Well, my poor feet were up for one last day on the CES show floor. Despite all the walking, waiting in line, and more walking, I really did enjoy checking out all the new electro-gadgetry and meeting all the industry reps.
Cowon Systems (JetAudio iAudio)
My first stop off on the final day of CES was at the Cowon iAudio booth. I had missed their booth earlier in the week. Since we have reviewed several iAudio products with favorable results, I was eager to see what they had up on deck for 2005. Much to my delight, I was greeted with their new line of multimedia players…soon to be available. A stylish new HDD-based audio player also should be available this month and can be used to store and view digital pictures. And of course they had a few flashed based MP3 players, one of which (the G3) boasts an impressive 50 hours of playtime from one AA battery.
Palm
Next I ventured over to Palm’s booth to have a look-see at the newest Treo line of PDAs. The Treo 650 is the newest in the line integrating PDA and cell phone functionality. A partner company called Enfora was called upon by Palm to create an add-on cradle to extend the wireless networking capacity of the Treo family. And way on down the price line lays the intro model Zire, a more practical choice for someone like me who truly despises cell phones. I particularly like the iPod white version myself.
BenQ
BenQ was my next stop. Their exhibit was quite amazing from a design aspect. Mod era furniture, bright colors, multiple product showcases and smart product design earned them a Design and Engineering Showcase Award at this year’s show. Everything from cell phones to audio players to home theater and laptop hardware was on display. I was very impressed to see BenQ showing off like they owned the joint. Some of the big dogs could have learned a thing or two from their booth.
Gizmondo
To wrap things up on the showfloor I visited 2 companies that joined us from across the seas, yet share a common language with us Yanks. First off I swung by the Gizmondo exhibit. They had a live DJ spinning tracks and some flat out supahfly dancers tearing up the floor. Gizmondo is a UK based company putting out a nifty little handheld gaming system. You may recognize the Gizmondo gaming device from the nVidia display on day 3. I had a chance to play “Colors,” a sort of GTA-type game. Very good graphics from this little bugger, I must say. But the dancing guys stole the show…as far as booth exhibits go. This was much cooler than Tom Arnold playing fishing video games.
Check out this movie I took of the dancing. (Please right click, save as...)
Crumpler
Off to my next international booth destination, Crumpler bags. This Australia-based company designs some sharp looking laptop cases, media player holders and professional photographer’s bags. I loved their booth design as well, chalkboards for everyone to write on, it was like a purposefully graffiti-ed classroom. Check them out if you need a stylish backpack or laptop bag. You’ll be looking much cooler with a Crumpler than with that Dell bag, I guarantee.
ABIT
Ok, so I lied. I was going to leave CES until I remembered that Abit was hosting the top ranked gamer in the world, FATAL1TY, at their booth. Unfortunately I screwed around too long and missed my opportunity to play a game of Painkiller against him. The prize for beating him was $5000. No one came close. So, I stuck around and attended a presentation of Abit’s FATAL1TY line of motherboards featuring the Guru overclocking software and the Third Eye display module. With the Guru software, overclocking is meant to be a one-click breeze. The Third Eye module displays your OCing results in GHz as well as CPU temp, Vcore and fan RPMs. Abit was running these boards for the entire FATAL1TY contest. They had overclocked the contestant’s machine only, just to give them an edge over the Uber-gamer. No crashes occurred over the four days according to the rep.
SeadDoo / Dance Dance Revolution / Internet Oven
And what would CES be without the random dumb things? Note below SeaDoo’s Seascooter. What this is doing at CES, I don’t know. Technically it is electronic…I guess. Maybe Scuba Steve is on the admissions board for CES. Also, we couldn’t possibly have an electronics show without Dance Dance Revolution. I would think the show could have gone on without it, but what do I know? And finally we have possibly the dumbest gadget displayed at CES…the internet oven. Yes, you too can cook your chicken from the convenience of your den or living room via your laptop. The picture below was taken during a VIDEO PRESENTATION for the oven, which I actually sat through! Come on, do we really need this as a society?!? (Kurtis’ note: I wonder if it can actually go as far as to put my bagel bites in there, and then bring them to me when they’re ready…)
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/183/CES+2005+WrapUp+Gadgets+Cars+and+Babes/
