Thursday, January 6, 2011

Revving Up for CES


The following post is from Axiom's own Dave Sniadak, who is down in Las Vegas to be a part of the Consumer Electronics Show.

CES '11 is now in full force, and I'm lucky enough to be here in Las Vegas for the next three days to deliver some insight from the show floor as it happens. While the Consumer Electronics Show goes through the weekend, duty calls me back to the frozen tundra of Minnesota. However, while I'm here I'm planning to see a lot of neat things and hope to share a few of them with you.

Things kicked off last night several pre-CES events like the hugely popular media event by PepCom, called The Digital Experience. This years' theme was "Area 51 meets Vegas, Baby," and it was absolutely a sight to see. Over 1,000 members of the media from all over the world (not to mention 180 exhibitors) crammed themselves onto the show floor to show off the latest tech toys and gadgets.

Like Steve mentioned on Tuesday, the overwhelming trend at the year's CES is expected to be tablets. Motorola, Vizio and Asus have garnered the most tablet-related buzz so far, but there's still three days of product announcements left to go so who knows what we'll see.

But it's not all about tablets, with everything from Energizer's power-on-the-go Energistick to updated models of the Roomba and Scooba trying to get the attention of us technology aficionados.

I've also been seeing a lot of headlines about all of the different car companies, like Ford and Audi, who will be speaking here this weekend. That's a big shift from the usual gadget-only focus of past CES events.

Lastly, I also envision 3D technology, mobile apps and SmartGrid appliances to make a big impact this year. With so many great products being announced, I'll see as many as I can and let you know about more of my favorites.