CNN at CES: 'Rows and rows of health and wellness startups'

Brian Stelter toured the floor. This is what caught his eye.

From Thursday’s Reliable Sources’ email blast: Hello from Las Vegas.

I don’t need a smart voice assistant embedded in my bathroom mirror. Or do I? That’s what you start to wonder. Apple, Amazon and Google’s voice platforms were omnipresent. I mean, I’m pretty sure I don’t need a voice enabled kitchen faucet. But… maybe? Around the corner, a “parasol automation device.” A voice-controlled umbrella? Sure, why not…

Hopefully someday soon the word “smart” will just be assumed about all these products. If it’s not smart, it’s “connected:” Motion detection cameras, GPS trackers for pets, personal ultrasounds, robot companions, connected bike helmets, voice powered rings, digestive trackers, digital assistants for drivers. Personally I was most intrigued by the rows and rows of health and wellness startups. Tim Cook‘s quote from Tuesday came to mind: “If you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, ‘What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?’ It will be about health.”

My take: I know Tim Cook has been getting a lot of mileage out of that quote, but color me skeptical about whether a) Apple can make us healthy and b) That’s how historians will remember Apple.

Buy hey, I wasn’t there. I used to attend CES long ago, when Time Magazine paid my way. I would leave after a day or two, angry and dispirited. So many bad ideas! So much wasted money and effort!