Not counting the keynotes, any CES is always packed with the OOOH-factor of shiny new things.

For the seasoned CES sufferer attendee, the important thing to do is be selective, and wear sensible – translated as comfortable - shoes. Since this was my 11^th or so CES, and my 20^th or 21^st event if you add in the late, lamented COMDEX, I made sure to do just that.

Moreover, CES has also become a place to make, and cement relationships with vendors, marketing professionals, and PR types, in the process allowing me to totally and thoroughly discount several businesses that provide little or no follow-up post CES.

Consequently, I spend more time in briefings, and my time on the show floor is expended looking at the smaller companies that may have some intriguing technologies.

The Big Dawgs though, still rule.

CES Day 1
Hectic does not begin to describe the event.

For today:

• HP: Since we made the switch to HP, I have tried to make sure that we stay atop all information coming from them. This year wasn’t any different, and HP obliged by refreshing just about their entire lineup. Missing for a while in cameras and camcorders, HP has come back with several camera and camcorder models. There is even a smallish (pico?) projector.
• HP Workstations: HP has also lowered the entry floor for workstations by introducing the new z200 Personal Workstation, which is the new entry-level model.
• HP Desktops: In the 2010 SmallBizWindows Recommended List, the HP TouchSmart 9100 Business PC is our #1 recommendation, followed by the MS218 AIO PC. The delectable TouchSmart 600 and TouchSmart 300 are also on display, and the vivid beauty of their screens always catch one’s breadth. They are also recommended.
• HP Touch-enabled notebooks and netbooks: one of the items on my personal wish list for the HP Mini line of netbooks was answered: the Mini 5100-series now includes a touch-screen. While not a Tablet PC per se, the addition and added functionality if a touchscreen enhances the versatility of these already useful devices, with the low-low price another kicker. This is a really good development of the low end.
• Novero: Novero creates stylish, innovative, Bluetooth products. There is a particular product still under NDA that I would definitely like to try out, since I think it would improve the productivity of the mobile worker immensely.
• Able Planet: Able Planet produces a line of noise-canceling headphones, a couple of which I have reviewed earlier. This year, in addition to expanding their line, they have come up with a line of pink headphones with a cool feature: the amount of $5.00 will be given to charity (I believe the Susan G Komen Foundation) for breast cancer research in perpetuity as long as the product is sold. Yes, not a typo: as long as the product is sold, there would be a donation for each copy sold. I look forward to reviewing it (indoors only – I did say they are pink and letting several members of the fairer sex review them as well. A good and worthy cause.
• Data Robotics: Data Robotics, makers of the Drobo, have been able to take the lowly NAS (network attached storage drive), enhance it, innovate with it (BeyondRAID), and produce a product which has a cachet even among the jaded storage professionals around the world. As with my visit to their offices in Santa Clara last November, the Drobo continues to intrigue, especially the network-attached Drobo Pro and Drobo Elite products. I like.
• TeleNav: GPS navigation devices from Garmin, TomTom, and others have made dinosaurs of companies such as Rand McNally and those Thomas Brothers products. Now, they themselves are about to be made dinosaurs by navigation software from companies such as TeleNav and Navigon. TeleNav has so many design wins that is it about the most ubiquitous smartphone GPS solution out there. I will be trying it out for the next several months on a variety of Windows Mobile devices, and I shall report on whether it is a Ready for Prime Time Player.
• Navigon: Navigon is the other mobiles GPS ISV, with software for virtually all of the smartphone platforms out there. Like TeleNav, they are out to stealthily slay the hardware-based, single-function GPS device. I am also going to be using their package on a series of phones over the next few months.
• MSI: MSI has traditionally been thought of as an affordable components and white-box company. No longer. Why? The Big Bang! motherboard, that’s why! This is the first motherboard to allow users to mix heterogeneous makes, models, and generations of video cards on the same motherboard! Think about this: your investment is an earlier generation of a competing OEMs’ video card, e.g., Nvidia can now be protected by using it with the latest AMD/ATI card in the same mobo. This is a huge development. In fact, I am tempted to pull out the mobo in my current gaming rig and use the Big Bang!, keeping the Asus Vento 3600 case, of course.

DAY 2
was just as hectic as Day 1. Of all that happened on that day, these stood out the most:

• Breakfast with a still-unnamed NAS storage vendor. I had a very productive breakfast with the Marketing Director of this company, with the focus of our discussions their soon-to-be-released NAS product, aimed only at the IT pro/VAR space. More on this when allowed to do so.
• Lunch with Phil McKinney, CTO of HP PSG; Ann Finnie & Amy Reardon. See later post.
• Saw the Alex eBook reader at Pat Meier-Johnson’s Lunch@Piero’s. The Spring Design Alex, a dual-screen eBook reader was something I wanted to see since it used the Android OS, and I had followed Judie Lipsett’s experiences with her Carmagi eBook reader. While I think the Alex is a worthy product, I believe its prospects are severely diminished by the lack of an owner with deep pockets. Basically, Alex needs a daddy.
• I was impressed by the Lenovo U1. A dual-processor, convertible Tablet PC with a detachable screen allowing it to independently compute is a very innovative, and ingenious prospect. However, the execution leaves much to be desired: Lenovo uses the Windows 7 operating system for the Tablet PC/Slate portion of the product, and a version of Linux for the separate operating system. How odd is that? While I can understand the financial constraints on Lenovo by Microsoft’s licensing and monetary policies, I cannot understand why someone/anyone/simians/the executives at Lenovo think that it is, you know, a good thing, to ship a computer with two different OSs for the consumer or business markets! For goodness sakes, the only time such a solution makes sense is when it is shipped in the scientific space. That said, the total physical conversion to a slate PC is sweet, and I cannot wait to try it out.
• Impressed by the Lenovo x100e netbook. When I first encountered netbooks, I dismissed them out of hand because they all contained some retarded OS that wasn’t in use for businesses. As hardware OEMs started to see the light, and delivered Windows-based netbooks, I started to come around and see the value in them, a process which culminated in the presentation of a Business Ready award to the HP Mini 1000. Well, Lenovo had gone into the netbook space with a bang, coming up with the ThinkPad x100e, a netbook with a full size keyboard. This puppy is nice, and for once, I see myself looking at Lenovo – nee IBM – for any sort of product! I will have to try this product out in a bake-off with the new HP netbooks.
• Talked to Dynno about their HD streaming service. Dynno’s eponymous HD streaming service promises to allow real-time HD streaming. I will definitely try it, and bring you the results shortly.
• Had dinner with an impressive group of social media stalwarts. The dinner was presented by CntrStg, and sponsored by HP & DisplayLink*. DisplayLink has a technology that enables multiple monitor’s to consume content on a laptop, or any USB-equipped PC (currently USB 2.0) for that matter. I had thought that the DisplayLink product, with its ability to drive up to two additional monitors – with one HD 720p stream –was cool…until I saw their new and forthcoming USB 3.0 devices streaming multiple HD streams, one of them in 1080p HD! The presenter was able to move the video streaming windows from one monitor to the other without any lag of dropped frames! Am I impressed? You betcha!

*I have a couple of DisplayLink adaptors to give away on AbsolutelyWindows. I’m thinking of how to do so.

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