CES 2010 Through A Photographic Lens

Editors Note: This post is a modified version of an article written by Jen Consalvo for the HuffingtonPost.com. Photos are by Jen Consalvo of Shiny Heart Ventures and the gratitude journal community, Thankfulfor.com, a photographer, entrepreneur and healthy food lover.

Interactivity wins at CES! The coolest booths have some type of artistic and interactive element allowing visitors to become part of the show itself. This one at MicroSoft required you to touch various elements to impact the lighting display.

When you’re at CES it’s easy to get caught up in, well, everything. The giant venue halls are constructed into a miniature city-like landscape and the foot paths between each giant brand structure is like a superhighway during rush hour requiring you to know exactly where you’re going, have strong intentions and defensive driving skills. Unless the brand has been relegated to some obscure location, in which case it’s more like an old country road. There were many times I found myself caught in the superhighway flow of people moving along as if in a zombie state, being pulled towards the brightest lights or just plodding along with the crowd while staring at their mobile devices. Staying centered and focused, I braved the crowds with my camera to see what was interesting and talk to people about what they loved.

3D television experiences were everywhere. Some were good but honestly it was more fun watching everyone put on the glasses (many were battery operated) and immerse themselves into the experience.

NBC Universal had a beautiful setup focused on the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. They did live broadcasts onsite, had a sweet blogger lounge and a number of interactive games.

I was obsessed with this social visualization cube that Intel created (dubbed the Intel Infoscape). It was one of the first things people saw as they entered the Central Hall.

As you touched the images on the Intel Cube, you could see close-ups of items from over 20,000 different content sources and over 20 live feeds from global news sources and networks like Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Intel.com. The music and undulating images made it mesmerizing.

Netbooks and tablets were everywhere and form factor seemed to be one of the most defining elements. This Fujitsu Lifebook fits in the palm of your hand… or your clutch purse.

Some smart brands like NBC, Kodak and Intel leveraged the social media world by offering blogger lounges or holding meetups. Cathy Brooks hosted a panel about privacy at the Intel Upload Lounge drawing a full crowd of bloggers, vloggers, photographers and reporters.

Sexy graphics were everywhere. Themes that you might expect to see on hot rods, tatoos, surfboards and skateboards showed up on computers, bags, headphones and devices.

Years ago you would have to go to the South Hall or somewhere else to see the auto-related technologies. This year the convergence between cars and mainstream tech was front and center.

The CES “sky” is filled with billboards of bigger than life products and beautiful models.

Groovy, stylish bags and gear were definitely competing for attention. Built offered some of the funkiest and creative pieces and displayed them in a lobster-trap like structure (below) that was awesome to behold.

The Built booth was one of the few organic feeling creations in ultra-high-tech Central Hall at CES.

The Copia line of social eReaders ended up on more than one top ten list from CES. Their display was attention getting and the children’s devices look like they may be a major hit.

Personal space was hard to come by at CES 2010. These funky DMC Worldwide dogs made for an impromptu office for a few people.

The ratio of women to men visitors was extremely low, so it’s disappointing, yet no surprise, that “booth babes” are still a staple at many brand booths.

Retro was the name of the game with the new Polaroid PIC 1000, created for those who loved the old instant Polaroid cameras. Their new lineup also includes a number of digital cameras that print.

Intel offered a sneak peek of some devices coming out later this year – the OpenPeak tablet was small, sleek and powerful, leveraging their new Moorestown platform.