Autocue is perhaps one of the most useful technologies ever invented. But the Panasonic press conference at CES this afternoon was an object lesson in how not to use it.
Super-cheesy bigwigs from Panasonic introduced other, even bigger bigwigs for a series of Q&As in which even the "Well, Jims" were up on the autocue screen for all to see at the back of the chandeliered ballroom.
Panasonic, which makes pretty nice plasma tellies, was bigging up its product range for 2007, the apogee of which is a 103" panel. They look impressive, as you'd expect: lovely clean moving pictures, even on the great big panels.
Also up on the big plasmas dotted around the room were images of new kit including an ugly-as-sin VoIP phone and a very dinky HD camcorder. Oh, and some very cheesy clips of a big-smiled woman with a microphone doing inserts from the main hall over at the Convention Center. Those, along with a clip of Brett Ratner, director of X-Men: The Last Stand, yelling about how much he loves Blu-ray, the high-def DVD format that Panasonic is backing. "Subtle", chuckled a reporter behind me. Yup, that about sums up the Panasonic experience.
