CES 2009
Saturday & Sunday Report
January 10 and 11, 2009

I left Macworld and attended CES.

CES is HUGE! Huge is too small of a word to describe it. It's Freaken HUGE! It's overwhelmingly huge. I think there are over 2,700 booths. I'm not kidding. Booths. It spans every corner of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Hilton Convention Center and the Parking Lot and the Sands. It's MASSIVE.

I had 2 days, fresh sneakers and lots of red bull. You will have to forgive this blog posting. It's going to be a long blurring run on sentence. (paul says - whats new?).

Most of these notes are for my own sanity. I record them as the day winds down so that I do not forget. There are photos and I'll work on getting them connected to the paragraphs.

LG SkyCharger - Part of LG's Eco Mobilization effort to Motivate, Educate and Activate. I call it event based marketing - The Wind - Turbines generate 1000 watt max output. The Sun - Solar panels feature an 880 watt array. The Tent is an pyramid open tent design. The center is a set of cell phone lockers where you plug in your phone and take the key. You return when your ready to pick it up. There are 12 110 A/h deep cycle lead acid batteries to provide each phone 4-6v of power. A very cool concept. I don't like when marketing departments take on GREEN and try to figure out how to leverage it into everything without it being a real critical component of the organization. But this is different somehow. It seems that they created a real brand-able need fulfilling device that can go to beach events and so forth. I  want to borrow from this for the Jackson County Fair.

Microsoft

Surrounded by Security Guards. It's a very large space but laid out in a way that does a god job making you feel like there is a lot there, not a lot of empty space. Keep in mind 1/4 of the space is meeting rooms. Microsoft is one of those companies that is involved in many things and the layout was presented like a journey. It started with Windows showing off Vista and Windows 7, Windows Live and IE 8. I checked out Windows 7 and Live and it's very interesting to see how they bridge the desktop to the internet.

Cell phones were featured in the Mobility section. Lots of Samsung and HTC smartphone from what I could see. I didn't spend much time there. I have an iPhone.

The third stop on the journey was Television. I'll be going back here on Sunday. They featured Windows Media Center allowing you to Watch and Record TV on your PC and how to extend movies, music, photos to your big screen TV. They also showed off Microsoft Mediaroom with DVRanywhere Live anytime features.

Next was Gaming. I was impressed with how 90 % of gaming was taking the XBOX 360 squarely against the WII. It's not about horsepower, its about fun playability for the whole family. From Dueling Karaoke battles called LIPs and some cool game I need to spend more time with that allows you to build your own game. One Microsoft employee told me it was for kids. I smiled at her and thanked her for her words of wisdom. That aint for kids. It's a modeling tool for game creation. It's brilliant and the young woman from Schlage couldn't put it down.

Note: I played Halo Wars and loved how they took the FPS game and turned it into a RTS with deep backstory. The Halo franchise will grow to a new level with this game.

Music rounded out the final part of a disconnected journey. I will look at Zune later time permitting. I have no interest and do not see any application for clients. Did I mention I have an iPhone.

My journey was disrupted by a information booth of unhelpful Microsoft employees and security guards. I left the booth only to discover later on that the journey that curved serpentine like a conical shell continued past the information booth. A small car (make and model goes here) was presented as a game (bad call here - no line - no one understood it as a game - it definitely did not grab the crowd ) but I was intrigued with the car, as I am with most small electric or high fuel efficient cars in booths. Forget the booth babes, these things draw me. The car was in a section called Automotive. There is also a big tent with no one visiting outside promoting this concept of Microsoft in your car. Apple did it with ipod connectors in your car. Microsoft wants you to have your computer live with you in the car. We shall see.

Surprisingly the end of the journey was productivity. It was kind of stuck in there and forgotten about and I think it should of been after the first kiosk since it ties so nicely with Windows and Windows Live. They had to reboot the video looping demo while I was looking around. The video got stuck. It took 4 guys to do it. some TECH guy does the deed while security looks it over and watches the crowd. Nothing to see here - move along.

Inside the end of the journey was the touch screen table top venture Microsoft is getting into. I played with it. It's fairly responsive and for a few minutes I flung all the images around the screen while it was trying to tell me about products and offerings. I was happy to see that I didn't feel smudges. Think of the thousands of people who touched it before it. There was one kid there with Apple on his badge and he videotaped the thing in action, which makes no sense to me since you can see it all in action on the web. I guess the security guys were so busy watching over reboots they missed this one all together.

Remember last year when I told you the Apple booth flavor was different because of guards, well its the same here. I don't like standing there with security looking over my shoulder and if you don't think they are watching you one said my name just to make sure I knew, I was being watched. Damn name badges.

I always enjoy the companies and goods I find on accident.

One such company was Tritton (trittonUSA.com). They make headphones for gaming that when I put them on and played a game (I have no id which ones) the bass was so deep and the 5.1 surround sound (yes in the headphones) was so well done that I was actually startled at one point in the game when I ran around the corner and something moved BEHIND me. Trust me it changes everything when your hearing is part of the game play.

A small developer in San Diego (Paleo) released Merchants of Brooklyn which is a FPS using Cryteks CryEngine 2 and based on a few minutes of gameplay will do very well. It's loaded with over the top humor and action and was purposely developed with a comic book look and feel. I enjoyed the game and when i interviewed one of the employees while he was playing I found out that it will be on sale for only 20 bucks. If you love FPS games, check this one out. It's also nice to see an independent title.

One thing to check out is the APEX SC320 from simcraft. This hardware rig allows you to have a driving simulator in your living room. It's a true three dimensional experience with no latency. You have to use the software that they preinstall but the games look great and real and the motion physics in the game are definitely felt during play. Very cool.

Interactive TV

I spent a lot of time looking over solutions for interactive TV from the manufactures including interactive consoles in the TV to software from providers for the digital set top box.

Playjam.com boasts 45 billion homes using its software as a gaming network with over 500 games.

Electra entertainment provides Trove and iTrove as a way for me as a cable tv provider to provide entertainment interactively on the TV. I'll be checking that out.

Entropia was a online MMO gaming world that uses real money as currency in the game. Check it out at EntropiaUniverse.com.

Poloroid is back.

Can you believe it? The company that invented instant photography has a fun little POGO camera that teen girls are sure to enjoy. It lets you take a digital photo and instantly (under a minute) print a small photo to stick on something or give to someone. It doesn't use ink it uses ZINK. The ink is in the paper. Wild huh? Check it out.

Consumer electronics range from Walmart level electronics to the hip, cool, stylish, elite, expensive, artsy, chic kind.

Home based electronics and Greening technologies.

3D TV - Lots and lots of 3D tv going on. The LCD technology where the screen can now refresh at 120 hz or higher allow you to play any (ANY) movie from Pixar or CG created (because it is created in a 3D world) with special glasses and have an amazing immersive experience. More so than Caption EO. Haven't you noticed how many films are out in 3D? This is because it's becoming mainstream and quite good. I did 3D years ago with Sega glasses and medical images. This is the same concept but because of the high refresh rates you can do it at HD resolution.

I played a little of a new game called MirrorsEdge. Its unlike any FPS I have ever played. You can see your shoes and your run and jump to complete levels. It uses the PhysX engine by nvidia and is a full enriching gaming experience. I cant wait to see what else they come out with.

I was surprised!

Creative Labs. Remember them? the sound card people since the PC didn't come with one? Well they are back and about to take over. Move over Bose, the sound canceling headset I tried on was amazing. The deep rich sound from the GigaWorks Sound system was outstanding and new Vado HD poket video camera is a must have. 2 hours of solid state recording in HD. How is this possible. creative bought another lab Zii lab. Wait till you see what they are doing. Parallel processing that is 100 times faster, 100 times cheaper and 100 times more energy efficient cpus. WOW! I was impressed.

The chip has processing elements in the core that can be reprogrammed to task or shut off completely. Need HD then use all PEs, just doing something simple, how about one PE or two?

WOW! Keep an eye on this company again, I think great things are about to happen.

I found electronics for plants to let you know when it needs water, with a LED blink, but no IP.

Universal Laser Systems etched photos onto dogtags. ULSINC.com
The laser is very cool and very precise. You can laser etch on laptops or anything you want to put a logo or words on. Very cool.

More IP TV

I met with Stacey Cook, CEO of Qtv with turns a PS2 (yes 2) into a set top box.
www.Q-TV.com - The PS2 has dolby 5.1 sound so it takes your USB connected mp3 player and sends it to your speakers as well through your stereo.

ElectraTV.com has a channel for playing games
PlayJam is the content.
They are from England.
They wouldn't talk to me.

I stumbled up a low cost, low power all in one PC called LimePC that is straight out of China. I ordered an eval unit of the NetPC in a box. Looks like I might be going to Beijing if this works out to work out a deal. Low Energy, Low Cost PCs.

NVidea also announced a NetPC box that got best in show runner up. But I could not find anyone that knew anything about it. They all stood there playing games.

A must check out is ClickFree Automatic Backup. You plug in the drive into the USB and the backsup software autoloads and automatically does an incremental backup. The first one takes the longest.

http://www.GoClickFree.com

There sure was a huge gathering of people at the Entropia Universe booth on Sunday. 3D online social network with a real cash economy. Hmmm....

ZvBox is a box that you plug into your computer and it uses the house's built in coax to boardcast a channel inside your home.

It might work great for a hotel as well but they didn't seem interested.

Lots of San Diego based companies were in the show - Qualcomm, Paleo and Entropic, watching the Chargers lose. I was happy, they were not.

Entropic makes the chips that goes inside the set top box. I'm noodling something here. Time to dust off the soldering iron.

The show was coming to an end.

Here is my final thought on CES. It's too big to be a community. I saw no crowd. I don't understand it. Everything under one roof (ok several roofs) from automotive electronics (I took lots of car photos for our new ENVI product) to Manufactures of the smallest component from all over the planet.

Do we consumers really need all those different choices in TV? What about everyone that invested in large TV's in the last 5 years. TV's are typically a 10-15 year purchase cycle for a family. Do we see that changing? Will we be adding TVs in everyroom?

Consumers demand high end, sophisticated electronics. You should see the depth and breath of the automotive section alone. It fills an entire convention center. Sony, Microsoft, Intel do more globally but take up less space. With less of a connection to the consumer or the chain that delivers for them.

Note: Intel did not have one single Intel Mac in their booth. Not even under a table. I asked them, where are the Macs?, they looked nervously across the 10 foot divide of carpet separating them from Microsoft's space and gulped.

It's time for CES to change and for the consumer to evolve.

I dedicated myself to getting the most out of the conference. I didn't rest to eat, drink or visit the booth babes (I did how ever take pictures as I ran by - hey it's me...) I found solutions for each of my businesses and organizations I work with. I made new contacts with companies in China, Korea, Australia and the US. I bought components, systems, Toys and Software.

Companies spent at least 100 million dollars in total there that week to market themselves and the one thing that sticks out in my mind right now is Erector makes IP based robots and I'm going to order 3 of them. (Erector did not have a booth - At least one that I saw)

Off to Phoenix and Sedona. cya.