CES, we hardly knew ye

This year’s CES show has come and gone and I scarcely noticed because well, I wasn’t there. I can’t say I’m sad about that: I hate Vegas with a passion (although NATPE here I come in a couple weeks) and I hate swarming crowds. I do, however, love to be wherever something is happening so I always feel a little bereft not to be in the mix.

                Still, thanks to the Internet and the 50,000 or so tech reporters who covered the show, we have lots of places to go to check out this year’s hottest new TVs, phones, media players, gaming consoles and so forth, as well as consider the wildest and worst ideas.  Apple’s iPhone was first announced at a CES, and so were Sling Media’s Clip + Sling and Sling Catcher, but so was the 150” HDTV, which this guy says is the worst idea ever. (He’s not happiest guy I’ve ever read though. As one commenter noted: “Someone needs a nap and a cookie!”  It could be the traveling tech reporter’s motto.)

                There’s a flurry of sum-up stories about the show, most of which start with some whining from the reporter about the taxi lines, the crowds, the exhaustion, wah wah wah, and then they actually start telling us about the cool (and not-so-cool) stuff they saw. Didn’t anyone tell these reporters that journalism is actually not about you? Oh wait, blogging is not journalism. I lost my head for a second.

                Anyway, CBS’ Larry Magid wasn’t too impressed with all the follow-on touch technology that’s trying to keep up with Apple. I’m not surprised. The way the touch technology works on the iPhone and iTouch is almost miraculously cool. I defy another company to make a similar interface work as smoothly as Apple has.  It’s exactly the sort of thing Apple does best.

Gizmodo offers a lot of reviews of specific products as well as a three-part interview with Bill Gates, in which he apparently admits that Vista could have used a little more work before shipping. Yeah, like maybe sending the operating system out to content partners – someone, anyone — so it could be compatible with something other than itself. The Gizmodo guys are VERY EXCITED about gadgets.

The Engadget guys are more cynical, focusing a lot on “The Best of the Worst” at CES, which is pretty amusing, although I don’t see what anyone has against a digital Tweety-Bird camera. What did Tweety ever do to you? Actually, it makes you realize that pretty much anyone willing to pay for a booth can show up at CES, and does. While Engadget was busy dwelling on the negative, Gizmodo was focusing on the positive. Here are their picks for 10 Best Booths.  The boringness of it all really makes me miss the old Mardi-Gras-like days of NATPE.

For the weird among you that LOVE uber-geeky tech trade shows and can’t wait one more second until the next one, not to fret. According to Digg.com, San Francisco’s MacWorld is upon us in three days, 17 hours and 41, er, 40, er, 39 minutes.