I’m back from a marathon trip to Las Vegas for the International Consumer Electronics Show, better known as simply CES. I’ll write up detailed analysis on some of the products that really caught my eye, but I wanted to give you a quick overview.
First of all, CES is HUGE. I heard that 250,000 people attended CES, and I probably bumped into half of them as I elbowed my way through the crowds. The exhibit halls are enormous. The larger “booths” are more like city blocks.
Secondly, judging by the exhibit halls, there must be a TON of money in car audio. The entire North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center was full of tricked out exotic cars and trucks with stereo systems that easily cost five figures. Made me wonder… am I in the wrong business?
Third, I really NEED a couple things — an XBox 360 and a large, high-definition, flat-screen TV.
What else was cool? Well, there’s so much “stuff” there, you quickly reach your technology-saturation point. So I’ll stick to just the few things that really stood out for me. I”ll elaborate on each of these later today:
- Skype was hot. Lots of hardware to support easier Skype calling, and some new goodies, too.
- Sony Reader was really eye-popping. It’s an electronic book that really lives up to the promise of all those futuristic visions you’ve seen before. Due out around April-May for about $299. It’s on my wish list.
- Google Talk has buddy icons (or will “real soon”). There is also a version of Google Talk floating around for Blackberry handhelds. I’ve posted some details and a photo of the new version on BigBlueBall.
- Windows Live Messenger is coming, with a unified contact list and Yahoo Messenger compatibility.
- XBox 360 is not new, but is very cool. I want one.
- Google Pack is a suite of utility applications “certified” by Google, complete with an installer and updater service. Of course it’s free.
- Slingbox is beta-testing their PocketPC player. I’m hoping to get on the list, especially since I got to meet Jeremy Toeman (who picks the beta testers). My fingers are crossed.
Stay tuned for details, and meanwhile you can check out my photos on Flickr.
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