The Blogging Gear of CES

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Following in the footsteps of my fellow geek bloggers (Gotta Be Mobile, Lilliputing, jkOnTheRun, etc) and marketing peeps (Stage Two Consulting), it’s time for a quick post on the gear I’m toting to cover CES.

While I’ve seen more netbooks than I can count here in the press and blogger lounges, I found the vertical resolution of my (former) 10″ MSI Wind too cramped for efficient blogging. And last years 15″ CES laptop (MacBook Pro) was a bit too bulky. So, I’m packing the new 13″ Macbook (running OS X and Vista Ultimate) in the nicely designed and relatively compact be.ez LAbesace shoulder bag. Of course, I’m also toting a phone – and fully anticipate exceeding my voice minutes and SMS allotment while in Vegas. Additionally, the iPhone allows me to “tweet” efficiently. Although the low-res camera and frequent poor lighting don’t make for the best pics. My trusty pocketable Panasonic Lumix digital still camera does a better job. In fact, it’s my third CES with this very same unit. For Internet connectivity, Kevin Tofel had loaned me an AT&T 3G card he has for review… However, I wasn’t having very good luck with it and am now dependent on the show-provided net access. Wish me luck.

In the non-tech category, I’m carrying a variety of pain-killing medications, ear plugs which allow me to blog in any environment, a few snack bars, and a box of business cards for the obsolete exchange ritual we all continue to support. At every available opportunity, I’ll also help myself to free bottles of water. And as you can see from the pic, my shoes may be casual but they are surely sensible for covering ground across two convention centers. Purell and Chapstick wouldn’t be bad additions, though I don’t currently possess either.

8 thoughts on “The Blogging Gear of CES”

  1. I’m somewhat bummed… Looks like Netgear killed their blog. Which is where I wrote up a similar post on how I covered CES 2007. Back then, I tethered a Sprint 6700 to a 14″ Dell for Internet connectivity.

  2. I only replaced my 6700 3 months ago and you’ve gone through how many phones since CES 2007? :) The _only_ thing I really miss off the 6700 is the flash led. I used a hack to turn it on or off flashlight-style. The iPhone flashlight apps are not an equivalent replacement. The tethering capability was nice, but I never really had to rely on it in all that time as I really don’t travel much.

    Things I DO NOT miss about the 6700: weight, size, shape, WinMo, and the very lousy battery cover.

  3. Purel dries out my skin, which is awful in a desert environment like Vegas.

    As for business cards, why are we still using them? So that we can retype the info afterwards? Why can’t we get a better way to exchange contact details? I used to love when a Palm could beam your contact data to someone else. We need something like that again.

  5. Greg, given the amount of handshaking and gadget fondling plus the fact that a large percentage of people arrived sick (including me), dry hands from Purell is a reasonable concession if it holds the CES flu at bay.

    henderpa, Awesome – thanks for digging that up! Man, it’s amazing how much crap I borrow from Tofel. That extended battery in 2007 came from him as well. I probably had a link to him, but I recall the former Netgear webmaster removed most if not all of my outbound links. Guess he didn’t get what a ‘blog’ was. ;)

  6. Greg, Almost all phones can send a business card over bluetooth, including WinMo, Palm, Symbian and most non-smart phones with bluetooth. Not sure about an iphone as ive never tried it with an iphone but I bet they can.

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