2Tone Vegas Trip Report #11: So much silicone

[2Tone]

Wow. This one got a kind of crazy.

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is definitely one of my favorite events of the year. This was my fourth time attending, and I consider it a huge brag that I’m continually able to convince my company to send me down. Nothing beats getting paid to go to Vegas and play with all the coolest toys.

I flew down from Seattle on Wed night. I wasn’t out and about on the strip ‘til around 8 that evening, and first stop was the Bellagio buffet. Sea bass, salmon, shrimp, sushi and carrot cake – I got my money’s worth. From there it was off to find a limit game. The Bellagio’s poker room was rocking, but was only spreading two 4/8 games, and had a long list. No game going in Bobby’s Room for me to gawk at, so it was time to move on. Caesars had no limit game at all (WTF?), so it was over to Bally’s, where I sat for about 90 minutes in an unremarkable but friendly 3/6 game, and left up a princely sum of $18.

On the way back to my hotel room at the Excalibur I briefly hit Coyote Ugly, but they were closing up by 1:30 or so.

Thursday, Day 1 at CES, was fantastic. The dismal economy as definitely impacted the show, and attendance was off by about 20% or more from last year. But the amazing exhibits/booths were still out in force. The car audio section had ridiculously tricked out cars of all kinds with absurd stereos, DVD players and other accessories. KITT, the car from Night Rider, beeped and blipped. Monster trucks were on display even though it wasn’t Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

In home electronics, LG had one of the most impressive booths, featuring Renoir, an 8 megapixel camera phone (not yet available in the states), ultra high resolution TVs, state of the art home theater systems, and prototypes of Prada watch phones a la Dick Tracy.

If I were to put a theme on this year’s show it would be wireless. LG demonstrated a home theater system that was entirely wireless – the DVD player beams to the TV with no cables, the stereo speakers sound great five feet away from the receiver with nothing connecting them. Intel showed off the same thing for computer accessories. They call it PAN, or personal area network. Put your camera down any where near your computer, your computer recognizes it. From there, with a few clicks, you can wireless print your photos. Same goes for any other computer accessory, including external hard drives.

After a full day of conferences, I hit the Wynn, and compared their buffet to Bellagio. It was even better, with swordfish, squid and apple pie a la mode. I ambled over the Wynn poker room, which had open seating at 4/8. Unfortunately, I ran very poorly, missing every flush draw, and having to chuck my face cards time and time again when I saw ugly flops. I dropped $160 before getting in line at Tryst.

I waited about 45 minutes, and can’t say it was worth it, even with a free pass to get in. The space is great, and the outdoor patio overlooking the waterfall is among the coolest features of any club in the city. But at the end of the night, it is another mega-club in a city full of them, with a DJ playing predicable sets, and too many guys watching too few girls dancing in circles to techno. I split at around 2 a.m.

Part Two, including 3D-TV, the Porn Convention and T-Pain, and more of my ultra sucky pics, will follow in next post.