Having little or no expectations for events can often prove to be beneficial. It happened a month or two ago at the Amusement Park convention and it happened again last weekend in Las Vegas with the Consumer Electronics Show. For those who are unfamiliar with this convention, its the largest convention in Vegas drawing over 100,000 people who come to check out everything new thatll be a part of your life sometime in the near future.. like digital picture frames!
Ive known about CES for a while mainly because my friend Jeff Tyo heads out each year to check out the high-end audio equipment. Ive always been interested in going but wasnt sure Id ever make it. The good part about having a website is that youre able to get passes to conventions in exchange for wonderful, glowing reviews, like this. Maybe they just knew that if a newbie were to arrive, there was no way they couldnt be impressed and encourage people to come out and drop the cash to check out all the new gadgets out there.
The convention runs from Thursday through Sunday and, until I left on Thursday, I wasnt sure when I was going to arrive. I had considered leaving later and Im glad I didnt because, even with three full days, I wasnt able to visit all of the exhibits and halls.
I awoke on Friday with no idea of where I was going. Luck have it that my brothers place, where I was staying, was a block away from the parking lot behind the South Hall. (really one block). It took a li’l while to find out where I was supposed to pick up my badge but I found a Krispy Kreme stand on the way and loaded up on a couple donuts and coffee. With li’l knowledge of how things were setup I entered the second floor of the South Hall and made my way to the right wall to start my way around the maze of booths, structures, and meeting rooms. I stopped by the Eye-Fi booth and chatted with them about their technology that allows you to snap a picture on your camera then have it sent via wifi to your computer or flickr or other sites, cool huh? A li’l ways down the aisle was TazTag which is a secure digital card that can hold any and all of your information and deliver it via wifi .or something like that. Tripp-Lite, who helped us out with the White Stripes project we did last year, was in attendance showcasing their power protection products.
If you dont like earbuds for headphones, you might wanna check out Comply Foam Tips. Theyre kinda like those soft earplugs that attached to the end of certain headphones to make them more comfortable as well as help block out noise. If, for some reason, you need to put data onto a 100 flash drives at one time, check out www.flashcopier.com. ReCellular recycles and refurbishes phones to help keep them out of landfills. On top of that they help by getting them into the hands of people in need. If you need something to help wrap your earbuds or headphones up you can use the earbud yoyo. Speaking of headphones, Psyko headphones developed a new type of surround sound headphone where five speakers are put on top of your head and the sound is directed through channels that lead to your ears at different places. This allows for a surround sound experience via what is normally only a two speaker affair.
I was surprised to find an excess of certain items as well. How many different companies does it take to make an effective mounting bracket for flat panel TVs? and the same with iPod/iPhone cases, Guitar Hero/Rock Band accessories, and those damned digital picture frames that kept popping up everywhere. One of the cool things that never really got old, yet was prevalent throughout the convention, was emerging 3D technologies that give movies and cartoons a fun new spin without the corniness you might expect. 3D will be in your home sooner than you might think.
Having completed both floors of the massive South Hall on Friday, I started off Saturday with a cup o coffee on the way to the Central Hall where some of the big, BIG dogs were setup, like Intel, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, and a handful more. Intel was positioned in the front and my friend Brooke was doing some interviews as part of their exhibit so I said hi then hung out for a bit to chat with some folks about home servers, WiMax, and our dream of broadcasting live as we travel around the country slinging cream. Dan with Intel was super duper nice and helpful and introduced me to some folks who could be very helpful along our journey. Somehow I ended up spending over an hour there and it worked out perfect because Brooke and the Techku crew wanted me to round up some ice cream for an interview and game involving ice cream. Since they were broadcasting live on Mogulus I stepped in for a bit in between and chatted about ICM and some rad places to check out in Vegas, like The Pinball Hall of Fame and the yummy Thai restaurant Lotus of Siam. (if you click the vid link, move it forward to around the seven minute mark).
I had hoped to wrap things up early in the central hall so I could make it over to the Venetian to check out the High-End Stereo Equipment with Jeff but it took forever to get through all the exhibits. Jeopardy! was filming numerous episodes of the game show at a makeshift stage in the back of the hall so I had to pop in and check that out. Id like to say Id win big on that show but the reverse is prolly more true. Mixed in amongst the world leaders in consumer electronics were smaller companies that offered some cool items. There were some cool mini projectors, the size of a point-and-shoot camera, that can be used to show movies or games or whatever you wish. Solar products were extremely popular and PowerFilm had some cool, lightweight, foldable chargers that would be perfect for charging AA batteries or small personal electronic devices via USB. I also dug the new Polaroid PoGo camera/printer. It’s the size of an old school digi point and shoot and has a printer built in so you can instantly print your favorite pics.
By the time I made it to the Venetian it was already around five and everything was scheduled to end at six. Floors 29-31 were all dedicated to the best audio equipment in the world. Each of the rooms, which were closer to suites, housed equipment from different manufacturers. Generally the stereos would be setup next to the main window with a couch strategically placed about 10-15 feet away where people would sit to the experience the music. When youre listening to a $100,000 sound system, the experience is much different than anything most people have ever heard. Sitting in front of these systems reminded me that the music is the main part of the allure but there is also the pleasure of just hearing the quality of the production, performance, and recording .
That night we headed over to the legendary Pinball Hall of Fame. Its one of my favorite places on earth and Evan, my brother, and I spent a few hours there playing air hockey, video games, shooting games, dozens of pinball machines and at least half a dozen of the pinball sized baseball machines. Theyre currently located at Tropicana and Pecos a couple miles east of the strip but theyll be moving to a larger place near the Liberace museum in the next few months. Check out www.pinballmuseum.org for more info.
It was a bit of a slow start Sunday but after walking over a mile I found myself in the North Hall where most of the exhibits were automotive related. This was perfect because were always in need of gadgets for the fleet. Newt has Kicker speakers in her and I used to have Kicker subwoofers in my lowrider so I stopped by there to see if I could talk with someone in marketing about working together. Kevin and I chatted for a bit and hopefully well be able to get the fleet bumpin’ with some new speakers and sling some cream on their behalf around the country. I found a cool GPS tracking/DVR product I’m going to try to implement while on tour in 09, I’m sure there are many uses for it, one i know for sure is it’s a great backup for vid and tracking while we’re out there. Check out www.karkorder.com
A couple other highlights of Sunday were seeing a beautiful lowered 1949 Olds that was blasting OMD If You Leave. The Hoffman Group had a bunch of cool aftermarket products like LED lights, Lambo door hinges, lowering kits, touch pads to open doors and a bunch of other coolness. IDC was introducing ECCO, their super-simplified GPS unit for your keychain. Once you leave a location, you click a button. If youre lost, you click a return button and an arrow points you back to where you began. Imagine how awesome itd be at a festival like Bonnaroo where youre camping with 50,000 people. When you leave in the morning you click a button then, no matter how wasted you get, all you have to do is follow an arrow back to your tent. I wasnt sure what time the high end audio exhibits closed so I headed back there but only had an hour or so to check out some systems. I got to check out a Rega turntable similar to mine in storage which reminded me I need to get back to Ashland soon.
I think anyone who thinks they might be remotely interested in going to CES should. There are so many different things to look at and play with. I easily couldve spent a whole day at the Sands/Venetian. And that has nothing to do with the fact that the AVN Expo was also taking place in the same convention center. The dates for 2010 will be January 7-10 so mark your calendars now. Hopefully well be slinging cream there next year too!
