The first day of CES 2009 is now complete. I actually did not arrive until this afternoon, so much of what i'll be writing about in this post is learned from a cursory look on the floor today, a guided tour of the Microsoft booth, and sitting through Anne Sweeney's (ABC/Disney Television Group, President).
So I think this is my fifth CES, which I both look forward to (the gadget geek in me) and dread (the hours and hours of walking and schmoozing. I look back and remember being awed at the first CES that i was at, debating the benefits of this new thing called HDTV and whether the new 1080p standard was any better than 720p. There was an energy and a buzz that year. I approached this year wondering what, if any, buzz there would be given our current economic climate.
So far I am pleasantly surprised...which means absolutely nothing when it comes to the overall state of the economy, so please don't read too much into this, but I can happily report that Vegas is alive and well, although definitely and noticeably subdued. Some of the typical annoyances of CES are still here; although prices are definitely lower. First and foremost, there was an hour wait for a taxi in line at the airport. Anything less than a half hour would have spelled disaster (especially since this weekend is also the Adult Video show and visitors coming in to watch the FedEx BCS tournament). I ended up taking the shuttle cutting out at least a half hour and saving at least $20.
There is definitely traffic at the Convention Center. After registering, I was able to make it to Anne Sweeney's session. This is now the second time I've heard Anne speak ( the first at the AAAA's Media Conference in 2008) and the same criticism i heard at that conference holds true from today's speech. She speaks very eloqeuntly and says almost nothing.
There were a couple of nuggets:
1) ABC will be working with Intel's new CE3100 Integrated System on a Chip, along with the Yahoo - Intel Widget Channel Applications format to put interactivity on many set-top boxes in shows such as Good Morning America and Lost. Sweeney specifically mentioned targeting the Series Finale of Lost for something big in interactivity. That finale is over a year away. These widgets will allow for 1-screen interactivity connecting televisions directly to web content that surrounds and enhances the TV show. For example, while watching a recipe that Emeril Legasse is making on Good Morning America, the viewer can click open the recipe and then watch Emeril go step by step making the dish all by the consumers control.
2) Since the launch of the ABC VIdeo player two years ago, they have delivered 500MM streams. Of course, that's a few hours on YouTube, but that's not a good apples to apples comparison.
3) She also announced the availability of iPhone apps from local ABC affiliates.
What was telling to me was how light attendance was and how quiet during the speech the audience, mostly press, was. There were some chuckles when Anne played one of the webisodes created for Ugly Betty.
Although i've only been here briefly, the big news does seem to be the Intel-Yahoo Widget Channel alliance as well as 3-D ready TVs.
Oh..one more sign of the economy..Each year, one of the first booths that you see when you walk onto the convention floor is usually a huge display from Texas Instruments. Rumor has it that they pulled out a little over a month ago and LG ended up with the space.
Microsoft booth: The Microsoft booth is as big as ever. Because of the noise level in the Hall and because a small group of us were being given a private tour, they gave each of us a Zune with Headphones and the tour guide spoke into a microphone that was tuned to the same frequency as our Zune. It was actaully a fairly clever way to run the tour. Microsoft is highlighting their Windows 7 Beta launch (launches on Friday Jan. 9) which is truly the end of Vista. They highlighted some of the cool features that Windows 7 brings to their Media Center product, including a more intuitive way of scrolling through a TV program Guide and optimized Media Center for Touchscreens such as the HP Touchscreen PCs and Laptops. Not much new news about Zune other than for the $14.99/month subscription service, consumers will now get 10 free downloads per month which they'll be able to keep even if / when they stop paying for the service. There is also now a 16Gig Zune available.
Pictures and more to be posted on Friday afternoon...
Bring on the pics! Especially the messy, after-hours types...
ps - You actually got close to a Zune! That makes exactly one person I know who has - and it seemed like a positive encounter! (oh yeah, that's because you were weren't using it for an entertainment purpose like listening to music or anything fun... I knew the Zune was good for something!)
Posted by: jamie | January 09, 2009 at 09:21 AM