Consumer Electronics Show

I just returned from CES, the huge geeked-out trade show that happens each year in Las Vegas.  It was 1.7 million sq. ft of exhibitors with their products and such, very impressive!  Here's what I noticed - first of several posts on this topic...

• Even the big companies are being pinched by a slowed economy.  Less giveaways, a toned down booth presence, not as many hospitality things, parties, dinners, etc.
• My feet hurt after walking the show for the good part of four days!
• TV and display technology is ROARING forward, now you can get 3D-HDTVs.  Panasonic & Sony had really slick demos of futuristic movies and BCS football, very cool. Katzenberg (SGK Dreamworks!) said in 5 yrs all Hollywood studios will be making 3D movies in high quality resolution.
• USB 3.0 is coming, it's almost there, rumors are it is 8-10 times faster than USB 2.0.  Imagine how great removable hard drives will be then!
• Solid State hard disks are here, although not big storage capacity yet, they have no moving parts and are very fast.  Think very large iPod Nano!
• Windows 7 looks like it will work well, so does Internet Explorer ver 8.  Both can be downloaded now as beta. Don't make them work on important computers, remember, they are just beta!
• Lots of software as a service companies (SAAS) promoting backups, accounting, etc. that you rent to use... neat!  We can all get world class performance for pennies.  Think Flickr, YouTube, but for things you can employ in your business... will be HUGE!

I'll post some pics of neat things, too, because the show is packed with gaming, automotive and home based technology as well.  more to follow!

-dm