The Consumer Electronics Show (CES2011) in Pictures

by Lori Cunningham

As promised, this post is dedicated to the sights and scenes of the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas at the beginning of year.  I wish I could show everything…the booths, parties, and products were pretty fun to see.

Here is a picture of the parking lot of CES where there were a number of tents, trailers, and cars to see.  It was out here that I got a chance to ride in the GM EN-V electric car.

What a treat!  The GM EN-V car, due to come out in 2030, can drive by itself, drop you off right in front of the movie theater and then pick you up after the movie with a simple touch of a button on your smartphone.  It avoids accidents and hitting pedestrians and can caravan easily and safely with other EN-V cars.

Check out the video footage I have of this car and my ride..follow this link for a one minute sneak peak…GM EN-V Ride.

The biggest names were at CES with huge booths, lots of lights, product showcases everywhere, and tons of employees to answer questions.  Kodak hosted a talk show throughout CES talking to experts in various areas.  Last year, they focused on moms.  Each year they have a different talk show focus.

Sharp introduced their new Galapagos tablet at the Show and had a huge display at their booth to showcase it.

NBC had a huge booth in the main hall with lots of different places to rest, blog, interview people, even karaoke!  Here NBC provided swinging chairs complete with iPads (locked down) with Internet access to provide a little respite during the show.

Here I am at “the hub” in the NBC booth.  NBC graciously provided a comfortable seat, a fast connection, and wonderful hospitality for bloggers during the show.  With all of the hubbub of the booth’s activities and the latest breaking news, Gia, Melissa, and Anthony still found a way to make bloggers feel “at home” and comfortable.  Thanks, NBC!

Kenmore invited me to a bloggers roundtable, moderated by C.C. Chapman.  Hot appetizers and drinks were served.  Betsy Owens, Vice President/General Manager of Sears Holdings was present to lead the discussion and gather feedback from the bloggers and media who attended.  I have to say, I was impressed with Kenmore’s connected appliance offerings.  They are on the right track.

While walking the show floor, I ran across Ozzy Osborne.  His CES name tag even said Ozzy Osborne.  He didn’t talk much, just grunted a bit.  I’m not 100% he was Ozzy, but hey, you never know!

 Panasonic’s booth was huge and pretty impressive.  My favorite part was the big sand sculpture they had towards the front of their exhibit.  Two professional sand builders were still at work finishing the impressive sand display.

Likewise, LG had a huge and impressive booth.  I spent a lot of time looking at their phones and Smart TV’s.  All large companies at CES have an information counter where you can schedule booth tours to get the latest information on their products.  I took advantage of this service at several booths.  My fave product at LG was their Smart TV’s with full Internet access and a remote that works similar to the remote on the Wii…point it at the TV and a little hand occurs, click on the areas you want to see further.

Microsoft is always one of my favorite stops.  Here you can see people trying out the Xbox Kinect which uses sensors to track movements on video games.  Kinect is similar to the Wii with regards to sensor tracking, only Kinect doesn’t use any controller at all – your body is the controller.  It was a hoot to watch three of these glass bubbles full of people dancing to the games at the same time!

While at the Microsoft booth, I inadvertently bumped into Ayca Yuksel, who was a part of the interview team who case studied me on the Microsoft Office 2010 One Note review.

At the Fulton Innovation booth, I had a field day!  They were showcasing their recent innovations in home tech and product packaging.  You can’t tell from the packages here, but the brand names and certain elements on the package light up when you walk by them!  The products are using a special type of ink (costs no more than an extra layer of ink on a package) that includes technical elements so the ink will light up or communicate with your smartphone!  Fulton also showcased ways in which these new “smart” packages can help you keep track your home food inventory and more.  More on this in a later post on TheWellConnectedHome.com.

Lenovo put on a great party at a posh bar in the Venetian.  They closed down the bar to the public and outfitted this hip bar with PC’s, laptops, and netbooks galore to allow journalists to explore their products first hand.  Delicious appetizers were served and the bar was open to encourage journalists to stay for a while.

All the colorful screens in the background in this picture highlight the different innovations of Lenovo and with products underneath them to try out.

Here’s a new friend I met while at the Digital Experience.  The Digital Experience is a great after show hours event where journalists can try products first hand and talk with company representatives to get ideas for their stories.  Again, lots of appetizers and drinks available.  The Digital Experience is one of my favorite events–there are always some great products…from companies big and small.  I would never have the time to search out these companies on the CES floor otherwise.

Speaking of great products, let me highlight a few here.  Although, don’t forget to check out CES2011:  Great Technology Products for Moms as well.  Meet the new iGrill.  The iGrill is a meat thermometer that helps you grill your meats to the perfect temperature.  Once your meat reaches the correct pre-determined temperature, you will be alerted either by your iPhone or iPad.  No more waiting around the grill and poking the meat to find out if it’s cooked!

Need a helping hand to hold your iPad or smartphone?  Look no further than the Spider Podium from Breffo, great for your desk or travel.  Use it to watch videos, read the paper online, video chat with loved ones, etc.  I love the Spider Podium’s flexibility, lightness, and compactness…perfect for traveling.

As I stated in my Six Top Tech Product Trends for 2011, connected appliances are hot!  This is a connected refrigerator from Samsung that connects to your Google calendar online and displays it on the fridge!  Check out the latest weather!  Listen to Pandora!  Apps are everywhere now!

These paintings look like works of art, right?  Would you believe that they are actually photographs?  the smaller picture to either the right or left of the framed pictures show you what the original picture looked like.  This technology is built-in to Casio’s new tricked-out TRYX camera.  You can transform your everyday picture instantly into a work of art, as if painted by a high caliber artist.  Pretty slick, huh?

Following his success on Dancing with the Stars, Jerry Rice has started a new adventure this year as the new Jerry Rice & Nitus Dog Football premieres in April for the Wii game system.  The game involves chosing your team of dogs and well, playing football.  At first I thought, well, it’s cute, but it doesn’t really speak to me.  Until, one of the company spokespersons told me how one father was able to teach his younger daughters (who cared nothing of football) about football and plays.  The girls spent hours enjoying the dogs’ unique personalities and and simple plays to help their team of dogs succeed.  Now, the father has some common ground and the game has sparked interest in football from his daughters.  Very cool.

Now hey, here’s a product demonstration that really got my attention!  Those LG smart TV’s are really smart!  I’ll admit I spent a great deal of time seeing the latest features of LG’s smart TV’s (a particular favorite topic of mine).  I was surprised and elated to see that 2011 smart TV’s allow consumers FULL access to the Internet, including online content from most of the major television stations (something Google TV wasn’t able to accomplish).  With LG’s new mouse like TV controller (similar to the Wii) I think I might have figured out which smart TV I’ll buy for our home.

I would love to share so many more pictures with you but I have tons of product reviews to write.  However, I have posted some pics to my Flickr and YouTube accounts if you want to see some more.

Special thanks to SANYO for outfitting me with an Xacti  14 Megapixel full HD camera/video camera to take all my shots and videos from the show!