Reality augmented

Back from the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) for just over a week now, I can say that I accomplished seeing some of the specific types of new and great ideas & products I had hoped to see.

One of these things had been "virtual reality", but, while I enjoyed getting some time with VR, I hadn't even heard of what really left me speechless. Augmented reality. AR wasn't even on my radar, but Wow, it left an impact.
Before this day I hadn't even heard of augmented reality, let alone see it. In fact, I almost walked right by this booth at the show. I mean, all that was there was a book on a table and a phone propped up in front of it.
Still not sure what made me look other than the idea that there must be more than met the eye since everything else around me was larger than life.
I was right.
The person tending the display motioned to me to look into the phone screen after they demonstrated that the dinosaur book laying there was indeed a simple book.
As I watched the person turn the page, through the screen on the phone (as if the screen were simply a piece of clear glass) I saw movement.
The person picked up the phone and tilted it and I watched as the dinosaurs suddenly came alive.
Without any visible aid, the pterodactyl on the page sat up, spread it's wings, and suddenly began to fly. Yes, fly, right off the book!!! The person holding the phone simply followed along watching it as it flew. A thing of note...everything behind the flying pterodactyl was exactly what I was looking at. The entire room in real time. Eventually the pterodactyl flew back onto the page.

Yes, I was still completely at a lack for words.

I was shown a couple more pages where dinosaurs suddenly started walking around the page and off the edges.
In the last page I watched even as a couple of trees stood off the surface of the page and the dinosaur started eating from them.
Taking the camera at the end of the short third video, I put it around to the back of the phone screen to show that there was indeed nothing but a flat book opened to the dino page.

All I can say is, as fun as some of the virtual reality was, there is something to be said for all this amazing fun and mind blowing visual to be going on in front of you without the aid of all those big heavy headsets and eye gear.
It's a bonus to see these things happening in front of you without the weight of all that gear as well as the ability to still look around at your surroundings and not be enclosed in a dark world all you own.
Given the choice, right now, this has my vote.

I imagine at some point there may be a combo VR & AR in our future!

A moment about prescriptions

While I was about to continue with more posting about the CES, today gave me pause and I felt the need to take a moment and say a brief word about prescriptions, and the issues of getting refills without breaking the bank.
Before I tell you about today specifically, let me take a moment to bring you up to date on what I've been through with this issue. I'll keep it short, but pay attention, you may find a few tips to save you some money.
I've been taking synthroid (not the generic form) for many years now. There was a time when I went through my husbands health care provider, but they seemed to only pay a few dollars on the cost and would not fill my entire 90 day prescription all at once. I was forced to fill it every 30 days. I let this go for a while and discovered over time that AAA would cover just as much if I use them. Didn't seem right that my auto card would pay as much (several dollars) on my meds.
Well...I decided to go ahead and say "give me my full 90 days and I'll pay it myself". Figured since I was barely saving anything at all, I may as well get the full amount and not keep going back and forth. To my surprise, leaving the middle man out of it and paying myself, the price was lowered!!!
Yes, they up the price for the health coverage which is almost non-existent, and it turns out I can pay less without it.
Well...that's the way it went for some time, until this past year when I noticed the price continuing to go up. It went up so high in large amounts that I was getting quite concerned. I mean, this is a medication I have no option but to take.
So, here we are at the events of today. The health coverage that my husband gets through his work had changed to a new provider at the beginning of this year. Since I now needed a refill on this med I called the new provider to inquire on what, if any, my coverage would be if I went through them.
It was his response that made me nearly fall off my chair. He quoted me a price per refill that was more than 3 times the price I've already been paying!! Really?? I admit I laughed out loud when he said this.
I explained that I've already been paying less than a third of that, out of pocket, and found it hard to believe that with their "coverage" I'd be paying sooo much more!  His response, "well, it may not be that much, but it "could" be that price". What??  I said again that I couldn't believe I'd be charged that much, and again, he said "well, it could be that much".
I mean really, am I supposed to roll the dice and see just how much I'm charged at the end?? I couldn't get any more direct answer than that. Wow.
So, I did what any good consumer would do.
I went online to "Good Rx" and found a coupon. Most pharmacies would honor them even for another pharmacy. I then took that coupon to my pharmacy along with my bottle to refill (out of pocket), and in 15 mins. I had my refill.
The cost to me? $270 LESS than I was being told by the health provider. In fact, even $50 less than I'd been paying without that coupon.
So, health care coverage or online coupon??
I can tell you what I've chosen. Now, it's up to you. Ask questions and be informed.

Behind the Scenes at CES

I'm just back from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas.
While I had originally intended to write here "during" the show, I found that the whole thing was so incredibly vast, that it was all I could do to find time to see what I could see. I also misled myself thinking that I could actually do everything I needed to on one of two tablets I took with me instead of taking my laptop. Not true. While one table decided to act up and not play fair, the other simply didn't have the functionality I needed to work. So, here we are.
I arrived in Vegas with my daughter (who is the one actually in the industry, and my key to going) several days ahead of the show. This gave me an insight into the work and structure of the "building of the CES".

So very much goes into all those amazing displays that look inviting and effortless by the start of the show. In actuality, there are people and machines scrambling everywhere and into all hours for days on end to make it happen. Thankfully, the booth that we had to get set up for Robotic Trends was rather small and simple in comparison and even that took a couple of days. The devil is always in the details!!
Yes, I will go into giving you pictures, thoughts, and write-ups on what I saw there, but thought you just might enjoy starting with what most people never see...some behind the scene shots of the making of the show.