CES is here

Luckily, I am in a position to live the dream of every geek, and am attending CES 2011 as press once again, in Las Vegas.

If you are a MN person, or someone I know online, and are going to be there, please let me know so we can make plans. I would love to see you there, grab drinks, party, anything.

If you are a blog, or need a writer to cover the event, or want me to wear your logo (@cocomsp, I am looking at you. I need a sticker…), please use my contact form to drop me a line.

I will be there representing SMCpros, MitchellHislop.com, and every geek that cant be there. If there is something that you want me to track down, play with, get a picture of, or steal, I will do my best to accomidate all requests made. Hell, I will even grab you some swag if you want it.

I am also going to be trying to set up a group blog with several people I know that will be there, so if you are going and want in, again, hit the contact form.

I finally got them all uploaded-please take a peek:

You can find all me CES pics on my Flickr page

I did not got to CES to compete with Gizmodo or Engadget. I want to see where things are going.

And I promise, once I decompress a bit, I will get back to that.

For now, though, my brain is a bit on tech overload. I haven’t even been able to post the pics from the trip yet.

thanks to Google alerts, I found my interview with 830WCCO from CES.

View Full Clip

Take a listen, comment, ask questions

Friday night was the “It Wont Stay In Vegas” party, thrown for the press by the Parnassus Group. It was geek heaven. Some highlights:

The AR Parrot was there-this is the helicopter that is controlled by an iPhone via WiFi. It is SO COOL to see this thing zipping around. The UI is also really cool-it overlays data and controls over a live video feed from a camera on the helicopter.

Geek heaven continued with who was there. I got to meet/shake hands with/chat with/a hug from Leo Laporte, Robert Scoble (who remembered me from my accidental call on Wednesday), Bret Spinner, some of the Mashable writers, Brian Solis, and the lovely iJustine.

There was also an open bar, thanks to RIM. That led to some fun.

I will post the pictures that I took, once I am home. It was mostly just people hanging out, playing with gadgets and games, and chatting. Geek Heaven

Day 2 was all about mobility for me. I wanted to play with all the new gadgets, and accessories for them. Boy, did I get to.

(NOTE: Pictures will go up once I am home. )

I stopped by the Dell booth to get hands on with their tablet. I am unsure what need it really fills, but it looks cool, and was fairly snappy. Intel also had a ton of tablets, most running Windows 7 or XP, unlike the Dell, which was rocking Android.

One segment that I am really interested in are the small, inexpensive, handheld video cameras. For a while, it was all up to PureDigital’s Flip line. However, there are two new entries to the market that look like they might get some share.

Sony has their Bloggy camera, which I fell in love with from the outset. It has a rotating lens, and takes VERY nice HD video (DISCLAIMER: I got to play with one at It Wont Stay In Vegas, a party that I was invited to as press-more on the party later). They have another Bloggy offering that has 5x zoom, and a slightly more conventional form factor.

Kodak also has a new small form factor camera, yet theirs is waterproof, which will make its own niche. I didnt get to play with it all that long, but it looks like I may be getting one sent to me.

Another segment that I took special interest in were cases. As a student, web geek, blogger, and someone who loves to travel, I am VERY hard on my gear. The main gadgets I was looking to protect are my MacBook and my Blackberry Storm.

I first stopped at Otterbox, and played with some of their different lines. Some of them offer WAY more protection then I would ever need, yet their Commuter line looks like it might work out well. I will have a review of it once my review unit comes in.

The second company that I visited for this was Speck. They were on my list to visit, and when I saw they had free beer, they got bumped up quite a bit higher. They are sending me a case for my Macbook, and gave me one for my storm, which I have been using, and will post a review in the near future.

I played with a lot of phones, none of which really stood out-CES has never really been about phones. They only major phone announcement was Palm’s announcement that the Pixi and Pre were coming to Verizon.

Most of the things going on in mobility were evolutionary, not revolutionary, and therefore not all that cool to blog about right this second.

It is currently 4AM Vegas time, and we just got back from the casino. Perfect time to sum up today, and lay out tomorrow:

Day 1 thoughts:

• I am really excited to see what the future holds with 3DTV and myFord. Both look like excellent products, but both require a community to jump on-board, or they will falter. I will admit, I though that 3DTV’s were a little gimmicky, and was much more impressed with the super-thin HD TV’s by LG. This all changed, however, when I went to Intel’s massive booth. There, I got to play a video game (D.I.R.T) on a 3DTV with glasses, and it totally blew my mind and altered my perception of 3DTV. LG also had some very stylish and comfortable 3D glasses, which helps out also. myFord will take not consumer involvement, but developers. With so many platforms out there (iPhone, WebOS, Blackberry, Android), I can see it being a slight uphill battle to get developers to develop for myFord. That being said, I want my next car to have it. It is technology that keeps me safer, while also allowing me to stay more connected.
• It may finally be the time for tablet PC’s. I remember their first go-round, when they crashed and burned. Hopefully with Microsoft and Intel both putting a lot into them, tablets can rise and fill the segment that they should. I know that I really want one, after playing with several at Intel’s booth. Dell has a tablet too, which I will be hunting down and getting hands on with today.
• Mobile is huge, and will keep getting bigger.
• There are SO many people here. Its like a smaller MN State Fair, but with less space. It is great to be meeting so many people, especially when we are all nerds.
• It is TOUGH covering an event this big. Between keynotes, sessions, product announcements, Lady Gaga, and the HUGE exhibitor hall, I was running around all day. I adopted the “Always Be Charging” mantra, and that helped me make it all the way through. After having my MiFi run out of battery in my first keynote, I knew I had to be more mindful of power.
• My WCCO interview went great, and was really fun. Look for me to be on again once I return, to talk more about what I saw.

What today holds:

• More time in the exhibitor hall-there are SO many products that I want to see, and do quick reviews on. If you have anything that you would like me to hunt down, please let me know.
• More pictures-most of the fun of CES is what one man described as “being in the best toy shop ever.” I will be shooting more shiny new toys, so that you all can experience more of what I am seeing.
• Hopefully, I will also be meeting with a few people that I have admired.
• The It Wont Stay in Vegas party is also tonight, which should also be an amazing time.

Here is my photoset for day 1:

So, Ford Sync is getting apps, which is AWESOME.

What does it mean? Why does in-car connectivity matter?

From a geek standpoint, which I subscribe to, it gives me more places I can access my data.

It means even more ubiquity, and this time with added saftey. Now I dont have to text and drive, yet I can still react quickly to information and data when the need arises.

For consumers, it means Pandora in your car, which is pretty awesome.

It will be interesting to see who the second tier of apps bring-that is what could make or break the system. That is where it will catch on (like the iPhone), or totally flop.

Since my MiFi died during the keynote, I “liveblogged” into notepad
Smart tech focus-ford sync
32% said sync was critical to purchase
Ford is in partnership with Bestbuy and Geek Squad
30 day pilot in dallas of Sync
32% are now more likely to go Ford after sync demo
“As soon as customers use sync, they love it”
Ford has 2 technologies getting awarded-Work solutions (in-dash) and Sync

Fords 2010 plans-global product development chief, Derrick Kuzak
Goals:
Keep innovating in 2010
Every piece of tech “adds real value”

New Tech:
Cross trafic alerts and park assist
capless gas tanks
EcoBoost
Sync’s recent update: Traffic, directions

Amazing new innovations:
“How do we make people stand in line for a car” like they do for iPhones, games…
Sync-Minimize driver distraction

Ford has a simulator that fits a whole car for testing distraction/sync-without sync, driver took 30 sec to switch songs, with sync took 5 without eyes leaving road

Open developer model for sync

Sync has a developer toolkit, which will soon be available to the dev community

Ford is going to connect Sync to the cloud-myford, with apps

Ford Sync uses Nuance tech, with thousands of commands

Uses color-coded LCD’s for critical controls

2011 Edge gets myFord first

Screens done by Sony, Lincon can get THX

Everything is touch, and it remembers your custom UI

Car has in-dash web browser, only can get to it when car is in park

Has an API!!!!!

Partnership with Pandora, Twitter. (i cant imagine getting all my tweets read to me…)