Working Hard at CES

I have to admit, working with Motorola does have its perks. Last night Carson Palmer made a surprise appearance at Motorola’s evening reception. We’re best buds now! I think I got a better deal than Dave. :)

As for the rest of CES, it seems oddly subdued this year. Not that there haven’t been important announcements, but a lot of the good stuff seems to be happening behind closed doors. That, plus a lot of focus is now shifting over to Macworld and the newly announced iPhone.

A few highlights from walking the CES landscape yesterday:

Ecosol PowerStick P1

Despite the huge displays by a lot of big companies, some of the best things can be found in inconspicuous nooks and crannies. Here’s the Innovation award-winner Ecosol PowerStick P1. The company’s not even at the show, but the product was displayed in a case with a tiny placard. The PowerStick powers up via USB and then charges all your CE devices via various adapters. I could have used one of these yesterday, particularly for my Sony Cyber-shot.

Yahoo “Booth”

I really liked Yahoo’s tent set up across from the central hall of the convention center. Good move on Yahoo’s part because once you’re in, there are no distractions from other companies waiting tantalizingly just across the hall. Yahoo also had some knowledgeable folks on hand. The company has an electronic program guide in the works with social networking features wrapped in. The woman demonstrating it actually referenced the opportunity to avoid dealing with middleware. Clearly an interactive-TV veteran.

Gary Shapiro’s Teleprompter

I also thought this image was worth sharing. (Sorry it’s a bit fuzzy.) This is a photo of the teleprompter used by CEA president Gary Shapiro during his keynote speech yesterday. I only glanced back because it was so clear Mr. Shapiro was reading off of something. I asked PC Mag’s Sascha Segan if it would be rude to take a photo. He assured me I should do it anyway.