Monday
Before we get into the report for the day, I wanted to answer a question about the gear I brought with me on the trip. I am a light packer. Probably too light. I almost always find myself wishing I had remembered to bring along X or Y.
For this trip I bought:
My brand new 15″ MacBook Pro with glossy screen
ThinkOutside Bluetooth mouse
Treo 750v
Seidio retractable charge / sync cable for the Treo
Brand new Fujifilm Finepix F30 digital camera
Brando 55 in 1 card reader
2nd gen iPod Shuffle
Yup, that’s it and that’s all. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that I am carrying all my electronic stuff in a freebie gear bag that I guess was sent to me because I’m on the press list for CES. A couple weeks before the event it showed up in the mail with a card that says enjoy CES. It has AMD silkscreened on the front, but it’s actually a Vertical 2.0 bag from Oakley. It’s a really nice gear bag and has replaced my old faithful Sundog vertical bag that I’ve been toting around when I travel. The best part is that my new Macbook Pro fits in it perfectly! :o)
I want to digress for just a few more sentences… I was reminded yesterday why I can never fully love Windows Mobile. My plane lands. I turn the phone back on in my Treo 750v. I notice it does not set the current time. I double check that I have the option for it to set the time with regards to the current network. I press the reset button. No luck. I have to go in and manually set the time. When I do this, it warns me that my appointments will change to match the new time zone. Fine, that’s what I want them to do. But guess what? the appointment times DON’T change. So now all my CES mtg times are all screwed up and I have to go in and fix them by hand. Can you say ARGH!?
And now back to the show… With a quick shower, and an equally quick gobble of a trailmix nutbar (because when I called for room service, they told me breakfast was backed up for 90mins – ack), I was out the door and down to the lobby to wait on the free shuttle service to the convention center. The wait was only a few minutes, so within no time at all I was dropped off at the South Hall. My first destination was to the Press Room to get my badge holder and free press gear bag.
This year it is an Orange backpack. The cool thing about it is that the front part unzips to create a smaller horizontal shoulder bag. Nifty.
I then proceeded into the sea of people heading for the South Hall. Like all of the halls in this convention center, they are massive in size. When you first walk through the doorway, you know you’ll never see everything there is to see there. It’s even hard to decide which way to tackle it. Start from the Right? Left? Straight down the middle? I don’t even remember how I decided to start browsing, but the first product I saw was a unique one!
A motorized inflatable pool lounger from Excalibur Electronics.
You know you want one! ;o)
Next booth that caught my eye (now I kinda wish it hadn’t…) was for Eton.
They had a whole line of retro (at least they look retro to me) looking radios with built in hand cranks. Here you see the FR300, which is an AM/FM/TV and NOAA weather radio. It also has an LED flashlight on the front and can charge your cellphone. You never need to worry that you have charged batteries because the hand crank will provide power. The folks at the booth even gave me one to take with me.
And then it happened… I turned around to start browsing again and stepped off their booth platform that was raised by about 3 inches off the floor and turned my ankle. Can you say OUCHY? :o( But in true Julie style, I just kept right on walking with nary a whimper… although it did hurt like a $#%@. What a way to start the day!
As long as I kept walking, my ankle was tender, but sturdy. So I kept going…
How would you like this person’s job? I’m not quite sure what the heck it is supposed to be, but I just had to get a picture anyway ;o)
The show room floors were littered with companies displaying Bluetooth headsets in all manner of sizes and styles. The one you see below looked much sexier in person.
This headset is from an Australian company called BlueAnt. It’s the Z9 and it’s is the winner of this year’s CES 2007 Innovations Design and Engineering Award. It has 2 microphones and 2 ring tones to differentiate between known and unknown callers. It’s not available yet, but will be in March.
The product you see in the image above caught my attention next. Wouldn’t it have yours? I had no idea what it was. Maybe a automatic bucking bull for kids? The booth was pretty much void of pamphlets and booth droids, so I took at look at one of their other products to find a website address or company name, which I think is Strong Idea. The website by that same name doesn’t appear to be the same company… So if anyone can tell me what this product is, I’d be happy to hear about it. :o)
Next up were some tabletop HD radios. I’ve been interested in learning more about HD radio. I’m not sure there are many stations in my area that I could pick up though.
These particular radios were from Cambridge Soundworks.
Moving right along, I ran into the massive Creative booth area. They had stations setup with their popular ZEN audio players, and they were also showing off this new larger format media player that you see below:
This is the ZEN Vision W. Pretty. Pretty big. How many of you out there have a media player this size that you use all the time? Personally, it’s a bit too large for me to want to carry around. Very nice display though. Hey Mark, they are playing your fave show! :o)
Check this out… In a Creative display case, there is an iPod! Creative is actually creating iPod accessories. It’s part of their X-Fi solutions. They way I understand it, X-Fi puts part of the sine wave back into compressed music to make it sound better. The dock you see above plays the music from your iPod, but makes it sound a whole lot better.
Now it’s time for a couple pretty showroom floor pix!
People, people everywhere!
Mmmmm Purple! Let’s go see what Nokia has to show off, shall we?
It’s their new wireless tablet, the N800. It looks a whole lot nicer than the 770, that’s for sure. I wish it was also a quad band phone though. At least it can use Bluetooth phone as a modem.
This little tri-band slider music phone (5200) was pretty fun to play with. Until I can have 80gb built into my phone, I probably will never use my phone to play music. I’d also be afraid that I’d run the batteries down listening to tunes all day and not have enough juice left to make necessary calls.
Anyone out there into treasure hunting? Ok, time for a Julie moment… My new fave TV show is Cash and Treasures on the Travel channel. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. I have a metal detector, but it’s got to be at least 20yrs old… The Garrett booth was showing a new model that is very inexpensive, but has features that some higher models have.
The Ace 150 sells for $179.95. I have an itch to buy one of these, book a trip to Florida and spend a week combing beaches :o)
The next booth I stopped at was Otterbox’s booth. We’ve reviewed some of their products before (stay tuned later this week for Meredyth’s review of their new Treo case…). Their latest case to be available soon is for the Blackberry.
This case is built like a tank!
Speaking of a tank, look at this thing! It’s the VersaLaser. You may have seen their ads in PC Magazine before.
This is a big ‘printer’ that prints and cuts with a laser. And it can print on just about anything.
The blocks above are wooden with carved out printed letters. The black and white image next to them on the right is a marble tile that has had a picture carved into its surface. Very cool! Too bad it’s very expensive. But if you have almost 10k, you too can print on anything!
Like mobile phone accessories, ipod accessories and large TVs, there were lots of flash drives floating around. I couldn’t help but smile at these Disney branded drives. Too bad they weren’t giving them away. I would have scored major points with my boss at my day job as she’s a big Mickey fan. :o)
Speaking of large TVs and other types of displays, they were absolutely everywhere when I moved from the South Hall to the Central Hall. The Kodak booth had their whole back wall mounted with digital photo frames.
You know, I never have decorated my remodeled home office. Maybe I should use digital frames…
Or LCD TVs!
Or better yet, the world’s largest LCD TV. At 108″, this TV from Sharp was beyond yummy!
You know what else is yummy? Free lunches! As a member of the press, we receive coupons for a free lunch every day of the show. So at 11:30, I took my hungry little bod over to the press area to stand in line for the free grub. In previous years, we were fed a nice hot lunch. This year it was a cold boxed lunch. The one I picked up had a turkey and cheese sub, an apple, some kind of crumbly dessert bar and potato salad. It wasn’t anything to rave about, but it was free and it gave me the chance to sit down and recharge for a bit. I also had a nice conversation with a guy about Tivo and Netflix. You know I’ve never tried Netflix, but I think I just might sign up soon. Is it just me, or have the premium movie channels on DirecTV been really lame lately?
After lunch, I continued my tour of the Central Hall. I made a stop at the Sanyo booth to check out their handheld camcorders.
Their new little VPC-CA6 Xacti is weather proof and can support 4GB SDHC memory cards.
It’s even more compact that then Xacti VPC-HD1 that I reviewed earlier this year.
Speaking of which, here’s their new model of the HD1. The HD2. I need to find out if the HD2 is any better with regards to shooting in low light (indoors). If it is, I’m definitely upgrading to it. I love my little HD1.
At this point my ankle was starting to bother me, so I decided to get a taxi back to the hotel, work on this article and rest up before party #2: ShowStoppers.
After I got back to my hotel room, I kicked off my shoes, and started sorting through all the things I had stuffed into the freebie press backpack.
Here’s the loot from my travels through the North and Central Halls (I’m not completely done with the Central Hall). I’m being pretty picky with which booths I’m stopping at this year, so my accumulation of loot will probably end up being less than previous years.
After a couple hours working on this article, chatting, emailing and making phone calls, I decided to order in some food. Mmmmmm, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and wheat toast. My missing breakfast from this morning ;o) Hey what’s up with the fact that you can’t seem to find a Diet Coke in this town? It’s all Pepsi, all the time. Phooey.
A quick look at the time told me that I better make way over to the Wynn for ShowStoppers.
Love their lobby….
After a long hike to the back of the building where the ballrooms were located, I finally found the party and quickly grabbed my name badge and headed to the entrance.
As soon as I walked though the door, a guy grabbed me, asked if I had my phone with me and when I said yes, he grabbed it and put a furry Koala bear Fun Friends case on it (see last picture in this article). Hahaha, does anyone really use these types of cases with their phones? Come on, fess up? Someone has to be buying these things, but I wanna know who?
Want to learn to play piano? I was given a demo of Piano Wizard; a software / hardware package that uses color and a video game concept to help teach kids how to play the piano without learning musical notation first. The software works with a Mac too!
Remember WowWee, the company that bought you RoboSapien?
Their latest product is an Elvis head. No, I’m not kidding. I’m not sure who would actually want an animated, singing Elvis head, but if you’re such a person, you must be really happy right now! ;o)
There seemed to be more software / service type displays at ShowStoppers. I walked by most of them because we don’t really focus on that sort of thing at The Gadgeteer…
That said, I did stop at Boonty’s booth which was demoing a new FREE social gaming site at Cafe.com. The games looked liked they might be fun, and hey, they are free!
The folks from HobbyTron were there with the PicooZ and some other R/C controlled gadgets.
Oh boy, look at their new helicopter. Yes, it’s much bigger than the PicooZ, but still very cool.
This particular model can go up/down, forward/backwards, and left/right. I asked them to give me a demo and they happily complied.
Up, up and away! This looks like a fun toy. They said they would send me a sample to review after the show.
Get a load of this product. At first I thought it was some sort of exercise device. But how many geeks exercise? ;o) It’s for video games. It’s called the Dream Machine Simcon and apparently it gives you a whole new sense of realism while you play games. Two problems though… 1. Where do you put it when you’re not playing games? 2. The price: $1399. Ouchy!
And now let’s go from games to music…
The next booth was demoing the LightSnake. This is a USB -> Guitar cable that makes it super easy to record your music to a PC/Mac. With the cable, you don’t need a pre-amp.
They were also showing a new Podcasting kit as well.
If you have problems with blind spots in your vehicle, or want to see what’s going on in the backseat or behind your car, then these products from Magna were pretty interesting.
I especially liked the slide out video mirrors like the one on the top right.
Oh look, here’s an actual exercise device for geeks…
It’s the uSurf from Brookstone. It’s a motorized ‘surf’ board that you can use to do all kinds of exercises. When you plug it in, it will start to move in different directions, so you have to tighten your core muscles to keep your balance.
That’s a rundown of the more interesting products that I saw today at both the main CES show and ShowStoppers.
I came back to my room with a nice collection of swag. I love the little Tivo guy. :o)
Tomorrow is my last day here in Vegas, so check back to read my final installment!
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Julie,
Thanx for the ‘experience’! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s update!
Seriously jealous – not of your soon-to-be-tired feet though 😀
Arrrrrrrrgggh,
Shiver me timbers! Great report.
I especially loved the final shot of the swag bag booty!
I remember trade shows in Vegas with fondness and sore feet. I used to bring a big bag of assorted Dr. Scholl’s cushy shoe inserts for my colleagues. They laughed at first… but not after the first day.
Keep taking those snapshots, Julie… no matter how mundane you think they are! I love it.
We got a Pandigital 7″ picture frame just before Christmas. It has a good viewing angle range, and a fairly fine resolution screen. It also has ports:
SD
CF
MS
USB (for USB drives)
mini USB to connect to a computer. It acts like a 64 MB USB drive when plugged into a computer).
and an IR remote
It works a bit funky – it wants a USB 2.0 port, but when I plug it into a USB 2.0 port, my port runs it at USB 1.1 Also, I have a tough time working with files on the internal memory – I can’t modify or rename the files.
Still, the two included frames look great. I’m satisfied with my purchase.
Great report! What equipment did you bring with you on the trip?
– Joe
Great question. The last time I traveled, I had a bag full of chargers. I just got an iGo Ice 90. It came with a dozen tips, one of which fits my laptop. Now I have to collect tips for my other gadgets.
Yea Julie, take a pic of the gear you brought along with ya on this trip…
Just curious, thanks.:D
Ballys is ok. If you ever get a chance, though, splurge for a room at the Venetian.
Hi guys 🙂
I’m back in my room for a little rest until another ‘party’ later tonight. My feet are not all that sore. But another part of my of my body is. I’ll have to write about that in my Monday report 🙂
JohnKes:
I think their 10″ frame is using some type of new LCD technology. It was really nice.
Joeru & anson22:
Good idea. I’ll add that to Monday’s report. I have to gripe about one of my gadgets anyway…
moofrank:
Splurge huh? Bally’s is costing me over $200 a night. How much does the Venetian cost? I’ve stayed at the Luxor, Aladdin, Excalibur and now Bally’s.
When I checked Ebay this morning and saw a lot of OQO Model 01+ listed, I deduced that something was up. Woot put the 01+ on a major discount two days ago. I visited the OQO web site and my jaw dropped at what I saw there.
This is THE computer I have been waiting for.
I ordered one this afternoon…from the soup to the nuts, the whole package. My Fujitsu P1510D and Dell Axim X51v will both be going up for sale on Ebay.
Holy mother of pearl. OQO…BANG, ZOOM, to the moon, home run, shoots and SCORES!!!!
Mark
I was at the Venetian for a conference back in early December, and it was $210.00 + about 20-25 in taxes + $10 / 24 hours internet. They only do suites. Mine had a sunken den with iron railings, a massive bathroom with a full bath and a shower.
Moo,
Frank
Mark:
I hope to get more one on one time with the new OQO tomorrow when I meet with Dynamism. This new version does look super nice… but looks can be decieving. I know how much I wanted to like their first version and then was disappointed.
moofrank:
Wow, sounds very nice! Did you wander around the shop area? I love the way they paint the ceiling to look like a blue sky with clouds.
Oh, I know that for sure…but it will be at least eight weeks before it ships, and I can always cancel the order if the reviews say that it is not worth it. It looks VERY promising at this point, so I will hedge my bets. Maybe it will take my mind off the fact that, despite almost desperate measures since release day, I have not been able to get a Wii!
Mark
Julie,
Would be interested in knowing what you brought in the way of gadgets on this trip.
Your computer / phone / camera / gadget bag – what ‘cha traveling with??
Mark,
Would love to know what you will be using the OQO for – and why you think this is the holy grail?
I will admit that it is a very nice looking unit – and I’m stunned that they are able to run Vista on it – (although I wonder how much of that is a marketing ploy)
In fact it looks great – until you click on the “Buy Now” button and see they are looking for $1500 for one.
I hate it when back seat drivers post and say “for that kind of money you could buy….” but jeez – that’s one heck of a chunk of change.
I won’t deny that having a full fledged computer as your “main brain” – carry everywhere system would really be nice. In fact, I used a 12″ iBook for my PDA etc for about 6 months – and still miss it.
ultimately, I’m just looking for more reasons I can give my wife as to why I NEED one too 🙂
BTW – have you seen the Nokia N800 internet tablet that has just been released? At $400 – it looks pretty interesting as well…..
Now to see what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve in the morning….
The interior scenic decor is generally great. Paris also has a nice faux interior/exterior. The tragic thing is that you cannot actually seem to get any French food there beyond crepes and snails.
The Venetian canal/mall also has an oxygen bar which is a kind of surreal experience.
Just a couple of thoughts on the Fujitsu ScanSnap…
We just got the fi-5110EOXM, the model before the one you saw, where I work. It’s similar but a bit slower (only 15 double-sided pages per minute). I use it with DEVONthink Pro Office, a wonderful Mac program that includes built-in support for the ScanSnap line and OCR software. It was easy to set up. I created a new database, put some documents in the scanner, pressed the scan button, and have been happily putting my paper documents that had been in a pile into a fully searchable database. I’m using my iBook G4 to do all this.
We’ll be putting our church’s minutes and newsletters into a searchable database that will let others be able to search this shelf of records online.
Check out the software for more details. While I’ve had a few “jams” (usually because of bent paper around where the document had been stapled) most pages go through quickly and quietly. If you have a bunch of papers and would like to have an easy way to be able to search through and find specific information in them I recommend using these products together.
JKreft
I am buying the OQO Model 02 becuase:
1) It gives me a lot more freedom in the classroom. I can use it to very effectively take attendance, do my presentations and do all those classroom management tasks with it in my hand as I go around the class. It will also cut down substantially on the bulk I have to carry around.
2) It will make it a lot easier to do my education conference presentations due to the fact that it will fit into my gear bag with all my other junk.
3) It will be the perfect travel partner, especially when I go storm chasing (yes, Stormchasers is great stuff, Julie).
I have wanted a full computer in the same form factor as my HP 200LX since I first had my 200LX. I still have it, too!!! 🙂
I had the Nokia 770 and was ultimately disappointed with it. I replaced it with a Dell X51v, which is nice, but the OQO will replace that.
Mark
The mystery item you saw looks alot like a igallop type devise i saw a brookstone. It’s for exercise on your abs etc. You turn it on and have to stay on. It mimic’s riding a horse. 😀
Regarding the Versalaser: Sears has just released a CNC router for $1800 that does some of what the Veraslaser does. The resolution is not as high, but it does look like an almost affordable geek toy. I just caved and ordered that one.
And the Internet tablets may have trouble. Apple’s new phone has Wifi and Safari…. It is certainly making my beloved Treo a lot less interesting. Sigh.
Moo,
Frank
fishgal:
Thanks for clearing that mystery up for me!
moofrank:
Please let us all know what you think about the Sears router after you’ve had time to play with it!
And I agree that tablets maybe doomed after what I’m reading about the iPhone. It really sucks that we have to wait 6 months to actually play with one though!
I “watched” the Apple keynote via livetime text streaming w/ snapshots – and I have to say, I was blown away by the iPhone. It seems like everything the Newton wanted to be. Having owned the 120, 130, 2000 and 2100 versions of the Newton – I have a soft spot for anything that resembles an Apple handheld 🙂
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they or a 3rd party comes out with an Outlook / Exchange client for email. Without that – it severely limits it’s usefulness as a business tool. Push IMAP is nice – but not quite the same. Clearly with the music player, iPhoto etc – the iPhone is not targeted toward the business user, but I think plenty would buy one just for the improved web / phone features.
At first I was bummed by the 6 month wait too Julie – but knowing how active the Mac developer community is – and assuming this truly is running a version of OSX – when this phone is finally released – there will be a slew of applications waiting for us.
I can’t say I have been this excited about a peice of technology in a long long time.
Imagine how bummed out those of us on CDMA networks are! 🙂 My New Every Two comes due from Verizon this March. Gotta stick with the big V…they are the only carrier with any coverage in my neck of the woods. No iPhone for us!
Mark
Julie:
Thanks for all the info from the show. Regarding your 750v, I am told that Cingular has a different ROM in their 750 than the 750v has. It should be possible to try that ROM if they fixed some issues.
I will try a Cingular 750 next week, so I can see if I have the same time zone and alarm issue you have with the 750v.
I am currently using an 8525 and found it much more usable after a few weeks of use. The first week, it felt very strange. I also installed a few applications that I like alot:
– AgendaOne is great for one-handed use of the calendar and contacts
– PTTfix allows me to use the PTT button to toggle silencing the phone
– TXTMan is a free threaded SMS application
– Bluemusic allows me to send all audio to my bluetooth headset. Great for listening to Audible books. They are at http://www.teksoftco.com/. That should work on your 750 as well.
– Joe
I canceled my OQO Model 02 order today…the Vulcan Flipstart web site underwent a change today. I would much rather have a clamshell micronote than a slab.
Thank you so much, Julie, for these updates…I would love to go to CES, but my teaching job sort of kills the chances of attending. 🙂
Mark
joeru:
I asked a Palm person last night if I could update the ROM in my Vodafone version with the Cingular ROM. He said that he didn’t think so. Seems strange to me. I don’t know why there would be an issue. Hmmmm… But the problem with alarms not firing is a Windows Mobile issue. An issue that has plagued Pocket PCs for years. I thought it had been fixed as I’d not noticed the problem until I really needed to count on the alarm. Grrr. My wake up alarm didn’t work again today. 🙁
Mark:
CES is fun but also overwhelming! I’m back home now. Just got in the house about 10mins ago 🙂 There’s no place like home 🙂
Julie – there is the official way to update your ROM – which probably will never happen – and there is the unofficial way)
Spend some time on the XDA-developers.com website. There is a ton of information here about how to update your ROM as well as the tools and the ROM that you’ll need.
You’ll discover that you will probably need a couple of programs – 1 to unlock the phone for software updates and then the ROM.
Chances are you will also find people on the forum who have already done the update and can give you a feel for what you gain by updating the ROM. Past experience with Cingular ROMs have shown me that you often times lose a little. Cingular tends to have a bloated ROM – with the xpress mail, music, video etc applications – so you’ll want to study this.
Also – I’ve never had a problem doing upgrades like this – but be clear about the risks before you do anything. You paid way to much for your 750 to turn it into a paperweight.
Also – wondering about your use of the 680? Are we going to see a review of that phone anytime soon?
Julie: I have not had a problem with the alarm (set via Settings/Clock & Alarms) on the 8525. I just tested it again by setting an alarm, turning the pocket pc off (not a full powerdown, so the phone is on, but the screen is off) and the alarm (vibrate + alarm sound) worked fine. I have had problems with earlier PocketPCs, so perhaps some have the problem and others don’t?
Looks like some people have put Cingular ROMs on 750vs. Check out http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=280500
Let me know if there is something you want me to check on the Cingular 750.
– Joe
SQLDba & joeru:
I don’t think I’ll really gain anything by trying to do the ROM update to go from Vodafone to Cingular. Now that I’m back home, I really don’t care that the time might not update again via the network time. My problems with appt times not correctly updating when the time changes is not a ROM issue, it’s a Windows Mobile issue.
Regarding the alarms, I don’t use the Settings/Clock & Alarms applet. I use the Calendar and just make an appointment. BTW: while typing this I just did two test alarms and both worked fine. Go figure!
The 680 review is going to be delayed because the device I was sent seems to have some hardware issues. They are going to swap me out for another one.
Julie, did the Dynamism guys give you any additional info on the Pansonic WordsGear? Like when it will be available, what format eBooks it will read, whether one can convert to its eBook format, what type of music and video files it plays, and so on?
The Panasonic Wordsgear uses a proprietary format for e-books.
Dynamism is supposed to receive the conversion software to
load PDF’s and word documents on the device. It is also capable of viewing
JPEG’s and playing MPEG4 video.
after seeing pictures of the nokia n800 on your website. i did some research and eventually went out and picked up a nokia n800. i gotta say, i love it. i no longer even use my laptop anymore. the n800 can surf the net, chat with icq/msn/aim/yahoo/and google, check my email, listen mp3, watch video, and stream video from the internet.
fondoo:
I wish the n800 had a GSM radio built into it instead of just the WiFi though.
Is the screen large enough to be comfortable for web surfing?