Last to first, real time tweets from Las Vegas…
- Tethering is deciding battle between mobile carriers & CE industry. CE guys don’t get it, think it’s a tech problem. It’s the money!
- Novatel Wireless hasn’t signed any carriers yet. Expects to Real Soon Now. If they do, it’s a significant market signal re tethering.
- Novatel Wireless also into tethering. Selling gizmo combining mobile data card, embedded Linux, WiFi tethering. Serves 5 users at once.
- Blaupunkt has Internet car radio. Needs tethering-capable mobile phone. Don’t count on mobile carriers cooperating with the biz model.
- Buzzword Alert! iGo makes travel adaptors. Nice, same sh** different year. But now – pause for effect & wink knowingly – “we’re green”.
- Boxee talking to Sigma & Intel. Broadcom reportedly doesn’t care yet: he who is last is lunch.
- Boxee vs AppleTV. Good interfaces. AppleTV tied to iTunes. But Boxee runs on an AppleTV & pisses off Steve Jobs. Great business model!
- Boxee runs on 1 GHz processor or better now, working towards reducing code to run as embedded app with less horsepower.
- Boxee managed $4 mil in VC financing last month. In this market that’s like winning the Nobel prize. Nobody gets funded these days.
- Boxee runs on Mac, Windoze, Linux. Takes content from all sources, including your computer. Puts it on TV. TV, photos, music, whatever.
- Boxee only potential disruptor at this press event. Open source media center software. Takes content from everywhere, puts it anywhere.
- HD Radio has neat idea. Listen to song on radio, push button, tag song, sync with iPod, buy song from iTunes. GPS integration too.
- Lenovo on same track as MSI, good not revolutionary. When you have a hot category, take market share, not press clips I guess.
- MSI Wind product looks good, not game-changing. WiFi, but no WiMAX. When I asked, PR person thought WiMAX was a kind of hard drive.
- ASUS has best new stuff. Love the netbook with the swivel screen. Turns into a tablet PC or e-reader. Under 1kg. WiMAX on roadmap.
- Three netbook makers pushing hard at CES: MSI, ASUS, Lenovo.
- CES Unveiled, big turnout nice buffet. Open bar, but Powermat display has bigger line. This crowd is fueled by electrons, not booze.
- Make that ASUS chairman Jonney Shih
- Microsoft guy unveils a rad new concept: voip. Next hot idea from Redmond: padded laptop cases!
- ASUS hot on WiMAX, introing a 512GB solid state drive
- ASUS press conf packed, already learned something: it’s pronounced “ah-zeus”
- In car TV top product pick for young parents, other mobile TV products getting lots of attention. More dough for services and content for sure.
- Early leader for WTF award: HD diving mask.
- Services seen as integral part of media product sales, “wouldn’t make sense without”
- Mobile, cloud computing, green tech all getting serious attention. Squares with VC predictions for 2009.
- E-readers a top growth product in 2008, albeit from a small base
- Green products, mobile stuff, embedded Internet, input & display tech tagged as top trends for 2009
- Early leader for Alice in Wonderland award: “CE is a necessity not a luxury”. So are cars, and auto sales are zip.
- Early leader for understatement of the show: “consumer spending is in transition”
- CES state of the industry press conf: DTV, mobile phones, video games & PCs account for 70% of CE sales in 2008.
- @jodrell Truphone Anywhere uses GSM to make a plain old mobile voice call to a voip portal. Nice but not mobile voip.
