Bieber, Sony concept tablet and award nominees thrill at CES
With Bieber in town, the CES Award finalists announced and a swish Sony concept tablet on display, Las Vegas is awash with excitement.
Cynical types might assume that by mid-week at CES all the best, most thrilling stuff is over -- but they couldn't be more wrong. In the wake of the big, splashy product launches comes the really hawt stuff. Namely, the Biebonic plague, which tore through Vegas yesterday sprinkling sugary schmaltz dust over every tech hack in town.
When we heard the Bieber was going to be making an appearance alongside dancing robots, we pictured glitter cannons, highly choreographed routines and Bieber doing 'the robot' in sync with his troop of backing-droids, while covering Dancing Machine by the Jackson 5. What we actually got was the Bieb on stage with some corporate chaps gripping what looked like a knock-off Stormtrooper doll.
The only consolation was that Bieber, who unsuccessfully attempted to feign excitement, looked as disappointed as we felt at the sight of TOSY's rather weak dancing robot speaker. Seems we weren't the only ones conned into attending.
On a more important, serious and tech-relevant note, the finalists for the Best of CES 2012 Awards have been announced. We quite like the look of the Sony Xperia S in the smart phone category, and the Fujifilm X-Pro 1 in the camera section. CNET UK's very own Jason Jenkins and Luke Westaway will be on the judging panel and the winner will be announced later today. If you think you have a discerning eye for tech, you also have the opportunity to vote in the People's Voice Award.
Sony teased a seriously gorgeous concept tablet yesterday that had us drooling over our breakfasts when we woke up to the pictures this morning. The tablet is slim, oval in shape and comes with a separate keyboard. The company also showed off a stunning hybrid tablet/notebook for us to lust after, which has an ultra-thin docking station that includes a bronze keyboard, speakers, and a stylus.
Not to be outdone by Sony, Intel continued to tease us some more with previews of its first Lenovo Windows 8 tablet, which will pack the Clover Trail Atom chip.
One of the coolest things we've seen so far at CES is the Samsung Transparent LCD Smart Window -- the window that tech dreams are made of. The Smart Window possesses all the transparent qualities we've come to love in normal windows, but you can also install widgets on it, use it to send tweets and tinker with a virtual blind.
Good news for gamers -- Google TV will support the OnLive gaming app, allowing you to stream console-quality games straight to your telly box from the cloud-based service.
The CNET UK podcast also was recorded yesterday in front of a live audience, so keep an eye out as it will be up on the site tomorrow. For more CES news as it happens, head over to ces.cnet.com.
What products do you think should win a CES Award this year? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.