Three pairs of slacks, two ten dollar coffees, dozens of pictures, two new blisters, and pages of hand written notes later, CES has finally coming to an end.

I attended the tail end of the conference two days ago, which was concluded by a keynote from Cisco's Chairman and CEO, John Chambers. Mr. Chambers' speech felt eerily as if I was attending a self-improvement conference, as he walked through the crowd telling everyone how we can each make a difference. However, this shouldn't take away from the fact that Mr. Chambers was one of the more poetic of presenters and I did understand the message he was conveying. Despite a down economy, innovation will continue and its only right that we should be make a conscious effort to push the consumer and high tech markets in the right direction.

Ford's CEO, Alan Mulally, also gave a presentation explaining where the auto manufacturing market is headed. During this keynote, a video was played over the enormous projection screen, which profiled a business woman in her car. During this video, the woman driver did everything from searching for a news article, having it read back to her, calling a colleague, and scheduling a meeting, all while driving in her car thanks to her Ford's Sync technology. The overall message of the video was that, "your car is now your companion". While a little too futuristic looking to have me buy into all Ford's supposed capabilities right away, I can't wait to see when this will in fact become a reality.

After attending all major CES keynotes, aside from Steve Ballmer's pre-CES keynote, I have to say I was most impressed by Sony's keynote. Admittedly, it was largely due to the fact that Sony pulled out all the stops by finding a way to incorporate Tom Hanks and Reggie Jackson into Howard Stringer's presentation. Apparently, Usher even performed prior to the keynote, or so I heard. It also helped that Howard Stringer presented the newest of Sony technology- a flexible LCD screen-while bending it in his hand, which created oohs and aahs from the audience.  

With the majority of the conference said and done, one trend worth layering on top of my previous post was an effort by big brands to decrease the consumer's carbon footprint. A focus on green technology was raised in Sony and Ford's keynotes and had a clear presence on the floor as well. Manufacturers showcased an array of green products, from cell phone solar panel adaptors to low wattage LED television sets. Samsung even went as far as to measure wattage used by each of their new TV models with the help of digital monitors.

I shared a cab with two fellow attendees and they were both quick to point out that the number of green products on the showroom floor was almost overwhelming. While the fact that manufacturers are conscious about conserving the ecosystem is great to see, we all agreed that such green products were overshadowed by incredibly small PCs, crisp displays, and the glitz and glamour of other Star Trek-esque gadgets.    

All in all, CES 2009 was a great experience, allowing me to not only see the gadgets of tomorrow, but hear some impressive and well thought out presentations. I now understand what all the commotion has been about and also why many consider CES too congested and intense to get business done and sign partnership deals. It was a whirling dervish of a conference, but don't think CES will see the last of me.

-Kevin