I.T. Rockstar

CES - what a rollercoaster of a show. Four days of non-stop walking and non-stop gadget “eye candy” was certainly something to behold. I’ve always considered myself a bit of a gadget freak, so coming to the show was a bit like seventh heaven for me.

The first two days were a bit of a whirlwind, taking in as much of everything as possible. I went back to the stuff I liked over the last day and a half to have a closer look, and get demos of the cool stuff. There was a pretty amazing range of products there, and a few themes that everyone seemed to be catering for - carbon footprint reduction and home automation were the two major ones that dominated a lot of the stands. read more

The scale of the place was pretty amazing with 4 large conference halls at the main Las Vegas Convention Centre, and another set of halls at the Sands Expo Centre which was a 10 minute shuttle bus away. I was lucky enough that my travel agent had the foresight to book me a hotel that was on the monorail strip, because trying to get there by other means was a bit of a mission to say the least.

I’ve put up a photo gallery of all of the cool gadgets on my Facebook page - those were only a fraction of what was actually available there. The coolest things I have seen would have to be:

3rd Space Impact Generating Vest - http://tinyurl.com/34ueos

This was pretty amazing - a vest that you put on to play first person shooter games. Every time you get shot in the game, you feel the impact on the vest. The guy that demoed the unit for me got me to run down a corridor while he shot me in the back - you could feel the impact of each of the bullets as they hit. It was pretty impressive!

Powermat - http://www.powermatusa.com

The Powermat is a pretty amazing concept - a mat that you put your portable devices on, which charges them. They were pretty secretive about it all, and unless you were an accredited press agent you weren’t able to see it live in action. But basically, you plug the mat into the wall and then put your devices on the mat - cellphone, iPod and so forth - and they charge their batteries without having to be plugged into the wall with their own unique chargers. Wired has a good spot on them at:

http://tinyurl.com829qmd

3D TV

I got to check out the new generation of TV and I have to say that I was very impressed. You still have to wear glasses to be able to see the effect, but it gives a pretty decent sense of depth perception to whatever you’re watching. I caught a few minutes of an NFL game, and the depth effect created by the technology made you feel like you were in the stadium when the TV was showing the right camera angles. It’s a tough one to explain, but is pretty impressive. Word is that it’ll be available sometime this year.

Las Vegas in general has been pretty amazing. I caught up with a few people from New Zealand who were either here for the show, or were randomly in Vegas this week, and have had some pretty awesome nights out. There is a heap of things to see and do here - I’m off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow and have seen Jerry Seinfeld live as well as done the obligatory male pilgramage to Hooters (I’m now a member of the “Owl Rewards Club”).

I’ll keep updating my photos as I go, so keep an eye out for them. Otherwise, that’s all from me for now.

Cheers,
Adam

One Comment

1. Ben Bowie

   1 April, 2009 at 11:28 pm

   Jerry, Hooters, space impact vest, charger… Dam

Adam Brown – Winner I.T. Rockstar 2008!

Adam Brown is a self-confessed internet addict who is one of the founders of First In – New Zealand's original daily deals website. He also helped found Yellow Fever – the Wellington Phoenix's Supporters Group, figuring that it was the closest he'd ever get to professional football given that his talents on the pitch were found wanting.

Outside of his other activities, Adam writes a regular football column for Fairfax's Stuff website and presents a regular gadget feature on TVNZ's Good Morning show.