CES takes up the North, South and Central Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center and trying to see everything there is a near impossibility -- but that doesn't stop anyone. However, this year I discovered the Eureka zone deep in the Venetian Hotel's Sands Expo convention center -- filled with start ups and companies whose products have yet to hit the US market or are still looking for funding -- and I have to say that there was more excitement there than possibly at the far vaster Convention Center.
Having a booth in the main exhibition halls can be quite expensive. So, for the last few years, the convention center of the Venetian Hotel has turned over some its meeting and ballrooms as exhibition space. There are some areas grouped around a theme, such as the Hi-Def audio companies I wrote about yesterday, as well as wearable and fashion-related tech.
Some major companies more focused on business meetings set up rooms separate from the convention center, such as Intel's security suite (in partnership with McAfee), Microsoft. Lenovo actually takes over a bar/restaurant in the Venetian to showcase their current and new offerings. Lenovo, the Chinese company that took over IBM's former hardware business, has really succeeded as being the world's number one laptop company. This year they are hoping to expand that reach by having more lower priced offerings, including a tablet for $249 and many laptops under $500 while still making newer high end laptops such as their T and W series, as well as their increasingly popular Yoga flexible laptops and their gorgeous carbon models.
Downstairs in the Sands Expo Convention Center of the Venetian Hotel, a Eureka zone was assembled that featured companies grouped by country from all over the world, including sections devoted to China, Korea, and France. There were also just companies who had new products launched in Europe that they hoped to bring to the US.
Remember all those Russian dashboard cams that caught the meteor falling in Russia? Well Papago wants to introduce dashboard cams to the US.
PcKeeperLive is a online security, cleaning and optimization service.
memloom is a website/service that helps you tell family stories using templates and a simplified user interface for incorporating photos, video and text.
There were electric guitars that teach you how to play, Idoor to check whose at the door by cellphone, a way to water your plants while you're away -- a smart pot, so to speak --and a tootbrush that tell how good (or bad) a job you did (Kolibree) and all sorts of solar powered devices and trackers of all sorts (want to make sure you drank enough water today -- there's a sensor for that).
All in all, I wish I spent more time in the Eureka Zone -- but there's always next year!