CES Journal Day #5
Its almost over and we’re still standing (well…sorta).
Tags: CES 2005 Categories: Features, Tech Features
Posted by Andrew on Jan 9th, 2005
By today, the week had started to catch up with us, so the four-man CES DigNews team started out the day cut down to two (Dan and myself) as we made our early morning soirée to the Hilton for a meeting with Nyko. The accessory manufacturer was featuring a number of wireless Xbox controllers, a PS2 controller and a PC controller that were mostly marketed as the next generation of their AirFlo controllers. We’ll be writing up in greater detail what we saw in a seperate article, but the general impression was that if the reliability is there, there are a number of good, cheaper accessories for the consumer to choose from. Personally, I have always liked the AirFlo system, and the fact that the new PS2 controller features analog control on the flow speed means that it is that much better.
Nyko also showed us their upcoming PSP and iPod accessories, some of which look to be absolutely must-haves. Again, these will be written up in greater detail in another article.
Dan and I proceeded to play “appointment connnect the dots” which consisted of travelling from booth to booth and seeing what was on offer. The big theme last year was convergence of technologies, and this year it is more of the same. A well timed fire alarm allowed us to duck out of one meeting in order to call the folks for the one meeting that we did miss. In a convention of this size with as much square footage as there is, having only one missed appointment is a major achievement. Making our way back to the press room in order to catch up on some work, we managed to avoid the Hilton Hall (our moniker for the very foreign and smaller companies showing their often strange wares).
Travis and Jake, after making their way to the show midday, got the fun that is the weird stuff…
Hilton Hall (for those of you familiar with E3’s Kentia Hall – basically the same idea) was filled with impressive gadgets and gizmos for various Hong Kong and Chinese and other various Asian manufacturers. Some of the more impressive and unique gadgets that were seen down there included a singing printer which, at the time, was playing a midi-type tune of Amazing Grace. Various small manufactures showed off waterproof PDA’s and digital cameras. We’re still seeing stars by the way from all the blinking and twirling lights modifications for phones, PDA’s, computers TV’s and well, you just name the device and it’s guaranteed that a company makes a damn blinking light for it. The shining light factor only goes so far.
The four of us met up at Nvidia, which seemed to be one of the more popular stops for nearly everybody involved in the world of consumer electronics. This was one of the most crowded booths we wound up visiting during our entire time in Las Vegas. Due to the popularity of their graphics chips, our contact was running late for our appointment (then again, nearly everybody was at this point in the show). While there, Jake took a side visit to chat with the VooDoo PC guys who were showing off their latest PC running Half-Life 2. Jake finally got to play the game without the bugs that plagued his computer (mind you, Travis and I played the game without any glitches on our own PC’s, but the load times still suck!). All of a sudden, Flashes start going off in the background, and Jake looks back to see what’s going on – some guy was taking pictures. Well, Jake kept playing, and the photographer asked the VooDoo guy to pose behind the male model that is our Jake. Travis and I walk up, notice the guy’s tag and freak. Turns out this is the New York Times’ photographer, who just happens to take 30 or more picture of the boy and the game. How Jake does it, we will never know, but he just ends up at the right place at the right time.
Our final meeting of the day was with Logitech, and we were given a tour of the new keyboards and the impressive new Harmony remote. The portable mouse design shown off runs off two triple play batteries, incorporates a USB transceiver that hides within the body and is smooth and very compact – a new and impressive addition to the Logitech portable library. They also showed off some older products such as the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard combo that they have had for the past year, as well as a wireless media keyboard setup in the diNova line. The big piece, however, was the new Harmony – a media remote featuring 8 fully programmable buttons, a bright color LCD display and the ability to work with up to 15 machines. It has a rechargeable battery array, and great button set-up. This was without question the best remote we found on the floor at the show.
Heading back to the hotel, tired and almost unable to move, we had a nice dinner in the hotel and then headed back to Dan and Jake’s room to play a little poker. Funnily enough, getting chips in our hotel proved to be impossible. After a few friendly arguments, mighty comebacks, as well as Dan and I complaining that playing poker without a beer in hand is wrong, and the night finished up.
Special notice should be set aside for Travis because of his creative new bastardization of Texas hold-em that he created, entitled Travis Hold-em (which enabled him to clean house).
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Tags: CES 2005
Posted by Andrew on Jan 9th, 2005 and is filed under Features, Tech Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
