Gadgetory

everyone welcome back to see Nets live coverage of CES 2017 right now we've got a very special guest you likely know him from his roles on Parks and Recreation and Fargo please help me welcome ladies and gentlemen Nick Offerman round of applause for Nick Offerman thank you for being here sir pleasure thank you that is a firm handshake I appreciate it I've had a lot of practice have you now you know I I heard you were gonna be here and I said well that that doesn't make any sense when I think of mr. Offerman I think of someone drinking scotch or whiskey at whittling wood or something like that that's a fine compliment yeah so so what exactly are you doing here well the fine folks at American Greetings brought me on board to deliver the message of this incredible original piece of technology the greeting card I've heard about this I thought was very clever at a tech conference to say you know technology is amazing it allows us to exchange a great deal of information very quickly but it's a little cold it's a little bit personal and with this original technology that has never really been improved upon you can deliver a more heartfelt sentiment so you you you want to choose the right technology for the right occasion absolutely and this is something that's been around for ages it has it was in fact the company has been around since the 19th century really yeah there really are old-school and it's something that speaks dearly to me my mom and dad are incredible card users okay and my wife and I use cards ink to the paper that experience you know when you use a card it says to the recipient I took the time instead of like to whip off some emoji right which is totally cute I get it that's a safe word to use for that but that I took the time to choose yeah a sentiment and hand it to you and then you have an experience where instead of like whipping through your emails like Oh somebody thanked me for parking well instead you have this moment where you say holy cow somebody thank you a to me there's love there's love it's an envelope of love I love I love how American Greetings sort of debuted this campaign we have a clip that we're going to roll kind of parroting product debuts check it out since the last take that electricity right it's it's compatible across all devices can't be hacked lefties and righties virus proof of course and it's slimmer than your your tiniest tablet I could I can fit a dozen of these things in the space that some one of those Palm Pilots would take up pomp I that's a throwback I appreciate it I play the field appreciate you reaching back there so I you know I I do enjoy kind of poking fun at the modern conveniences that we call good technology what is there something that kind of irks you for me it's it's kind of the what we've fallen in love with with emojis I think it's important to be you know technology is amazing it really is going to help us hopefully save the planet and you know they create a world where we're decent to everyone and and that's very important but we have to be very selective about when and where we use technology right or we'll become those fat baby like adults in the movie wall-e does everyone go there for that I think I just think that was a genius representation of where we're headed yeah 15 years ago I would have referenced Terry Gilliam's Brazil yes but excellent it's it's the great sci-fi mentality of if we only keep using emojis then we turn into fat babies right and I feel like why it seems like we're chasing those sci-fi movies in a weird way well it's human nature that's that's what that's the double-edged sword you know we always want to make the most comfortable choice sure which is like oh it takes some effort so they like choose a card and send it to somebody but it's worth it that's it's it's maintaining a relationship of love you know people here today at this big conference are trying to like do deals and like present their new products and that's great and they're using technology like hey Beth get over to the booth somebody's gonna buy our cool new rage is a tech item but if that sale gets made then it's gonna be appropriate to bust out a card be like Beth you react crazy-ass you really pulled through please enjoy this car so these are like limited-edition kind of cards here for CES yeah we have we have cool limited edition ones this is you create your own hashtag on that one that's like blank space yeah I like the hashtag Beth kicks ass right open it up we did it just a reminder and I also love you please don't tell my wife this one says I got you the thinnest most powerful messaging device at CES and you thought this was just a card and then you drop your microphone leave the room and the statement has been made and not only that but we have we have this these great products you know there's gonna be an unveiling at noon okay make sure you're there the American Greetings pronto three view right look at this it's the greeting card and there's no there's no charger below there's no charger it's it's compatible across all interfaces you don't need to carry a shammy with you to keep the screen clean comes with a custom stylus a number two stylus I preferred the sleek designing equipped for mistakes should they occur that's right yeah that's for that's for others so is what what it's amazing cuz like greeting cards of like we said survived the test of time what what else do you think is sort of like a lost art that we are rapidly losing our grasp on that's the thing about technology I run a furniture shop called Offerman wood shop in Los Angeles where our thing is we make you things out of wood by hand right imagine that yeah and it's you know there's an artisanal quality to it but it bleeds into the rest of our lives I mean I we're much more likely to be able to change a tire or a doorknob or if there's an electrical problem we know where to look sure and so hands-on skills are also very important now if I find a question I can't answer when I'm dealing with a plumbing issue then I have my technology and that's amazing I can find a video of a guy teaching me about the wax ring below my toilet sure and those videos are amazing Google wax ring and you'll have hours of pleasure the phone never has a lot of personality I'm sure there is it's a different kind of YouTube channel for a different day but this I mean it ties into for me that's what my wood shop is all about is that instead of making up trying to make a profit or sell as many shelves as we can we want to make you something that costs a little more but will last your family 300 years and you can see that we love what we do you can feel it and and so that's an expression of love to our clientele and this is a small version of that it's simply saying and every occasion you know if somebody passes away or somebody gives birth or if or if somebody makes a terrible mistake where you can also give a card of admonishment right and those are a lot of fun they are a lot of fun and and there's the right kind of occasion that this will always find a useful place for right yeah there's there's no occasion you know texting and e-mailing are great and fast from more businesslike disposal the most practical though them the most heartfelt or like you said the most love it's not if you if you want to say to somebody happy birthday nice going thank you I love you will you have oral sex with me any of those centimeter that's worth a card if you if you give them that document then they have that forever right and there there's more Thunder like well maybe on that maybe a text I would have not gone all the way through but the time the effort was made there yeah when I want to hear about people dating they're like breaking up or getting together by text I think that that can never work because you haven't begun things on a substantial firm foothold there's a lot of people out there who think this generation that's growing up without the human interaction going through doing the time of like getting to meet somebody having a drink with somebody it's kind of like ruining our relationship sort of psychology personal ability yeah I mean I think there's something to it at the same time I mean it's it happened with our generation too I mean first you used to have to shake hands and talk to Peter then then you had a telegraph then you had a telephone and when you remove these these moments yeah you're allowed to become less sincere sure your word is no longer your bond then we see it even on all levels of politics I don't know if you've read the news lately but heard about it there there's some suspected insincerity happening and you don't think in world politics but if the the cool thing about young people is even though they're crazy on their phones and and with texting they still generally are being taught to use cars for thank-yous right and things like this which I think not only is that important as a an established delivery system for sentiments but also for maintaining the ability to use handwrite a share because that's no longer being taught in school it's pretty scary the the greeting card business which by the way that in my briefing in my vetting for this occasion right I was amazed to discover that the GCA the greeting card Association estimates that Americans buy 6.5 billion greeting cards a year that's intense it's not going anyplace no and young people are still being taught this which I think gives me hope so in 50 years that'll just be the only remnants of actual handwriting Caty with our sign links for special occasions we're still gonna be like you know what it was show up in the mailbox what's your address well this has been great thank you so much for being here round of applause for Nick Offerman ladies and gentlemen