Live from CES Unveiled, pre-press day, Tuesday 6 January 2009

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.