Day 1 of CES is over.  I covered a lot of ground, checked out the entire North Hall and half of the South Hall.  Tomorrow, I’ll finish the South Hall and begin the Central Hall time permitting.  Check out some pictures under the CES2010 tab.  While I’m not going to do a full post on every worthwhile product I saw today simply because there were too many for me to properly cover (and the big blogs already did this), I’ll post some thoughts about the show.

• It’s extremely well organized.  CEA does a great job with show setup, materials such as maps, and booth layout.
• There’s a lot of companies that I’ve never heard and which, except for a few, I’ll probably never hear about ever again, despite some having relatively cool products.
• Asking the people who staff the booths highly technical questions whose answers aren’t already on the product spec sheets is typically met with “blank stares” and answers of “I don’t know”.  My technical background and curiosity isn’t necessarily an asset here.
• Attending this show is extremely physically grueling.  More so than any verbal warnings from show “veterans” or  ”How to Prepare for CES” guides could possibly convey.  My feet, ankles, knees, back, shoulders, and neck all hurt (and I wore comfortable shoes).  I’m trying to figure out how to survive 3 more days of this.
• The various booths were not so crowded that you couldn’t get “hands-on” with the products and have direct conversation with the booth attendants.

While visits with most of the “big name” companies still lie ahead, it was really cool to see the wide variety of devices people have come up with and are trying to market.  Most are variations on existing technology with added features or a new twist on an old idea, but several were unique and interesting.  I’m looking forward