The Lunatic Pandora: Finally CES 2007 (Pre-CES)

CES 2007 may be long gone, but it is still fresh in my mind. While the world's attention remained focus on Macworld, I was in Las Vegas to cover the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Supposedly the largest gathering of electronic exhibitors in the world, the very scale of this convention was beyond my expectations.

Consuming a full convention hall and another two off site locations, this was one mamoth of an event. So big that I couldn't cover even half the stuff going on.

In any case, I'm gonna break this down into smaller chunks of posts. I'm gonna start off with some of the stuff I did the day before the convention started. So here I go:

Started out my morning looking at the sun reflecting off the new Wynn hotel. The Trump Tower hotel/casino is slightly to the right of the Wynn.

After I had downed my breakfast, I went on to the convention centre to register myself at the press centre. The process didn't take long though I had to go through a lil trouble of producing evidence that I was indeed with the press.

Having collected my tag I proceeded to board a bus to the Sands Expo Centre. Met this American guy on the bus who claimed to be an ex-marketing manager for Phillips, now turned writer. I tried lining up to attend the Toshiba Press Event but sadly there wasn't enough room for all of us.

Hurried on back to the hotel to meet up with my uncle and another journalist from the Singapore Straits Times, Serene. We proceeded to have lunch at the International Food court, though we mainly stuck to typical American food.

The Typical American Meal consists of a burger with lots and lots of fries.

That's me and my uncle outside the Las Vegas Convention Centre. He drove up from LA to attend the event. Even by mid day most of the trucks containing materials for the convention were streaming in. A sort of last minute effort to get things in order.

I headed over to the Sands to attend Samsung's press event. I was greeted by a long line, though not nearly as long as Toshiba's.

I was pretty surprised to find the Samsung press briefing similar to those back in Malaysia. From the flashy grand entrances to the PR spokes person, everything was exactly the same.

I've got to show at least one picture of somebody talking during the event. Unfortunately for him, this wasn't his best pose.

Later, I was whizzed back to the Renaissance to wait for Sony's press conference. Met with my Yahoo! contact, Jason Coates and he guided us through the unfinished show floor. Many of the exhibitors, like Intel (pictured above) looked like they were only half done with preparations. Amazingly enough, this chaotic scene morphed into a presentable showfloor 12 hours later.

Sony sure likes to colour themselves pretty.

Sony showed off its recently launched PS3s at their booth. People were busy playing them already.

Another pic of a Sony exec, can't remember his name, during their briefing on Sony's plan for the year. We were treated to a violin performance, followed by more speeches. The best part, which everyone else waited for, was the sneak preview of Spiderman 3.

Again I was forced to play fetch the stick as I had to make my way over to the Sands Convention Centre again for Bill Gate's keynote address. Traffic was massive both in and out of the convention centre. Security closed off escalators heading up to the upper floors. So were forced to be sandwiched between loads of other journalist in a small lift. Not fun.

Pretty colours. The stage is all set for Microsoft's Chairman to make his grand entrance.

So here he is, Microsoft's head-honcho, Bill Gates. I was sitting pretty far back so I had to walk up front from the sides to get a good shot. Sadly, many of the shots were blur thanks to my shaky hands and poor lighting of the hall.

You know the world is truly going to end when you see one of the richest man in America try his hand at cooking. Here, Gates demonstrated the new Windows Home Server. Featuring common house functions such as displaying a cooking recipe on the kitchen counter, Home Server looked like a useful tool for people who need to get stuff done around the house.

Egads! I certainly hope my bedroom doesn't come up with a freaking big screen like...wait a minute...I'd like a freaking big screen...minus the corny pictures. Gates showed us some other applications of Windows Home Server, which could turn your bedroom wall into a wallpaper of sorts, movie screen or massive screen for your Xbox 360 games.

After having been held captive by Gate's speech the whole hall simply spilled out into the convention centre. A massive human traffic jam ensued.

It was already dark by the time we got out (actually it was already dark starting from 5pm). My walk to dinner brought me to the front of the Venetian.

Later had dinner with my uncle at this place over at a new open air mall called Fashion Show.

This was dinner. Can't remember what it is called now. But the fact is, this was a SMALL portion. When asked for a large portion, the waitress said she'd double check with you if you really wanted a large. Couldn't finish the dish in the end.

Took some shots of the Strip at night. We were at the North end so there wasn't much around to see. The Frontier is an old casino like the Stardust, which was soon to be torn down. It is likely that the Frontier will meet the fate of the latter. After all, who would watch Ladies Mud Wrestling matches every night, no?

On the opposite end of things, the new Wynn hotel dominates the North End. I've been looking at this hotel every morning so this was my first time seeing it so close at night. Sure Wynn Wynn one.

Venturing inside the Wynn's shopping gallery, it was like looking back at the Bellagio. By now I was numbed by the massive casino and shopping scene of Las Vegas.