Well, after being here a few days in Vegas, the CES events have finally officially started. Tech movers and shakers from over 140 countries have gathered here to check out all the latest and greatest of what their industry has to offer, and rub shoulders with new connections and talents.
On saturday we went to the pre-show, where you could get a small glimpse of what new tech would be showcased, all the while dodging and weaving around technophiles and really tall mimes (yes, mimes), attempting to not get food or beer spilled on all the fancy toys on display....except for the InvisibleShield guys, who were asking you to so they could show off their product.
Some of the highlights were a new protocal layer created by a Japanese coalition (which includes the communications goliath DoCoMo) for cross connecting devices, regardless of their transmission source (IR, Bluetooth, ethernet, etc.), a netgear device for using your house's latent electrical wiring to act as a network connection @ 200Mb/s, and a USB security device meant to replace your A/V, firewall, and spam/malware detectors. Oh, and just for you Adam, I found this:
And it must have been good luck because, later on, the first slot machine I tried gave me 200 bucks after 3 tries!
On Sunday, the big pre-CES event was the Bill Gates Keynote at The Venecian. The line was stupid-long, even when we arrived pretty early, but laptops have a way of passing the time, so it wasn't so bad. When we were finally let in, about two hours later, another hour of waiting was to ensue, before the main event. The keynote itself was interesting, although it did seem more of a Microsoft sales pitch then anything else; new advances in connectivity between Microsoft products and services (Zune, XBox360, Vista, Live!, etc.), a look at retail uses for Microsoft Surface, and a small peek into Microsoft's labs where they are working on some Augmented Reality software for your cell phone. They also showed a cool little skit portraying Bill Gates last day at Microsoft (he's been there since he was 17!) and ended with an appearance by Slash from Guns n' Roses.
Now, it's Monday afternoon and we just got our press lunch, and now its off to the Intel keynote before hitting one of several gianormace trade show site floors (it will take us days to see it all!). I'll post again with cool tech pics when I have a moment and an internet connection.
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