I'm sitting here in the airport in Atlanta (aka my second home), waiting for the hop out to Vegas and watching the misery that is trying to get out of the Northeast this morning as we all head to CES. Thinking good thoughts for all the journos trying to get to the desert.
Folks usually have plenty to say about flying through ATL, but I've always found it to be pretty easy. The seven (seven!) concourses are easily laid out and easy to get to. The new international terminal is gorgeous, and worth swinging by if you have time, even if you're flying domestically. Want a taste for what some of the world's better international airports look like? There you go. It's hard to believe F (and to a lesser extent, E) are in the same airport as T through D.
Here in Atlanta, it's just cold and foggy. Good luck to everyone working their way to Vegas.
By the way ... You can find all our CES coverage here!
And now, a few other thoughts rollin' around the ol' melon. ...
- So the developer behind Timely got picked up by Google. Good stuff. I presume there was money involved, but Google, in its reply to us Saturday evening, declined to give any more details.
- And it's worth remembering that just because Timely effectively was purchased (or whatever) by Google, it doesn't necessarily mean the stock Android alarm clock will become Timely. Maybe it was an acqui-hire, where you buy a company for the people rather than for the product. Or maybe it was for a feature. Or something else entirely. I saw a handful of headlines that were getting a little ahead of themselves.
- Our Qualcomm Toq review should be going up today (if not already). The short, short version: Pretty nice smartwatch, with room for improvement, but the color is not a selling point. And it's expensive.
- Some interesting discussion on Google Glass from the past couple weeks. Start with Mat Honan's piece in Wired. There's a lot I agree with there. (in fact, I ended up not bringing Glass with me to CES for any number of those same reasons.)
- Then move on to Robert Scoble's follow-up. Never mind the link-baity title. I also agree with a lot that Scoble says. I'd be really surprised if Glass (at least as it stands now) makes it as a viable, commercial product this year. Pick your reason.
- And you know what? That's OK. That's what I was getting at in our inaugural Through Glass column. Glass, right now, is all about being ridiculous and a little bit of an asshole (OK, Glasshole) and figuring out what we can and should and shouldn't do with it. It's meant for Exploring.
- Daring Fireball's John Gruber is still looking at Glass like it's something everyone's supposed to want to buy this year, like it's a normal commercial product. And it's not. But through the eyes of an Apple pundit, it makes sense. Why release some sort of experimental, uber-beta product for people to buy?
- Because that's what Google does. And now we have a name for it — Explorers.
- On the other hand, maybe I'm too forgiving of the beta tag.
- But I don't think we're at the point yet where there has to be some definitive judgment passed on Google Glass like there was netbooks or (eventually, but not quite yet) Microsoft's tablet PCs, which I still like the idea of, even if the execution isn't there.
That's enough for now. See you from the ground in Vegas.
