Sitting back at basecamp (Sydney) I couldn’t help but think that CES in Las Vegas was a success, at least for Tablet enthusiasts that is. What I mean by this is that there were no major revelations, or developments in the UMPC platform, and that to me is a positive experience. Let me explain why!
I feel that we are almost always putting a R.I.P inscription on all newly released products immediately out f the box. As soon as a blogger posts the “first look” at anything, like this, or this, someone leaves a comment like “when is the NextGen coming”…give me a break. Surely we all like the latest and greatest toys, but shouldn’t we spend a minute and get to know what is available before we right it off in the hope of achieving Nerdvana (read this blog).
So with all that in mind, I declare less UMPC a good thing; why, because now we can get to the know the existing form factor just a little longer, and put away the 7” coffin we ordered! Having said all this, there were several new releases like the TabletKiosk “Tough Tab” and the “Sahara Slate i440.” I also liked James Kendrick with this cheesy look at the HP TX 1000! (I thought I had the market on cheesy photos James!) You can also see it on CNETTV.
CES seemed to flow quite nicely and kicked off with a Bisll Gates keynote, which from what I could tell, left many wanting more, not less Bill! It seemed to showcase UMPC, but not highlight them in any big way. He did however seem to pick up a UMPC in one of he’s demonstrations while using it to control the ambience via projected-wall-art in a make believe kids room! I liked the keynote personally and sat in my living room at 2pm, with my wife and son, while I chatted to a who’s-who of the Tablet space online (shout out to Chippy, JTokash, MPropst and JKK), while they sat at home at around 5am! Ouch! This was a Ultra-Geek affair that had been setup via this CES Party. It was lots of fun.
As the show progressed it looked as though the biggest story unfolding was the OQO 02. I liked this video from Engadget that seemed to be first in, but I also like this video from CNETTV. The sweetest thing about the OQO was the Dock!!! Look here. Speaking of docks it was the Toshiba that stole the show with a wireless, yes, wireless, USB 2.0 solution on the new convertible R400. Take a look at it here, and here. It beckons me to ask the “true” connection speed between the dock and the Toshi, as I still can’t get 480Mbps out of my cabled USB 2.0 stuff…LOL.
The last reference I’ll leave you with is this webcam, and it’s not porn! It was setup by the first family of Tablet PC, The Heinys, and aimed at the crowd gathered in the good name of Tablet PC at Cheesburger Las Vegas. Because I wasn’t there, and hopefully I was missed, I will give you an excerpt from an emotive Warner Crocker:
This entire evening would be possible without the work of the First Lady of The First Family of Tablet PCs, Lora Heiny, so everyone owes her a big thank you. And speaking of the First Family, it was great to meet Robert and Joan Heiny, the folks responsbile for all those Heinys, and although Loren wasn’t there, he and his brother Layne, who was in attendance, hooked up a webcam and streamed the event live. (You can check it out here.)
I have enjoyed following the event and receiving emails from attendees there. Thank you everyone involved and everyone posting from the CES show, including my little infamous Long Zheng! I hope I have contributed to those of you that weren’t there by sharing my experience as I saw it unfold. There are obviously many omissions but it is bed time and I will talk with you soon! I’ve missed you guys but I promise to provide with the best year ever of Tablet PC related commentary from Australia!!! Talk to you later…Hugo Ortega.
PS. If you want to hear something really fun out of CES then listen to James Kendrick (Houston), Matt Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia) in the latest edition of their Mobile Tech Roundup: CLICK HERE and listen directly.MoTR 85 is 21:18 minutes long and is a 7.3 MB file in MP3 format. to download the file.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
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5 comments:
Thanks for the shout out! I think we should definitly do that again. Maybe make the chats a monthly thing? Next time we'll need to invite a few more faces to the event? Like the mobile tech roundup crew perhaps?
Good to see you bloggin again ;-)
I think that's a great idea Matt. Thanks for the welcome, I promsie it will be worth sticking around for what I have planned this year!
Yo Hugo,
Sometimes no news is good news but not this time I think. My reasoning harks back to the space race when NASA focused on brute force (Apollo) at the expense of smart engineering (shuttle) and delayed space exploration by perhaps a generation. Apple has so comprehensively reinvented the past -an MP3 player REALLY -that it has dragged I.T. marketing back to the 20thC. Look at the PDA Guy's panning of the UMPC -a real last century mindset. Will it roam free as the first truly 21stC device, setting the parameters of computing 4 the foreseeable future? Otherwise it must join its forebears locked in a glass case at Harvey Norman & only surfacing with afficianadoes at 'mysterious' user group meetings -while those of us impatient for the future must wait for the next decade & the first true 21stC device to emerge.
Hi Noel (welcome back),
I think the underlying frustration you feel is somewhat mimicked globally. Unlike NASA however Microsoft is not entirely in control of their own fate as most the blame lies with the OEMs. The origami Project was a Microsoft "inspired" project, not a Microsoft lead project. What this had led to is a different interpretation by each OEM as to what an Origami device really. Most these OEMs have been doing this a long time and that sometimes can be a negative as they have "old school" thinking and perspective.
I feel that my role, and others in the b logging community, is to inspire and evangelize so that you have a format for expressing your concerns. I know that many in Redmond read my blog, and therefore your comments, so this can only be a good thing. Keep posting and telling me your concerns so that I may get them forwarded and looked after.
When it comes to the future I think you're looking at the world torn between clever marketing, and the limitations of the manufacture process. On one hand the maketeer is a sales person promoting the future as it "might" be, while the manufacturer is supplying product based on what "can" be! Harvey Normans plays a SMALL and sometimes SHITTY role in all of this in that they will stock bleeding edge if bleeding edge will sell - until then it will only be seen on blogs, vlogs and User Groups...lets make sure this doesn't happen!
Do you have any plans in reviewing the OQO Model 02 yourself?
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