marientina

An amazing number of booths showcase various qualities of protective gear for your handheld devices ranging from the super-cheezy-and-cheap-OMG-I-can't-believe-it-is-not-even-pleather quality to the trendy, minimalist yet fashionable Finn-designed line of mobile gear accessories occupying a giant booth in Main Hall. The only other product type as over-represented was wall mounts for flat panels screens. Whatever happened to putting your TV on a stand? There were some booths that showcased furniture for entertainment centers, but frankly the quality was not very exciting. If you want to see amazing carpentry, go look at the high-end speaker selection.

In recent years, consumer electronics have become cheaper and cheaper to manufacture. Some people may think that the rule of supply and demand has helped make great products affordable, but if you look closely the quality just isn't there. Hence 'consumer electronics'. Sure they do the job, but you will throw them out in a year or two. Many advocate that electronics and computer-related stuffs become really outdated quickly so why bother making anything more sturdy if you will trash it anyway? If you are an environmentalist or don't subscribe to the capitalist ideal, CES is not for you. Or maybe you need to visit CES to see how easily your ideals can be eroded…

Central hall contains the industry's heavy hitters (Sony, Samsung, Intel, Microsoft, LG, Panasonic, Motorola many more queezed in there) or at least those who hope to make a big buck in the first quarter of 2007 to make up for the exorbitant cost of their booth and booth babes. Yes, you read correctly: booth babes. It wouldn't be a trade show without them and there are plenty at CES, outfitted with spandex and go-go boots, they are ready to hand out stuff you will throw out as soon as you turn the corner. It is ok - they need a job too to pay for those fake boobs.

For once, I am proud to say that I resisted getting or taking any trinkets, especially if they were handed out by a half-naked nurse Betty. I looked for stuff handed out by handsome half-naked male nurses and much to my surprise, I found none. It was a great disappointment. I thought equality meant that trade shows would have both male and female booth babes. That whole myth that women go for brains above looks must be disproved. Oh wait -- I already have a boyfriend.

And speaking of fake boobs, I almost walked into the adult entertainment expo which is located as Sands Expo. I ignored all signs until I reached the entrance and realized I was about the step into dildo world. The cabbie made sure I knew it was in town at Sands because surely, he meets many women in business attire who want to visit the adult expo, right? A few feet from the entrance I realized what I was headed into and walked away. Not quite the venue I picked for the day. Sadly, after visiting Sand Expo and leaving, I regretted not visiting the adult expo to combat the boredom.

As the booths became larger and larger from hall to hall, so did the people's eyes staring at the giant plasma panels and lcd's in every booth. One out of fifteen people I passed, tripped on my laptop stroller because their peripheral vision was toast from being at the show floor for too long. I felt guilty for tripping the first five people, but after that I stopped caring. There were dozens of people with similar strollers so I was not the only offender. Note to self: next year leave the laptop at home and wear sneakers. The carpet covers concrete but provides little padding. Walkers beware.

So what is the hype about CES? Stuff. Lots of stuff. This years hottest picks by Marientina:
○ 100+ flat screen TV's by Panasonic (plasma) and Sharp (lcd)
○ Everything HD although the blu-ray/hd-dvd debate puts me to sleep
○ From Microsoft: Xbox360 and Office 2007 (finally) - (people know how I feel about Vista)
○ Mini-projectors that fit in your purse (I want one!)
○ Wireless HD video streaming
○ Stereo is slowly arriving but you may not want to look at that stuff for too long yet.

And if you ask about content, well CES is not really about content. Panasonic's booth featured a ridiculous ensemble performance act and the other bands playing on some nearby booth made me want to stick pencils into my ears. You can say it: I am jaded. Sure, but maybe that is what it takes to survive CES.

P.S. I did not visit North Hall where all the car entertainment stuff was. I didn't want to make myself sad. My car CD changer broke last year, the lcd panel on my radio is broken and they will remain as is until I have a new car: I don't need that stuff anyway. Pod people can laugh all they want, but I am happy Mobiblu customer so I won't be visiting North Hall next year either...