Date: January 8th, 2006
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor) & Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
WHAT IS CES?
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology and America's largest annual tradeshow of any kind.
Verified registrants representing the United States, Canada, Mexico and more than 130 other countries include manufacturers, retailers, content providers and creators, broadband developers, wireless carriers, cable and satellite TV providers, installers, engineers, corporate buyers, government leaders, financial analysts and the media from around the world.
The International CES is the industry's largest educational forum to help companies expand their businesses and understand new technology. Approximately 200 conferences and more than 600 expert speakers encompass International CES conferences, Industry Insiders and SuperSessions to discuss hot industry trends and topics.
Keynote presentations feature executives from the world's largest and most successful companies and result in remarkable media coverage for the speakers. CEOs rank the CES as one of their top 10 most desired speaking opportunities, according to a 2005 Burson-Marsteller Most Valued Podium survey. Check CESweb.org in September for the complete conference schedule.
The International CES features products—and the companies that create them—from many different consumer technology markets. The show floor is organized by color-coded zones, allowing attendees to easily find each exhibitor as they navigate through 1.8 million net square feet of exhibit space.
The first CES took place in New York City in June of 1967 with 200 exhibitors and 17,500 attendees. Since then, CES has grown more than eleven-fold. Nearly 2,700 exhibitors, filling 1.6 million net square feet of exhibit space, showcased their latest products and services to more than 140,000 attendees at the 2006 International CES.
WHY IS TWEAKNEWS AT CES?
First and foremost, we at Tweaknews love anything to do with the latest technology coming onto the consumer market. CES essentially drops you directly into one of the highest concentrations of consumer technology in the world and some, if not most of the important product launches are done here. It is essentially a hub for every important manufacturer to display their product to prospective buyers and to the media. Every manufacturer you know that makes your home electronics and your computer hardware will be represented here.
CES DAY 4 COVERAGE
Day 4 is here and it is the last day of the 2007 CES. Joe and I both admit that our first year covering CES has been a big learning experience. But as with new things, they are always rough and many lessons are learned. Lesson #1, to hell with fashion, I am getting a much more comfortable shoes for next year. You cover several miles in one single day and when you are mostly walking on concrete, those miles take a HUGE toll on feet that are not used walking for 6-8 hours a day. Thank god I brought a whole bunch of ibuprofen. It was intended for hangovers, but was utilised more to keep my foot swelling down. There were some times that I literally hand to stop and couldn't take one more step. Lesson #2 is to plan meetings better so we will not have to run from one end of the strip to the other to make appointments that were booked on a tight time schedule.
With all being said and done, I think Joe and I for complete CES newbies handled the stress and workload pretty well. We made all appointments, we made it to one heck of a lot of parties, and we have met and confirmed over 10 more companies that we will be doing hardware reviews for.
Here is a shot of me and Joe finishing up our work early on Day 3 so we had a chance to get a couple more hours sleep for Day 4. As you see we are happy about that. Day 4 was a light day devoted to tying up loose ends at the CES convention center along with attending a meeting with Viewsonic at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. It was easy going and we had to get everything ended by 12:30pm local time there so Joe could catch his flight.
COOLER MASTER
Cooler Master had a modest booth in the south hall which was displaying their product line and a couple interesting, and expensive options that will be available sometime in the future.
There will be a very limited edition version of the CMS Stacker 830 that is custom painted by Smooth Creations. The case to say the least is awesome and Joe being the skull lover he is picked up on it immediately. The one thing that dropped my jaw is that it is going to be worth US$899 if memory serves me correctly. I know the case is hand painted, but almost $900 for a case? Yikes........
A cheaper version is available based on the Mystique 632 chassis. I liked this one better because for one it is partly orange and I dig anything orange. Secondly, the price point is much better at US$499. Both will be available in limited numbers so I think they will sell out eventually, but man, that is some serious cash for just a computer case.
Moving on............
