By Sue Pascoe
Editor
Ramis Sadrieh is our town’s personal geek squad. The former Mr. Palisades (1993), who started his business, Technology for You!, after acquiring an MBA at Pepperdine, devotes his work life to helping Palisadians with technology problems of all types, including iPads, iPhones, Macs, PCs, surround sound, home theaters and wireless systems.
On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Sadrieh updated the Palisades Optimist Club about the future of technology after attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“This was my 17th year attending the show,”Sadrieh said. “It was one of the most mind-boggling I’ve ever been to.”
He described how more than 2.7 million sq. ft. of show room was devoted to electronic and digital gadgets—some practical, some in the design stage and some that may never make it to the consumer market.
Sadrieh, a PaliHi grad who obtained a degree in math and computer science from UCLA in 1997, said one of the oddest booths belonged to Netflix, which was promoting its upcoming Altered Carbon series they are producing, in which a “sleeve” (a spare body) is available to transfer your consciousness into—because “nobody lives forever.”
Psychasec, a fictional tech company in the series, was on display, and conventiongoers learned it’s a radical new technology that would allow one to take on the life of someone else, any age, any gender or any height.
On a more realistic side, a device from Razer won for best innovation. “It’s a shell that looks like a laptop,” Sadrieh said. “There’s a place to put your cell phone (Android) and it turns into a laptop.” Called Project Linda, this is the first smartphone pitched to gamers. The phone screen’s contents are shown on the laptop screen. Sadrieh said that the Photozone holograms were amazing. “Images were coming out of the wall. It’s basically designed for advertising.”
One of his favorite experiences was at the NASA booth. He wore virtual-reality glasses and was shown real data of being on the red planet. “It was one of the most amazing experiences,” Sadrieh said. “It was like being on Mars.”
“There was a whole section devoted to drones,” said Sadrieh, who speculated that as soon as the FAA finalizes various regulations, “Amazon will deliver to our homes via drones: the product will be there in 30 minutes.”
Last year, he recalled, he saw a drone that could carry two people. “Once automatic driving is perfected, people may [travel] in drones,” Sadrieh said.
For those looking to lighten their laundry tasks, there was Steven Dreamers’ Laundroid, a laundry folding machine. “It uses artificial intelligence to analyze the object, how to hold it up to fold and who it belongs to,” Sadrieh said, noting that the company plans to start taking orders next year. The current cost is about $16,000, but the company hopes to get the price under $2,000.
“Intel 5G is just around the corner,” Sadrieh said. “The next level of cellular is faster than cable modem speed. I can’t see anything better than 5G. But . . .”
Regarding self-driving cars,“ Intel bought Mobileye because they want to be part of autonomous driving,” and there are five stages in the development of the technology.
Level 1: car controls either the steering or the vehicle speed, but not both simultaneously. Tesla is at Level 2: car can steer, accelerate and brake, but driver may have to keep hand on the wheel as a proxy. The BMW from Mobileye is Level 3: car can manage most aspects of driving, but driver must keep eyes on the road. Level 4: car can operate without human input, but under select conditions. Level 5: car can operate on any road and in any conditions a human driver could negotiate.
“There is a 2019 Audi coming out that will be at Level 3,” he said.
Optimist club members wondered if Sadrieh saw anything practical at the show—or in their price range.
“Polaroid is coming out with a camera for$100,”he said. The camera uses an ink-free Zink printing technology that produces a full-color image in under a minute.
Sadrieh, who charges $125/hour, addresses a wildly diverse range of technology issues. Contact: (310) 597-5984 or visit technologyforyou.com.
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