CES 2010 – Day 0 Round-up

I’m not going to be at CES personally this year (two years ago when I went to CES for two days and took the time off work, my bosses didn’t see to happy about it, plus I don’t get press passes anymore), but I can provide a quick round-up of cool stuff I’ve seen posted from elsewhere.

The reason why this is called day 0 is because traditionally, the day or two before the CES show floor opens (this year, its Thursday, Jan 7th) is filled with private, invite-only press expos that allow manufactures to attract the attention of the press.

Cool Stuff

Syabas PopBox (Engadget)
Boxee Box (Engadget)
Klipsch Light Speaker (Anandtech)

My Thoughts

CES 2010 might be the year of the media set top box. The best looking UI is the popbox, but I’d like to get my hands on both before I make a final purchasing decision. If I can use iTunes to manage all my media metadata (Name, actors, cover art, etc) and then these boxes can display it then that would provide for an excellent user experience.

Big Surprises So Far

Skype on HDTVs. I can definitely see this becoming standard. The only problem is that you have to buy a new TV. Also, PIP calling would be nice (continue to watch football/basketball game with video phone in the upper right corner).

Microsoft’s keynote-fail. I’d have a hard time thinking a 20 minute delay could ever happen to that other big tech company.