My annual CES roundup

Welcome to my annual debrief from a two-day banzai trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. 

As expected there were tons of fantastic devices and trends on display, and a ridiculous number of accessories for those devices. It was as if technology took a break and the only Colorful accessories for phones and tablets from Uniqopening was to design cases and bags to accompany that technology. I think that says a lot about this economy, where buying decisions are tampered by the reality of thin wallets. Where we once may have splurged on something big and bad, we're either passing, waiting for Version 2 or dressing up what we already own.

And, as was the case last year, I didn't see any breakthroughs in battery technology. We're producing technology that outpaces the infrastructure. n that vacuum, many companies are producing portable "juicers," battery packs that can plug not your devices and recharge them much more quickly than standard cables. And there were many charging pads. I even saw luggage touted to charge devices while stowed away. One manufacturer that may be close to a real breakthrough in battery tech is myRata, which showed off its wireless, solar and heat-charging technology.  

CES is an adventure, covering six or seven massive halls. What follows is simply a sampling of what caught my attention, good or bad:

My favorite item from a purely "surprise and delight" perspective was the Solowheel, an intriguing "self-balancing" transportation device that just hit the U.S. market. Think of a Segway mashed with a unicycle but without the handles or a seat. The Solowheel is a battery powered wheel, and a rep told me it can hit 10 mph, go 20 miles between charges, and can even climb a 30-degree incline. All for $1,800 retail or $1,500 online at solowheel.com. 

LG had a very heavy presence of 3D and connected TV, and what I saw was very crisp and a big advance from 2011. I've been ho-hum about 3D TV but the year-over-year gains in quality of content and technology have won me over. This trend will be a big consumer hit over the next few years.

GoPro's mini-cams create all kinds of options, such as this example of a totally wired bike and rider.GoPro is a great product, particularly since the high-quality HD-quality mobile video comes at a relatively low price. I was intrigued by this example of a mountain biker sporting a number of different cameras strapped onto his body. I saw four or five other vendors showing off their mini videocams. 

Casio's 3D digital photo technology seemed creepy and poorly executed. In short, the technology turns a photo into a 3D painting through the use of three-dimensional printers. I'm all for 3D printers but this product reminded me of velvet paintings depicting dogs playing cards. I just don't see the audience for something this cheesy. 

Thin is in: I saw more than a few very thin notebook and laptops, as well as very thin flatscreen TVs. 

Saw a great idea in action: Fujitsu's waterproof smartphone and tablets. And Hz0 was showing off the technology behind it, a thin film placed inside devices that protect the electronics from moisture. I can see this having high consumer demand BUT the Sharps's 86-inch screen allegedly delivers 16 times the resolution of HD. It's arguable that's noticeable to the naked eye but what I saw was close to 3D quality.device makers holding out because they make more money off consumers needing to replace wet phones. 

Sharp showed off an 85-inch flat-screen whose resolution was 16 times that of HD. The resolution was as lifelike as you can get without 3D. 

Toshiba's "glasses-free 3D" was much improved over the native 3D I saw last year but it's still not good enough to win over the average consumer. 

Sony showed off some very interesting products with integrated Google TV. Lots of upside in this space. 

Samsung again blew me away with its breadth of cutting-edge The Samsung Galaxy Note was a big hit, with more real buzz than anything I saw at CES.products. I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, and that was on prominent display. But other products that caught my eye were:

• A TV set with a different kind of remote control: voice and hand gestures. 
• Smart TV advertising. Samsung is still reaching here -- the two reps I talked with were doing their best to stick to a very vanilla and vague script -- but I see potential down the Samsung touted three layers of targeted advertising in its new TV line: banners, in-app ads and 3D ads.road as they tap three buckets targeted to a home user: "premium interactive ads," which are similar to online display banners; in-app advertising; and 3D advertising. 
• The Galaxy Note, a 5-inch device whose marketing spin is "Phone? Tablet?" The size is a bit small for me -- web pages seem cramped -- but felt great in my hand. And I loved the artists who were using a drawing app to do quick portraits of CES attendees. I witnessed lots of good buzz. 
• Vacuum tube speakers. You read that right. Samsung has gone old-school in trying to bring "audio warmth" to digital content. I ducked into a small room to listen in isolation, and couldn't hear the difference. It may have been that there were too many other people in the room to grasp audio nuances -- or the company may simply be tapping the past as a marketing ploy. 

Polaroid's new camera feature integrated printers, spitting out the snapshots we've all come to love. I think there's a narrow niche for these devices, but don't think they'll become mainstream hits.Polaroid had some swagger this year, showing off:

• A "museum" of old cameras sitting next to their next-gen cameras that feature integrated printers. I know people get a kick out of the end product but not sure there's enough juice there to get people to actually buy the cameras w/integrated printers. 
• The first Android-powered camera. The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Android is 3G-enabled, takes 16-mexapixel images and offers one-touch posting to social media. 

Nokia has just released a phone featuring Microsoft's mobile operating system. The Lumia 900 smartphone was sleek, and from what I saw the Microsoft OS was snappy and very different from iOS and Android -- in a good way. I think we'll be hearing more about the Microsoft-Nokia partnership into 2012. 

Fujitsu and Huawei aren't well known handset makers in the States but both had lightweight phones with nice features. Huawei, in fact, featured a smartphone running Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, Google's mobile OS that's currently available in the U.S. only on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus line. 

Geek alert! Do we really need a bluetooth-connected watch that alerts one of incoming email and text messages and a bunch of other mess? Casio thinks so in producing its Bluetooth smart G-Shock Watch. I haven't worn a watch in years, so I'll pass.  

A company called iDevices showed off what I thought were two stupid devices: the iShower and iGrill. The relatively expensive iShower display featured a poor woman dressed in terrycloth towel acting is if she were taking a shower while listening to music from the iShower device. And iGrill is touted as a device that manages your barbecuing while you entertain guests. Both seem like a reach to me. 

Journalists keep hearing "print is dead" but print publications were everywhere at CES, with niche publications covering any number of narrow topics. As with the newspaper and magazine business, print still delivers the advertising revenue, even as audiences migrate. 

If you're going to hire celebrity impersonators, at least make more than a half-hearted effort. The entertainment a company called Oce hired for its party at the Monte Carlo Casino were KISS lookalikes. One shortcoming: The lookalikes dressed the part except for the makeup, opting for lame face masks instead. Observers were laughing not at the idea but at the execution. #FAIL

Ford's Evos is a concept car that's pretty but unlikely to see production.Several companies showed off some trick concept cars and technology:

• Ford had its gorgeous Evos on display. Not sure it'll ever see production but the crowds were slack-jawed. 
• The Tesla Model S electric car is stunning. Then again, it better be, with a price tag that runs from $50,000 on past $97,000. 
• Kia had several intriguing vehicles, including the Naimo and RayEV.
• Kia's Naimo takes several bold approaches in entering the electric-vehicle category.Cadillac's CUE system (Cadillac User Experience) seemed clunky, with a demonstrator having to jam his fingers into the touch-screen controls to get a response. Not a good sign for something promoted as a safety feature. 
• Mercedes showed off its mbrace2 in-car technology and F125 "research car," which looked like it came straight from the McClaren factory. The interior was raw, but the chassis and body looked cherry. 
• Memphis Car Audio tricked out a Smart Car with speakers so powerful they'd shred the body if used in real life. 
• A Smart car rocking some major-league sound.A saw a golf cart customer with some major audio gear (sorry, I forgot to get the brands. Not sure who or where this cart might find an audience but it was stopping people in their tracks. 

Time Inc. was giving prominent promotion to its tablet editions, offering free access to all current issues for iPad, Kindle Fire, Nook or Android tablets. Just visit a special Time Inc. access page through Jan. 16. 

MediaClip has some neat tools that allow one to create and print their own photo book by pulling from a variety of different private and public sources. 

3D design software from Leonar3Do was remarkable in balancing simplicity with complexity. I think we'll be hearing more from this Hungarian start-up. A Hungarian company, Leonar3Do, was showing off some stunning virtual-reality design software. Zach Arenson, a 3D design student at Iowa State University, was among several collegiate demoing the tools, and told me you don't need artistic skills to create amazing things, whether it's for movies, architectural design or anything else where 3D is key. 

The iPhone Steadicam balances simple physics with brilliant business opportunity. For $150, you can buy a device that all but removes shakiness from handheld video.

Celebrity sightings:

• Teisto was on hand at the Intel booth to plug his new YouTube series, share memories of his huge Rio concert, and promote the world's first Twitter concert. 
• I saw ESPN's Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle doing a live 3D broadcast of their "SportsNation" show. 
• ESPN's "Sports Nation" was broadcasting from CES in 3D. As I said last year, if ABC/ESPN is serious about marketing its 3D channel, it'll set up 3D monitors in every mall in America and let the product sell itself.While approaching a crowd engulfing the Skull Candy booth, an industry friend said, "Is that Shaq?" Someone nearby said, "Nope, it's 50 Cent." Shrugs of shoulders followed. How quickly stars can fade from mainstream acceptance. 
• I overheard word of a Justin Beiber sighting (turns out he was plugging mRobo's dancing robit). "He's much shorter in person," a woman hanging out near the CNET broadcast booth commented. "Did you get his autograph?" someone asked. I left at that point. 

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