CES 2006 and the parallel slow run from January 5-8, with a special press day on the 4th (Day Zero, we call it). Click to visit each of UHF's live reports. The report will appear early the next day, if not before.
Day 0 (Jan.4th)
Day 1 (Jan.5th)
Day 2 (Jan.6th)
Day 3 (Jan.7th)
Day 4 (Jan.8th)
Actually, our story begins before the press day, at the party showcasing the winners of the 2006 Innovations Awards. Only it was different this year. Instead of dozens of static displays of winning products, this was a huge party with open bar, oysters on the shell, lamb chops and fine liqueurs, in the midst of tables at which selected winners were pitching their products to any journalist who put down his or her plate long enough to listen. Oh and there was music too, as you can see. And an alleged comedian (the pickings must be slim for high-tech oriented standup comics these days).
The showcased products? The word "wireless" seemed to be in vogue, and not just in reference to cell phones. There were, of course, countless "media players" (aka iPod wannabees) offering video in the palm of your hand. On the audio side, there was the Avega Oyster, shown at right. It’s advertised as the world’s first Wi-Fi speaker. To translate: you can store music on your computer, stream it over your local wireless network (with iTunes for example), and pull it in with a pair of Oysters. You might expect it to have digital amplifiers, but in fact they have analog amplification. The system is from Australia, but the people we talked to said they were from...some Scottish high end company!One of the few high end manufacturers present at the noisy party was Shure, whose consumer audio creds depend largely on its expensive but celebrated headphones. What better venue to check out in-ear buds intended to block out noise? The E500 headphones are Shure’s new flagship, with a US price tag that is hinted at by the model number. We listened to a couple of tracks on an iPod Nano (UHF’s own iPod was not along), and we were impressed.
Our eyes glaze over when we look at portable gear, but of course we do own lots of it, including the forementioned iPod, with the result that it’s not possible to come to CES (or anywhere else) without a suitcase of chargers. Which is why Blackstone grabbed our attention with its MFuel Universal Power Base (see the picture).
It can charge anything, from a laptop to a an iPod to a PDA to a cell phone. And it can also power any of them, stretching the use time of a laptop to perhaps 10 hours. We want one!
Small video screens were plentiful, and indeed there were more of them than big screens. Our favorite was Hannspree’s cow video, or is that a bear video? See for yourself, at right.Of late we have been paying attention to remote controls. We reviewed the original Kameleon, and one of the Harmony remotes is reviewed in issue No. 74. The latest Harmony remote, the 890, which will have a $300 price, is much slicker, with the customization carried a few steps further. Like the 880, which it does not replace, it sits pleasantly in the hand.
The next day (the real Day Zero), Thomson was showing its new EPG remote (yes, Acoustic Research is now under the same umbrella as RCA and GE, as is Jensen). The EPG, shown below, will also cost US$300. It communicates by Wi-Fi, and, like the Harmony, can be customized by "telling" the AR Web site what stuff you own.The prize this year for most disorganized press con is Sony, which tried to reduce crowding by fitting journalists with different color wrist bands. Of course that just meant the crowds for the wrist bands were unmanageable. A number of journalists, having scored free drinks and food at Sony’s expense, began growling about Sony being of diminishing interest anyway. We do suggest they change their PR outfit. And perhaps their CEO. Oh wait, they did that!
Over at Panasonic the PR work was a lot slicker, but the news was mainly ho hum. Panasonic announced a partnership with Comcast, the large US cable provider, to present...well, what? We’ll have to read this carefully. The speeches, read from Teleprompters right down to the banal clichés, were of limited help...and we’re being polite. Better than Sony, though!
Thiel Audio usually favors a press breakfast on press day, but this year joined the throng of press conferences on Day Zero. This year Jim Thiel unveiled a new high end speaker, the CS3.7. No, we didn’t hear it...Jim has not yet completed the (always complex) crossover network. The speaker includes the usual short voice coil but deep magnet, to lower distortion. What is startling when the grille is removed, is the appearance of the speaker cones, which made us think of aluminum foil pie plates. The goal is of course stiffness and lightness. The actual material is a sandwich of aluminum with polystyrene in the centre. We look forward to hearing the finished product.CES itself is gradually improving certain aspects of its organizing job (though we should add that we’re glad it’s their job, not ours). One oddity: a nice little press centre was set up at the Sands Convention Centre, but the food table was conspicuously empty...and even worse the centre had no wireless network for journalists to file reports.
At the Las Vegas Convention Centre there was wireless, but it was so dodgy we actually hooked on a distant open network, which was as slow as the Sony lineup (sorry!), but at least it worked.
Oh...one final note. We speculated on the (possible) death of the Adult Video Expo. Nope. It was at the Sands, right alongside the CES Innovations Plus exhibits. We have photographic proof!Tomorrow, we continue with the real CES. First up: Alexis Park, where the bulk of the high end audio exhibits are. We’re hoping CES has fixed the parking thing. Whether they have or not, we’ll have plenty to tell you about.
[ON TO DAY ONE] [TO THE UHF BLOG] [BACK TO THE UHF HOME PAGE]