Sorry I dropped off the posts at the end.  The day before I was due to fly out, the internet service in my hotel room expired.  I was going to renew, but it would have cost more just for one post!

    The show floor was mostly uneventful on Saturday, but there were a few interesting things to see.  The best part of the day was getting together with my friend Dave for dinner at Lotus of Siam.  If you like Thai, I highly recommend you go the next time you're in Vegas.  The place looks a bit run down- but after eating there, I now understand why Gourmet magazine (among others) rate it so highly.  Dave and I had to wait 30 minutes for a table, and by the time we got ours, the wait was up to an hour.  It was well worth it.

    Back to the show....I have just a few pictures to show you from the last day.

The Roland booth proved to be a popular place for folks to show off their drumming skills (or lack of them).  I even took some time to play a bit.  You'll get to judge my skills for yourself later this year, when I show off Roland's new drum teaching software.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samsung had quite a cool display at the front of its booth.  You can't see the entire thing there.  I counted 117 LCD screens!  It was something inside the booth that drew big attention...

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the new uVending concept from Samsung.  The vending machine front is a huge touchscreen, and the innards of the machine can be easily reconfigured.  That means a uVending machine can be easily reconfigured to sell anything from iPods to Twinkies to Coca-Cola, which was used in this display.  Samsung was actually vending 8.5 ounce aluminum bottles of three varieties of Coke.  It ran out pretty quickly, as the machine was such a hit.  (The touchscreen allowed animation such as spinning around a big coke bottle. drawing many jokes about 'Spin the bottle at CES'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    I'm back home now and getting rested up before returning to work tomorrow.  CES takes a toll on your feet, knees, and ankles- particularly if you cover the entire show solo.  If you ever make to CES (it's only open to electronics industry and media), be prepared for lots of fun- but also be prepared to be exhausted at the end of the week!  It's all worth it.  CES is full of new innovations and idea, and I ways see things I'll never forget.  I can't wait until next year.

 

    The beginning of CES was a blur of activity for me.  As the show hit the mid-point, I got a bit more relaxed.  Pre-show media events kept me moving.  When the show opened, I was in a mad dash to see everything I could.  Now that I've seen four out of five large convention halls full of electronics, I can slow the pace.  Tomorrow will be easy, and I will even find time to get together for dinner with my friend Dave, who is also in town for the show (working for ZYXel, which makes networking products).

    Today started with a shock.  JVC (which has a manufacturing plant in Tuscaloosa) held a press breakfast to unveil some of their new products.  It began at eight- so I got a jolt when my alarm hadn't gone off, and I woke up at 7.56!  I took the fastest shower of my life, hopped a cab, and got to Caesar's's Palace by 8.15!  I got lost trying to make my way through the casino to the ballroom, but still managed to get there by 8.20.  There are some interesting new advances in camcorders, but one of the coolest items was an LCD TV that's less than an inch thick, and is backed with a huge magnet, so it can be mounted easily on a wall with a metal back plate.  The JVC executives joked that it's the world's coolest (and largest) refrigerator magnet.

    After the event, I headed over to the convention center to see the two south halls, then had an event at the Golden Nugget in the evening.  It's the farthest out I've had to go, with a pricey taxi ride!  I'm happy I went, as I had great time seeing their new wireless weather units, and also making friends with the CEO of Hideki electronics.  Afterward, I had to hop another cab back down to the convention center for an event hosted by Victorinox.  You may wonder why a knife company is at an electronics show.  Victorinox also makes USB flash drives that look like their famous Swiss Army Knives. They unveiled a new one that has fingerprint security features (up to ten fingerprints can be stored).  Without the right print, you can't get the data.  It also has bluetooth connectivity to control presentation software such as Powerpoint, and a laser pointer as well.  Oh, and it also has a knife blade.  :)  (There is a bladeless version that's TSA friendly.)

    I did get to enjoy a little Las Vegas night life.  D-Link hosted a party at the Tao nightclub in the Venetian.  I thought I'd stay just a short while, but I started chatting with some interesting Australians (one a D-Link rep, another a buyer for a large electronics retailer), and stayed until midnight.  I'm off now to enjoy some ginger tea Dave's wife brought me from her home country of Taiwan, then head to bed.

    Tonight's photos are just a few random shots from the show floor.

 

The folks who sell massage chairs always have the most popular booth on the show floor!  People get very worn out walking the huge show.  It's always fun to watch them take a break and recharge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My lunch today.  The Blackberry is there for scale.  I wanted something cold to drink, and the folks in the Skullcandy booth helped me out.  They had Monster energy drinks re branded with their graphics.  I think the can was a full liter!  It kept me going through the entire afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A woman on the show floor takes a spin in a racing sim device.  It's a big cage with seat, steering wheel, and pedals.  When you turn, it banks.  Pretty cool, but also pretty pricey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of pricey....a BBC reporter tries out a rather monstrous and futuristic computer chair.  It has dual monitors, which come down from overhead when you hop in and close it up around yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A selection of the Victorinox Swiss Army USB drives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After hours on the show floor.  A very bored looking guard watches over one of the bigger booths overnight.  This is part of the show few get to see.  (I was on the floor after closing because of the Victorinox launch event, which couldn't easily be held while thousands of people were still seeing the show.)

    Compared with yesterday, I got to sleep late this morning.  I wanted to hit the first day of CES when the show floor opened at 8.00am- but after being up until 2.00am working on cataloging the things I discovered on media day, I decided to sleep in until 7.30, and got on the floor about an hour later.  I expected to spend all day at the Sands Expo center, as it generally has a lot of the new advances and cool gadgets.  It's also hosting the Kids @ Play (not sure why the blog software made that a link...) summit and the Silvers Summit.  Silvers is products and services for senior citizens.  I spent a good bit of time at the summit areas, but then managed to breeze through the rest of the hall fairly quickly.  I've been to CES a few times, and seem to have a talent for knowing which booths need attention, and which I should just pass by.  I saw quite a few innovative things this morning, and hope to show some to you in the next few months.  I also ran into the woman who invented the iHearSafe earbuds, which I featured on TechBits last year.  When I saw her last CES, she was just a mom with a great idea for earbuds to protect kids' hearing, and had started up the company with her savings.  I was very happy to see that the company is growing, and this year, she even won an innovations award form the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on CES.  I didn't expect her to remember me form our brief meeting last year, but she appeared very happy to see me.  On the wya out, I spotted the guy at left- a senior corssing over into kids' territory and playing a simple ball and hoop game....with a twist.  You have to concentrate on the ball to make it rise and fall, then use a knob to move the ball around the circular course.  If you lose concentration ont he ball, it will drop.  I'm not sure of the technology behind it, but it was kind of cool to watch.

 

    When I left the Sands, I headed over to the convention center, and concentrated on the north hall.  It's automotive electronics- and generally doesn't hold much for me.  I figured I could get it out of the way in an afternoon.  I found more than I expected- including some interesting GPS applications.  (How would you like your GPS to tell you whether a parking deck has spaces available?)  I also spotted something very simple yet valuable.  It's a flashlight that fits in your car's cigarette lighter, and keeps charged off of it.  Let's face it- if you keep a flashlight in your car in case of emergency, the batteries are probably dead.  (I know mine are.)  This keep a light source when you need it, and it even passes through the power to a USB charger, or even a regular cigarette-lighter type socket, so you don;t lose that power source.  One thing I found interesting today;  the north hall is usually full of sports cars and SUVs and such- and most of them are more tricked-out than a Progressive name tag.  (I hope you caught that reference!)  They're there again this year- but oddly, are joined by a few heavily modded Smart Cars!  (Shot at right.)  It was a bit amusing- sort of like hot-rodding a Yugo- but I found it rather pleasing to see them.

    One of the most interesting things I saw was after I left the show floor.  I headed over to the Venetian for a meeting with a company called Powerbeam.  It's cutting the cables, and transmitting power wirelessly.  Tesla would be proud!  This will eventually allow for power to lamps and other such things in the middle of rooms without installing a power outlet in the floor.  It basically works by converting electricity to optical power.  Just in font of the transmitters (two pictured at left), you can feel the optical power as heat.  There's pretty good range on the units, but the power is interrupted if you break the beam.  This will be overcome by par iring it with a battery system in the future.  Expect to see wireless power products on the market within about two years.

    I'm off to bed.  Right now, I'm skipping social events hosted by Creative Labs and Monster Sound, so I can catch up on sleep.  I have an event hosted by JVC in the morning, but I think I can actually get a full eight hours of shut-eye before then!