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CES 2008: the highs and lows

Posted on January 13, 2008 by Jeremy Toeman

Trying to “keep it fresh” (or is that “keep it real”?), I’m doing my show recap with a slightly different format. Here are my highs and lows of the show:

ProudHIGH: Unquestionably, winning the Best of Show award with Bug Labs this year. All in all Bug Labs (whom I work with) had a phenomenal CES, which I’ll blog about over at the Stage Two blog in the next couple of days.

LOW: Panasonic’s 150 inch plasma. I’m probably going to end up buying a Panny plasma this year anyway, but I couldn’t help but shake my head with dismay at this screen (although it’s certainly using some impressive technology, I definitely give them credit for that). It’s just ridiculous from every perspective, and the utter waste in even creating the thing is astounding to me. Especially in light of…

HIGH: Philips’ eco-friendly plasma TV. Of all things to lose the Overall best in show award to, this was my pick. Good for them to set a good example for the CE industry. Hopefully this is the beginning of a big trend, as plasmas are about as non-green a gadget you can possibly buy.

LOW: No major new innovations. While I wasn’t following the news as well as I’d have liked, it seemed like CES ’08 was really about bigger (or thinner), faster, better, etc. No major new formats/platforms/technologies announced (other than Tru2Way, the terribly named tech that will probably be only minorly more successful than CableCard), no really new innovative device unveiled, just more of the same old, same old. Also, I (and others) think the show is just too darn big now.

Scoble watches Gates keynote at the BloghausHIGH: Watching the Bill Gates keynote AT the BlogHaus. I didn’t make it last year at all (perhaps due to location? Scoble – hint, hint), so it was fun to go there and see the bloggers’ reactions to the keynote. I tuned out as he spun Vista’s success, but it was definitely a lively environment for it!

LOW: “Gizmodogate.” I think more than anything else I’m disappointed in that group, as I know some of the Gizmodo staff individually. Seems like one of those moments where a funny idea went way way way too far. The idea? Funny. Doing it? Not Funny.

HIGH: Flying Virgin America from LV to SFO. In-seat videos and gaming, combined with AC adapters (and USB chargers) at every seat? As per the letter I just wrote to United Airlines (where I’m currently a 1K flyer), it’s pretty irresistible.

LOW: Not getting a day to just watch and walk the show floor. Last year I had 3 days to scout for cool technology for a client, as well as blog the whole time. This year I had 15 hour demo days. But at least I got my…

Bug Labs Dinner at Smith & Wollensky'sHIGH: Steak at Smith & Wollensky’s. This is an annual CES tradition of mine, and one I intend to continue for years to come.

LOW: CES 2009 reverts to the old-school Thurs-Sun schedule. AND it coincides with MacWorld. I’m sure some planners had very good reasons and intents, but the outcome is just miserable for everyone involved. Here’s a suggestion: can we begin a plan to shift CES from it’s current timeslot to one month later? It’d be nice for the 100,000 or so individuals involved in putting together demos and booths to have a December vacation once in a while.

And now to end on some very positive notes…

JT and Gary KrakowHIGH: Catching up with all my friends at the show, be they bloggers, former Sling Media coworkers, venture capitalists, press & analysts, or consumer electronics industry execs. Great to see you all again!

HIGH: Sneak preview of TuneUp Media at the show, as well as Splashtop winning a PC World “Most Innovative Products” award!

HIGH: Meeting some people in person whom I’d previously only known online. Especially some original Slingbox beta testers, and bloggers Shawn Morton, Doc Searls, and Engadget’s Ben Drawbaugh.

HIGH: Bothering my friends and family in a little grass roots attempt to win CNET’s “People’s Choice” award at CES. I even used Facebook and (oy) Twitter! Bug lost out to Motorola (and probably a few others). I think they have a slightly wider brand awareness…

HIGH: Not catching the CES Flu this year. Feel better, Robert and others!

UBER-HIGH: My CES Best Of Show Threepeat. More on that on my personal blog later.

JT at the LVCCThat’s my wrapup of CES 2008, another one for the books! All my photos are online here. Now I wait for MacWorld, to find out exactly what my new MacBook Pro will be, as I will undoubtedly pick one up the first day I possibly can.

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Posted in Gadgets | 8 Comments
« Bug Labs selected as Best of CES Finalist
So… Macworld's tomorrow… »

8 thoughts on “CES 2008: the highs and lows”

  1. Robert Scoble says:
    January 14, 2008 at 4:04 am

    The thing with the BlogHaus is that Seagate owns the suite in the Bellagio and they have the best bandwidth in town there. We’ll probably be back there next year too.

    Reply
  2. sMoRTy71 says:
    January 14, 2008 at 5:05 am

    It was great meeting you as well. Loved getting to see the Bug Labs stuff in person. Congrats on the Best of CNET award, BTW.

    Reply
  3. Pingback: ShinyRed » Blog Archive » CES Aftermath - Links for 14.01.08

  4. Sal Cangeloso says:
    January 14, 2008 at 10:19 am

    Nice post.

    I definitely caught the CES bug though. Not sure if it’s the flu, but I’m not feeling so hot…

    Reply
  5. Dave Zatz says:
    January 14, 2008 at 10:31 am

    Congrats on the CNET award – nicely done!

    Tru2way is a rebranding of OCAP and doesn’t do much for me. Maybe I’ll feel differently when two-way products finally reach retail.

    So far, I don’t seem to have caught anything either. Knock on wood. By the way, if you can make it all the way down to Smith & Wollensky’s, you can make it to the Bellagio for BlogHaus. 😉 I actually made it as far as the Bellagio lobby, but our legs were tired and we were hugry so our journey ended at the Bellagio Cafe. Maybe next year! (Though Scoble did capture me on his N95 at the Sling booth. Clever app!)

    Reply
  6. KJH says:
    January 14, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    JT – wish we knew Smith & Wollensky’s was your thing. DF & I walked across one night from our hotel (Monte Carlo) and had our best meal on that trip. Sorry we missed you. Next time.

    Nice list of highs and lows. What cracked me up about the 150″ Plasma was one of the Panasonic bigwigs remarking that they’ll need to get a bigger plane next year when they make an even bigger screen.

    Congrats again on the awards. Definitely deserved.

    Reply
  7. Avi Greengart says:
    January 15, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Nice seeing you again, and finally “getting” the BugLabs story.

    I was at the Moto press conference that sparked GizmodoGate; my rant is here: http://hometheaterview.typepad.com/hometheaterview/2008/01/ces-2008-gizmod.html

    -avi

    Reply
  8. Doug Felteau says:
    January 19, 2008 at 8:23 am

    Smith & Wollensky’s was one of the Geeks highlights too… the 36 hours straight in a hotel room with pain, even though I had pain killers, from a kidney stone was definitely one of my low moments… started aching within 30 minutes of Smith & Wollensky’s and the pain didn’t stop until about 5 hours before my flight out.

    Reply

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Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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