CES 2009: Pictures At An Exhibition, Part Trois

The latest in a series, in roughly chronological order, and following in the footsteps of the 2007 and 2008 editions. Captured with my beloved new Panasonic digicam; click on a thumbnail (if indeed a 525-pixel-wide version can be called a ‘thumbnail’) for a full-res image version…

They’re here (say it in your best Poltergeist voice for full effect). A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, and no I didn’t go.

Apple laptops were everywhere in the press lounges. These two gents and I sat down on the same couch and then realized we were all toting first-generation MacBook Airs. Note that we’re all CAT5-tethered? That’s because, as in past years, the Wi-Fi connectivity was incredibly bad…

Engadget was the ‘official blog partner of CES‘, whatever that meant. Think maybe it had something to do with the switch-off-vendor-booth-TVs-via-remote-control stunt competitor Gizmodo pulled last year? This year’s prank was a bit more tame…

This blue blob was inhabiting (haunting?) the Intel booth. No, I don’t get the point, either (but then again, does there need to be one? It obviously got my attention)…

Chumby! Alas, Bunnie was nowhere to be found

Even the sidewalk attendance by pushy folks handing out placards promoting…umm…various adult entertainment activities was down this year

Yes, but will it blend? Brought to you by Pat Meier-Johnson and the other fine folks at Lunch@Pieros

Ahh, Friday. Sands Expo (aka ‘home of the lesser companies’) day. This banner was prominently displayed just inside the convention hall doors…

…whereas these two much bigger banners were just outside the convention hall doors. Is anyone else also amused by the synchronicity (NSFW), or do I just have a warped mind? Don’t answer that…

There was a tangible decrease in the amount of CE crap this year, but alas not a complete absence. Case study #1

#2. Your eyes don’t deceive you; it’s a ‘phonograph’ that plays CDs.

#3, aka the ‘booth of a billion bad entertainer tribute plaques"

#4. Yes, it’s the Supacam crooks, who are apparently trying to obscure their heritage via a deft renaming to ‘Supercam’. Was I happy to see nobody crowded around their booth? Why yes, I was…

#5; I should have shot a video. These are iPod docks attached to dancing figurines. The one at the top is…Obama. Is it any wonder that the rest of the world snickers at us behind our backs?

#6: And last but not least, the nexus of noxiousness…the International Gateway, in a far corner of the Sands Convention Center. Here’s a view of its width…

…and its depth. How many booths, peddling how many mouse pads, iPod cases, USB flash memory sticks, and cheap digital cameras, are contained within its bowels? The mind shudders in striving to comprehend the enormity…

iRobot’s continued success…

…has cultivated an increasing number of ‘competitors’ each year. Can this robot walk my dog?

How about this one?

Then again, with a robotic seal (I think that’s what it is, or maybe a very large white fuzzy caterpillar) at your disposal, you might not need a dog at all.

‘Green was in’ this year. Then again, most of the supposedly ‘green’ vendors who I interrogated (ok, so I have a bit of a mean streak) weren’t able to even remotely explain the reality (assuming it even existed) behind their eco-friendly posturing. One wonders if they are also ‘organic’. Or ‘Zen’. Or maybe just a ‘paradigm-shifting 3G convergence solution targeting the tech ecosystem with a social networking stratagem’. Can you say that all in one breath? They can.

Shouldn’t that be ‘the off-show must go on’?

Why would someone want a 3D webcam? I suspect the folks next door at the Adult Entertainment Expo have a few ideas…

He’s just a wild and crazy guy…

Saturday, South Hall Las Vegas Convention Center Day. I thought these Windows Home Server banners were pretty clever.

At minimum, I think you’ll agree they beat last year’s version.

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and check out the USB TechZone! See wireless USB vendors try once again to explain to you why the world needs untethered mice…beyond today’s untethered IR, RF and Bluetooth mice! And see USB v3 vendors try to rationalize why first (and second? And third?) generation silicon won’t come close to hitting the speeds touted just a few short months ago! Ahem

Another year, another SD card standard. 2 TBytes ought to be enough for anybody, right?

Hey, good luck with that…(snort)

Different venue (my earlier photos came from the Sands), same vast expanses of unpopulated show floor real estate…

…and curtained-created fake walls, where booths once stood…

Last year, I showed you the imposters…

This year you get the real deal, from Bowers & Wilkins. No less ugly, IMHO…

If I see one more Guitar Hero demo, or for that matter a clip from The Dark Knight or Iron Man…

Those BridgeCo folks seem a little antisocial, don’t they? At least they didn’t string barbed wire…

Another day, another venue, another ‘Supercam’ booth. Still no interested potential customers. Snicker…

"Polly want an iPod knockoff…"

Another day, another venue, another booth filled with a billion bad entertainer tribute plaques. Have I stumbled into the movie Groundhog Day?