Mike Temporale
01-28-2008, 05:30 PM
After a quick couple hours sleep at my ultra posh hotel (yeah, I wish - there's a reason it was the cheapest place around.), it was off to start another event packed day. This time it started off with a horribly botched meet-up with Palm. First there was confusion over where they would pick us up, and then there was confusion over who exactly was meeting with us. Big thanks to Jerry & Judie from Gear Diary for helping us find our way. After all was said and done, Palm didn't really have anything earth shattering to share with us. In the end, it was a waste of a morning. :-( <br /><br />Back to the show floor for me. I spent some time trolling around the Microsoft booth answering peoples Windows Mobile questions and I even got recognized a couple of times. (And to the guy in the C|Net jacket that mentioned how much he liked the site as he quickly passed me by; you should have stopped. I would have liked to chat with you a little.) The Microsoft booth always seemed busy and that goes for the Windows Mobile corner of the booth too. I got to watch Dale Coffin do a couple Windows Mobile demos on the stage. (Nice work Dale!) Overall, I would say Microsoft's Windows Mobile section had a pretty good buzz going on. <br /><br />Before long it was time to head over to <a href="http://www.showstoppers.com/" target="_blank">ShowStoppers</a> event at <a href="http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/" target="_blank">the Wynn</a> (Link Warning: Annoying voice over). The plan was to get to ShowStoppers early because I was double booked. We ended up arriving a little earlier that expected, which wasn't too bad since we checked out the <a href="http://www.tigerdirect.com" target="_blank">Tiger Direct</a> event. TD was sponsoring a race to see who could build a PC the quickest. They even had cheerleaders to cheer on the participants. The food was amazing - Shrimp, Sushi, Pork Tenderloin, Ravioli with sauce made fresh for you... Hat's off to Tiger Direct for putting on a great event. Far more than I would have expected from the discount online retailer.<div style="page-break-after: always;"><span style="display: none;"> </span></div><br />So, off to ShowStoppers. As I worked my way around the floor, I had some great talks with <a href="http://www.lenovo.com" target="_blank">Lenovo</a>, <a href="http://www.howardchui.com" target="_blank">Howard Chui </a>(no, he wasn't in a booth at the show, but I did bump into him as I worked my way around the floor), <a href="http://www.kingston.com" target="_blank">Kingston</a>, <a href="http://www.skype.com" target="_blank">Skype</a>, <a href="http://www.corsair.com" target="_blank">Corsair</a>, <a href="http://www.thx.com" target="_blank">THX</a>, and so many more. <br /><br />There was no shortage of gadgetry at this event, however most of it wasn't really mobility focused. There as lots of cool things - like the new THX system for your car! Or the ultra large capacity memory cards from Corsair. The coolest mobility related gadget was the Skype phone. I'm not sure how many of you have heard about or even seen one of these devices. Skype has managed to get a carrier in Europe to buy into this device and it should be available soon (if not already). The phone works over the data network to allow you to call your Skype contacts from anywhere. But it's not just good for Skype calls, you can also make real calls to real land-lines or other cellular customers. The phone is pretty small and should sell for around $50 with a plan. Now, the guy in the Skype booth was telling me that Skype usage doesn't count towards your data use or your minute use on the device. I'm not sure what the carrier gets out of this arrangement. But I like the looks of things. <br /><br />From ShowStoppers it was off to the Microsoft Community dinner at <a href="http://www.roysrestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Roy's</a>. This was an invite only event and while there was some of us from the mobile side of things, there was also a number of other people from other communities in attendance - HardwareGeeks, TheDigitalLifestyle, NeoWin, and more. Most notably, at least for me, was the attendance of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Wardell" target="_blank">Brad Wardell</a> from <a href="http://www.stardock.com" target="_blank">Stardock</a>. I've been using Stardock software from the very early years when they only made applications for OS2. It was pretty cool to finally meet Brad and have a chance to talk with him. (I know, I must sound like a groupie or something, eh?) My only regret with Microsoft's Community dinner is that there wasn't enough time to mingle and chat with everyone in the room. It's not that there was too many people, just that there wasn't the time between arriving and eating. <br /><br />And so ends part 2 of my CES experiences. Watch for the third and final part coming soon!