CES 2009: Day 4 Summary

Although the CES show floor will remain open two more days, after roaming the South and Central LVCC halls, Mari and I have concluded our exhibit visitations. There’s only so much one can take in at a show this massive, and we both have a backlog of content which should keep us writing for several more days.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I’m fairly selective in the schwag I accept. In fact, I didn’t even redeem the coupon for a press bag this year. The messenger isn’t great, and I’m not sure how much promotion I want to do for Toshiba. On the other hand, Day 3 schwag honors go to the CntrStg blogger headquarters and Skooba. Their laptop bag is much higher quality, as in it’ll get used, and has brands/logo I’m happy to display. Speaking of wearable advertising, I’m also pleased with my Slacker and Ooma t-shirt acquisitions. But Day 4 schwag honors go to TiVo, for providing hand sanitizer – quite practical given the continual hand shaking and gadget fondling. Although, I received it far too late in my journey to fend off a cold.

And, without further ado, here’s our earlier coverage:

Posts

Slacker Radio Arrives on Blackberry & iPhone
The New Remotes of CES
Hava Introduces Sociable TV… And More
Kid Tech
Kodak in the Living Room
Xbox 360 IPTV Initiaitive Isn’t Dead

Tweets

• Always amused when PR people and exhibitors ask about site revenue. Doubt they’d be willing to disclose their salaries…
• Debated Palm Pre with Ed Hardy and Kevin Tofel last night. I see no need for backwards PalmOS compatibility, they feel different.
• Good to see Ryan Block (at the Drobo table) last night at ShowStoppers. Who I also talked Palm Pre with. I think he’s a believer.
• @b_marriner I believe DVR could come to Boxee. It’d surely make it an all-in-one solution. But building that functionality is not trivial.
• Speaking of which, @jtoeman’s done an amazing job building his business & promoting his clients. Four on display at ShowStoppers last night
• @palmsolo The non-phone PDA market has died. Perhaps devices like the iPod Touch or Nokia N810 are filling that gap/need.
• Someone has to say it: The new DISH/Sling touchpad remote is awful. (Vizio’s QWERTY prototype looks good, however.) http://bit.ly/4xSkDn
• Yes, CES will go on! Now that I’ve found my camera battery charger, hiding amongst my packed socks.
• Hoping to hit XStreamHD press conference, plus Moto, Cisco, iRiver, Archerfish booths today. Did DirecTV announce anything?
• @phonescooper I’ve been much more productive at the CntrStg blogger lounge – quieter, continual food and drink, good net. And our “peeps”.
• @geektonic DISH’s big announcement is the SlingDVR. I’ve seen some other things, but don’t know if they’ve been announced yet. Will check.
• I’m thinking bloggers have it better than “real” press at CES this year. Just hopped on the private @cntrstg shuttle bus from Wynn to LVCC.
• XStreamHD press conference canceled. That’s telling. And weak.
• Dear Sprint PR, Intel still thinks it’s Xohm. May want to let them & Clearwire know. Or stop correcting me. *grin* http://twitpic.com/115h0
• Just stumbled on a Samsung branded Intel powered tru2way DVR (for MSO deployment). http://twitpic.com/115mk
• Microsoft Mediaroom rep says Xbox IPTV *not* dead! Trying to get more info…
• Xbox Mediaroom IPTV coming to Xbox via BT in UK this year. Better let Chris Lanier know.
• Moto rep seemed a bit torqued I didn’t want his water bottle in my pic. Guess booth manager didn’t explain to keep food off the gear.
• iRiver wins the award for stylishly designed weird media convergence gadgets. But if I can’t figure out the UI in 30 secs, they have probs.
• Just wolfed down a sandwich with Telenav Mary Beth and GPS blogger Tim Flight.
• Canon’s got no new digital Elphs here. Suppose I’ll have to wait for the camera show in March for news… on 720p video, pretty please?
• Powermat magnetic charging not coming until Q4. Surprised they’d announce such specific pricing so far away.
• Twitter has been an invaluable networking and coordination tool during CES. DMs seem to have replaced the SMS overload of last year.
• @bjdraw Digeo figures you’re going to bash them on no Moxi ATSC/OTA capabilities. I wouldn’t brief you either.
• No joke, Stevie Wonder’s roaming the Sands with a small entourage. Walked by me a moment ago at the Boxee booth.
• http://twitpic.com/119im – Smartest bit of schwag at CES, courtesy of TiVo.
• What’s up with all the “blogger” parties? Don’t we need to be writing? Mari & I are hard at work @cntrstg. Ian Dixon is recording behind us.