To start off our 2nd year on the internets, we’ll be heading to CES.  The mecca of geekery, gadgetry, and all around nerdery. We’ll be bringing back photos, videos, interviews, hands-on demos of everything we can get our hands on at CES. We promise we won’t head into the wrong door and somehow wind up in the Adult Expo.

Good news about the upcoming CES is that they are expanding the show floor to give gaming exhibits more room.

Featuring advancements in online gaming and gaming-related product debuts all in one centralized location, CES and many of its must-see exhibitors are prepping to show off the latest gaming technology across more than 13,000 square feet of exhibit space.

If there is anything you specially want us to cover form the show, let us know in the comments below. If you’ll be at CES, let us know as well. We’d love to meet up and say hi. It’s always awesome to be surrounded by new technology and fellow geeks.

Consumer CE Holiday Spending to Increase; Regen Takes Home Top i-Stage Honors

Phoenix, AZ., October 20, 2009 — The definitive CE holiday sales forecast, the second annual i-Stage competition and a luncheon keynote by Sir Ken Robinson, acclaimed innovator and author, were among the hot happenings on Day One of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® Industry Forum. Designed to connect, educate and inform consumer technology professionals, CEA’s 2009 Industry Forum runs through Wednesday, October 21 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s chief economist and director of research and Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis, kicked off the Industry Forum’s programming with the popular Holiday Sales and Forecast presentation. DuBravac began with an economic overview and outlook, noting that despite a difficult year there are signs of optimism for the holidays.

Koenig announced CEA’s research finding that consumers plan to spend more on consumer electronics this holiday season as technology plays a main role in holiday gift budgets. CEA found that consumers plan to spend an average of $222 on CE this holiday, a gain of eight percent over last year. The 16th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns study tracks CE devices consumers intend to give as gifts, as well as those they hope to receive. Consumer electronics comprise four of the top 10 items on adults’ holiday gift wish list, with computers and video games ranking two and three respectively, behind clothing.
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ReNu Solar Energy System Awarded $40K and 2010 CES Booth; eEDge Media Device Wins Second Place

Phoenix, AZ, October 19, 2009 — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® today announced that Regen, the light-powered personal and home electronics company, took the top prize for its ReNu personal solar power generation and storage system at the second annual i-stage competition, a technology event featuring the most innovative consumer technology products that will soon come to market. Eleven finalists unveiled their products before a live audience today at CEA’s 2009 Industry Forum, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Regen will receive $40,000 dollars, a turn-key exhibit at the 2010 International CES®, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow and the option of a booth at CES Unveiled in New York or Las Vegas. Regen was also chosen by the audience as the Fan Favorite and took home an additional $2,500.

Core to the ReNu system is the ReNu panel, a freestanding power module containing solar cells, a rechargeable battery and an intelligent user interface. The panel can be hung or placed in direct light to capture energy. When replenished by sunlight, a user can drop a ReNu panel into one of a series of Regen extensions to utilize the energy they have created. ReNu extensions include a phone charging system, personal audio, and task lighting. The ReNu panel can also charge an iPhone, iPod or USB device directly.

“Innovation helps advance economic growth and companies such as Regen exemplify the cutting edge technologies that will drive the future of our industry,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “By empowering consumers with innovative energy solutions, ReNu changes the way that people generate and use power and we are thrilled to showcase their product at the 2010 International CES.”

EnTourage Systems, Inc. placed second in the competition with its eDGe™ product and was awarded $7,500, as well as the option of a booth at CES Unveiled in New York or Las Vegas. The enTourage eDGe is the world’s first dualbook, combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one. It’s a comprehensive device that lets you read e-books, surf the Internet, take digital notes, send emails and instant messages, watch movies and listen to music anywhere, at any time.

The 11 i-stage finalists, listed by company and product name, included:

1. Cubicvue LLC, CubicVue 3D Filter
2. EnTourage Systems Inc., The eDGe
3. Immerz Inc., KOR-FX
4. Meld Technology, WholeHomeHD™
5. Regen Inc., ReNu™
6. Tenrehte Technologies, PICOwatt
7. Thinkeco Inc., the modlet
8. Thinkoptics Inc, iWavit™
9. Valencell, Healthset®
10. Zagg Inc., ZAGGbox
11. zero1.tv Gmbh, VooMote

These early-stage products, not yet available in stores, were judged by technology experts including Natali Del Conte of CNET TV and the CBS Early Show; Blake Krikorian, co-founder of Sling Media; Ross Levinsohn, Managing Partner of Fuse Capital and Jeff Pulver, founder of Pulver.com and co-founder of Vonage.

For more information on i-stage, visit i-stage.CE.org. For more information on the 2010 International CES, scheduled January 7-10, 2010, visit www.CESweb.org.

About CEA:
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $172 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES – Where Entertainment, Technology and Business Converge. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org.

Hello Pixel Geeks,
Kirby here coming at you from the mirage, taking a break from. The Las Vegas scene to talk to you about Intel’s new Mobile Processors, the Centrino 2. Intel had a consumer targeted laptop by Lenovo and I was lucky enough to get a clear explanation what this new mobile processor is capable of. The new system is much more powerful than any system with the original Centrino and is much much smarter and way more efficient with energy. What I mean is the the Centrino 2 system actually changes the hardware use and we can use more or less power depending on what application and how much power it would need. The model they had was equipped with an ATI mobile graphics card as well as with the integrated Intel graphics chip. So, when you start just browsing on say the internet or use a word processor, the system actually switches your system to only use the integrated graphics chip. But when you start to play more intensive apps, like games, it is smart enough to know that you would now need the ATI graphics card. Videos and more info soon. More scoops to come till then I’m kirby gnight!

Hello PG readers

Today we came across many many new and futuristic and sexy tech. The first thing we saw in the Las Vegas Convention Center was the new Intel Atom. This new much smaller and much more efficient CPU replaces the Intel system controller hub for the new various pocket pcs.  Videos coming soon. This is kirby and jay at ces lv till the next post gnight!!

Yes, we know our updates aren’t as fast as the big boys, but throw us a friggin’ bone here.  I just got a call from Kirby saying that they covered 1/4 of the show so far and will be posting what they got in a couple of hours. Also, expect a highlights video this weekend. Stay tuned!

Hello PG readers

We finally arrived no thanks to our fail passenger kevin d. I got my badge as seen in the photo attached. And now as as we walk to the LVCC( las vegas convention center ) we star our coverage!!!

Hey kirby and jay here. It’s 4am waiting at a parking lot for the rest our UCR IEEE crew and here at riverside it super cold.. We are super excited an we have about 1.7 million sqr ft. of venues to cover!! So as our journey continues we will be posting and updating you live when we arrive!! So for now this is jay and kirby signing off.

Update: it is now 7 am and one of our passengers whose name will not be mentioned(kevin dieu from ucr) is a total fail at life he is the cause in which we are still stuck in riverside. His dumb@$$ locked him self out of his room. So it is apperent that we will not be leaving for CES no earlier than 9am. But my excitement for sin city and ces allows me to over look his f*cking retardedness.

Changing subject, according to the planners we have received there will be several celebratiea present and we will hopefully be there on time to cover them. Today CNET will be presenting the best of awards for ces and we will update with the results if and when we get there in time.

Ps kevin dieu of ucr = dumb@$$. So our apologies if our content for Fridays coverage is not sufficient. More updates as our first day continues..

For those of you who are wondering, Jay and Kirby will be covering the show this weekend.

CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2009 will be in Vegas baby.  Both Jay and Kirby will be on hand to cover all the stuff you want to see. All new gadgets, technology, and maybe some booth babes too. Unless Jay and Kirby choose the right door into CES (and NOT AVN), we’ll have blog posts, videos and photos of the whole show floor with NO COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTIONS. So stay tuned to this blog to see what you can waste your money, or whats left of your piggy bank, on next year.