@ CES 2006: First Looks

Dana Carvey  Plays The VenetianAfter some frenetic to-and-fro-ing due to an odd registration process, I finally made it to CES Unveiled, the “official” press event. Venetian masks were being handed out at the door as Dana Carvey’s voice boomed so loud that attempts at conversation were close to futile. Carvey headlined the event as Verizon’s contribution, tucked in a corner of the densely crowded room while his visage loomed on flat-panel screens. He took note of the nearly ludicrous situation, gamely cracking jokes about geeks, nerds and Bill Gates. (Redundant, I know.) A few steps away, Hello Kitty posed for pix with attendees holding an HK pink Fender guitar; in the other direction, another vendor demoed a remote-control helicoptor. Despite the distractions, the plentiful food and the open bar (I only had bottled water), I tried hard to stay on mission. Hello Kitty & Friend

Cable: Scientific-Atlanta, Digeo and marketing association CTAM were on hand. Scientific-Atlanta was showing off a set-top with a DVD burner that follows cues from programmers and operators about which shows can be burnt to a disc. A variation called “Direct To DVD” would allow sales of exact replicas of retail DVDs, most likely for a lower than retail cost. By the way, the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust period has passed for the pending acquisition of S-A by Cisco; S-A’s proxy has gone out for a Feb. 2 shareholders’ meeting. [Press release.]

CTAM was showing a prototype of the Sprint phone service being planned by the cable-Sprint Nextel joint venture. Time Warner Cable’s Peter Stern, EVP-product management, said the service begins to layer integration with services like e-mail and voice mail. The phones will use channel guides that match the local system.

Kaleidescape: The whole-house entertainment company specializes in creating DVD libraries on high-end, stereo-rack type hardware with a nifty navigation system. Users pay for DVDs that are moved to the server. About 4,000 units have been sold — a full system runs about $20,000 — but the company is being sued by the DVD CCA. Senior director Matt Keowen says their results show that their users actually buy more movies and DVDs.

iRadio RocksMotorola’s iRadio: Got a first taste of iRadio, which seems to move seamlessly between phone and bluetooth radio use. More after I see — and hear — it work in a more realistic environment.

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