Today marks my first day on the ground in Vegas for CES. And while I was expecting a subdued crowd, I’ve never been to any tradeshow in this town without an airport cab line. Instead of thousands of folks not showing, I’m hopeful stays have just been shortened. Although, as some wonder, perhaps a trip out is unnecessary given the relative convenience of email and phone briefings. Then again if I weren’t here, I wouldn’t have enjoyed seeing fellow blogging and press buddies like Brad Linder, James Kendrick, Kevin Tofel, Ben Drawbaugh, Matt Buchanan, Sascha Segan, Lance Ulanoff, Eric Zeman, Ross Rubin, Jason Hiner, etc in person today.
I’m taking it pretty easy until the show floor opens Thursday. This afternoon I hit the ASUS press conference, followed by CES Unveiled. Probably the most interesting product (concept?) I came across was the ASUS keyboard PC. While this form factor isn’t unique, ASUS breaks new ground by providing a touchscreen that doubles as a pointing device and by integrating wireless HDMI.
At Unveiled, if I had to nail down a couple of tech trends, I’d say mobile tech was well represented. Especially in the ‘netbook’ category, with sizeable crowds at the Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI tables. Also, “green” tech (or at least “green” marketing lingo) was well represented. I’m counting on Mari, who arrives tomorrow, to follow up with some of these companies later in the week. And to let us know how “green” they really are.
I generally pass on exhibitor schwag, unless it’s worthy of a blog giveaway or something that might entertain my niece. Today’s award for best tchotchke goes to DisplayLink. While branded pens are commonplace at tradeshows, this particular model doubles as a 1GB USB flash drive and laser pointer. I might just keep it.
And, without further ado, here’s today’s earlier coverage:
