LAS VEGAS — The celebs were out in full force at Amazon’s happy hour media event at CES on Tuesday.
The Seattle tech giant has a large presence at the big consumer tech show this year as it touts products and services such as Fire TV, its Alexa assistant, Ring home security, and more.
The company hosted an evening event for media at one of its device exhibits. To add a little starpower to the experience, it brought out celebrity chef Guy Fieri, who talked about the Food Network Kitchen integration with Alexa and made one of his signature cocktails alongside Marc Whitten, Amazon’s Fire TV chief.
Fieri needed some help, so he called out “a buddy of mine.” That’s when The Diesel a.k.a. Superman a.k.a. The Big Aristotle a.k.a. The Big Daddy a.k.a. Shaquille O’Neal stepped out.
The 7-foot-1 NBA legend donned a Ring t-shirt; he’s an early investor in the Amazon-owned smart doorbell maker and also an ambassador.
So @SHAQ just showed up at Amazon's #CES press event. He's making drinks with @GuyFieri. Shaq wearing his Ring shirt (he's an investor) and touting new Alexa features. pic.twitter.com/KEUwaYsESJ
— Taylor Soper (@Taylor_Soper) January 8, 2020
Shaq is a regular CES, given his interest in tech and investing. The NBA Hall of Famer told GeekWire back at CES 2017 that he’s the world’s tallest geek.
“Power to all the geeks in the world,” Shaq said.
The 4-time NBA champ and 15-time All-Star posed for pictures at the event on Tuesday and spent time chatting it up with Amazon execs, who answered all his questions about Amazon products, such as the Scout package delivery robot.
“Thanks for being a customer,” Amazon devices and services chief Dave Limp told Shaq. “If you need anything, just call.”
Amazon’s exhibit was organized into sections such as “busy parent,” “home chef,” “entertainment enthusiast,” and “work-from-home employee,” showing how Amazon products can help people around the house or with various tasks.
The most intriguing product demo was popcorn scooped, shaken, and served up by a robot, which certainly seems to be a theme at CES this year.
We already saw the robotic pizza maker yesterday. Today at Amazon's #CES press event we have the robotic popcorn scooper. It even shakes the seasoning at the end. Not an actual product, just a promo for Fire TV…but is it the future? pic.twitter.com/brSKy3eona
— Taylor Soper (@Taylor_Soper) January 8, 2020
