cassette tape, then a CD, and local radio stations. The invention of the Smartphone pretty much phased out the Walkman, and now Sony thinks the Walkman is due for a comeback. Although, with mostly everyone now having a smartphone, who does Sony think will buy the new Walkman? Parents to give to their kids?
The new Walkman ZX2 from Sony is designed for those who loves the sound of music. It comes with customizable sound controls, and apps. But the price is $1,200, yes $1,200! Plus it is also running an old version of Android called 4.2 Jelly Bean. Again, who wants to pay $1,200 for a listening device you can already enjoy today on your smartphone? Well, I think the new Walkman is going to stumble right out of the gate. If you want a look at it, take a look at this video from The Verge.
And let’s talk about another device that I think will get harder and harder to use, thanks to the cable companies. Dish Network unveiled Sling TV, which will offer channels from Scripps Networks, Turner, and Disney for only $20 a month, and all channels will be received from an internet connection, and there is the kicker. Because cable companies have begun to crack down on those who stream a lot on the internet every month. For example, Cable One here in Anniston has a streaming limit of 300GB each month. And if you stream everything on Netflix, or the new Sling TV, you will go over that limit quickly and get a lot of overcharge fees!
Sure, getting your ESPN, CNN, and other popular channels for only $20 a month is a great deal! But with Cable One’s internet streaming limit, you will be paying a lot of overcharge fees. And it’s not just Cable One, other cable companies are getting into the internet bandwidth cap game. The reason, they realize more and more people are cutting the cord, and they are losing income. Look, I am happy to see alternatives to those pricey cable bills, that keeps going up. Cable companies and broadcasters must realize that the days of offering hundreds of channels many people don’t watch are over! And if you want to survive, give what the people want, the power to pick the channels they want to watch!
Making the cable bundle more convenient and appealing to young people is great. I have always said that you can kill off 1/3rd of all of the cable channels on the air, and no one will miss them. I hope Sling TV becomes a game changer in the cable channel world, but it will also take the cable companies like Cable One to realize that internet caps are not the future! Unless you want all of the Millennials to not subscribe to you. And if you were wondering, how much is 300GB a month? A family with five Internet-connected devices (computers, tablets, smartphones, etc.) that streams 16 two-hour HD movies and 20 hour-long TV shows; visits 100 websites; and listens to 40 hours of streaming music uses 310GB per month.
Learn more about Sling TV at: http://www.sling.com/
Learn more by watching the videos below.
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