CES 09: Day One Photo Tour

End of day one of the Consumer Electronics Show 2009 and I barely made it through the upper and lower South Hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center before I had to split for the splendid Showstoppers evening event at the sumptuous Wynn Hotel and Casino on the Strip.

There were tons of interesting things to see and really, an amazing number of companies and people, but I tried to find both what was interesting and amusing, to give you a sense both of the new consumer electronics products that are coming out onto the market and the inane delight of a massive (135,000 attendee!) trade show.

Please read on to see my first day photo exhibit, with commentary...

I went to pop into the Kodak booth, to the press area so I could talk to them about their new digital picture technology, just to bump into a ubiquitous scene at CES: the videographer.

I have to admit, when I took this photo the woman from Earthquake Audio came over to chat with me (they usually do when you start flashing pics) and I looked at her for a second and said, "I don't get it. Where do you put your groceries?" She, surprisingly, didn't laugh. Oh well. Maybe that's why I'm not dating any women with amazing car audio systems...

Even in 2009 it's a fact of life: one of the surefire ways to get guys into a tradeshow booth is to sell - or at least promise - sex. That's what the team at Entropia have clearly done here. After the flash fired for the shot, the women looked at me and gave me the cutest crinkly-eyed smile. I smiled back.

Okay, it's the interior of a car. But I gotta give credit where it's due, the Ford Fusion Hybrid is a very well thought-out hybrid and a strong competitor to the popular Honda and Toyota hybrid lines. I was impressed, and being able to spend twenty minutes chatting with one of the Fusion engineers was a boon.

What the heck? Gamers are a strange breed. I kept wondering, is this something you could wear through airport security without them riddling your body with bullet-holes as the threat level increases to red spontaneously??

Kudos to Hewlett-Packard for this gorgeous little super-light-weight laptop. It's bigger than the Netbook, but small enough that it'd be a breeze to tote across campus or between tedious office meetings. I want to get my hands on one!

Yes, it's true, the iHome iPod-compatible lamps come in a veritable raaiiinnnnbbbooowww of colors!

The slogan from security and lock company Schlage wins the Orwell Award for being the most disturbing and amusing on the show floor.

A popular category of products are home surveillance systems, whether a "D.I.Y." package like this or something with more sophistication and an Internet connection. Are we living in a world of greater fear that people feel they need to have a video-capture surveillance system in their homes?

Simple, cheap, classic Chinese, and a darn sharp idea: A portable humidifier that works by filling up and attaching a water bottle. I love this sort of simplicity, but kinda expected Hello Kitty to show up too.

What can I say about this? They did well with the signage, but hiring the attractive woman to wear a slinky black dress and boots seems a lot more about sex than getting women excited about electronics. Or was she a fembot and I didn't notice?

... and so wraps up day one of CES. More tomorrow!