-Welcome to the 2011 Best of CES Awards, everybody.
These are the awards presented by CNET here live at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
I'm Brian Cooley.
-And I am Molly Wood.
These are the official awards of the Consumer Electronic Show and they are selected by our esteemed colleagues, the editors of CNET.com.
-Now, these awards serve as a snapshot of the most compelling products, services, and ideas that were gathered here and seen by us during this CES and a look at technology that will probably end up in your home, your hand, your workplace, even your car, in the not-too-distant future.
-Absolutely.
Now, we're about to reveal the winners in 12 categories as well as the People's Voice
which is selected by you here at the show, the users of CNET, and then of course we have the most coveted award of all, the Best of Show.
-Best of Show.
This is the actual award, by the way.
-This is it.
-We're also excited to introduce some new categories this way, created on the fly, frankly, to fit important trends that our editors found as they worked the show.
These weren't pre-determined.
We found them and saw them and put them together as we saw what technologies were here in Las Vegas.
That keeps this year's awards more vibrant and relevant than they've ever been before and, of course, as we mentioned,
you voted as well to choose the People's Voice winner and we'll be handing out this award to the cream of the crop, the 2011 Best in Show award, that right here.
That's coming up a little later in the presentation as well.
-Now, as we unveil the winner in each category, the representatives from the winning company, I know you're all here, thank you for coming, should actually head to the award presentation area at the back of our stage there and then you will get your award from CNET's own Natali Morris, except, of course, that winner in the Best of Show category, you should join us right up here.
-Gotta come get it.
-A little conversation.
-Alright.
With that, let's get started.
And now, the first category in the 2011 Best of CES Awards is...Car Tech.
And the nominees in the car tech category for 2011 are...Toyota Entune...OnStar for aftermarket...and Contour's Mobile App.
-And the winner in the Best of CES Award in the Car Tech category is...
the Toyota Entune system.
This system, it brings apps to the car, think Bing or OpenTable on your in-car LCD screen and then even integration with your guidance systems to find a location if you need it.
Very interesting new entry in that kind of telematic space.
-Yeah, very cool.
-Congratulations, Toyota.
-Good work on that one.
Alright, folks,
the next category in the 2011 Best of CES Awards is one of those new ones we talked about earlier.
This one's called Design and the nominees in this category, which rewards aesthetics, are...we've got the Samsung HTD7100.
There's the Casio TRYX camera.
The Acer Iconia, dual screen laptop.
And the Samsung 9 series, ultra lights.
-And the winner of the Best of CES Award in the Design category is...the Casio TRYX.
This is a digital camera that did what they said could not be done.
It completely reinvented the form of a point and shoot.
It swivels, it tilts, it hangs.
It mugs for the cameras and it also can be its own tripod and then a lot more.
Congratulations to you, Casio.
-Also, an excellent beer bottle opener, thank you for that, Casio.
Alright, folks.
The next category in the 2011 Best of CES Awards is...Digital Imaging.
Here we're talking about the category that includes cameras and camcorders.
And the nominees in digital imaging for the 2011 Best of CES are...we've got the Sony Handycam HDR-PJ series.
There's the Olympus XZ-1.
And the Samsung SH100.
-The winner in that Digital Imaging category is...the Sony Handycam HDR-PJ series.
This is a compact high-def camcorder that has a built-in projector on the back of that flipout LCD screen--
-That's cool.
-Not a bad idea, that one.
-Yep.
-Congratulations, Sony, and a reminder to all our winners.
Come to the back of our stage area and receive your award from Natali Morris.
They're beautiful and you wanna pick them up.
-Okay, let's keep this thing moving.
The next category in the 2011 Best of CES Awards is...it's Gaming.
And our nominees for the 2011 Award for the Best of Show in Gaming-- Best of CES Awards, I should say, in the Gaming category include Nintendo's 3DS.
The Dell Alienware M17x R3.
And Creative Labs Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Omega Wireless Headset.
-The winner in the Gaming category...it is...the Nintendo 3DS.
One of the most popular handheld gaming systems in the world gets 3D with no glasses required.
Kind of a no-brainer.
-Yep.
-Congratulations, Nintendo.
-Nice work, guys.
Okay.
Next up here in the 2011 Best of CES Awards, the next category is...
Home Theater.
Home Theater's a real standby, a real pillar of the CES lineup for many years now.
And the nominees in the Home Theater category include...Samsung's BD-D7000, how did they make it that small?
The Samsung HW-D7000.
And Sony's HomeShare Network Audio System.
-That's right.
The winner in the Home Theater category is...the ultra compact Samsung BD-D7000.
This is a Blu-ray player, it's 3D capable.
It has built-in Wi-Fi and as you can see, it's about the size of an external DVD drive.
Amazing.
-I don't know how that all got raised in that little box.
I don't--
-It's remarkable.
-I don't get it.
Amazing.
Remarkable engineering.
It's also got Samsung Apps for streaming media, a new platform they've recently launched, and they will supposedly search and recommend online content for you as well so congratulations on that one, Samsung.
The next category in the 2011 Best of CES Awards is...
PCs and Laptops.
Going to a core category here in the world of digital living.
And the nominees in the PC and Laptop category this year round include...Intel Sandy Bridge CPU architecture, HP's Pavillion DM1, and Lenovo's IdeaCentre B520 All-In-One.
-And the winner in the PC and Laptops category is...
Intel Sandy Bridge technology.
This architecture changes the game for graphics in consumer-priced systems.
It's totally challenging the traditional graphics chip market.
Not one PC or laptop owner in this category but potentially, I guess, a whole lot of them so congratulations, Intel.
-Nice work.
Next up, another one of our new categories and this is an exciting one here in the 2011 Best of CES Awards.
This is the Prototype category, the stuff that we always love but,
you know, we can never tell you where to buy it.
-Yes.
-These are the areas where specific devices may not be on the market right away, maybe not even ever, but these are often core technologies that are on display with things that are so amazing, you know, they may instead spawn off other sorts of offshoots.
So, the nominees in the Prototypes category include...the Razer Switchblade...Toshiba's Eyeglass-Free 3D Display Technology...and Samsung's bendable cellphone screen.
-This had to be a brutal conversation among our editors.
The winner in the Prototype category is...Toshiba's Eyeglass-Free 3D laptop prototype.
You gotta go see this.
It uses eye tracking software for you to watch 3D gaming and video at a variety of angles.
It literally follows your eyes around the screen to make sure that 3D image is going there with you.
It's really an impressive demo--
-You know, we came up on the stage.
-We did.
-Pretty cool, right?
-It is an impressive demo.
-Yes--
-It does what a prototype should do, it makes you go, "I want that."
-"I want it, I want it now."
-Congratulations, Toshiba.
-Nice work on that one.
Okay, and thanks for at least delivering the promise of 3D without glasses on all kinds of screens 'cause that's a big hangup for consumers still.
Okay, the next category in the 2011 Best of CES Awards is...we move now to Smartphones, a category that was surprisingly active at this year's show.
This is not necessarily the biggest cellphone show in the world, far from it,
but this year, it really acted like it was.
The nominees in the Smartphones category for 2011 are...we've got the LG Revolution, and we got a number in this category by the way.
The HTC Thunderbolt.
We've also got the Motorola Droid Bionic, and Motorola's ATRIX 4G.
Four contenders for the smartphones category.
-And another tough decision, I'm sure.
The winner in the Best of CES Awards in the Smartphone category is...
the Motorola ATRIX 4G.
This thing is hot.
It's the dual-core smartphone for AT&T's 4G network and it really wowed everybody with that hot accessory, the optional laptop shell.
You dock the phone in and the phone powers the laptop shell.
It's remarkable, plus it has a built-in fingerprint reader.
You get that.
That's just neat.
-I didn't see that part.
I love it.
-Congratulations, Motorola.
-Alright, folks, we're getting there.
Moving along through the show at a pretty good clip here, we're getting down toward the last few awards and, of course, the big show, lot of categories to go through and I know you've seen a lot of things out there yourselves.
Hopefully, some of your favorites and all your favorites are being reflected here.
Next up in the categories here at the Best of CES Awards Show is...interesting one here--Software, Services, and Apps.
It's a new one, right?
-I think, you know, all of a sudden, yeah.
-Yeah.
-With all those phones.
-And the nominees for Software, Services, and Apps include...
Dynamics Card 2.0 technology, a new flexible way of credit card deployment, RealNetworks Unify, bringing media systems and services together through the cloud, Verizon's home energy and security technology to put back kind of home telematics, if you will, over broadband, Cricket's Wireless Muve Music service.
Got some Crickets here and you're not quiet like crickets.
And Spot Connect for Android.
-Alright, the winner in the Software, Services, and Apps category is...RealNetworks Unify.
This is the answer to the problem of managing all your digital files and it is a problem.
This is a cloud-based service that pulls in all your music, your photos, your videos, from any device or any service, to access anywhere.
Finally.
-Real, thank you.
We're gonna get a little less bitching coming out of Molly's office now.
I appreciate that--
-It is hard to manage digital media.
-Alright.
That's what the cloud was supposed to deliver all along and it's just finally starting to creep its way into doing that.
Alright, we'll be watching for that service to launch soon, by the way.
Moving along, the next category in our 2011 Best of CES Awards is...Storage and Networking.
A lot of interesting products come out in this area, from a wide array of approaches, and the nominees in Storage and Networking include...D-Link's HD Media Router 3000,
ioSafe's Rugged, and we mean rugged, hard drive, and Marvell's HyperDuo drive technology.
-The winner in the Storage and Networking category is...that ioSafe Rugged portable drive.
You want to protect your media?
Yeah.
This one is just about bulletproof and our editors know because they watched it get shot.
With a shotgun.
That is protecting your data.
Congratulations, ioSafe.
-Okay, that's gonna be deployed to all police departments.
Alright--
-You thought storage couldn't be sexy?
-It's sexy.
-Bring out the shotgun--
-And that picture we showed you, by the way, that's not a design of speckles on the case, that's shotgun blast, folks, alright?
That's pretty cool.
Alright, it's time for one of the sexiest categories, given the theme of this year's show, we're about to name the Best of CES Award winner in...hello, Tablets.
Tablets category, the nominees, this was a frenetic section of the show this year.
And those nominees include...Motorola's Xoom, BlackBerry's PlayBook, Toshiba's new tablet, and the Samsung Sliding PC 7.
-Yeah.
-Real category bender there.
-This, again, I can't even imagine the fights in the editor trailer this year.
The winners in the Tablet category is...the Motorola Xoom.
In a sea of tablets at CES 2011, this one made a serious splash.
The Honeycomb interface, two cameras, the 10-inch display, and very pretty hardware.
-Nice looking piece of material, yeah.
-Congratulations again, Motorola.
-Good work on that one.
Alright, folks, you know, this wouldn't be a CES this year any year without this next Best of CES category and it is...yeah, the mainstay, Televisions.
These are the biggest products we see here at the show every year.
They're the ones that so much "emblemize" what we do in this industry and especially here in this show and more than ever, they're becoming the heart of that digital universe as all these components and products that we see here start to come together.
And the nominees in the Televisions category are...Panasonic's VT30 series, we've got Vizio's XVT 3D 6SP series, and Samsung's UND8000 series.
-I would like to see some innovation in the television naming space.
The 2011 Best of CES TV is the Vizio XVT 3D 6SP series.
-What isn't in that television?
-I know, right?
-Right?
Everything.
-It is a mouthful of a name and a serious living room full of TV--
-Mouthful--
-Delivering on the promise of the connected TV with the VIA Plus platform that supports Google TV, OnLive gaming.
It has passive 3D technology and it will interoperate with Vizio's upcoming tablet and smartphone.
-Yeah, those are both new here at the show and they're already making an ecosystem.
Big buzzword we hear a lot of.
-Clever stuff.
Please collect your awards at the back of our stage from our own Natali Morris.
-Okay, now this is an interesting point now where we take a turn in the awards show and things begin to get a little more, shall we say, tense, as we get toward the pinnacle awards of our show.
That's it for our regular categories, those first 12, and now it's time to get on to our People's Voice Award winner.
This is the category where you, the CNET community, did the voting.
You did it on your handhelds during the show,
on your laptops back at the hotel and many of you did it back at home as you're watching our live coverage from right here at the CNET stage.
-And we know you got your press people to vote over and over.
Don't try to fool us.
-Our technology for blocking that isn't perfect so just so you know.
You voted on the finalists that we've been going through so all the products you've seen so far in those finalist list, that was the pool from which the CNET community did their voting to let us know what you thought was the hottest concept or technology, real product or maybe just prototype on the way here at CES 2011.
So, the winner in the 2011 Best of CES People's Voice Award winner this year is...ready for it?
It is...are you ready?
Give it to the Razer.
Razer people.
-Okay, this is an entry in our prototype category.
I don't know if you saw it but it is the miniaturized prototype gaming laptop.
-Serious gaming device.
-Serious gaming device, for PC gaming, but it's sort of an ultra-mobile PC design and then it has a programmable keyboard.
Each individual key has a little LCD screen behind it.
-The keycaps change 'cause they're mini-screens.
-Yeah, and they change based on the game, they change to the World of Warcraft font, they change-- it was--
-Where did that come from?
-I'm telling you, in our control room in the back, heads exploded when we had that onstage.
-We're still cleaning the walls, it's a mess.
-We really are.
Alright.
Here we are, finally, at the final and most highly coveted of the 2011 Best of CES Awards, the Best of Show.
This is the device or technology that our editors said was the most important, the most thrilling, the category leading, intriguing, of the entire Consumer Electronic Show.
-That's right, and this year's vote, seriously, was among our editors' closest ever, not just at this show but of all the awards that we've done this year as the official awards of CES.
We'll save the debate out in our edit trailer with the big CNET balloon over it there, could best be described as, what?
Lively.
-Yeah.
-At the very least.
-Lively, which means screaming and possibly scratching and hair pulling.
-Throwing netbooks, all kinds of cool stuff.
-Yep.
-That, more than anything, speaks to the caliber of the products we saw this year at CES, really a big come-up kind of year as you felt in the vibe and the energy around here, but this next product that we're about to reveal is the one that edged out the rest.
-The winner of the 2011 Best of CES Best of Show Award is...
-What do you think?
-What do you think?
Guesses?
Maybe.
-It is.
-It is.
The Motorola Xoom.
No question that tablet wowed the show.
-Come on up, Motorola.
You get to hit the stage, get your award--
-That's right, all the way up here to get your award.
-Tell us what's up.
Now, this was such a home run on so many fronts, this particular product.
-Congratulations, you're so welcome.
Can you hold those both at the same time?
-Tell us a little bit about your vision for a tablet here and let's face it, the big dogs in Cupertino loom large.
What was your idea of going after them with this product?
What is the secret sauce you're trying to put together?
-This is the-- this is really the first generation of tablets that is really designed,
with the UI, that has been thought for tablets and thought--
-Android 3 Honeycomb.
-Android 3, that's the Honeycomb, the first device that goes out with this.
I'm very honored.
I'm very thankful to the [unk] team.
It's a great reward for the group of employees who've been working two years, very hard, to actually restart--
-You've recently recast Motorola as a corporation.
-We have, exactly.
It's a new start for the company.
On Tuesday, we started as Motorola Mobility, just a new company, and--
-This isn't a bad way to start.
-This award--
-Now, you had an okay show.
-You had an okay show.
-Thank you very much, and these-- just for the group of employees, it's really great.
It's been rewarding, the great recognition of all their thoughts.
The project teams, the ATRIX 4G and the Xoom project teams, this is just, you know, immense and thank you, thank you all very much.
Thank you also for the Motorola people who went on this show in supporting these products and these launches.
It's really great.
-Very good.
-Thank you so much.
-Good to see Motorola.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations.
-Congratulations again.
This is for you.
-Thank you.
-Let's have a hand for Motorola, Best of Show is a big deal, folks.
Okay.
Now that wraps up CNET's 2011 Best of CES Awards.
Congratulations to all our winners.
Give a hand for all of them, please.
And thank you to everybody in the CNET community for your votes from the People's Voice category and we'll see you all back here in Las Vegas next year.
last bit of housekeeping, I want all the winners to come on up in front of our stage right here for the all-winner photo op.
Come on in, everyone's who's got a trophy.
-Alright, don't go anywhere.
Don't go anywhere.
-Come right up here in front of the stage, the official all-winner photo op right here in front of the CNET stage and we'll see you guys next year.
-Nice, display those beautiful trophies.
Bye, everyone.
-Bye, folks.
