Las Vegas CES 2007 is over

I’m kind of glad CES is over because of two reasons.

1. I couldn’t attend (jealousy is a curse), and
2. Because of the information overload.

I conducted my first wrap up here and this is my final. The show was awesome. There were obvious developments in the UMPC space that warmed the heart. The two blogs I followed on this front were JKOntheRun, an GottaBeMobile. Lets point at a couple of their posts I liked recently:

I really enjoyed coverage of the Switchback UMPC by Warner Crocker:

We were all anxious to find and talk to the folks at Black Diamond about their ruggedized Ultra-Mobile PC, the Switchback. The wait was worth it. Dennis and I were able to get our hands on these units (a very clever display where they had some of the suspended from chains dangling in the air), and also film a video interview which we’ll be posting up shortly. I have never had the opportunity to hold a ruggedized anything in my hand until this CES, and let me tell you, in my opinion the Switchback is an amazing device to hold.

Read more

The Medion UMPC has a home, or does it???

Warner covered it here, and Kevin Christopher Tofel did an exceptional job here. But is it a device worth buying? You tell me…I’m interested.

The screen slides smoothly, revealing something that I wouldn't want in my UMPC. At least that's what I thought. The keyboard is the most standard looking and feeling keyboard over anything I've seen yet, and we've seen 'em all here. The keys have a nice feel and travel; just like a standard keyboard, only much smaller of course. You'll be using your thumbs, but I have to say after using the device for about 10 minutes: you can quickly get used to the approach and start tapping out text faster than you'd think.

Source: Kevin C. Tofel

The Toshiba R400 appeared to be the stickiest blog catcher though.

Warner started it, Dennis kept it going, Rob dove into the action, and then Warner brought it up as a best-of-show experience! At the JK Camp James saw it on Day 2 and focused on the Docking Station, and so too did Kevin.

I think Warner got it right in that CES was all about Media, i.e. videos and streaming, and stuff. Even Bill Gates Keynonote was run through a Tag Cloud Generator designed by Seattle PI (way cool Frank for posting this) and the strong buzz words from his speech were all about video, music, ipTV, photos…MEDIA, MEDIA, MEDA. Looks like Toshiba is on the case in the Tabletsphere.

The Toshiba Wireless Port Replicator was the most impressive piece of new hardware I saw the entire conference. I hope others follow Toshiba’s lead here and soon. Being able to set your Tablet PC on your desk and have it connect to a 2nd monitor, or any USB device wirelessly could be a real boon. And if there is any doubt that media is what everybody is thinking about, the fact that the wireless dock is optimized for streaming media and the reps actually recommend moving large files through a USB connection should tell you something.

Source: Warner Crocker

I also liked Bjorn Strombergs presence at CES. Bjorn works for VIA Technology and has done a passionate job of talking up the C7M mobile processor from VIA. Here he is in this video of the OQO 02 - another much loved CES 2007 device.

Then there was the S-Xgen. Not only did this appear to be disliked by several but it was also a little misunderstood, or at least misrepresented by its own staff. (now I'm not sure if it runs Windows Mobile 5.0 or Pocket PC). If you watch this InkShow you’ll see that Rob managed to stump the Sales Rep on several occasions…come on Seamless what are you doing??? I want to know where the place is for this device. It’s a Windows Mobile 5.0 phone/PC that needs a dial pad (separate) and headset (separate again) to make phone calls. It main features touted by the manufacturer are battery life and full size keyboard. What do you guys think?

Rob Bushway saw it here, and put it on video here, and Kevin Tofel almost walked straight past it here.

One product that was really exciting was the new screen technology from Sony; these will no doubt play a role in notebooks and Tablets in the near future. I came across this via these clowns in the UK. (Who are these guys?) Anyway have a look at just how thin the screen is!!! While another favourite of mine, and by no means were these guys clowns, was the CNETTV Team. I couldn’t help but watch each video a couple of times over.

SO that's it for my AdHoc roundup with a little taste of what I followed/liked/disliked. While I having got heavily involved I still wanted to give you a flavour of what CES meant to me in a token sort of way...now I have to go a do some "real work!"