This year I am trying something different. I want to experiment whether I can learn everything I wanted to by relying on others and the coverage they provide. And being the information addict that I am, I read over 500 posts related to this years’ CES. Here are my notes.

• On Sunday, Bill Gates held his last Microsoft keynote. Before talking about products, he showed a video about what his last day might be like. It was quite funny, and had tons of celebrity power. The video can be found here.
• This was the first year that separated press from bloggers. Each had their own areas, the main difference being location. Valleywag has a good post about it here.
• Warner backs Blu-ray, leaving only Universal and Paramount as the major supporters of HD-DVD.

 

• Seagate’s CEO had an interesting take on the Blu-ray battle.
• Mobile Internet Device’s (MIDs) are hot. What’s the difference between a MID and a UMPC? Engadget has the answer. Aigo, Benq, Lenovo, and Sony all have sweet looking devices. Engadget also has some pictures of an amazing looking prototype.

• On the UMPC front, Samsung announced their Ultra Premium Q1. There is video stating that this new model will be able to render video files greater than 720p.
• The new 8″ and 8.9″ Asus Eee models were missing at CES. But someone in japan was able to get a hold of the 8″ model, and took a comparison picture against the 7″ one. I’m anxious to see the new models in person, as I really want one for a kitchen computer.

• Alienware and NEC had two amazing looking curved displays running at 2880×900 resolution. While I love the idea of additional real estate, I like having dedicated computers and displays for certain functions. But for gaming, the display is pretty sweet.

 

• A Gizmodo reporter ran around with a TV-B-Gone and remotely shutting down TVs. They even posted a video about their work. CEA didn’t find the prank amusing, and that person is now banned.

Overall, I think the experiment went well. While I didn’t get hands on experience with the various devices, the pictures, videos, and write-ups were great. The bloggers and press really did a great job covering the huge event.