CES 2007 - Day Two
We're back from CES, Day 2. It was a bit like Disneyland -- there was a lot to see, but you could never see all of it. The things you did see, though, you were there for a while.
The five of us got to the Sands Convention Center at about 11. The first place we went to was Sling, and we saw the Fujitsu P1610 and the in-car Internet router. From this company we interviewed Sterling Pratz, who started Autonet mobile. He gave us a lot of information, and we should have the interview up soon. We also interviewed Len McGough, from Fujitsu, who let us know about the 2.2 lb 3rd generation convertible, the P1610.
After looking around Sling, Kim, Beth and I went to the Portable Sound Laboratories. They had a really neat accessory for the iPod. It was a stereo system that was tiny. All you had to do was put your iPod in the small zipper case, and you now have portable speakers. Kim showed interest, and the man said we could review one if we wanted. We wanted. So Kim will be coming out with her iMainGo review soon.
Because so many things had already happened, we decided to make a short little podcast as a review. That will be up shortly, also.
Once the podcast was done, we went over to where they had the robots. Now, those were some awesome toys. The first thing that had to do with robotics were educational kits by Bioloid, which were supposed to be turned into the most random, awesome things I've seen in a while. For example, you could build a clapping penguin. (I clapped once, it clapped once. I clapped twice, it clapped twice.) Another one "opened it's mouth" when I waved my hand in front of it. Some of them picked obstacles up, while others just moved a bit. These kits are supposed to be constructed by the user -- sounds like fun!
There was a cute little robot that was for information. It had a touch screen, and allowed for voice commands. You could ask it what the time is and it will tell you. You could tell it to go to the kitchen to see what's going on, and it will go.
We saw one table that was Star Wars themed -- One R2D2 home media set, that came with a Star Wars spaceship controller. This thing had everything. You could put in DVDs, video iPods, SD cards, hook up USBs .. and everything would be projected through the robot. You could even turn R2D2 (using the remote, of course) so he was facing up towards the ceiling, and then watch something on the ceiling. The other R2D2 creation was a webcam. It was wireless, and works up to 30 feet from the computer.
Then there was the Spyke Spy Robot by Erector. It was a bit sneaky, but a good idea anyway. Basically, it was a video camera in a robot that you get to build. You can build the robot any way you want it, as long as the camera is attached. Then you can log online to see what your bot is seeing.
Another amazing thing we saw the Paro. Now, he is a therapeutic seal -- robotic, of course. He reacts to touch and sound, and supposedly knows his name. Hospitals and nursing homes purchase Paro and send him around to the different people. Paro is said to improve moods and encouraged communication among the patients. Stress levels were lowered, and all because of a cute seal-like robot. Good idea!
It was about time for lunch when we finally got through the robot section, so we headed over to the "concessions and restrooms." On the way over, though, we were stopped by ICUITI. They had video eyewear, which were glasses-like things that allowed us to watch movies. These things were complete with ear pieces that were adjustable, and each eye had adjustable vision also, for the people who wear glasses. You can hook up your video iPods, home PCs, and even Zunes to play the movie through these glasses! We got an interview with the ICUITI expert, Adam Travers, so we should have that up soon. VR920 is for video games, and the AD920 is more for movies.
The last booth we visited in the Sands was Pepper. Since I haven't been around Linux in a few years, it was very exciting to see Linux paired with touch screen computers. Sean Sosik-Hamor helped us out, so we stayed for a while and played around with their two computers. One was the Pepper Pad 3, and it had a keyboard on the side, and used a pen. It's only 2.3 lbs, and is water resistant. Uhm. Awesome?
The other product in the Pepper Linux booth wasn't as exciting. It was bright green, so that makes up for it, right? Turns out that this is the OLPC that'll be used in schools in places like Central and South America. You can ink. There's no touch screen either. He did say that there are some developers in the forums that are working on ink, but they said that Pepper won't do it now because they don't want it to fail.
We left the Sands Convention Center after the Pepper booth, and headed over to LVCC. There, we went to the Microsoft booth, and looked around. Personally, the Tablets were too hidden. When I finally shoved my way through the crowd in the Microsoft partner booth area, I saw a Tablet sitting there just like a notebook. I fixed that though. With a quick twist of the screen, and Windows Journal, a few stickys, and InkBall up, it looked like a Tablet PC in no time.
With only a few minutes left before closing, we walked up and down the rows of vendors in the Microsoft booth. There, we ran into Calvin Chu with Mobile Crossing. He showed us a really awesome Navigation system. It was easy to use (Yes, we just had to test it) and seemed fairly convenient. Also, it was water resistant.
So that was CES Day 2. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and can't wait for CES Day 3!