If you have never experienced this show, its pretty hard to explain. So far I have been to a couple of pavilions – not visiting every stand, and if I said I had information overload I would be grossly understating it. 

Let me sum it up in a word: WOW!

 Since walking into the pavilion at 10am, I have seen some pretty amazing stuff. And, some very disappointing gear as well. 

Let me start with the disappointing. 

The winner of the “I just don’t get it” technology so far is the ebook. 

I looked at about 10 of them – all impressive for what they are, lots of really good looking accessories (including leather portfolio covers, book lights etc), and yes, I was tempted to consider getting one. That is, until I realised they were not all that practical after all. My issue with the concept is that as someone who likes to travel, there are chunks of down time with the ebook that I cannot do anything about. From the moment you take your seat on the plane until the pilot turns off the “fasten seat belt” sign, and again on landing, from the initial approach until safely on the ground, I cannot use the ebook. (No one has told the airlines that any emissions from an electronic device is the same during take off or whilst in flight…). “You could read a magazine” was the response someone gave me when I posed this question. (Not practical when you are 30,000 up and can’t leave your seat to buy a magazine!). 

On a more positive note, I thought the amount of low tech accessories – mainly protective bags and pouches  – was impressive. If you are like me and carry your laptop with you wherever you go, finding the right bag is a nightmare. 

Hats off to a small company displaying here – BJX New York City - who have taken the multi-device technology user into account with their products. Worth checking out their website. Innovative, fashionable AND practical. 

Dell Computers held a display in one of the hotels near CES. I will provide more details at another time, but suffice it to say the number of laptops, notebooks and netbooks with embedded 3G (NextG compatible) modems is very impressive. They also announced today a gamer’s dream machine – a notebook that has high resolution graphics and the power to drive it. The Alienware M11x is the most powerfull 11-inch gaming laptop around. Demonstrating the graphics power of a 15” laptop in an 11” form factor, you can play all your games and media, whether at home or away, at HD720p resolution. I can see the gaming parties happening now! 

An Australian company doing wonderful things for the environment is Embertec Pty Ltd.  The past 5 years has seen both an interest and explosion of energy saving devices with the main focus on reducing standby time. What we don’t realise is that when your TV is sitting there, turned off, and the little red standby light is on, your TV is using electricity, and costing you money. (Would be nice to sit there, do nothing, and get paid for it). 
 
Reducing the use of Standby power reduces CO2 emissions. Embertec is leading the industry with its unique microprocessor technology that can be integrated into a variety of electronic appliances or power strips, delivering energy savings in to the home and commercial environments. 

Embertec is the only technology providing the unique combination of features providing superior enery savings, all encapsulating equipment protection and home network interoperability – all in one device. 

Look out for their products in the near future. 

On the energy saving side of things – there are a lot of companies with wind-up power – that’s right – you crank the handle and generate the power. Every minute of winding gives you approximately 30 minutes of power. I saw radios, torches, emergency beacons and various other items. 

That’s all for now – lots more tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.