I asked three media executives to describe the “coolest products” they saw at the recently completed Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I told them not to limit their answers to products with sports applications. It was no surprise to see the excitement around virtual and augmented reality ideas, which promise to change the way fans watch games at home or in venue.
■ Craig Barry, executive vice president and chief content officer, Turner Sports
“The HTC Vive headset made by Steam now has a wireless application that eliminates all cables without any latency. The opportunity for untethered 360-degree movement creates a much broader landscape for the VR experience.
“Overall, the word of the show is drones. The Yuneec Typhoon was a real player because of its GPS tracking capability, as well as Intel’s RealSense technology for automated collision avoidance.”
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Attendees try out HTC Vive headsets while riding VirZoom bike gaming controllers.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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■ Mike Davies, senior vice president, field operations, Fox Sports
“I left the convention thinking about Panasonic’s Connected Stadium exhibit, where a variety of interesting technology was used to bring the fan closer to the game (as well as make it easier to spend money while watching it). Stadiums are working hard to bring the television experience to the fans at the game. You could see this at Panasonic’s simulated augmented reality VIP suite, where you could use a remote to project any number of interesting data points on a window in front of you, view a variety of cameras, and look up information on the fly.
“Walking down the hall to the (somewhat anemic) virtual and augmented reality section, others were trying to bring the in-person fan experience to the home, too. The convergence of augmented reality both at home and in venue is undeniable as a point of interest for both sides.”
■ Eric Black, CTO, NBC Sports Group Digital and Playmaker Media
“With Amazon’s Alexa integration and a 29-inch touchscreen display, the kitchen possibilities are endless for this connected device. I’m a huge fan of the capabilities of Alexa. The idea of Prime integration and automated restocking of groceries would be a kitchen dream come true.”
