January 7th
Dennis picked me up at home and we went to Long Beach airport to fly Jetblue to Vega$. We met up with Buzz who was at the airport changing planes while flying from Boston to attend the show with us. We arrived and checked into the Flamingo hotel while waiting for our bags at the airport. Duane met us as we got off the shuttle at the hotel and after dropping our bags in our room we headed to the Venetian to try to see the Bill Gates keynote speech Sunday night. Unfortunately it was quite busy and we were not able to attend the keynote so we went to the Treasure Island buffet for dinner.
January 8th
We got up and have breakfast at the Flamingo buffet and then caught the shuttle bus to the convention. Duane and I spent the day scoping out the Sands Convention Center and the innovations dsiaply there before taking a shuttle to the Las Vegas Convention Center and the South, North, and Central Hall there as well as the Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center and the Star Trek Experience shopping area. At the end of the day we all returned to the hotel before walking to the Mirage for a buffet dinner and they generously took me out for my birthday to see the The Beatles™ LOVE™ by Cirque du Soleil®
January 9th
Another morning breakfast at the Flamingo Buffet and then I was off to the morning keynote by Michael Dell.
The CES site summarized the keynote as "During his CES keynote, Michael Dell rolled out a bevy of announcements related to new hardware, customer programs and a landmark environmental program. Joined by Paul DiMeo, a regular designer on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Dell highlighted the company’s community outreach via the popular ABC series and announced its first home entertainment suite, which will feature the industry’s first high-definition television (HDTV) tuner. A “Dr.Evil” look-alike helped Dell announce a new service called DataSafe, allowing users to back up files online with a password protected program and have their data pushed to a new system. Additionally, in keeping with Dell’s ever-expanding focus on gaming, Dell announced its new XPS 710 computer system, which utilizes liquid and ceramics and optimizes heavy gaming."
After spending the day at the convention I saw the Les Moonves CBS evening keynote.
CES summarized it as "Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation used his CES keynote address to focus on the future and growth of the content industry. Moonves shared the stage with a wide range of stars and talent from the interactive content community and CBS Corporation. Joining Moonves were Anthony Zuiker, creator of “CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION;” College Sports Television Founder and President Brian Bedol; the hosts of the “Opie and Anthony” radio show and Ilene Chaikin and Jennifer Beals, creator and star, respectively, of Showtime’s “The L Word.”
To address the shift in the way media is consumed, Moonves announced many key partnerships with other leading members of the content community. Joining him on stage during these announcements were Linden Lab Founder and CEO Philip Rosedale, who showcased the virtual world, “Second Life;” Sling Media Co-Founder and CEO Blake Krikorian, who introduced a new service offered by CBS and Sling Media called, “Clip and Sling” and Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and CEO of YouTube."
I then returned to the hotel and then out for dinner at the Paris Buffet.
January 10th
Another morning breakfast at the Flamingo Buffet and day at the convention. I entered and won a drawing for a Limo ride back to the hotel which was a great way to finish off a day of walking about the convention. That evening we went to the Bellagio buffet and then next door to see "O"-Cirque Du Soleil
January 11th
Breakfast at the Flamingo again and the last day of CES. We all met up afterwards at Quark's Bar & Restaurant and also a bit of shopping at the Star Trek Experience shopping area. Buzz flew out to Boston late that evening.
January 12th
Guess where we had breakfast before checking out and shuttling to the airport for the return trip home?
Gadgets and Tech of note that I saw:
Sling Media introduced a Clip+Sling service during the CBS keynote which allows users to ID stop and start points of shows they have watched and share them with others.
Cingular a.k.a. AT&T demoed live cellphone video streaming, available via W-CDMA high-speed packet access markets and was shown on LG's CU500 HSDPA phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera.
Sandisk showed it's V-mate video flash-card recorder which has video inputsallowing one to record to a variety of flash-memory cards.
Nokia showed it's N800 internet tablet which uses wi-fi to let one browse the net and one of my CES photo's shows it displaying my homepage.
Nikko showed a dvd player/projector in a R2-D2 form as well as a remote controlled R2-D2 formed webcam, pictures of which are also on my webpage.
Atlantic debuted the Ego sound case for the iPod which I've also shown on my photos page.
Taser international showed it's Taser C2 personal protection system which I was not brave enough to have demoed on me.
Netgear unveiled the EVA8000 Wi-Fi HD bridge which I think was my favorite product. It allows playing digital music, pictures, and video(including high-def) from a PC onto a connected TV.
Echostar had displays touting thier upcoming Dish DVR advantage program and I also spoke with a rep there about thier requirement for a phone line on dual tuner DVR's.