Although Chinese companies have been strongly represented at CES for many years, I think we’ll continue to see China work towards a kind of “national brand” where the emphasis is a bit like the “made in USA” approach here in the USA.

This may be a challenge given the political climate here in the USA where both parties maintain the stance of “fearing China’s economy” even as they recognize our economies are intertwined almost beyond recognition and in general offer many “win win” relationships between consumers and companies in both countries.

Culturally, China is only beginning to learn the ins and outs of the American hype machine, leading to some amusing pitch lines and displays that might benefit greatly from a Las Vegas style makeover. That said, it’s kind of “charming” to see the more subtle and respectful business tactics of Asia here in the USA. For example the passing of business cards is done with a bow and both hands.

One of the cleverest exhibits at CES was energy management company NRG, who used a combination of touchscreens, interactive exhibits like the hamster wheel above, and an electric DeLorean Sports Car to showcase their energy saving technologies.

New York Times online at CES 2012

Portable TVs at CES. This is one of those ideas that seem pretty crazy to me. That said, in technology things rarely shake out as they first appear.

The concept here is the portable television, weighing from 5 to 12 pounds, that you carry from room to room or …. wherever so you don’t miss a minute of your show.

This is an interesting contrast with the much more prevalent concept here of a connected home where WIFI allows you to stream TV all over the house. In that scenario you’ll keep the TVs in place but have one in every room.

As this indicates, we’re a LONG way from true convergence, where the devices all integrate in a more robust fashion.

Seems that a *smart phone*, a small tablet or notebook/ultrabook computer, and a nice TV seem to be becoming the key indispensable devices to own. I’m thinkig we can probably manage three things successfully even as many innovators seem to believe we need full convergence where those devices, plus many others in our lives, communicate in real time all the time. More on that later…

Surface Computing at CES. It’s been around for some time, but like touchscreen technology (which took decades to become mainstream), surface computing will be commonplace in the near future. I’m not clear if these coffee tables are ready for market but I think its just a matter of time. These use the Microsoft surface computing application and would seem to be ideal for things like TV navigation, slide shows, and more.

As a cheap car guy it’s hard for me to get too excited, even about a very beautiful auto like this, but the technologies involved are very impressive, even as they are arguably not very scalable to the mass market yet. For example the roof is a solar panel that adds about 200 miles of range per year to the vehicle. The Fisker can only travel about 50 miles on a single charge but also has a gasoline assist which boosts the range to hundreds of miles. Since most travel is in the form of short commutes it does appear the Fisker would work fine for urban commuters. Others will effectively be using the gas assist (which does NOT run the engine, rather it charges the battery to run the engine).

Samsung’s out in full force at CES 2012 with some good technology combined with great promotional power. “Blogger buddies” are roaming around the show inviting press to the Samsung blog lounge.

Here, a street artist creates a charicature using a galaxy tablet, which is then printed or placed on a t-shirt as a giveaway. Line was too long for me to do this but I enjoyed some coffee at the espresso bar.

Although I haven’t had a chance to compare other models yet, the Samsung high end notebooks are very impressive – comparable (and clearly designed to compete with) the Macbook Air, perhaps stronger in some features. The Samsung Ultrabook line is also powerful but at much lower price point they don’t have the same “wow” factor of the slim notebooks. More on all this later.

These are often those that don’t have a huge presence othewise.

—— Press Release —–

Fisker cranks up the amps with the first public appearance of the Karma electric sedan since deliveries began in December. Raytheon and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are bringing a patrol car to demonstrate laptop computer technologies that enable deputies to investigate crime scenes, chase down suspects and answer calls for help faster.

Here’s a quick look at just some of what’s coming from 120+ exhibiting companies:

• 3D tools for configuring dream homes, from Blu Homes.
• A look ahead at smart and dumb entertainment devices, from Boxee.
• It’s not grandma’s sewing machine – but it comes from Brother.
• A preview of Cadillac’s revolutionary in-vehicle data and entertainment system.
• Android-powered tablet computers from E FUN – and Windows-powered tablets from Kupa.
• The world’s smallest PC – on a USB stick – from FXI Technologies.
• Ultrabooks, touch screens, laptops and workstations, from HP.
• A giant 55-inch touch tablet, from InFocus.
• Interactive digital textbooks and educational software, from Kno.
• 20+ new products from Lenovo.
• Quick-connect photo lenses for the iPhone, from Olloclip — and panoramic video tools from Kogeto.
• Radio for a connected world, from Pandora.
• Eco-friendly hydrogen fuel cells from SiGNa Chemistry that can power anything from a smartphone to a laptop to a refrigerator.
• The smart yard, from The Toro Company.
• Mobile video conferencing – sweeter on Ice Cream Sandwich — from Vidyo.

There’s a lot more. Click here to preview the hot companies with cool products coming to ShowStoppers @ CES.

Check the ShowStoppers NewsDesk blog as it goes live and streams details starting 10 January.

CES 2012 at Engadget

CES 2012 at Gizmodo

CES 2012 at Forbes

CES 2012 at CNET

CES 2012 at

CES 2012 – Celebrity watching!

One of the cool parts of the CES experience are the celebrities who appear at the show in both officially as representatives for companies or informally as technophiles. I’m a big fan of LeVar Burton’s work in Star Trek as well as the PBS “Reading Rainbow” series I used to watch with my kids, so it was great to meet him in person at a blogger party during CES 2010. Brent Spiner was also at the excellent “It Won’t Stay in Vegas” party thrown every year by the Parnassus Group. http://parnassusgroup.com/

This year at CES 2012 there will be