The first rumor was that Apple had previously  said it planned to attend and be displaying at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.

Then they’d changed their tune and are only saying they “may” be there.

Several publications, including the Wall Street Journal, have hinted that Steve Jobs may give the keynote address at CES in 2010 if they do.

This would be one heck of a story but is it true? Continue Reading

One of the best parts about attending trade shows and conventions as press, is the personal access we are given to products and their manufacturers. Being able to spend a bit of one-on-one time with the people behind the scenes allows us to better understand the products, as well as the vision of the companies behind them.

Unfortunately, one-on-one time comes at a huge premium – not only to the companies trying to schedule the meetings, but also to the writers who are rushing from meeting to meeting, trying to cram as much face time into their schedules as is humanly possible.

One of the more popular formats for maximizing exposure between press and presenters are “showcase events” such as Digital Experience and Showstoppers, events where a group of companies are organized by a promoter or PR company, so that the press can see the products and hopefully get a moment or two to speak to the company representatives present.

I have attended a fair share of these events over the years, and one thing that they all have in common is that they are always packed; even though the people attending are a mere fraction of those on the floor at the LVCC or Sands, it is still completely crowded and hectic. Trying to get any quality time with a company rep that you’ve established a past relationship with, much less meeting one that you are trying to establish a new relationship with, is at best – hit or miss.

The alternative and something most of us do, is schedule multiple days of one-on-one meetings. These are usually held in hotel suites, on the convention center floor, or in other leased locales. Relying on CES bus transportation, cabs, and the monorail to get to these meetings on time can be tricky and expensive, especially since we are competing with hundreds of others also trying to get to their own destinations. On the flip side, these meetings are held by company representatives who are repeating the same spiel multiple times a day to single attendees at a time, and as a result, they are most likely repeatedly answering the same questions. In other words, for every benefit associated with meeting one-on-one, there are just as many negatives for both sides.

This year I attended CNTRSTG, an event that was founded by Mike Temporale, Steven Hughes, Erik Hicks, and Johan van Mierlo. The guys running the show all have blogging backgrounds, and they understand very well the downsides to such a huge event as CES…

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One of the odder – and yet possibly more useful – things that I saw at Digital Experience was a product which might just enable my plants to tell me exactly what’s wrong when they aren’t thriving. Unfortunately, this can be a common occurrence.

Called the EasyBloom, it might be easy to mistake this cartoonish plastic flower as an oversize hors d’œuvre pick, but what it is instead is a sophisticated tool that will allow plants to communicate their needs.

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One of the CES events that I always try to attend is Pepcom’s Digital Experience, a showcase where manufacturers set up tables and small booths so that invitees -  editorial press and analysts only – can attend for a slightly less hectic experience than that on the CES convention floor. It’s a great way to see neat new products without having to battle the exhaustive floor plan of the LVCC North Hall, Center Hall, South Hall, Hilton, Venetian, and Sands Expo. Hmmm…I might have even left out some of the places that CES events occur. Anyway! It would be impossible for anyone to try to see everything at CES, mainly because it is so spread out; in that regard, these smaller shows are helpful.

This year’s Digital Experience had an interesting line-up of products, some from familiar companies as well as a few newcomers. One of the more interesting items being shown was the LG Watch Phone. This watch appears to be the love-child of the Dick Tracy watch and something from Q’s lab.

all photos by Kevin

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Palm has posted video of their Palm Pre keynote address given Thursday January 8, 2009 from CES 2009. It’s well worth a look to see the announcement of the new Palm Pre smartphone and Web OS operating system that touched off a significant amount of press enthusiasm.

Palm

The sound quality is crap and the Qik video streaming from an N82 is meh, but it is still fun to watch Dave Dickson, the blender hijinks king, grind up a tape measure and a rake.

Yeah, a rake.

Try doing that with your Oster.

Today I had an opportunity to talk to Julian, the Director of Design and Development for Cocoon Innovations. Last week I posted about their unusual and fashionable laptop bags, and in the end I think I was left with more questions than answers.

What were they made of? What the heck was the Grid system they were talking about? What would they cost? Would they look good in person? Would I really want to carry one?

Read on for the answers and lots of pictures…

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One of the cooler things that we’ve spotted while here in Vegas was Michael Kaplan and his Segway iBOT. I’ve seen plenty of  “regular” Segways, but until yesterday had never seen the wheelchair version – other than in blog posts.

After talking to Michael for just a bit, I was impressed by how positively the iBOT has affected his life. How so? On top of being able to climb stairs with ease, he can also raise the seat to the height he was before – 5′8″ and look people in the eye…something I regularly take for granted from my height of 5′10″.

After checking out its Wikipedia entry, I soon learned that there were many more reasons to find Dean Kaman’s iBOT impressive…

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We are currently in line for the event and waiting for registration to begin…

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Palm’s keynote address is going on right now at CES 2009. So far they’ve spent some time talking about the background of Palm and a new webOS as well as introducing one new handheld – the Palm Pre. This device has a 3.1″ screen with 320 X 480 resolution, touch screen, center navigation button, EVDO Rev A, 802.11b/g, 8GB storage, GPS, Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) as well as a slideout keyboard (portrait) AND replaceable battery. So far the device seems to match some of the mock ups that have been floating around different blogs. The phone OS looks to sport Exchange support as well as a substantial amount of integration with social media type activities – synchronization of names from different address books, etc. First carrier (exclusive) to handle the Palm Pre in the USA will be Sprint. Release date “first half of 2009″. No pricing announced as of yet.

Read live coverage via Ryan Block of GDGT

Sony introduced their new Vaio P series Lifestyle PC at CES 2009 yesterday. Weighing in at only 1.4 pounds and less than an inch thick the device is looking like one of the first true competitors to Apple’s ultra-thin MacBook Air. The screen is an 8 inch 1600 x 768 LCD (compared to the 13.3 inch screen on the MacBook Air) and under the hood is a 1.3 GHZ Intel processor. When this debuts later this month expect to pay $900 for the entry level model and $1,500 for the premium model (SSD drive and upgraded Vista OS).

Sony Vaio P Series

Targus is announcing a series of new innovative accessories for keeping your laptop cool.

Targus is expanding its line of innovative cooling products. The new products include the Chill Mat, Chill Mat XC, Chill Hub XC, CoolWave™, and Stow-N-Go Chill Mat. All are compatible with PCs and Macs and are built to offer protection from heat damage by providing optimal air ventilation for enhanced performance. Many also offer protection to your lap as they can be used when the laptop is sitting on your lap.

“Laptop cooling devices are essential to keeping your computer running at an optimal level,” said Carolyn Perrier, vice president of accessories at Targus. “Targus’ new cooling devices are compatible with just about any laptop and provide a combination of portability and protection to enhance laptop performance.” Some of the new products…

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Targus is expanding their line of laptop carrying cases. The new cases include the Venture collection of checkpoint-friendly laptop bagss and launched a new series of “Fashion-Forward” Bags which includes the Intersection, Echoes, Rio and Madrid.

Checkpoint Friendly

Al Giazzon, vice president of marketing at Targus note- “Our new line of “Checkpoint Friendly” laptop cases, meet the functional needs of air travelers while satisfying their desire to communicate their own personal style.”

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If you’re sporting a BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, Bold, Storm, World, or a Samsung Instinct on Sprint, Verizon or AT&T you can get real time Consumer Electronic Show 2009 news directly on your device. Sprint and Engadget have teamed up to produce show summaries that are fed to this standalone mobile application. The real time feed provides you with stories (and video) filed by Engadget from the show floor. A great way to follow all the CES 2009 coverage on your BlackBerry or Samsung Instinct.

CES Application powered by Sprint