What do you get when you mix Elvis’ 75^th birthday, 1,000s of tech geeks and gambling? (Cue John Favreau and Vince Vaughn) “Vegas baby, Vegas!” It’s an annual tradition for me – visit mom for her birthday, celebrate Elvis’, hit up Monster Cable’s concert and of course check out all the great new ‘toys’ at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). A little slice of heaven, really. This year was no exception, lots of new products and excitement. As part tech geek and part experience designer, here’s my take on this year’s CES…

My Faves from CES 2010

If you’ve never been to CES, love cutting edge technology, and enjoy some of the best people watching on the planet, then what the hell are you doing? Don’t miss CES. It’s your chance to see the widest range of computer and electronic gadgetry in the country, let alone the world. Some of my favorites this year included:

• 3D TVs – A huge hit. It was everywhere, as if one TV manufacturer leaked it to another and they all had it. After seeing a movie like Avatar in 3D, I’m psyched about the possibilities for my home theater. CNET has a great overview of the 3D TVs featured. Many of the prices still TBD, but expect them to be pricey and need to buy a variety of accessories (like glasses).
• iPhone Controlled Helicopter – What!? Yes, an iPhone app that uses many of the device’s features to control a toy helicopter. Probably one of the coolest toys I’ve seen in a long time and I’m not even into remote controlled cars/helicopters. Check out more of the Parrot AR.Drone.
• Power Over WiFi – Imagine a world where you never have to charge your cell phone or laptop again. It just recharges from existing wireless connections in the area, and you don’t even have to be connected to those wireless hot spots. Awesome, I know. Even non-geeks can appreciate this. Oh, and it’s coming this summer. Check out RCA’s Airnergy on Engadget.
• Intel’s Processing Power – We’ve all seen the Intel commercials. Personally, I’ve never found their marketing pitches and concept prototypes to be that engaging. Until now. This multi-touch wall with live data feed was INCREDIBLE. You have to see it to believe it.
• Celebrity Star Power Sells (or at least companies are betting on it) – From Lady Gaga being named a Creative Director of special projects and inventions at Polaroid to seemingly every artist now getting their own tweaked out headphones from Monster Cable, there were celebs everywhere. I’m not convinced that celeb power will ultimately sell more product over great quality and fair price, but cool nonetheless. If they’re smart, they’ll figure out a way to combine them.

The Impact of CES on an Experience Designer

For experience designers, the technology at this year’s CES provided signs as to the tremendous impact on what and how we design for devices and user interfaces in the next few years. The principles of information architecture, interaction design, usability and visual design will be stretched, pulled apart and put back together again. We’ll have to make strategic experience design decisions as to what user interfaces look like, or perhaps even how their defined and how they reveal information using things like user action/gesture and environment context. Add in content that’s streaming to more and more devices each day from the far reaching corners of the Internet, and we’re in for some awesome design challenges.

Well, there you have it, “… just a hunk, a hunk of…” good time this year at CES. Until next year!