I'm finally home from my trip to Las Vegas and am SO glad to be back. Yes the house looks like a toy bomb exploded inside and I'm pretty sure the garbage hasn't been taken out since I left on Wednesday, but everyone is alive and well (including all 3 dogs) so I really have no reason to complain.
As for the CES, Nate has done a wonderful job (and a much better one than I could ever have done) getting the most up to date information out to everyone about the latest and greatest in the reading device arena that I'll leave all the tech news to him. That's not to say that I won't offer my opinion on some of the offerings, but I will limit my comments to my lay person's views.
The best word to describe the CES is "Overwhelming". The sheer enormity of the products displayed is. . .well, overwhelming. Four days hardly seems enough if you want to see it all. My husband's job is to look for the latest trends in technology, so we pretty much had to see everything!
After awhile, it just becomes sensory overload. The big things at the show this year seemed to be 3D televisions, smart phones, and phone/iWhatever/laptop accessories. After 4 days, I was ready to go berserk on all the accessories vendors who want to sell you stuff to glamorize your cell phone. Sheesh, how many phone covers do you really need and wouldn't all those rhinestones you can attach to your phone make it heavier and less comfortable to hold?!? But, I digress.
I did manage to spend some time looking over the newest offerings in the digital reader arena. For the most part, I was fairly disappointed. A lot of what was being show was just a variation on a theme. E-ink display readers, some with touch screens some without but for the most part, nothing new to satisfy my gadget cravings. I've already commented on Plastic Logic's Que in another thread (I wasn't impressed) and on Entourage's Edge (I WAS impressed) in the same thread. But, nothing really jumped out at me to make me say, "I've got to have this," and for a gadget junkie like me, I think that says a lot. The trend in developing portable technology seems to be less about a one-use device and more about multi-function. Manufacturers such as MSI and ASUS are all about making smaller and more portable devices that allow you to do ereading, web-surfing, office productivity, in a device who's battery lasts all day. MSI in particular is developing a dual screen device that would have a battery life of up to 10 ours. ASUS had a slew of new netbooks that were lighter weight with batteries that lasted 12-14 hours and also had some pretty impressive looking tablet netbooks the size of my HE1000. Granted they all have LCD displays, but with today's economy, trying to get the most bang for the buck seems logical. I still think there are a lot of new developments on the horizon. I just think we're going to have to wait a little longer for something really NEW.
As for my stay in Vegas, let me just say it's a nice place to visit for a couple of days but anymore than that and it gets old really fast. I'm not a gambler (I have a 1941 Bronze Chief antique slot machine in my kitchen which belonged to my parents before they gave it to me, so slot machines are old news as far as I'm concerned) and seeing scantily clad (or NUDE, NUDE, NUDE ~ insert flashing neon sign here) women also holds little appeal (pun intended). Vegas seems to be geared more towards men with sign after sign telling you where to see the most beautiful and scantily clad woman on the strip. Even in the CES, some vendors used "eye candy" young women to draw people to their booths (it made me wonder whatever happened to Gloria Steinem and the woman's movement).
We've come a long way baby, but not obviously in Las Vegas. I did get to see a couple of shows, one of them a Cirque de Soleil that was absolutely phenomenal and the food at the various restaurants (although expensive) is outstanding. The hotels/casinos are a wonder. We stayed at the MGM Grand which is like a city unto itself and we took some time to check out a few others just to see what they were like. I loved the New York, New York hotel and would gladly stay there if we go back next year. Any hotel that has it's own roller coaster is my kind of place.
Bottom line, we did have a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed the CES, but I am ecstatic to be home. I totally missed my daily dose of MR (the hotel charged $15 a day for a truly SLOW Internet connection so I only paid for it once while we were there)!
