Back from Vegas and CES 2010
Returned from a week in Vegas for CES 2010 as well as plain old vacation. Great time was had and the weather was great as well. probably one of the only places in the country that wasn’t frigid. Only downside of the trip was Green Bay lost so I ended the trip down.
I saw nothing mind blowing at CES. Balmer’s keynote was a big meh. Some of the xBox stuff was cool, but #1 Balmer is not Jobs, and #2 Microsoft does not have the sexy products Apple does. I really enjoyed the HigherEdTech Summit. A high point of the show for me, I was able to hear a lot of great ideas and thoughts on the future of Higher Ed as well as some of the technologies that will see penetration into Higher Ed. The show floor seemed to be full of a lot of evolutionary moves. 3D was still a big push and is still not great. I can possibly see 3D gaming catching on as gamers are used to peripherals but people are not going to sit down in droves in their living rooms and put on those glasses.
For the most part I agree with this PC World article, 9 Things I learned at CES. I am actually a fan of the living room PC, I have one and I find it more powerful than any of the tools out there now, but it is too complicated for the average user and I think it always will be. Skype built into the TV, Boxee settop box, etc, these have far more utility for the average user.
As for Vegas itself. Clearly it is slower than years past. The Sahara was a wasteland for instance. However for the consumer this means great deals, and there are still plenty of busy casinos and places. We stayed on Fremont Street, and the Golden Gate Casino in particular had a great Vegas vibe going on. Probably my favorite casino of the trip.
