That's "Booth Babes" in French. Jason Jacobs of TechwareLabs appeared to spend most of CES taking pics of the wide variety of Booth Babes at the event. What some people will do for a paycheck.

Just click on these orange-attired ladies here to see our own selection of Jason's photos, presented in our own special slideshow format. Of course, if you feel you've got to see all the photos, just click here.

Finish What You Start...

Monday again people, so you know we have to bring you a new episode of the ESH podcast. Like the many, many episodes that have come before it this one is chock full of goody goodness.

In this weeks episode of the podcast Pandalicious shares her take on the TokyoPop manga King of Thorn while NinJaSistah shares some of the HDTV tech that made an impression on her at this years' CES tradeshow. From the 1.5 inch thick Hitachi TV to Sony's pricey OLED and back round to realistic manga characters, we cover a bit of it all this week.

If you need a better idea of what we cover in this episode, here is the list of the rejected episode titles:

• Parenthetical Notation Will Keep You Legal
• Macs Travel In Packs
• You Can't Take All 42 Inches of My TV
• Who Will Pay $2500 For 11 Inches
• You Can't Be An Artist If You Suck
• Blue Hair And Gold Eyes Are Just Wrong
• The Bronchitasaur? Now We Know Why They All Died
• Marko Owen Is Not A New Swimming Pool Game
• Don't Worry, There's More String On Aisle 5
• Whiney Is My Kryptonite
• Bill Gates Is Becoming A Charity Pimp
• Nature Whoops Sciences' Ass, Everytime
• and
• It's Not The Size of Your LCD, But How You Use It

Grab your mornin' cup of joe and take a listen to ESH podcast episode 82: Went To CES and Partied Like A Lohan!

Finish What You Start...

I am one exhausted NinJa. I figured I'd post this up for you guys, just in case you don't have time to peruse any other website [on the planet] other than ESH.

Now, I've made no bones about the fact that I did not like Soul Calibur Legends, but let me tell you a bit about my day yesterday

NamcoSo, I was hangin out with the folks from All Games Interactive [who I still think are some of the most passionate and just plainly put "cool" people to kick it with] when they mention they are heading over to the Namco event at 4pm. Me, I didn't even know that Namco Bandai was even having an event, so I asked if they wouldn't mind if I tagged along. Cool ass peeps they are, they say the more the merrier... so off we go.

I [of course] get in, and lo and behold we are bearing witness to a preview of the Soul Calibur 4 game. Not only a trailer demo, but some hordeurves, drinks, and playable early demo that was, for lack of better vocabulary: pretty promising. By that I mean that while the visual looked beautiful [again, for an early build] it wasn't extremely polished. While the character detail has been kicked up quite a few notches, it didn't exactly scream next gen. BioShock visual has some one ups on this demo, but after playing through that damned SC Legends, this build held with it the promise of a better tomorrow.

The fight system has been revised to just the face buttons of your controller: PS3 or XB360. The demos we played were XB360 systems. No bumper or trigger pulling here folks, just straight up Virtual Fighter style guard, punch, kick, grab. As a self proclaimed brawler fanatic, I gotta say I'm feeling better about the overall direction that SC is heading in.

Then you add the fact that Vader will be on the PS3 and Yoda on the XB360 as unlockables and I am nearly FREAKIN' sold on it people. I'm going to try to contain my inner fan-girl until I get to play with more than three characters but as I said before, pretty promising.

Don't believe me? Peep the vid!

p.s. If ESH is the only website you use than I less than three you majorly

Finish What You Start...

You may not know about B&o, but I grew up with my father idolizing them and the products they made. He dreamed about owning some of their home stereo equipment and would keep some of their catalog pages like pinup pictures in his locker at work.

As I've gotten older and taken a deeper look at their products, I like my father before me have become infatuated with B&o.

I was lucky enough this year to attend B&o's small press event at the Venetian Hotel, and the word "impressed" does not begin to convey how I felt about the products they were demo-ing. Now before I continue, this is not a love song to B&o. Some of the stuff they were showing off really made no sense to me as viable products for those of us in the peanut gallery. While I loved their $1300 cell phone, it's not really viable as a real purchase option for me, or most of the people I know. But, B&o is definitely working towards entering a broader market with the introduction on the 32 inch BeoVision 8.

Retailing for $3950, this tv is by far not for the broke or those hovering around the brink, but if you want a tv that has truly amazing sound, a built in downward firing subwoofer built in that features a style truly all it's own you should really check this system out. With a system from B&o, you enter into a patnershi for the life of your device. B&o is known for it's commitment to service and quality of product that I have never seen from any other company.

I'll have some pictures for you soon.

Finish What You Start...

When it comes to great looking high fashion tech accessory cases you can have practical but ugly, great design but not really useful or you can get both great design and practicality but you are not going to get both without paying big bucks.

As a result we end up with mediocre bags that fit are needs but really were made with the supposed "hip" business men in mind... but no more Golla's new spring collection fills our particle side as well as having a mean design sense. They make every thing from bags for your phones and ipods to laptop sleeves and backpacks. The company is based in Finland and all of there products have a great European style to them yet the designers have thought about all the ways people are going to be using there technology.

Music Bags
The music bags really stood out to me because while they were design with the mp3 player in mind they really can be for a variety of devices from you phone to camera. There are multiple pockets where you can slip in an ID or metro card and there is even a great zipper pocket on the back so you can put items you want to be really secure. They have also opted to not do a belt clip in favor of a small carabineers which I think will led it's self to be more versatile.

Backpacks
Golla also introduced new colors with both males and females in mind for there backpack collection. For anyone who has had to dig through there bag trying to find that one item that you swear you had with you only for it get lost in the dark pit then this is the bag for you. The back compartment is for you laptop but unlike conventional backpacks you load your computer from the side making it so much easier to fit everything. The second compartment where I at lease end to just dump everything else into has see-through zipper compartments so you can put everything into it perspective place. But just in case you forget where you put it you phone those see-though pocket come in handy.

So the final part where can you get these bags? Depending on what you are looking for there are a variety of places from cellular store like AT&T Wireless for the phone and music bags to Target for the laptop sleeves and backpacks. While the holidays are over and we are all strapped a little for cash now you can think of these are part of your New Years resolution to get organized.

Posted by FreeLoader Megwin

Finish What You Start...

With Warner announcing that they will be moving from title releases on both high definition formats to [eventually] just Blu-Ray, you have to imagine that the HD DVD camp feels a little defeated.

And when I went by their booth here at CES, they sure looked that way. I strolled up to the booth late afternoon and my first impression before I spoke to anyone was, "wow, you look like you need a drink." I'm sure that every journalist that hit the South Hall show floor on Monday made a beeline over to their booth to question every representative about the announcements, but when I got there I just hung back for a moment. I gathered my thoughts and questions and then headed over to the booth.

I could tell that the guy I was heading toward at the booth caught a glimpse of my badge before I was in earshot as his smile started to fade away. When I finally reached him [foot is still a bit gimpy so I don't move too fast yet] after a short introduction I made my first statement: I'm not going to ask that question. the look of stunned amazement and then relief that came over his face was priceless. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I thought better of it. Besides I'm lazy.

Anyways, when he realized I was serious, a smile returned to his face and he began his spiel on HD-DVD. He was well informed about the product he was representing, and honestly believed that HD-DVD had a viable future, and I was happy to let him believe that. Who am I to tell him Santa isn't real and the Easter Bunny is a lie made up by candy companies? Nobody, that's who. I mean I had a lot of questions around the eminent demise of HD-DVD? Questions like, "now that nearly 70 percent of all feature length film studio work as well as television content will be moving to Blu-Ray exclusively, how do you [the HD DVD camp] plan to revitalize your format in hopes of staying alive? How long do you think the HD DVD format will survive if other content providers jump ship? Which in hindsight would have been a great question to ask as the new rumor about Paramount jumping to the Blu-Ray only ship swirls 'round the interweb.

But one of those thoughts that I gathered as I was walking up to the guy was this guy looks like he needs a stiff drink desperately. And while I couldn't give him a drink, I could give him a break. He's got three more days of dealing with awkward question, oppressive journalists looking for sound-bytes, and a never ending swarm of people looking to get free movie discs before they disappear forever. The least I can do is give this guy a break for 30 minutes and let him give the speech that he's rehearsed umpteen million times before getting to Vegas. So that's what I did.

At the end of the tour, I looked him dead in the eye, thanked him for his time and the information. I gave him my card, and went on my merry way. Good deed for the day done. But in case you missed it, HD-DVD = Dead. Especially if Paramount goes exclusive to Blu-Ray. It would leave Toshiba and Universal as the last pair standing and that just isn't enough to make it moving forward. It's sad, because HD-DVD is not a bad format, but when the high definition development camp got split with Sony saying, "we'll roll our own thanks," that it was only a matter of time before bad things happened.

I don't want you to be sad though, so here's a picture of a model of Bumblebee from the Transformers movie.

Finish What You Start...

While there are thousands of great new tech gadgets being showcased at CES this week what has caught my eye is all of the fun cases out there to hold and organized all those gadgets. It is almost an overload of sparkling logo branded cases... so I am going to endeavor to select some of the more fun or exciting new products.

Crocs + Cell Phone Cases?
We are going to get it started with one of the most bizarre new accessories out there the Crocs Phone Case. The makers of those ugly, yet oh so popular shoes have decided that the shoe market is not enough and have created a phone holder. Now I am venomously apposed to the shoes some how the combination between the color and the shape always reminds me of clown shoes. And yet somehow I am kind of drawn to them as phone cases, minis the charms of course. The cases are made out of the same materials as the famed shoes, and sport a very sturdy belt clip. The only really drawback that I can see in the design is the flimsy plastic that the ID card slot is being made out of... after sliding those cards in and out a few times and that thing is toast. I would expect to see young children and soccer mom's alike sporting these babies in the near future.

Embracing Design...
While much of what Belkin has come out with is what you come to expect from them sleek urban design that while nice done not always scream I need to have. This year there were a few items that did catch my eye. In the iPhone/iPod case area much of what they have are just a variation on there same theme just in new spring colors. Though the new Nike-esk Micro Grip looks great though it only comes in lavender and smoke gray. Belkin was also featuring new laptop bags and the Ceylon Messenger Bag stands out as a must have for this spring. It comes in a variety of both boy and girl friendly colors and sports a cellphone case on the strap. The best part is that it is only going to retail for around $50 so that is not so bad is you are looking new look.

Posted By FreeLoader Megwin

Finish What You Start...

I've descended on CES Day 1 and while it doesn't take up anymore space than last year, it feels bigger somehow. I don't know if it is because there are more press kits, or little swag goodies being given away, but it definitely feels different.

The one thing I keep overhearing as I walk through the halls, the actual "real" press loves the fact that there's the new Blogger designation for press, and that bloggers are completely separate from them. We have our own little press lounges and we have our own little luncheon rooms. And there are definitely a lot of bloggers here. We're easy to spot because we're in our kick-it clothes, as opposed to full suits and adultware.

But back to tech stuff. The big push this year, from what I've seen so far, is a focus on consumer lifestyle. While the technology is getting a big push -- and I'll have more on that in the coming days -- what I'm seeing more is a focus on the style of consumer devices to match an individual style more than additional functions on machines.

Take Philips, for example, their focus is on making more gorgeous-looking tech devices, like their new Aurea line, which looks like an iMac. Actually, it looks damn much like an iMac (see below). But they haven't brought their prices down. You'll still be paying top dollar for a TV that has all the buzzwords you want -- 1080p, multiple inputs, the things you come to expect from new LCD TVs.

But the main thing is that it is so overwhelming. No one's been able to make their devices stand head and shoulders above anyone else's -- which surprises me, but then again, it's just day 1. It's very possible that this will change before the show ends Thursday. I just don't know.

Oh yeah, and the last thing? There are way too many accessories for iPods and iPhones. There's no way to start a comparison, but I'm going to give it the college try.

So more is coming soon -- and maybe with pictures.

Finish What You Start...

I landed [after a bit of a delay] in Las Vegas this morning, and after enduring the LONGEST TAXI CAB LINE EVER, I was able to get over to the Philips Press conference.

This year's event is not much more different than last years. The chairs were still covered with white slip covers giving the illusion of being at a wedding reception. There was a lot of talking heads, pumping up the new partnerships here and there. [Disney being one new Philips partnership meaning Philips has jumped onto the Blu-Ray bandwagon and RealNetworks being the other.]

No, the thing that I came away from the event with was the direct marketing to women that Philips seems dead intent on pushing to it's limits. In what was nearly a "did I really just see/hear that" moment, I watched as Stewart Muller Sr. VP US Sales at Philips explained to me how women shop and what we want. According to Mr. Muller, we want heart shaped Swarovski crystal encrusted USB pendants, and earbuds. Oh yeah, they "deliver high quality sound... and look great too!" Blah Blah.

Now, I'm a woman, and even I [along with the room full of nearly all male journalist who scoffed at these announcements loudly with almost with childlike glee] had to kinda laugh to myself on this one.

Philips 2008 - Pretty Pretty Princess Tech!

Finish What You Start...

You know you want it, the new episode of the Electric Sista Hood podcast... hurrah!

In this episode of the podcast Pandalicious and NinJaSistah talk about the super sweet, super saccharine anime series SuperGals and it's ability to pick you up when you are down then proceed to break down some of the super sweet things electronic in nature from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Luckily for you what happened in Vegas, didn't stay there.

So pick up the new podcast episode and share in the joy... and don't forget to bring a towel!

Finish What You Start...

Ok, so I'm at CES right, sitting in one of the chillout rooms taking a break and there are these two dudes talking. I try not to eavesdrop, but I can't help myself. One guy [I'mma call him Jed] Jed starts in on the heavy impress on the second dude.

Why am I writing about this here? Because Jed was explaining to dude two [I'mma call him Dave] how awesome it is to play Guitar Hero on his PS3. Now we all know, that until Nyko releases their PS3 Play Adapter, using the custom guitar controller to play GH or GH2 is impossible. She no workie cap'n. So I initially let Jed go on with his piece trying to make Dave think he's cool and up on thangs, but he's insistant that wailing on the guitar is great, and that the response time is so much better now on the PS3 at which point I can no longer contain myself. I have to say something. But what?

Do I completely out this guy for being a douche bag liar to Dave and ruin his chances to look like a hip dude? Do I keep my mouth shut and allow Jed to go on being a lying liar when I know the hard that his untruths can do? Dilemma, dilemma. I tell myself to just focus on the free danish and let Jed to to impress the hell out of Dave. What harm can it do me right? So I start to ignore them again and try to enjoy the chillout spot. But the guy keeps going on and on and on and on about how great GH is now that's it's on Blu-Ray [which it ain't] and how cool the controller is and finally the camels back is broken. NinJa opens up her big yap and proceeds to [ever so gently] rip this guy a new one. No, the guitar controller can't work on a PS3 but the regular controller can. The game itself is not yet on Blu-Ray but Harmonix is working on a fix. Jed goes, "Oh really? Huh." Dave now looks Jed up and down and all his credibility is gone. And me, I now get the rest of the "what do you know about the PS3" questions.

Yes, NinJaSistah... douche bag buster since 1989.

Finish What You Start...

I did, and dude it sounded AWESOME. I've just come from the Klipsch booth and I have to say the home theater setup I played with may be one of the sweetest little things I've seen yet. [today that is, ;)]

This right here is sleek as hell and has more response than it should. The sound is like you would expect from Klipsch, clear, sweet, and with enough boom to fill up your room. This is really surprising given the fact that the setup is a 2.1 system. The one thing I have learned from all the audio that I have been listening to is that 5.1 can be overrated. Bear with me now. I always thought that 5.1 or even 7.1 was the holy grail of home theater setups. I want to be bombarded with a wall of sound, a wall so dense that when I talk trash to the poser that my player character is currently tbaggin' and can almost feel his pain. Taste my nutz you bastid!

Sorry, that wasn't called for. I shall move on.

I hit the show floor this morning with a plan: to dive into home audio and not come up for air until I hit some speakers solution that didn't kill my wallet but might lead to my becoming deaf. And while the best "blow your ass out of the water" setup comes from a company called Earthquake [they started in car audio] it unfortunately was a bit more the type of product that would appear in some rap dudes place on MTV Cribs and not in my tiny little apartment in VA. No, the better options that I found come from Klipsch and possibly a company called Paradigm. I only a small preview at the Cinema 5.1 home theater in a box from Paradigm so I can't speak on just how bad it is, but the Klipsch set I did play with on the floor and I can tell you honestly: It doesn't suck.

Now, it ain't cheap [coming in at $1299] but if you already dropped a grand on gaming systems you might as well get an easy to configure, booming bass havin', sleek looking, small footprint using system from Klipsch. It by far has the richest sounding 2.1 speaker setup that I have seen. Oh yeah, if you know what it means, the subwoofer is class D and fires downward.

Drool rags at the ready.

Finish What You Start...

Ok, I've pulled myself back from the brink of drunkitude once again to bring you the highlights of my day on the CES trade show floor, and by far I have to tell you Razer really got my attention today folks.

To be fair, it was a split between Razer and the Frag Dolls... but I only got a few seconds with the dolls and about an hour with Razer so they "won" the competition.

In case you didn't know, Razer does high end gaming peripherals... and I do mean high end. Everything I saw today had the best response times, well thought out components and features that a gamer could want or need. The Tarantula keyboard has extra banks of keys on both the left and right side [L1-L5 and R1-R5] that you the user can program all yer favorite macros into. You can play with the delay so that you space effects out over a second or fraction there of. No longer must you search or hunt for your shaman's totems... program em' and be done with it, because it's game time!

The most impressive thing that I saw today actually wasn't functioning. Razer has been hard at work on a new speaker system that [once you have a unit not missing the power cable] may damn near eliminate the speaker sound bounce problem without sacrificing look or audio quality. The Mako speaker system may just be a dynamo in pimps clothing if it actually provides the kind of audio quality that Razer president Robert Krakoff seemed genuinely sad not to be able to show me. The satellites [I use the term loosely because I have nothing else that I can call them for now] feature downward firing sound to a circular opening and plate. Sound flows out in 360 degrees so you don't have to. No more pointing speakers directly at yourself, the sound will fill up around you making games sound a little more real and intense. Hopefully I can swing by Razer's booth again tomorrow to actually test them out because I may need me some new speakers!

The last thing that I looked at from Razer today was their new 1800dpi infrared mouse. This thing looks and feels the balls. I should have one in for review shortly, so I'll hold off my final verdict until I've put the thing through it's paces... but the silicone/rubbery membrane type texture of mouse "buttons" alone made me want to get all freaky deaky on some PC games... and y'all know how I don't do that.

All in all my time with Razer today made me realize that they aren't bullshitting when they say "by gamers. for gamers." And for that reason alone they will always get my full attention from now on.

Finish What You Start...

Ok, first day in, and I have stuff to share people. Get your wallets ready, find all the people that owe you money because you're going to need to start saving now if you want to build that bomb ass entertainment rig soon.

I write this after leaving the Philips press conference and I have to say I was impressed. Not just because they announced larger ambiLight LCD TV's, [57 inchers on the way y'all] but because of the new ambiSound slimline bar format surround sound solution and the amBX game immersion solution, and it looks sweet.

The focus for today as I have yet to have my one on one with the Philips folks will be the amBX device. Available "soonish" amBX is a sight, sound, and feel peripheral that you can attach to your PC to take your gaming to the next level. amBX is a peripheral system that consists of the standard speakers and subwoofers that we've all come to know and love, but it then takes a step forward by including fans that can [and will] blow air at the users depending on conditions in the game. Concussion bomb goes off, you feel a heavy breeze blow at you and feel like you should duck in order to avoid virtual debris. Sneaking up on a door that might lead outside? A soft breeze might blow gently in your direction to indicate air on the other side of the door. amBX also includes a rumble wrist band that the user wears and rumble feature, and booming bass with little to no distortion.

What I find most interesting about amBX is that it currently only works with PC gaming with games that have been coded to send the system the proper cues to rumble/blow you... [Hehe, I said it's going to blow you] but the rep that I spoke with after the conference was quick to correct my question and stress that it "currently" works with PC gaming setups. So does that mean that Philips amBX may be the way you get rumble features [and them some] back on the PS3 in the future?

Stay tuned!

Finish What You Start...

I know the posting from me has been a little lax of late. I've been doing that nasty "day job" thing in order to pay off the AMEX that I put my Wii and PS3 bundles on, but I'm back y'all... just in time to head off to CES!

As I type this, I prepare my luggage for it's inaugural "covering [insert event name here] for ESH" trip. Yes, my journey to Las Vegas will be my first actual outing covering an event for ESH. Be on the lookout starting next Monday for tidbits, news breaks, and all around cool ass stuff coming from me and Evermore next week.

For those of you not in the know CES is the Consumer Electronics Show. It's the tradeshow that all the big boys, runts, and "tall for their age" electronics manufacturers descend upon in order to reveal their new products for the regular consumer at. Yes, CES can be the show that starts the buzz that becomes hype and then consumer demand that requires manufacturers supply. CES is the real consumermas... and we'll be there!

I'm hoping to see some bomb ass gaming computers, home theater setups, gaming peripherals, A/V racks, all the things you need to assemble the most awesome, badass, mega, uber, colossal entertainment center this side of Skywalker Ranch. Yeah, you heard me. I'm also looking forward to visiting the video games section of the show. Sony, Blizzard, Aspyr, and Microsoft are going to be there, so I'm hoping that I can bend them to the will of hooking a sistah up so she, in turn, may hook you up. Social networking at it's purest form baby!

So what are you guys interested in seeing or hearing about? Hit us up, and let me know... I'll try to get around to it while I'm in Vegas. MMMMM, nearly free trip to Vegas... [salvates Homer Simpson style]

Finish What You Start...