2011 - Consumer Electronics Show (CES) - Events

Do you take photos or record video ever? Of course you do! Whether it is on your iPhone or a professional camera, there is one thing that is always a problem - stabilization. We found a product this year to solve that problem once and for all.

It's called the Camtrol and it does exactly what its name suggests - helps you control your camera. In simple terms, it is a combination between and handle and a cradle, but it is a lot more than that. This seemingly simple gadget takes all of the weight of the camera from your wrist and suspends it from your entire arm. If you are anything like me, when recording long videos, my wrist is the part that becomes the problem, so this thing is great.

To read more about the Camtrol, hit the break.

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We had the opportunity to check out Wacom's booth on the last day of the convention. For those who don't know, Wacom is the company who has perfected mouse replacement products for years now. Recently, their line of Bamboo products have made it easy for the amateur or beginning Photoshop and Premiere user to get step up to the plate and try out these products at a more affordable cost.

At CES, Wacom was able to show off the Bamboo line, as well as their higher levels of their products - the Intuos and Cintiq series. As we roamed around the booth writing "PLuGHiTz Live!" on every tablet or screen that we could, we ran into an expert of the products, Tech Man Joe Sliger (that's what his badge said.) Joe has been using Wacom products for a long time now and is a true hardcore user of the Adobe suite and hasn't owned a mouse in 9 years. One of the products he was most excited about was the Cintiq 21. While the Bamboo and Intuos are add-on products that use a small pad and pen to use as your mouse, the Cintiq turns your entire desktop and computer workspace into a completely immersive tablet experience. The screen attaches with one cable down to your computer's tower and with touch and pressure sensitivities along with 21 inches of space, the Cintiq was a really cool product that we had the privilege to see in action from an expert.

Want to learn more about this cool thing? Check after the break.

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This year the BlackBerry booth didn't have a wide range of selections for us to gawk over but they managed to impress us with their new 7" tablet called the PlayBook. For a long time now BlackBerry users, who are mostly business people, have relied on the stable services and equipment they provide to get things done. What most BlackBerry users can't forget about, because they have never had it, was a sleek and aesthetically appealing user interface to wrap things up in one awesome power tie, power suit, power device type package.

Some of the things that impressed us so much are noticeable right off the bat. For one, the weight distribution was even throughout the device which gave it a nice solid feel in our hands and the functionality didn't end at the edge of the screen area. The PlayBook has a 1" bevel around the screen which has functionality similar to WebOS devices like the Palm Pre. For example, if you place your finger on the bevel above the top-right corner of the screen and slide it down, a little drop-down menu slides down with your finger and displays information like battery life and WiFi connection strength. Likewise, depending on where you slide your finger from the bevel onto the screen certain functions will be available on the full version of the OS. As far as we can tell all parts of the bevel will have some type of functionality.

You want to know more about this device so hit the break.

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Sennheiser, along with making great microphones and headphones that we use every day in our studio, also announced a new array of noise cancelling headphones this week at CES 2011, as part of their mobility line, along with three other lines they showed off today. The difference? They've added digital cancellation features.

Their CXC 700 in-ear travel earbuds have Sennheiser's exclusive NoiseGard /digital system. This enhancement allows you to select one of three noise-cancelling modes that take out different frequency ranges?

How does it all work? Find out after the break.

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Sennheiser:Official Site

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Day 2 of CES was even more mindblowing than the first, which I doubted was even possible. However, I'm okay with being proven wrong, this time by none other than GM. I also don't feel bad because they are pretty intelligent people. There are more automobile companies than ever this year at CES 2011, with Ford, Audi, Hyundai and General Motors just to name a few. All of them showcased their newest and shiniest models for the masses to gawk over but GM certainly has the most unique showing this year out of all the automobile companies and just maybe CES.

To find out how GM made us green with EN-V, hit the break.

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GM:EN-V

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The first day of CES was overwhelming to say the least. We stood in awe of many booths, showcasing many things,

almost all of which were very cool. But the most notable company we encountered today comes to us all the way from Sweden and proved to us yet again they are more than just meatballs.

Fractal Design is a desktop computer case designer that is very well known throughout Eastern Europe, Korea, and Japan. They have traveled to the US in order to take on the sizable task of making a name for themselves here. We had the pleasure of meeting Paul Heimbuch who is the President of Fractal Design North America. He lead Scott, Nick, and myself up to their suite filling us in on some of the details as we went. After being warmly greeted by Hannis, the founder of the company, we had the pleasure of a short media presentation by his associate Yuan which explained to us in greater detail what sets them apart from tons of case designers out there. The presentation was then concluded by Hannis giving us the grand tour of the 3 product lines on display around the suite.

To find out more about some cool cases and accessories you will want to get, hit the break.

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Fractal Design:Official Site

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CES is always about new and interesting technology and this year is no exception. One piece of truly interesting tech I had the pleasure of experiencing today is the Admiral, a truly wireless all-powerful headset from NOX Audio.

The headset looks similar in style to any Logitech computer headset - that is until you get closer. Upon further inspection you will discover that the Admiral has a retractable microphone, bluetooth, WiFi and a 2.4" touchscreen LCD running Android.

Why is a headset running Android? Hit the break to find out.

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NOX Audio:Official Website

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We have some key notes from the Microsoft Keynote that you might have missed during the liveblog. Follow the break for the notes and for a cool picture!

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Hit the break for the Microsoft Liveblog.

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It's been nice having the last 2 weeks off, but it's time for us to get back to the grindstone and what better way to do that than a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011.

Our crew is currently sitting in the press area of The Venetian taking in the sights of the first unofficial official day of the show. There are people from all aspects of the industry around us, from press, bloggers and analysts to executives from small start-up companies and large, international conglomerates. Everyone is running around preparing for the beginning of the full show.

The real thing kicks off tonight here at the Las Vegas Hilton where Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft, will give his opening keynote speech. Following the keynote, PLuGHiTz Live! Radio will be broadcasting live for our CES 2011 Pre-Show. You'll want to follow our Facebook page for the exact time because everything is up in the air.

As the convention continues, keep following us here on The UpStream as well as Facebook for breaking news from the tech industry!

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I'm sitting here in the Venetian for Press Day at CES with Scott and Nick and I've got to say there are a lot more MacBooks here than anticipated but the PC and mobile platforms are here in full force along with so many other things that literally I don't have enough hard drive capacity in my brain to write all the data. With over 20 Tech Zones and tons of industry makers here we will have a lot of content coming at you. You also won't want to miss our semi-exclusive interviews with industry leading companies and professionals. What's that? You want to know who? Then you better pay attention to our Facebook page and The UpStream.

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I am starting out this year's CES coverage with a little info about some new products we will be seeing at this year's show. Kenwood will be showing off 9 new car head units that have the ability to control Pandora.

Here's the killer - it will only work with iPhones connected directly through USB. This, of course, leaves out a lot of users. Such as, the largest collection of mobile phone users - Android.

That failing aside, this feature will be available in several series of radios. All of their new in-dash nav systems will have it, the top tier CD-based systems as well as the two CD-less units will also be equipped.

Despite the oversight of Android phones, this seems like it could be a cool new trend in head units. It would be nice to control Pandora from the radio instead of having to use the phone. Having to plug the phone directly into the unit is a little annoying and the fact that it won't work with Android, BlackBerry or webOS phones is also frustrating but maybe we will see this addition in the future.

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Twice:Kenwood To Launch Pandora Radios At CES

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