Author Archives: Jeremy Toeman

Short clip with JT musing on the gadgetry of 2007. As Michael Gartenberg said last week, lots of evolution, not much of a revolution.

Short video we shot on the morning of CES day 2. In this one I discuss:

• Some thoughts on how the CES booths are planned
• Initial reaction to seeing pictures of the iPhone

After 5 exhausting days we’re back in San Francisco, with buckets full of content to upload.  Originally the plan was to do regular updates from the road, but the grand sum of time spent in front of the laptop was less than an hour, all week!  Every day was totally full of press conferences, booth visits and demos, interviews, corporate parties, keynotes, and other industry functions (I never even made it to the Bloghaus!).  It was both very fun and very draining at the same time.

I’ll start posting content tomorrow, will probably go for up to another week before it’s all online.  The “LD Exclusive” interviews with people such as Fatal1ty (he’s a really really really good gamer) and Peter Rojas/Ryan Block (while we debated it at length, I finally conceded that up to this point their show coverage was slightly more in-depth than mine) were a lot of fun!

Haven’t had a chance to put up my Bill Gates keynote coverage, but everybody else has so far, so I trust you’ve found it by now.  I was hanging with Ron Hirson, who is covering the show with me, and Dave Winer, who hasn’t been to CES in quite a few years.  Had some very interesting conversations which I’ll unfortunately have to delay posting about for a little while.  I’m in a rush because I want to see my friend Rick Rosner’s latest achievement at the 10am DirecTV press conference.

One of the hardest things about blogging at CES is making the time for the posts. I have content all ready to go, but yet I want to go consume and generate even more!  I’ve decided to bring my laptop, ick, just to try to get a post or two in during the day.  Yes, dear reader, 6 pounds (including charger) on my back all day just for you.  If it doesn’t work, I most definitely will not repeat tomorrow.

BTW, in addition to Engadget’s great coverage, this “river of CES news” from podtech is another good way to get info on the show in near-real-time.

ps – I won’t have email access during the day, so if you want to find me, give a call.

It’s technically day -1 since the show starts Monday, which of course makes tomorrow day 0.  This might seem a bit odd right now, but if I start with day 1 now, my monday posts will reference day 3, and that’ll be even weirder.

I caught up with Steven Jones and Ron Repking, from Capable Networks (the company whose technology powers my old haunting grounds at SlingCommunity.com).  Ron was sporting his new Canon HV10 high definition (1080i widescreen) video camera.  I like to tease Ron (and Jones) a bit from time to time about their gadgetry, but I must say, I was jealous!  Way to go Ron!

Next up I went to pick up my badge, and walked around the Sands Expo center a bit.  It’s nice and peaceful.  For now…

CES Unveiled is basically a “pre-show” where several dozen vendors had small tables set up with their wares and demonstrations.  The nice part about events like this (and Showstoppers, which is coming Monday night) is that the playing field is even.  No huge booths.  No light shows.  No overwhelming dance routines.  Just a table, 3 people, and your products.  I always enjoyed these events from behind the table, but it was great to spend the evening roaming the floor.  I didn’t take a ridiculous number of photos, since I figured (correctly) the guys at Engadget would have the coverage nailed.

There weren’t too many new products floating around CES Unveiled this year, which was a bit of a disappointment as the event is often such a good showcase.  Looks like some companies are waiting until tomorrow’s Digital Experience or Monday’s Showstoppers before unveiling their kimonos.  From the buzz around the floor, I’d have to say WowWee’s Elvis was probably the most warmly received product by the attendees.  I think it’s possibly a huge winner actually, it’s like a Big Mouth Billy Bass 2.0, only it features Elvis, a beloved icon, as opposed to, well, a fish.  For proper disclosure, I will say I am working on a project with WowWee, although it’s completely unrelated to all animatronic singing country stars.

I personally liked LG’s new flip phone, although it’s a bit long, and runs Brew operating system, which completely limits it to Verizon’s service.  Not a problem for me, but I don’t see how it can be massively successful with a single carrier.  Hopefully they’ll do well with it, being a Verizon customer often means I’m out in the cold for new phones!

One trend that I think will continue to grow in 2007 is digital picture frames.  At least 3 vendors were showing them at Unveiled, and I suspect there’ll be many more on the floor.  According to one demonstrator, analysts predict as many as 5 million units will ship in ’07.  Sounds a bit high, but I really like the concept.  To me, the big winner would be a “FlickrFrame” that I could send to someone else (like my parents or grandparents) and designate shared pictures on my Flickr account that automatically appear on the frame.  That’s the big winner in my book.

I listened to some HD Radio (wow), checked out the latest Shure headphones (review coming, but wow again), and took a peek at the new SideShow laptop from ASUS.  I think someone needs to make a laptop with a full second screen, specifically used by people who do a lot of presentations.  Throw in a tablet too, and I believe it’s a winner.

I also saw some old and new friends at the show, including Gary Krakow, Ross Rubin, Dave Graveline, Ed Kohler, and… Madonna.  Okay, okay, not really, but not bad either!

Some more fun highlights are below, or check out the rest of the set on Flickr.  Lots more pictures should start coming tomorrow as Ron shows up – he’ll be using a new Canon Powershot A640, graciously provided by Canon.  Thanks!

I thought I’d be the first post on CES ’07, but Gizmodo beat me to it (some may call it cheating, others ingenuity… seeing the show floor during construction is definitely fun).

First up, over in SFO I saw a little cluster of laptops and saw none other than Peter Rojas and Ryan Block from Engadget, Veronica Belmont from CNet, and friend (sorry, I forgot your name!!).

Next I arrived in Vegas and the first thing I saw after going down the escalator was a mini-booth to pick up your CES badge.  Neat idea now, but there was already a line forming.

Last up was Intel, who sponsored… baggage claim.  

More to come later today after I check out CES Unveiled.  In the meantime, read this article in the NY Times that outlines some of the costs relating to putting on the show.

I’ll be uploading all my CES 2007 photos to Flickr here.

Well, that’s enough planning, I fly out tomorrow morning.  For anyone who’d like to try to meet up who I wasn’t able to contact in person, here is my rough schedule, which is obviously subject to change!  You’ll notice I’ve left a lot of ‘tbd’ time toward the end of the show, in anticipation of being thrown off track within 3 hours of arrival (although I do have plans for those times, I am not sure it’s all going to go as planned).

1.6.7
Morning/early pm: Fly in, go to hotel, check in, discover room isn’t ready yet, complain, sulk, pout, have overpriced lunch, bump into someone I know, exchange numbers, return to hotel lobby, get room key, arrive in room, discover room is actually a smoking room, complain further, get new room that seems great until 2am when I learn it’s next to “the party room”.

Late afternoon/evening: Go to CES Unveiled, see cool stuff, take pics and blog about it, go for dinner with some colleagues, chat about what we think is coming at Macworld since we all suspect CES won’t have too many revolutionary gadgets this year, have a few drinks, play a little Blackjack, wander over to the Bellagio only to find out the Bloghaus opens Sunday, return sheepishly to my room.

1.7.7
Daytime: Attend a variety of press conferences, attempt to get into the Billy G keynote, stop by the Bloghaus for real (saying hi to Robert, Dave, Tom, and Gabe -all of whom I hope remember to stop blogging and enjoy the show for a few hours, right guys?).  Enjoy last few minutes of non-artificial daylight before Thursday.

Evening/night: Dinner, attend a couple of parties, blog a little, but mostly spend time with some industry folks as we ponder what is the best place to hang out and inevitably go somewhere that was cool a few years ago and long past its prime today, cuz that’s how we roll.

1.8.7
Daytime: Spending the day at the South and Central Halls, maybe some North Hall time, but doubtful.  I’ve considered swapping my schedule to do the Sands on the first day, since it’ll be much calmer, but I haven’t gotten to take in that CES Day 1 energy in a long time, so I’ll probably brave the crowds.

Evening: Go to the Showstoppers media event (always a favorite), drop by a couple of parties, eventually eat something, then play Blackjack with drunk consumer electronics people a little too late into the night, topped off with a cigar that I taste long through the end of the next day.

1.9.7
Daytime: North Hall and see anything I forgot to see in South/Central.  Also, there are some sessions I’d like to check out.

Evening: tbd, but most likely very similar to the previous night, just at different venues.

1.10.7
Sands Expo, the rest is tbd

1.11.7
Tbd, then go home.  Finally get some sleep on plane.

That’s the plan – there is a lot going on this year, really excited to check it out.  I will hopefully have mobile email, but may be stuck with cell/SMS for the trip.  Ugh. 

By the way, just for kicks I put a schedule together that only reflects Press Events, Keynotes, and Company Parties, just to see what it looks like (I’ve grayed things out since some are private).  Now pretend you also have to schedule a lot of meetings with individuals during the same time!

I’ll blog from the show, but for “non-stop action” I’d probably recommend heading off to Engadget!