In the run-up to CES, I wrote an article about the cutting-edge technology of CES 2012. It was an interesting exercise for a number of reasons – not least to remember the buzzwords from 10 years ago.
This year, LTE and Ultrabooks were at the top of the list. One had a great run. The other not so much. That said, the strength of the buzz at CES in any given year doesn’t predict longevity. In mid-2012 the stories of the death of the ultrabook began in earnest.
This year the halls of CES may have been pretty deserted, but it looks like you couldn’t walk a few meters without stumbling over the Metaverse. A little more than two months after Facebook was renamed Meta, a little Metsploitation can be expected at a trade fair like CES, where companies are just as invested in a good product as they are in a good product. It’s understandable on a show like this – unless you’re a company like Samsung or Hyundai, for example, it’s hard to stand out. Of course, these two giant brands never met that they didn’t want to know about.
I’ll spare you the details on the smaller companies. This thread is quite a savvy person in the above meta. Honestly, I don’t want to blow up startups because I hope they get a bit of that shine (although, if I’m being honest, “Goart Metaverse” is a phrase that will get stuck in my psyche by the time I get body releases the DMT into my brain in my last moments on earth).
What I’m going to say for sure is that if you didn’t know what a metaverse was before the start of CES, the show didn’t do a particularly good job – aside from the fact that it definitely looks a little bit silly, memojis and memojis probably some VR devices. Indeed, now that I type this, I realize that it is probably as good a description of Metaverse as any other.
Credit: Hyundai
Receiving a press release from Hyundai entitled “Hyundai Motor Shares Vision of New Metamobility Concept, ‘Expanding Human Reach’ through Robotics and the Metaverse at CES 2022” may have pushed me over the edge. Or maybe it was the accompanying video from Boston Dynamics’ spot hanging out on Mars with a bunch of weird Metaverse dolls. It was surreal to see a borderline sci-fi video about sending a real robot to real Mars that was still spinning around the metaverse.
The concept of Hyundai It is interesting to use advanced robots like those from Boston Dynamics as real avatars for our metaversial interactions, but it also shows how much even ostensibly automotive companies are relying on this concept for the future. Samsung meanwhile offers a kind of emergency solution metaverse (betaverse?) Here it was a “virtual showcase” of the company’s goods that at least avoided the very real irony of traveling to Las Vegas to present the metaverse in person.
the Company Notes:
Just imagine: you’ve just got the lifestyle television you’ve always had on your wish-list, household appliances that improve the quality of your life, and the latest stylish smartphone. What if we told you that you can use these innovative products to decorate your home?
It’s an interesting scenario to think about, and it will become a reality once the Metaverse is up and running. Samsung Electronics innovated the Metaverse in a number of ways, creating an option for anyone interested in CES 2022 to experience the event online.
It must be a confusing time to be among the most bullish on the metaverse. Everyone from beauty brands to wearables. It’s hopeful to see such excitement around the concept at the same time, but also frustrating to see what is possibly an emerging metaverse of shit. That is, will the metaverse lose all meaning before there is a metaverse to metaverse? Your metaverse is as good as mine (metaverse).
