The Consumers Electronics Show  January 6th and 7th 2005
 
There are a wealth of adjectives that the Magic Raven could use to describe this convention but if they don't contain the words "big," "bigger," or "biggest" then they fall short.  Like everything else in Las Vegas the Convention Center itself is super big.  This may be the largest convention center in the world.  The Consumers Electronics Show may also be the largest show in the world.  This show is so large it overflows out  of the convention center buildings and into huge sidewalk tents and the adjacent Hilton Hotel.    Every consumer electronics company in the world seems to be represented here.  Every nerd (including the Magic Raven) in the world is here.   This time Mrs. Magic Raven insisted on coming.  We started planning this expedition ten months ago.  That was probably not soon enough.  Most of the major hotels and motels in Las Vegas were already booked solid but we did find accommodations at the Imperial Palace reasonably close to the convention center.  Actually the new monorail runs right from the Imperial Palace back door directly to the Convention Center.  It's amazing how Las Vegas can have a monorail system to move people from place to place but Los Angeles, our home town, is still without a good mass transit system designed to alleviate traffic on our crowded freeways. 

We left the Imperial Palace early Thursday morning and took the convenient Monorail to the Convention center.  I had already applied for, and received press credentials.  We were processed quickly and efficiently by the press office and fifteen minutes later we made our way on to the south floor of the convention center.  The sight of the largest convention in the world spread out before us was breath taking.  Row after row of expensively designed booths representing every major manufacturer of consumer electronic products in the world  left us gasping.  This huge array of adult toys (and many for kids) was almost like a sensory overload.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Magic Raven were in a daze as we made our way past the Kodak booth and on to a huge block long floor filled with every assortment of grown up toys and gadgets one could imagine.  I should correct myself at this point.  We didn't pass the Kodak booth.  Mrs. Magic Raven  stopped and looked with envy at one of Kodak's featured products.  A small compact printer that allows one to print directly off the camera.  The price was less than two hundred dollars.    Mrs. Magic Raven instantly wanted one.   Fortunately, nothing at the convention is for sale.

          Mrs. Magic Raven coveting Kodak camera/printer                                      High shot of convention floor
 
As we walked from booth to booth we were always impressed by the pretty, young greeters who would welcome us by name (on our name tags) and would  cordially volunteer to answer any questions we had about their products.  Inevitably, we would actually have questions.  Usually highly technical in nature like:  Where can we buy your product?  or:  How much will it cost retail?  and inevitably we would get a blank stare accompanied by an apology.  Gee, I don't know.  Let me ask? 

                   Selling the comfort and convenience of home Wifi                                                    Selling Home Wifi in blue
There is always something new driving CES and in my opinion this year it was the emergence of wireless interactive communications for the entire household at reasonable costs.  Microsoft introduced a number of products designed to take advantage of this new technology and a number of other companies were also introducing competitive products in this field. The idea is that now you can have your satellite TV,  internet , home appliances and all your home electronics stuff controlled from a central computer located in any room in the home, but accessible from every room in the house, with no cables and no wiring.

Another product that attracted my attention was the proliferation of large screen TV's.  HDTV, Plasma TV,  Rear screen and Front Screen projection.   Mr. and Mrs. Magic Raven are already searching for a contractor to add a room on to our home large enough to build a proper entertainment center.  We'll want a screen at least 7 feet wide and with lounge chairs with built in vibration generators capable of bringing one completely into a movie. 

   

Here are several examples of really big screens that are so sharp and clear you feel like your actually in the picture.  I want that one on the right.
                                                                                                  Click here to go to page two of my CES  review