CES 2009

Over in the Intel booth at CES last week, we ran in to Sarah Austin who debuted a new Web channel called techku, a 24/7 online broadcast that provides round-the-clock technology news and content. In our interview, Sarah talks about how she got in to video blogging and her plans for techku:

We’re leaving Las Vegas in a little while but wanted to give you a look some of what we saw on the floor of the 2009 CES. Attendance figures are not yet in, but it is expected to be less than last due to the recession. The International CES is Las Vegas’ largest convention of the year.

CBS Corp.’s cnet had a huge presence at CES including a set with multiple live positions for their broadcasts.

Sony built a studio for Jeopardy! inside the Las Vegas Convention Center. That’s Alex Trebek seated as a rehearsal of Celebrity Jeopardy was going on Friday. The show taped 11 episodes over a three day period. The celebrity version included Tom Bergeron, Aisha Taylor and Elizabeth Perkins. Last night we attended a taping of two shows of the Tournament of Champions which will air in March. The set used here in Las Vegas will be sent back to Los Angeles and will be the new set for Jeopardy! in the 2009-2010 season.

This is a company we hadn’t heard of before. But they had a cool booth. Eton makes hand crank and solar powered radios and power generators.

Victorinox Swiss Army debuted a new pocket knife that is also a laser pointer/USB flash drive/power point clicker. The company is making a safe-for-flight version that does not include the knife and scissors.

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NOAA had a wandering, talking robot near their booth. It asked things like: “Have you seen anything really, really cool at CES.” We said, “yes,” then moved along.

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The GPS crazed at the Garmin booth.

We donned a pair of the MyVu glasses and watched some of “Family Guy.” The glasses cable to any device, like a PSP, or an iPhone, where you can watch any video you want, right in front of your eyes. The picture was good, and so too was the sound from the attached earphones.

The Nokia decked out a Lamborghini. Attendees could get their picture taken while in the driver’s seat. I passed.

The RIM booth featuring the range of Blackberrys. As a satisfied iPhone owner, I walked on by.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin hopes the switch to digital TV still happens on Feb. 17, as has long been planned. This week Pres.-elect Obama’s transition team called for a delay, saying a lack of funds means some Americans won’t be able to make the switch. Martin, speaking during a Q&A session with the CEO & president of the CEA, Gary Shapiro, told the crowd that delaying it would only further cause confusion for consumers who would then not trust whatever new date is chosen.

Martin, who was appointed by Pres. Bush, will likely give up his chairmanship of the FCC when the Obama Administration takes power.

Our Twitter coverage of the session is below (with most recent Tweets up top):

• Martin gets big thank you from CEA’s Gary Shapiro

• Martin on mobile TV: it’s something I’ve been urging the broadcasters to participate in. Another benefit of switch from analog to digital.

• Martin looking ahead: We have to continue investing in the infrastructure. Wireless broadband is the most exciting thing going.

• Martin on Vchip: poor rating system. Super Bowl is not rated, so Janet Jackson “episode” could not have been stopped by the Vchip.

• Martin: the government’s role in protecting our children goes beyond indecency: Obesity; violence in entertainment.

• Martin on DMA (TV market size) realignment: should be done by the industry not by the FCC.

• Martin: FCC should help preserve openness, but discourage price controls.

• Martin: “It’s not the role of government to tell manufacturers how to build their product.”

• Martin: FCC should be involved in giving rural consumers access to broadband. “We can do more with the resources we have.”

• Back to DTV switch: Martin says keep the date but fix the coupon program.

• Martin: if you look at broadband, price has gone down, but speed has gone up. The one difference is cable where rates are still high.

• Martin on why some regulation is good: there’s always times that markets won’t deliver what consumers need.

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R) CA in the room.

• Martin: 95% of people are aware of the Feb. 17th date. “What kind of a message does this send?” if the switch is delayed.

• Martin: “I’m concerned by the consumer confusion that this may cause.” “Any date we do choose, people won’t believe.”

• Martin on DTV delay: ultimately it’s up to congress. But they need to act fast. Shapiro knocks decision: “is this change we can believe in?”

• Shapiro: elephant in the room: DTV delay. Martin: I’m concerned about it. We need to do something about the coupon program.

• Martin on regrets: certainly there are mistakes I’ve made. I wish we’d made more progress on creating more competition for cable.

• Martin: I think the commission has done a hood job keeping a level playing field.

• Martin on FCC under Obama admin: continued innovation will have to change our anti-trust kind of thinking.

• Martin talks about debates among FCC. CES’s Shapiro says it’s like a marriage. “Yeah, but I don’t think I want to marry any of the cmsrs”

• Delay of DTV transition not yet discussed. Touched-upon, but no reaction from Martin to possible delay.

• Martin’s term ends in 2011 but Pres.-elect Obama will likely appoint a new chairman.

Less than two months from now Jimmy Fallon becomes the host of NBC’s Late Night. But for several weeks he’s been doing Web shows on NBC.com. We spotted him in the NBCU booth yesterday just before headed off for a stand-up gig at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

This quick video tour shows about half of the booth which was home to CNBC, as well as reports for NBC Nightly News, the Today show, MSNBC and NBC stations and affiliates.

Don’t tell the Associated Press the media is dying.

This week at CES, the AP introduced two new partnerships. One with Microsoft Mediaroom which includes two new IPTV applications: AP news ticker widget and AP red carpet events (above) a celebrity news application. The second partnership, with Intel, is a customizable news ticker with content from AP.

We talked with the AP’s General Manager of mobile and emerging products Jeff Litvack about the new developments, what this new media delivery system means for old media, and about CNN’s potential entry into the wire service business.

Yesterday we showed you Samsung’s soon-to-be-released Web enabled HDTVs, well LG Electronics is also debuting what they’re calling Broadband TV. We got a sneak peek:

That’s Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang (well, his back anyway) in the NBC booth. He had his cell phone clutched to his ear. So if there’s any deal news in the next 24 hours, now you know what he was talking about.

During a Digital Hollywood panel today, CNN.com executive KC Estenson announced that CNN.com will be partnering with Facebook on inauguration day — a venture that could break records, but could also break the Internet… okay probably not, but record traffic will test the limits.

WebNewser caught up with Estenson after the panel. Estenson, who joined the network less than six months ago after seven years at Disney/ABC, explained the Facebook partnernship as well as where CNN.com is headed:

More details about the partnership on CNN’s Facebook page…

We stopped by the Samsung booth this afternoon to check out their new TVs enabled with Yahoo! widgets. You can search for a YouTube clip, look through your Flickr account and get an update on the weather, all while watching TV. The Web enabled flat-panel HDTVs are expected to be in stores this Spring. A demo:

Tom Hanks insisted he wasn’t at CES solely to promote his upcoming Sony Pictures release “Angels & Demons” but rather, as repentance for choosing to buy VHS instead of a Sony Betamax, so many years ago. Hanks’ introduction of Sony chairman Sir Howard Stringer got attendees laughing during a conference that has also included the pall of the global recession hanging over the consumer electronics industry.

Stringer talked about some of Sony’s new developments including Flex, a screen so thin one can squeeze it — and Stringer did. We tweeted much of the event (click here to follow us) that was held at the Venetian/Sands convention center, we’re headed now to the LVCC to catch up with CNN.com SVP and GM KC Estenson.

• Stringer: Oled tech makes screen so thin it will fold. Flex “could be the e-leader.” Squeezes Beyonce video. “Good thing Jay-Z isn’t here.”

• Stringer: Sony Web alarm clock to incorporate music, video, news headlines including, “from my alma mater CBS News.”

• Stringer: Intros Wifi cybershot camera. AT&T users get free access from 10,000 hotspots to send pictures wirelessly to blogs, other sites.

• Stringer lists the “CES 7″ initiatives including: Be be a service enhanced industry or face obsolescence & “Advance the shared experience.”

• Stringer: These are certainly challenging times. Our products need to me must-haves at affordable prices.

• Hanks is a hit as he leaves the stage. “I feel the evil forces of Samsung pulling me away. Don’t send me to the Casio hellhole.”

• Stringer about Hanks: “We’ll still be friends after the movie.” Hanks: “I’m here because you keep writing it into my contract.”

• Hanks delivers Sony-is-great speech, jokingly, begrudgingly “They write the lines but I tell the truth.”