All posts by Arnie

CES: Self-Driving Vehicles

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Coming Soon – Self-Driving Vehicles

My first stop at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was to see several of the upcoming self-driving autos that are either already or soon to be in service.

In particular I saw offerings from Suzuki, Tier IV, Waymo and ZOOX. Here’s a quick look at what you may soon see on the roads in the near future.

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This Suzuki vehicle is being developed with partner Glydways. It was the smallest of the four brands that I encountered.
The Glydways vehicle has sizable sliding doors that allows passengers easy access to a comfortable interior.
The Tier IV vehicle is slightly larger than the Glydways.
Similar to the Glydway, the Tier IV has large sliding doors.
You can see the sensors that the Tier IV uses for operation.
This model Waymo has a body similar to a sedan.
Waymo is equipped with a large sensor on its roof.
This model Waymo style is similar to a minivan.
This model ZOOX has sliding doors.
The interior provides seating for four passengers.
The ZOOX is fitted with a plethora of exterior sensors.
Later in the afternoon I encountered this ZOOX on one of the streets of Las Vegas delivering a couple of passengers without a driver in a sedan model. Please excuse the dirt on my car window.

Maybe you’ve seen self-driving vehicles. They are already operating in several cities. You can easily identify them by seeing the large number of sensors on the vehicle’s exterior. Judging from the number on display at this year’s CES, we can expect to see more of them operating on urban streets in the coming months.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

CES 2025

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The Consumer Electronics Show

I’ve attended CES for many years.

Going back to the mid 1970s we atteneded CES as an exhibitor. Our company ABACUS faithfully exhibited at the Las Vegas venue showing our software and books to the trade and computer enthusiasts.

Since 1975 my guess is that I’ve been to the CES Show about 35 times.

Abacus bowed out about 2010, but I’ve continued to attend the show as an industry participant. My nerdy interests have kept me going back to learn about new and upcoming electronic gadgets of all shapes and sizes.

We started Stay Focused as a website to write books and articles about technical and photographic products.

This year management estimated that 4,500 exhibitors greeted more than 140,000 attendees this year. It remains one of the largest conventions in the USA.

Following this article I’ve written several “reports” on some of the products that I learned about at CES. I hope the articles give you a sense of the exciting products that were exhibited this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Christmas Time in NYC

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A Visit During the Holidays

This year we took a short trip to New York especially to see the holiday decorations. It’s a 750 mile drive from Grand Rapids, MI to New York.

Here’s a rather lengthy picture story of our early December visit to New York.

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Here is are driving in Ohio. This is the halfway point from Grand Rapids to New York City.
We arrived in Tarrytown, NY by crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge (actually the Mario Cuomo bridge). Locals refer to the bridge as the Tappan Zee. The bridge crosses the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City in Westchester county. I grew up in New Rochelle which is close to Tarrytown. During our visit we stayed in Tarrytown since the hotel rates are way lower than in New York City.
The easiest way to commute into the city is by commuter rail. The Hudson North line conveniently takes us from Tarrytown to Grand Central terminal in about an hour. This is the station in Tarrytown.
The commute from Tarrytown passes by several small villages and cities along the Hudson RIver. Here we are crossing the Harlem River between Bronx and Manattan.
Here is my wife Kris and tree of the grandkids in the iconic and spacious Grand Central terminal.
Our first stop was at nearby Bryant Park where the city sets up a skating rink for the winter.
In addition to the winter skating rink, Bryant Park is filled with dozens of small vendors selling holiday decorations and gifts.
While our granddaughters are past the doll stage, they wanted to visit the American Doll store.
Here are the skaters that braved the cold at the famed Rockefeller Center rink. Unfortunately we didn’t see the Christmas tee lighting that took place a few days after we visited.
Some of the nice holiday decorations at Rockefeller Center.
We visited St Thomas Church on 5th Ave
The peacefulness of the church is such contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city.
This “look” stopped us with curiosity. It’s the Louis Vuiton building being restored with a suitcase covering.
Here’s another striking storefront belonging to Louis Vuiton. Amazing showmansip.
This spiral staircase take you down from 5th Ave into the Apple Store. The store was crowded with holiday shoppers.
Outside of the Apple Store was a mirrored sculpture. Like many others, we wanted to get a selfie.
This colorful storefront is Dior. It seems like many of the stores are trying to outdo one another with creative and amazing designs.

Just a few blocks away is Central Park. It was filled with visitors and locals enjoying the sunny (but cold) weather.
This area in Central Park is known as Bethesda Fountain. As you can see from the crowds, it is a popular gathering place.
Across from the south entrance to Central Park is Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Building. This is photo from its wall-to-wall windows.
The Time Warner Building as many full service shops. Upsatairs is The Tintinary a nice lunchs spot which we often frequent.
You can find a cool gingerbread house in the building’s shopping area.
The next day we drove a few miles from our Tarrytown hotel to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. This place is noted for the fictional story of the “Headless Horseman”. BTW, we didn’t catch a glimpse of the so-called person.
Sleepy Hollow was originally settlled by the Dutch. Many of the headstones date back to the 1600s and are difficult to read due to the aging.
The subway took us from midtown Manhattan to Chinatown.
The windows of Chinatown are filled with roast duck, chicken and pork ready for purchase.
We walked from Chinatown to Little Italy where we met family and friends for a small celebration. The food and service at Il Cortile was fantastic.
Outside of the restaurant was this wooden soldier to help decorate the holidays.
The MET is New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses one of the largest art collections in the USA.
One of the Met’s many paintings from the 17th century
A statue in the Met’s Asian collection
The next day we crossed over from New York City to New Jersey. This is the George Washington Bridge.
We wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty and took the ferry from the New Jersey side to Liberty Island.
From the docks in Jersey City we had a great view of the Manhattan skyline.

One of our granddaughters plays for Stevens Institute in Hoboken, NJ. We finally were able to see her play that evening.
Here we are after her game saying goodbye before we were on our way home back to Grand Rapids.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in New York during the Christmas Holiday Season and the first time for three of the granddaughters.

While the weather was cold, it was clear and sunny the whole time we were there. We had a short but enjoyable visit.

Written by:

Arnie Lee