CES Continued…

I think I must have walked 100 miles in 3 days. Is that possible? My feet say its so. Even with all the walking, these days really flew by. Tuesday night I attended PC Magazine’s 25th anniversary party at the Tabu Lounge in the MGM Grand.  

Phone pic with Curt Schilling

Celeb sighting of the night was Curt Schilling, pitcher for the 2007 World Series Boston Red Sox. He was very accommodating and I even asked and received his autograph.  

 So on my last full day here I have some noteworthy tidbits from CES.

Eco TV

HDTV power consumption could be a serious matter which helps explain the excitement when Philips announced its Eco TV. The 42-inch, 1080p resolution, flat-panel LCD, (due in March, $1,399 MSRP), is packed with power-saving features. One of the eco additions is the ability to dim the backlight–by up to five times peak brightness. Dimming the backlight in darker scenes saves power and improves black-level performance. There’s also traditional a “power-saving” mode that caps the peak light output. All of these features can be turned on or off at the viewer’s discretion, since many of these features’ potential effects, such as black-level fluctuation, could negatively impact home theater image quality. I watched the panel’s power consumption dip to just 75 watts during the in-booth demo–Philips had hooked up a Watt’s Up to track consumption. That’s a bit more than a standard light bulb. Based on the power enhancements,this TV will be in high demand come March.

Tech Toys for Tots

At this year’s CES, 14 companies along with children’s groups gathered for the first annual “Sandbox Summit” to discuss and showcase how kids, as young as 3, use technology and what gadgets they find appealing. If you have a child between the ages of 3 and 11 you know how technology has crept into nearly every type of toy and pasttime. Internet Launch Pad, for “safe” browsing, to preschoolers and LeapFrog’s ClickStart My First Computer gives children ages 3 and up a keyboard to help them learn computer basics, using a TV screen as a monitor. A new product by WildPlanet called Hyper Dash comes with a talking joystick-shaped tagger and kids are charged to find various disc-shaped targets, identified either by numbers or colors. The tagger is embedded with a RFI (Radio Frequency Identification) chip that identifies the discs and a timer that clocks how fast the kid hits all the targets. It’s learning and exercise combined. At CES this week Wild Planet revealed a younger version of Hyper Dash for kids 3 to 5 called Animal Scramble, due in stores in September. The company will also be releasing Hyper Jump, which is a cross between Simon Says and Dance Dance Revolution: the child must tag the correct number (or color) with her hand or foot depending on the questions, some of which involve basic math.

More to follow later, maybe even later tonight as I’m being held captive in the Vegas airport. Flight canceled due to maintenance issues and was rolled over to a later flight. The best part is my wonderful window bulk head seat was swapped for a middle seat, and lest not forget he attentive help from a very accommodating and friendly US Airways staff. Do you sense the raging sarcasm? Just keep smiling…right?