September 11, 2024 • 34 mins
Join Paul Amadeus Lane on The Tech Zone as he dives deep into the exciting world of Eureka Park at CES 2025. In this episode, Paul sits down with Stephen Ewell, Executive Director of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation, to uncover the secrets of this unique showcase for startups and what it takes to stand out.
Discover the innovative ideas and groundbreaking technologies that could shape the future of consumer tech. Learn about the CTA Foundation's mission to enhance the lives of older adults and people with disabilities through technology. Get insider tips and strategies from Stephen Ewell on how to make a lasting impression at Eureka Park and attract potential investors and partners visit https://www.cta.tech/Who-We-Are/CTA-Foundation/Eureka-Park-Accessibility-Contest for the details and the entry form. The deadline to submit is September 9th .
Whether you're a tech enthusiast, aspiring entrepreneur, or simply curious about the latest innovations, this episode of The Tech Zone is a must-listen. Tune in to gain valuable insights and inspiration from the experts at the forefront of the consumer technology industry.
Discover the innovative ideas and groundbreaking technologies that could shape the future of consumer tech. Learn about the CTA Foundation's mission to enhance the lives of older adults and people with disabilities through technology. Get insider tips and strategies from Stephen Ewell on how to make a lasting impression at Eureka Park and attract potential investors and partners visit https://www.cta.tech/Who-We-Are/CTA-Foundation/Eureka-Park-Accessibility-Contest for the details and the entry form. The deadline to submit is September 9th .
Whether you're a tech enthusiast, aspiring entrepreneur, or simply curious about the latest innovations, this episode of The Tech Zone is a must-listen. Tune in to gain valuable insights and inspiration from the experts at the forefront of the consumer technology industry.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
In this world of technology, things are ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You need someone to help you out. I know someone
who can come and take a journey with me.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
As we go through the land of technology. You'll never
be alone.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You'll be with Paul.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm a dance laying in the text Zone. Take a
little trip with me and hopefully you can see how
the hood, suburbs and mainStreet are all connected no respect.
Can I mean we network across the globe because it's
a global marketing in case you didn't know, and since
we all about information flow, let me be the first
(00:59):
one that willcome you to Tech Zone with Paul Armada Slane.
Let's talk tech because technology changing the game. It's so
good in the hood, it's everywhere. Now let's get into
the show because we LaVona.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, hello, and welcome to the Tech Zone. What is up?
It's me Paul Amiday is Lane and I am so
delighted to have you on our show today. Why we're
going to talk to our great friends at the Consumer
Technology Association Foundation. We're gonna get an update on CEES
twenty twenty five, in particular the Your Week at Part contest.
(01:34):
So we're gonna be joined by my great friend Steven Yule,
and we're also going to be joined by the SIA.
They are an organization and that is really concerned not
only about our safety when it comes to artificial intelligence,
but also to make sure that innovation is still able
(01:56):
to thrive at the same time. So we're gonna be
joined by Paul Leckis. He's gonna be joining us to
talk about something that's happening here in California that a
lot of organizations are urging Governor Newsom to take action on.
So we're gonna talk about that. So those are the
things that we have in store today, So sit back
(02:17):
and relax and enjoy the show. We welcome you who
are listening on ABC News affiliate. Came me to AM
and FM. Can't forget about our viewers out there who
are watching us right now on live stream, but also
those who are checking us out on fire TV and
Roku on the Paul Amadeas Lane Tech Zone channel. Let
(02:40):
me do that again. It's The Tech Zone with Paul
almadeas Land. I know it's a long title, but I
wanted to make sure that you find it and those
who are checking us out on podcast, we thank you
so much. Our podcast listeners have grown over the years,
and we we thank you, we thank you, we thank
(03:02):
you for sharing the episodes that has helped us to
get more listeners on the show. So we appreciate you
and we thank you so much. You can connect with
me also on all of my social media platforms. Paul
almadea s lane that's how you can find me even
on LinkedIn. Why say it with me, folks, because I
(03:24):
am a business man not a businessman, and I found
out something the other day. If you have Alexa, you
can ask it to play the Tech Zone with Paul
Amadeas Lane podcast. How cool is that? You don't have
(03:44):
to check out my other show to the Entertainment Zone
with Paul Almada's Lane the same way. So full famous
plug for both of my shows that I do out there.
I wanted to kind of open the show with something
that recently happened with the Department of Justice and how
(04:07):
they indicted some folks who are involved in misinformation on
social media. Now, I'm not going to talk about the
particular subjects are the political leanings of those who got indicted,
But I just want to talk to us as consumers
(04:29):
and users of social media. To me social media is
like watching a Disney animated film. It's not real, it's
make believe. Unless you know people personally or have a
relationship with them, you have no idea if what they're
(04:54):
telling or posting is true or not. So just take
everything with the grain of salt. Use social media as
a tool and not as a resource. I hate to
say that, because resources can you really vet everything that
(05:20):
you see on there. But if you know someone, know
what they're all about, know that they're not in some
wild conspiracy theories out there, then of course you can
probably trust that person. But do your homework. Do your homework.
There's a lot of misinformation on social media, and people
(05:43):
are getting paid spreading the misinformation. I look at x
in particular once who have the blue check marks, they
can get into the ad revenue space of that they
have over I think five million impressions. So what people
do They on purpose puts a misinformation out there that
(06:06):
sometimes they themselves do not believe, but they know people
are going to respond to it. So the more interactions
they get, the more impressions they get, the more money
if they make. Isn't it just mind blowing get paid
(06:28):
for line? I don't know about you. But when I
was growing up, my parents instilled in me to always
tell the truth. My dad told me this, He said,
tell the truth the first time, because if you lie,
you got to remember what you lied about, so you
end up lying over and over and over again. And
we see that in social media they would miss the information.
(06:51):
You know, just be careful out there. It's a game
out there that some people are playing, getting a lot
of money, and unfortunate we are the victims because we're
not getting a dime from it, but we're adding to
their pocket just spread misinformation. How smart is that? Right?
(07:12):
But that's my bit for King and Country this morning.
Just wanted to share that about what's going on in
the social media media world. And it's sad that ones
who run companies, who have a lot of responsibilities are
engaged and stuff like this. I mean, would you let
that person babysit your children? So if you will let
(07:33):
them babysit your children, why in the world would you
allow them to give you any kind of advice? I'm sorry,
even in business, if somebody is that just unaware, I
think it's nothing wrong with that. Do you want to
(07:53):
reward that? Folks? We better than that, better than that,
we were raised better than that. What would happen when
we got older we just lost all moral sense? We don't.
It's sad. We were taught good values a lot of
(08:17):
us from our families, from our relatives, from our faith,
and then we get older and we lose that for
some dumbness on social media. Think about that, folks. We
get angry, we post at people who are doing it
(08:43):
just to make money. Does that make us feel better?
It shouldn't. Try this. When you're on social media and
you see a post and it makes you mad, do this?
Is that a responder to it? Just turn away. Do
something constructive, like a hobby, build your cell phone, work
(09:06):
on self, work on a project. You thought about starting
a business, learn how to do that. You want to
learn how to build your wealth, learn about the crypto
game worried about, or you want to learn about financial things.
Take that time and learn about those things. Because as
(09:28):
you're sting and sending tweets out and all these other things,
you ain't making a dime. All you're doing is getting
your blood pressure up and making people money. Does that
make sense? All right? Folks? I'm done. I finished my
(09:50):
nephews is Seve. When he was little, he didn't say finished.
He said I finish. It'd be twenty seven this year.
And some of you who see me at ces, you
know who my net is, you as Jaws. Yes, so
if you see him, if he's whip me this year
at the ES, go up to him and say, are
you finishing? How to make up? Laugh at everything? But
thank you, thank you for letting me speak to you
(10:11):
about that. But now we're going to talk about something constructive.
We're going to talk about the Consumer Technology Association Foundation
and what they are doing to help startups out. It
is so amazing. The Eureka Part contest. I had the
privilege of m seeing the PITS competition last year and
(10:32):
I had a blast. And I will tell you this,
if ask me again, I will definitely do it again. Yes,
I'm shooting my shot, Steve. I know you're listening, so
make it happen, my friend, I promised the sequel will
be better. But just joking out there. But yeah, they
do just some amazing things. And I'm so delighted to
(10:53):
have Steve Yule on to talk about not only to
the contest, but the rebranding of the Consumer Technology Association
and the new logo and something else that the foundation
is doing. So you don't want to miss this conversation.
I am so delighted to have with me right now.
(11:13):
My next guest. You heard me talk all about him
before our bottom on the amazing, the outstanding, the executive
direct tour of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. My good friend,
Steve Yule. What's going on, buddy? How are you?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I'm doing great, Paul. It is great to see you,
and I'm just excited to be able to come talk
a little bit about some of the things we have
going on. And I'm super excited because when we start
connecting this time of year, that means we're full speed ahead.
And CEES is right around the corner.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Absolutely. We know what time it is, right Steve, and
is CES time. That's what it's all about, Steve. So
I kind of tease the audience about we're going to
talk about, but I wanted to delve into something that
happened a few weeks back. New look, new logo. Tell
us what about it, Steve?
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, absolutely so, Yes, CTA CES and the CTA Foundation
all have a brand new logo, brand new look. We're excited,
uh and The exciting thing about this is it actually
has a mark that is common across CTA, CEES and
the CTA Foundation, and that's the first time that we've
(12:33):
ever done that. We see that as an opportunity to
use that to really help tie together these organizations. So
many people who might come to CEES and not recognize
the you know, what is CTA and how does it
fit into the work done at ces. This is our
way of being able to bring that all together. It
(12:54):
also I really as a charitable foundation where our mission
is using technology to help older adults and people with disabilities.
I look at this logo where it's a circle with
a trapezoid kind of intersecting into it. We really see
that as technology intersecting with humanity and telling that story
(13:16):
really just captures the mission of our foundation and the
mission of all the organizations, of what we're trying to
do as we move the industry forward, but also as
we move all of us forward as well.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And you know it's Steve. I remember it might have
been before you and I met. It was a CEES.
Can't remember the year, but we were all packed out,
packed in for the press conferences that go on between
as Steve Koenig and also Sean Dubervac, And I remember
Sean was over in the corner and I noticed that
(13:53):
it didn't say CEA over there, it said CTA, and
I was like, what does that mean? And that's when
it showed how technology is everywhere, not only in electronics
and see it just kind of shows just how progressive
the organization is, that they're always on top of things. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Well, luckily no name changed this time. We're still the
Consumer Technology Association and still the CTA Foundation. But yes,
we absolutely we are. You know, we're with the technology industry.
Our industry is focused on innovation and constant improvement, and
you know, we as an association, as a foundation, as
(14:35):
a trade show, need to reflect that as well. So
I'm really excited for everything that's being rolled out. I
also think this is going to give our marketing team
a lot of creative opportunities as they're putting together a
lot of plans for CES this year. So I can't
wait to see what they're going to be able to
showcase for you. And I have no doubt you're going
(14:58):
to get some nice surprise is at the show?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
M nice surprises you wanna tell us some aw, we gotta.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Wait, Oh, you gotta wait. I like my job way
too much to give anything away at this point.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know what, Gary and I are kind of there,
and Casey and I are kind of Kinsey and I
are kind of there. So whatever problem you have, I'll
blame it on me. Okay, it's my father, Steve, so now,
but I hear you. I definitely yeah, I definitely hear you.
So Hey, as they say at a hip hop concert
and a rap concert, this is what we came here for.
(15:37):
We came here to talk about the Eureka Park contest
that's happening again and Steve, I am so excited about it.
But before we kind of talk about the specifics and
the criteria, if you can share with those who may
be tuning in for our discussion the first time about
Eureka Park.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, absolutely so. Eureka Park is the startup area of CEES.
So last year we had over fourteen hundred startups from
around the world. So we have countries that bring whole
delegations of startups to the show. We have individual startups
we have and it's across the technology industry, so you
(16:19):
can find you know, health tech in there. You can find,
you know, wearable devices and mobility devices and assistive devices
is part of what I'm always interested in finding there
and really kind of across the entire technology ecosystem. And
it is always such an exciting area of the show
(16:39):
because it's packed with attendees that are looking for what
are those kind of new ideas, you know, that's where
investors and media and others go to meet these new
emerging companies as well as you know, some of the
bigger companies that are looking to find partnerships and identify
some of these companies that they may want to work with.
(17:00):
So this is a really exciting area of the show
and we continue to see more and more interest in
the space, and from the CTA Foundation's perspective, we started,
actually this will be our ninth year running this competition,
where we took five of those booths, so five out
of that fourteen hundred booths that you see there, and
(17:23):
we set those aside. But we run this competition and
what we ask is for a startup and they do
have to be either US or Canadian startups, and they
have to meet the Eureka Park criteria. So essentially they
can't have launched their product years ago, and they actually
(17:43):
have to have a product, so it can't necessarily be
It could be a minimum viable product or kind of
demo type product, but essentially it can't just be a
thought on a piece of paper. But companies that have
meet those criteria are able to apply. And what we
(18:04):
ask is they look at how could their product benefit
either older adults or people with disabilities. It does not
need to be a product that is focused solely on
those populations, but what I want to see is companies
taking the time to think about how their products could
benefit these two populations. We have a group of judges
(18:26):
that will help us go through all the entries that
we have for this, and ultimately we will select five companies.
We will give them each a booth in Eureka Park
and we always try to save some space right up
near the front to give them a great opportunity to
be showcased there. We give them twenty five hundred dollars
each as well, because it costs money to be in
(18:48):
Las Vegas for the week of CEES, and we give
them a lot of attention. I know I'm always introducing
our winners to you, and we've had some You do
some great interviews with them over the years, and we
just see such excitement and attention that comes to these
companies as we see them come back year after year
(19:08):
after that, as they continue to build their companies from here.
So I see it as a great way for us
to create attention for the important needs of older adults
and people with disabilities. It's a great way to call
attention to some of the companies that are working in
this space, and it's a great way to really help
launch some companies that are making a difference. So yeah,
(19:31):
I'm always excited for this. I will make sure I
share with you the link. But people can also go
to CTA Foundation dot tech and on there they'll find
information on the Eureka Park accessibility contest. They can also
find all of our various social media channels were out
there promoting it quite a bit. So if you go
(19:53):
to any of our channels right now, you'll definitely find
links directly to the content rules in the application form.
And I think this is going to be a great
opportunity for us to find those next five companies.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I think so too, Steve. And if we can spend
a little time talking about some of the past winners
and what they were able to do and how they
parlayed this contest into some pretty amazing things. I know
during the pandemic there was at least one that I
knew just kind of showed up and showed out with
(20:29):
their innovation. It really helped save lives.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean there's a bunch of them that
have done that over the years, and we've seen everything
from one of our very early winners, Ira is a
solution for the blind and low vision community. It's almost
a concierge service essentially, and they've gone and really built
(20:53):
their business quite a bit over the years. Since then,
we've seen companies like Miron, who I know is one
that you've used quite a bit in the VR space
and being able to do you know, that therapy and
movement and other activity that can come through virtual reality
and engagement. So and especially as you were saying, when
(21:14):
we were all, you know, locked in our house and
not able to get out and see other people, looking
at those virtual connections and looking at the opportunity to
engage in that way is just so so important. But
even you know, just looking at last year, we had
a company called one Court, which essentially was for blind
and low vision haptic kind of tablet that they could
(21:40):
put their hands on and follow sports so you could see,
you know, where is the football on the on the field.
Essentially it would have different haptics if they threw the
ball or they ran the ball and be able to
follow in real time what is going on on a field,
whether it's you know, football field, basketball court, or others.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And they were actually featured by T Mobile, I believe
during the Major League Baseball All Star Game in a
in a commercial. So, uh, it's amazing to see some
of these companies just continue to build.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And yeah, we've had nine years of success in this
so you know, there's too many stories to fully tell.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Yeah, I'm so grateful the tech world is to have
the Foundation have this opportunity to help startups out to
be at the super Bowl of Technology to showcase some
of this great innovation.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And Steve, you know, thanks again for sharing that contest
with us. And we know less than what three over
a little over three months away from cees and Steve,
what are some some other things that are going on
that you could talk about with the Foundation and some
of the things the Foundation may also have go on
(23:07):
during during that during CES. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Absolutely, So Yeah, it's looking like it's going to be
another great show. So we're we're excited.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
One probably one of the more visible things that we
do at CES each year is our Pitch Competition. We
are bringing that back again this year. Last year we
had this amazing MC some you may know him, Paul
Amadeis Lane I think exactly was our MC for that event.
(23:38):
But we're bringing that back. We should have an announcement
here probably later this month for the call for entries,
but we'll be looking for startup companies that are exhibiting
at CEES to participate in that. We're finalizing all the
details now, but I'm excited to bring that back to
the show this year. Again. We'll have our Accessibility Roundtable,
(24:01):
where we bring together advocates in industry to talk about
what is working well in the accessibility space as well
as where there's some challenges and build those relationships up.
So we'll be doing that again. One thing that's brand
new for us this year, we have what we're calling
our Health Innovation Challenge, and we're working with the With
(24:23):
Foundation and the Midspecie Electric America Foundation. To create this
challenge focused on the intellectual and developmental disability community and
specifically around health tech. We've identified partners around the country
that are doing focus groups with the IDD community and
(24:43):
identifying what's working well and where there's some challenges with
health tech specifically for this community. And then what we're
going to be doing is running a challenge for industry
that can take this feedback from these focused groups. And
you know, as you said, we're three months from CEES,
so I'm not expecting brand new, completely out of the
(25:06):
box products developed between now and then, but we're going
to be looking at how have these companies adapted their
products or you know, how are they looking at creating
a product that uses these solutions, that uses this feedback
from the community. And we're going to have an opportunity
for these companies to engage directly with the IDD community
(25:28):
at CES this year. So I'm excited to do that
and you know, launch kind of a new program at
CEES where it is directly getting the feedback of representatives
of the disability community. In this case, it's the intellectual
and developmental disability community, but on such a big growing
area of our industry and our show So that's something
(25:52):
that I'm excited and I've certainly shared more as as
we get closer to the show and have more details
to share.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I'm looking forward to Steve, and I remember when this
wasn't the case at CES, and you know, I would,
I would bring up accessibility to certain ones and it
was kind of like an afterthought. But when you got
there with the foundation, I'm gonna tell you something, brother,
this is what you did. You help steer the ship
(26:22):
in the right direction to make sure that one is
like myself and others from all different disabilities are having
their voices heard with an industry who can make life
easy and make it more have an independent life for
all of us. So I want to thank you Steve
for doing what you do. And I can only imagine
(26:45):
it wasn't an easy task to get where we're at today,
but we thank you for staying the course.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Wow, I appreciate that. And uh yeah, no, the community
bit has been amazing to work with as we've built
this up over time. But it's important for us. It's
important for us as a show to make sure that
our show is as accessible as possible because I mean, yes,
I mentioned we have disability advocates that come to the show,
(27:13):
but we also have a lot of people in the
industry that have disabilities. I mean, you're there because you're
a media representative that just also happens to have a disability.
So we need to make sure that we are meeting
your needs and the needs of so many others at
the show. But we have seen such increased interest in
this space over the years. In fact, one other thing
(27:35):
that's new not on the foundation side, but actually on
the CTA side, the association side of the world. CTA
divides up its membership into different verticals. So essentially the
smart home companies have it, you know, work together in
the health tech and audio and video and vehicle and
so on and so on, and there's a lot of
(27:57):
cross pollination across those, but they get these divisions that
focus on different areas. We are actually just about to
launch a brand new working group that we'll be focused
on accessibility in age tech. So this will be our chance.
Our foundation is going to continue to focus on how
does technology really advance the or how do we get
(28:18):
the technology into the hands of older adults and people
with disabilities. Through our work with the nonprofits all over
the country, and other programs that we do. This new
working group, though, is going to be how do we
build the industry that is addressing these populations. So we
actually haven't even had our first meeting on it yet,
so we've been doing a lot of the background work
(28:39):
and that will launch here very very soon. But I'm
excited because that shows the feedback from the community and
the interest from the industry has taken root and now
we're going to be able to do some amazing things
with it.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I am so glad you mentioned Essie, because I wanted
to bring that up and I forgot about. Now, now,
who is that Geared Stords? You know who who should
be be a part of this group? You can mind
share that with the audience.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
So it's actually it's open to any CTA member company,
So the companies do have to be CTA members to
participate in it, but it's open to any CTA member company.
So they could be you know, assistive technology products, or
they could be you know, general consumer products, or they
(29:30):
could be something that's completely unrelated but just has an
interest in this and wants to learn more. In fact,
I would guess and we haven't. Uh, don't don't take
me completely promising this, but one of the first things
I think will end up doing is creating kind of
a accessibility in age tech one oh one guide for
(29:51):
the industry of you know, for those that are not
working in this space and don't know what they need
to know in this space, what are the very basics
just to get them, you know, level set, and then
we can work on how we continue to create education.
So it is it's something that it doesn't cost anything
for any CTA member to participate in. And so if
(30:13):
any are you listening, tell them to reach out to
me and reach out through CTA and we'll we'll get
them involved.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
That's awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. When I saw that on LinkedIn,
I was like, whoa, Steve didn't even tell me. So
I'm glad, glad you're telling us now. So this is
this is really awesome, really awesome. What's what's going on?
Seeing all this growth? And before I let you go,
my friend, is there anything else you'd like to share
with the viewers? Are the listeners out there?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Just that you know, thank you Paul for being such
a good friend for the work that we're doing, such
a good advocate for the types of technologies that are
out there that can help us all, you know, whether
we're part of the stability community, whether we're part of
the aging demographic. Honestly, we all are probably we all
(31:06):
are both of those, at least at different portions of
our lives. So thank you for all the work that
you're doing. If people are interested knowing more about some
of the things that I've mentioned here today, you certainly
CTA Foundation dot tech that's dot t E c H
has everything about the foundation CES dot tech that's CES.
(31:29):
And then again dot t E c H has all
the information about CEES and that's a brand new website
that we just launched with the new rebrand, so we're
excited to get feedback on that as well, and I
think it makes it a lot easier to find different
pieces of information about what's happening at CEES and put
that in front of people and really just be a
(31:52):
much easier to use website as a whole. And then
c t A dot tech is the Association's page and
that you can find all kinds of work, the market
research that they're doing, the other events and activities, media
engagements and others. So encourage people to check out all
those different sites, and if you're in the industry, we'd
(32:15):
welcome you to get involved.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Awesome, well, Steve, always great to talk to you, rather
about technology, about the assistive and adaptive technology, the aiding
and adult population, and the disabled community. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. Look forward to chatting with you when there's
more news to break on the foundation and cees, the
Eureka Park winners, all those great things. Looking forward to
(32:40):
chatting with you, my friend.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, thank you for having me. It's always great talking
with you and I can't wait to do it again soon.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
A huge shout out to my good friends. Steve Yule
of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. Love our chat about
the Eureka part competition and some of the other things
that are going on, and about the logo rebranch. I
like it. It's pretty dope. Yeah, you know me. I'm
(33:07):
all about merch. I'm gonna get me one sure with
that on is it's pretty awesome. And the links that
Steve talked about. If you're listening right now on the radio,
are even watching us live on live stream, the links
will not be there. But if you subscribe to any
of our podcast channels, the links will be there so
(33:28):
you can have easy access to get them all right,
So when we get back, we're gonna talk about something
that's on the governor's desk here in California that some
feel Mainsteiny innovation, even though it's aimed to help AI
and making sure that's safe for not only for businesses
(33:51):
but also for us. We're gonna be joined by Paul
Leckis right after these messages.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Well, the technology things are ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
You need someone to help you out. I need someone
that can be alone. You'll be with Paul.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I'm gonna get Slaine in the tech Zone.
In this world of technology, things are ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You need someone to help you out. I know someone
who can come and take a journey with me.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
As we go through the land of technology. You'll never
be alone.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You'll be with Paul.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm a dance laying in the text Zone. Take a
little trip with me and hopefully you can see how
the hood, suburbs and mainStreet are all connected no respect.
Can I mean we network across the globe because it's
a global marketing in case you didn't know, and since
we all about information flow, let me be the first
(00:59):
one that willcome you to Tech Zone with Paul Armada Slane.
Let's talk tech because technology changing the game. It's so
good in the hood, it's everywhere. Now let's get into
the show because we LaVona.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, hello, and welcome to the Tech Zone. What is up?
It's me Paul Amiday is Lane and I am so
delighted to have you on our show today. Why we're
going to talk to our great friends at the Consumer
Technology Association Foundation. We're gonna get an update on CEES
twenty twenty five, in particular the Your Week at Part contest.
(01:34):
So we're gonna be joined by my great friend Steven Yule,
and we're also going to be joined by the SIA.
They are an organization and that is really concerned not
only about our safety when it comes to artificial intelligence,
but also to make sure that innovation is still able
(01:56):
to thrive at the same time. So we're gonna be
joined by Paul Leckis. He's gonna be joining us to
talk about something that's happening here in California that a
lot of organizations are urging Governor Newsom to take action on.
So we're gonna talk about that. So those are the
things that we have in store today, So sit back
(02:17):
and relax and enjoy the show. We welcome you who
are listening on ABC News affiliate. Came me to AM
and FM. Can't forget about our viewers out there who
are watching us right now on live stream, but also
those who are checking us out on fire TV and
Roku on the Paul Amadeas Lane Tech Zone channel. Let
(02:40):
me do that again. It's The Tech Zone with Paul
almadeas Land. I know it's a long title, but I
wanted to make sure that you find it and those
who are checking us out on podcast, we thank you
so much. Our podcast listeners have grown over the years,
and we we thank you, we thank you, we thank
(03:02):
you for sharing the episodes that has helped us to
get more listeners on the show. So we appreciate you
and we thank you so much. You can connect with
me also on all of my social media platforms. Paul
almadea s lane that's how you can find me even
on LinkedIn. Why say it with me, folks, because I
(03:24):
am a business man not a businessman, and I found
out something the other day. If you have Alexa, you
can ask it to play the Tech Zone with Paul
Amadeas Lane podcast. How cool is that? You don't have
(03:44):
to check out my other show to the Entertainment Zone
with Paul Almada's Lane the same way. So full famous
plug for both of my shows that I do out there.
I wanted to kind of open the show with something
that recently happened with the Department of Justice and how
(04:07):
they indicted some folks who are involved in misinformation on
social media. Now, I'm not going to talk about the
particular subjects are the political leanings of those who got indicted,
But I just want to talk to us as consumers
(04:29):
and users of social media. To me social media is
like watching a Disney animated film. It's not real, it's
make believe. Unless you know people personally or have a
relationship with them, you have no idea if what they're
(04:54):
telling or posting is true or not. So just take
everything with the grain of salt. Use social media as
a tool and not as a resource. I hate to
say that, because resources can you really vet everything that
(05:20):
you see on there. But if you know someone, know
what they're all about, know that they're not in some
wild conspiracy theories out there, then of course you can
probably trust that person. But do your homework. Do your homework.
There's a lot of misinformation on social media, and people
(05:43):
are getting paid spreading the misinformation. I look at x
in particular once who have the blue check marks, they
can get into the ad revenue space of that they
have over I think five million impressions. So what people
do They on purpose puts a misinformation out there that
(06:06):
sometimes they themselves do not believe, but they know people
are going to respond to it. So the more interactions
they get, the more impressions they get, the more money
if they make. Isn't it just mind blowing get paid
(06:28):
for line? I don't know about you. But when I
was growing up, my parents instilled in me to always
tell the truth. My dad told me this, He said,
tell the truth the first time, because if you lie,
you got to remember what you lied about, so you
end up lying over and over and over again. And
we see that in social media they would miss the information.
(06:51):
You know, just be careful out there. It's a game
out there that some people are playing, getting a lot
of money, and unfortunate we are the victims because we're
not getting a dime from it, but we're adding to
their pocket just spread misinformation. How smart is that? Right?
(07:12):
But that's my bit for King and Country this morning.
Just wanted to share that about what's going on in
the social media media world. And it's sad that ones
who run companies, who have a lot of responsibilities are
engaged and stuff like this. I mean, would you let
that person babysit your children? So if you will let
(07:33):
them babysit your children, why in the world would you
allow them to give you any kind of advice? I'm sorry,
even in business, if somebody is that just unaware, I
think it's nothing wrong with that. Do you want to
(07:53):
reward that? Folks? We better than that, better than that,
we were raised better than that. What would happen when
we got older we just lost all moral sense? We don't.
It's sad. We were taught good values a lot of
(08:17):
us from our families, from our relatives, from our faith,
and then we get older and we lose that for
some dumbness on social media. Think about that, folks. We
get angry, we post at people who are doing it
(08:43):
just to make money. Does that make us feel better?
It shouldn't. Try this. When you're on social media and
you see a post and it makes you mad, do this?
Is that a responder to it? Just turn away. Do
something constructive, like a hobby, build your cell phone, work
(09:06):
on self, work on a project. You thought about starting
a business, learn how to do that. You want to
learn how to build your wealth, learn about the crypto
game worried about, or you want to learn about financial things.
Take that time and learn about those things. Because as
(09:28):
you're sting and sending tweets out and all these other things,
you ain't making a dime. All you're doing is getting
your blood pressure up and making people money. Does that
make sense? All right? Folks? I'm done. I finished my
(09:50):
nephews is Seve. When he was little, he didn't say finished.
He said I finish. It'd be twenty seven this year.
And some of you who see me at ces, you
know who my net is, you as Jaws. Yes, so
if you see him, if he's whip me this year
at the ES, go up to him and say, are
you finishing? How to make up? Laugh at everything? But
thank you, thank you for letting me speak to you
(10:11):
about that. But now we're going to talk about something constructive.
We're going to talk about the Consumer Technology Association Foundation
and what they are doing to help startups out. It
is so amazing. The Eureka Part contest. I had the
privilege of m seeing the PITS competition last year and
(10:32):
I had a blast. And I will tell you this,
if ask me again, I will definitely do it again. Yes,
I'm shooting my shot, Steve. I know you're listening, so
make it happen, my friend, I promised the sequel will
be better. But just joking out there. But yeah, they
do just some amazing things. And I'm so delighted to
(10:53):
have Steve Yule on to talk about not only to
the contest, but the rebranding of the Consumer Technology Association
and the new logo and something else that the foundation
is doing. So you don't want to miss this conversation.
I am so delighted to have with me right now.
(11:13):
My next guest. You heard me talk all about him
before our bottom on the amazing, the outstanding, the executive
direct tour of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. My good friend,
Steve Yule. What's going on, buddy? How are you?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I'm doing great, Paul. It is great to see you,
and I'm just excited to be able to come talk
a little bit about some of the things we have
going on. And I'm super excited because when we start
connecting this time of year, that means we're full speed ahead.
And CEES is right around the corner.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Absolutely. We know what time it is, right Steve, and
is CES time. That's what it's all about, Steve. So
I kind of tease the audience about we're going to
talk about, but I wanted to delve into something that
happened a few weeks back. New look, new logo. Tell
us what about it, Steve?
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, absolutely so, Yes, CTA CES and the CTA Foundation
all have a brand new logo, brand new look. We're excited,
uh and The exciting thing about this is it actually
has a mark that is common across CTA, CEES and
the CTA Foundation, and that's the first time that we've
(12:33):
ever done that. We see that as an opportunity to
use that to really help tie together these organizations. So
many people who might come to CEES and not recognize
the you know, what is CTA and how does it
fit into the work done at ces. This is our
way of being able to bring that all together. It
(12:54):
also I really as a charitable foundation where our mission
is using technology to help older adults and people with disabilities.
I look at this logo where it's a circle with
a trapezoid kind of intersecting into it. We really see
that as technology intersecting with humanity and telling that story
(13:16):
really just captures the mission of our foundation and the
mission of all the organizations, of what we're trying to
do as we move the industry forward, but also as
we move all of us forward as well.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And you know it's Steve. I remember it might have
been before you and I met. It was a CEES.
Can't remember the year, but we were all packed out,
packed in for the press conferences that go on between
as Steve Koenig and also Sean Dubervac, And I remember
Sean was over in the corner and I noticed that
(13:53):
it didn't say CEA over there, it said CTA, and
I was like, what does that mean? And that's when
it showed how technology is everywhere, not only in electronics
and see it just kind of shows just how progressive
the organization is, that they're always on top of things. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Well, luckily no name changed this time. We're still the
Consumer Technology Association and still the CTA Foundation. But yes,
we absolutely we are. You know, we're with the technology industry.
Our industry is focused on innovation and constant improvement, and
you know, we as an association, as a foundation, as
(14:35):
a trade show, need to reflect that as well. So
I'm really excited for everything that's being rolled out. I
also think this is going to give our marketing team
a lot of creative opportunities as they're putting together a
lot of plans for CES this year. So I can't
wait to see what they're going to be able to
showcase for you. And I have no doubt you're going
(14:58):
to get some nice surprise is at the show?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
M nice surprises you wanna tell us some aw, we gotta.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Wait, Oh, you gotta wait. I like my job way
too much to give anything away at this point.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know what, Gary and I are kind of there,
and Casey and I are kind of Kinsey and I
are kind of there. So whatever problem you have, I'll
blame it on me. Okay, it's my father, Steve, so now,
but I hear you. I definitely yeah, I definitely hear you.
So Hey, as they say at a hip hop concert
and a rap concert, this is what we came here for.
(15:37):
We came here to talk about the Eureka Park contest
that's happening again and Steve, I am so excited about it.
But before we kind of talk about the specifics and
the criteria, if you can share with those who may
be tuning in for our discussion the first time about
Eureka Park.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, absolutely so. Eureka Park is the startup area of CEES.
So last year we had over fourteen hundred startups from
around the world. So we have countries that bring whole
delegations of startups to the show. We have individual startups
we have and it's across the technology industry, so you
(16:19):
can find you know, health tech in there. You can find,
you know, wearable devices and mobility devices and assistive devices
is part of what I'm always interested in finding there
and really kind of across the entire technology ecosystem. And
it is always such an exciting area of the show
(16:39):
because it's packed with attendees that are looking for what
are those kind of new ideas, you know, that's where
investors and media and others go to meet these new
emerging companies as well as you know, some of the
bigger companies that are looking to find partnerships and identify
some of these companies that they may want to work with.
(17:00):
So this is a really exciting area of the show
and we continue to see more and more interest in
the space, and from the CTA Foundation's perspective, we started,
actually this will be our ninth year running this competition,
where we took five of those booths, so five out
of that fourteen hundred booths that you see there, and
(17:23):
we set those aside. But we run this competition and
what we ask is for a startup and they do
have to be either US or Canadian startups, and they
have to meet the Eureka Park criteria. So essentially they
can't have launched their product years ago, and they actually
(17:43):
have to have a product, so it can't necessarily be
It could be a minimum viable product or kind of
demo type product, but essentially it can't just be a
thought on a piece of paper. But companies that have
meet those criteria are able to apply. And what we
(18:04):
ask is they look at how could their product benefit
either older adults or people with disabilities. It does not
need to be a product that is focused solely on
those populations, but what I want to see is companies
taking the time to think about how their products could
benefit these two populations. We have a group of judges
(18:26):
that will help us go through all the entries that
we have for this, and ultimately we will select five companies.
We will give them each a booth in Eureka Park
and we always try to save some space right up
near the front to give them a great opportunity to
be showcased there. We give them twenty five hundred dollars
each as well, because it costs money to be in
(18:48):
Las Vegas for the week of CEES, and we give
them a lot of attention. I know I'm always introducing
our winners to you, and we've had some You do
some great interviews with them over the years, and we
just see such excitement and attention that comes to these
companies as we see them come back year after year
(19:08):
after that, as they continue to build their companies from here.
So I see it as a great way for us
to create attention for the important needs of older adults
and people with disabilities. It's a great way to call
attention to some of the companies that are working in
this space, and it's a great way to really help
launch some companies that are making a difference. So yeah,
(19:31):
I'm always excited for this. I will make sure I
share with you the link. But people can also go
to CTA Foundation dot tech and on there they'll find
information on the Eureka Park accessibility contest. They can also
find all of our various social media channels were out
there promoting it quite a bit. So if you go
(19:53):
to any of our channels right now, you'll definitely find
links directly to the content rules in the application form.
And I think this is going to be a great
opportunity for us to find those next five companies.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I think so too, Steve. And if we can spend
a little time talking about some of the past winners
and what they were able to do and how they
parlayed this contest into some pretty amazing things. I know
during the pandemic there was at least one that I
knew just kind of showed up and showed out with
(20:29):
their innovation. It really helped save lives.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean there's a bunch of them that
have done that over the years, and we've seen everything
from one of our very early winners, Ira is a
solution for the blind and low vision community. It's almost
a concierge service essentially, and they've gone and really built
(20:53):
their business quite a bit over the years. Since then,
we've seen companies like Miron, who I know is one
that you've used quite a bit in the VR space
and being able to do you know, that therapy and
movement and other activity that can come through virtual reality
and engagement. So and especially as you were saying, when
(21:14):
we were all, you know, locked in our house and
not able to get out and see other people, looking
at those virtual connections and looking at the opportunity to
engage in that way is just so so important. But
even you know, just looking at last year, we had
a company called one Court, which essentially was for blind
and low vision haptic kind of tablet that they could
(21:40):
put their hands on and follow sports so you could see,
you know, where is the football on the on the field.
Essentially it would have different haptics if they threw the
ball or they ran the ball and be able to
follow in real time what is going on on a field,
whether it's you know, football field, basketball court, or others.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And they were actually featured by T Mobile, I believe
during the Major League Baseball All Star Game in a
in a commercial. So, uh, it's amazing to see some
of these companies just continue to build.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And yeah, we've had nine years of success in this
so you know, there's too many stories to fully tell.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Yeah, I'm so grateful the tech world is to have
the Foundation have this opportunity to help startups out to
be at the super Bowl of Technology to showcase some
of this great innovation.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And Steve, you know, thanks again for sharing that contest
with us. And we know less than what three over
a little over three months away from cees and Steve,
what are some some other things that are going on
that you could talk about with the Foundation and some
of the things the Foundation may also have go on
(23:07):
during during that during CES. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Absolutely, So Yeah, it's looking like it's going to be
another great show. So we're we're excited.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
One probably one of the more visible things that we
do at CES each year is our Pitch Competition. We
are bringing that back again this year. Last year we
had this amazing MC some you may know him, Paul
Amadeis Lane I think exactly was our MC for that event.
(23:38):
But we're bringing that back. We should have an announcement
here probably later this month for the call for entries,
but we'll be looking for startup companies that are exhibiting
at CEES to participate in that. We're finalizing all the
details now, but I'm excited to bring that back to
the show this year. Again. We'll have our Accessibility Roundtable,
(24:01):
where we bring together advocates in industry to talk about
what is working well in the accessibility space as well
as where there's some challenges and build those relationships up.
So we'll be doing that again. One thing that's brand
new for us this year, we have what we're calling
our Health Innovation Challenge, and we're working with the With
(24:23):
Foundation and the Midspecie Electric America Foundation. To create this
challenge focused on the intellectual and developmental disability community and
specifically around health tech. We've identified partners around the country
that are doing focus groups with the IDD community and
(24:43):
identifying what's working well and where there's some challenges with
health tech specifically for this community. And then what we're
going to be doing is running a challenge for industry
that can take this feedback from these focused groups. And
you know, as you said, we're three months from CEES,
so I'm not expecting brand new, completely out of the
(25:06):
box products developed between now and then, but we're going
to be looking at how have these companies adapted their
products or you know, how are they looking at creating
a product that uses these solutions, that uses this feedback
from the community. And we're going to have an opportunity
for these companies to engage directly with the IDD community
(25:28):
at CES this year. So I'm excited to do that
and you know, launch kind of a new program at
CEES where it is directly getting the feedback of representatives
of the disability community. In this case, it's the intellectual
and developmental disability community, but on such a big growing
area of our industry and our show So that's something
(25:52):
that I'm excited and I've certainly shared more as as
we get closer to the show and have more details
to share.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I'm looking forward to Steve, and I remember when this
wasn't the case at CES, and you know, I would,
I would bring up accessibility to certain ones and it
was kind of like an afterthought. But when you got
there with the foundation, I'm gonna tell you something, brother,
this is what you did. You help steer the ship
(26:22):
in the right direction to make sure that one is
like myself and others from all different disabilities are having
their voices heard with an industry who can make life
easy and make it more have an independent life for
all of us. So I want to thank you Steve
for doing what you do. And I can only imagine
(26:45):
it wasn't an easy task to get where we're at today,
but we thank you for staying the course.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Wow, I appreciate that. And uh yeah, no, the community
bit has been amazing to work with as we've built
this up over time. But it's important for us. It's
important for us as a show to make sure that
our show is as accessible as possible because I mean, yes,
I mentioned we have disability advocates that come to the show,
(27:13):
but we also have a lot of people in the
industry that have disabilities. I mean, you're there because you're
a media representative that just also happens to have a disability.
So we need to make sure that we are meeting
your needs and the needs of so many others at
the show. But we have seen such increased interest in
this space over the years. In fact, one other thing
(27:35):
that's new not on the foundation side, but actually on
the CTA side, the association side of the world. CTA
divides up its membership into different verticals. So essentially the
smart home companies have it, you know, work together in
the health tech and audio and video and vehicle and
so on and so on, and there's a lot of
(27:57):
cross pollination across those, but they get these divisions that
focus on different areas. We are actually just about to
launch a brand new working group that we'll be focused
on accessibility in age tech. So this will be our chance.
Our foundation is going to continue to focus on how
does technology really advance the or how do we get
(28:18):
the technology into the hands of older adults and people
with disabilities. Through our work with the nonprofits all over
the country, and other programs that we do. This new
working group, though, is going to be how do we
build the industry that is addressing these populations. So we
actually haven't even had our first meeting on it yet,
so we've been doing a lot of the background work
(28:39):
and that will launch here very very soon. But I'm
excited because that shows the feedback from the community and
the interest from the industry has taken root and now
we're going to be able to do some amazing things
with it.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I am so glad you mentioned Essie, because I wanted
to bring that up and I forgot about. Now, now,
who is that Geared Stords? You know who who should
be be a part of this group? You can mind
share that with the audience.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
So it's actually it's open to any CTA member company,
So the companies do have to be CTA members to
participate in it, but it's open to any CTA member company.
So they could be you know, assistive technology products, or
they could be you know, general consumer products, or they
(29:30):
could be something that's completely unrelated but just has an
interest in this and wants to learn more. In fact,
I would guess and we haven't. Uh, don't don't take
me completely promising this, but one of the first things
I think will end up doing is creating kind of
a accessibility in age tech one oh one guide for
(29:51):
the industry of you know, for those that are not
working in this space and don't know what they need
to know in this space, what are the very basics
just to get them, you know, level set, and then
we can work on how we continue to create education.
So it is it's something that it doesn't cost anything
for any CTA member to participate in. And so if
(30:13):
any are you listening, tell them to reach out to
me and reach out through CTA and we'll we'll get
them involved.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
That's awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. When I saw that on LinkedIn,
I was like, whoa, Steve didn't even tell me. So
I'm glad, glad you're telling us now. So this is
this is really awesome, really awesome. What's what's going on?
Seeing all this growth? And before I let you go,
my friend, is there anything else you'd like to share
with the viewers? Are the listeners out there?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Just that you know, thank you Paul for being such
a good friend for the work that we're doing, such
a good advocate for the types of technologies that are
out there that can help us all, you know, whether
we're part of the stability community, whether we're part of
the aging demographic. Honestly, we all are probably we all
(31:06):
are both of those, at least at different portions of
our lives. So thank you for all the work that
you're doing. If people are interested knowing more about some
of the things that I've mentioned here today, you certainly
CTA Foundation dot tech that's dot t E c H
has everything about the foundation CES dot tech that's CES.
(31:29):
And then again dot t E c H has all
the information about CEES and that's a brand new website
that we just launched with the new rebrand, so we're
excited to get feedback on that as well, and I
think it makes it a lot easier to find different
pieces of information about what's happening at CEES and put
that in front of people and really just be a
(31:52):
much easier to use website as a whole. And then
c t A dot tech is the Association's page and
that you can find all kinds of work, the market
research that they're doing, the other events and activities, media
engagements and others. So encourage people to check out all
those different sites, and if you're in the industry, we'd
(32:15):
welcome you to get involved.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Awesome, well, Steve, always great to talk to you, rather
about technology, about the assistive and adaptive technology, the aiding
and adult population, and the disabled community. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. Look forward to chatting with you when there's
more news to break on the foundation and cees, the
Eureka Park winners, all those great things. Looking forward to
(32:40):
chatting with you, my friend.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, thank you for having me. It's always great talking
with you and I can't wait to do it again soon.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
A huge shout out to my good friends. Steve Yule
of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. Love our chat about
the Eureka part competition and some of the other things
that are going on, and about the logo rebranch. I
like it. It's pretty dope. Yeah, you know me. I'm
(33:07):
all about merch. I'm gonna get me one sure with
that on is it's pretty awesome. And the links that
Steve talked about. If you're listening right now on the radio,
are even watching us live on live stream, the links
will not be there. But if you subscribe to any
of our podcast channels, the links will be there so
(33:28):
you can have easy access to get them all right,
So when we get back, we're gonna talk about something
that's on the governor's desk here in California that some
feel Mainsteiny innovation, even though it's aimed to help AI
and making sure that's safe for not only for businesses
(33:51):
but also for us. We're gonna be joined by Paul
Leckis right after these messages.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Well, the technology things are ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
You need someone to help you out. I need someone
that can be alone. You'll be with Paul.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I'm gonna get Slaine in the tech Zone.
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