Why go to a trade show in person? It’s a hard question to answer, until you’re waiting in line for the Panasonic press conference with loud club music pumping and the growing conviction that you’re going to see something extremely cool inside. And we were not disappointed! The first person to walk onstage at the Panasonic press conference was Kal Penn, the actor, author, and former White House consultant who was acting as Panasonic’s emcee. He was quickly followed by Nathan Chen, the Olympic Gold-winning figure skater (and also some videos of Michael Phelps and Naomi Osaka, go figure) to demonstrate Gen Z’s commitment to climate change.
Panasonic showed off a number of interesting new products, like the new MZ2000 TV and the Lumix GH6 camera, which my colleagues will be reviewing later. But what I found the most interesting was Panasonic’s sustainability initiatives, which apply from the ground up—whether they’re working on localizing electric vehicle battery production in the United States at their new plant in De Soto, Kansas, or promoting their Takeback program to recycle consumer electronics.
My Fave Device
Personally, the device that I found the most interesting was the MultiShape. It’s an all-purpose bathroom device (stick with me here) with one motor, on which fit multiple heads—whether that’s an electric razor, toothbrush, or what looks like a screwdriver head but which my colleague Chris Haslam says is a nose-hair trimmer? OK. As a rousing finale, celebrity DJ Sydney Poulson was supposed to use Panasonic’s new turntables to play some beats for Olympic breakdancing hopefuls Victor Montalvo and Sunny Choi.
There were some technical difficulties and the music didn’t work. But Victor and Sunny carried forth bravely on. I love live shows!