Best Of CES Awards 2009 Video

Best Of CES Awards 2009 Video Transcript

[ Music ] ^M00:00:05

>> Hello everybody, and welcome to the pinnacle event of CES 2009. It's the Best of CES awards. I'm Brian Cooley, editor at large for CNET.com. We are so glad you're here to join us today. Now, we put this show into focus. These, by the way, are the official awards of the Consumer Electronic Show, not just CNET's awards. These are the awards in conjunction with the CEA and awarded by CNET's editors to really put this show into perspective and decide who's best, who's at the top of the stack. Now, we're gonna be giving awards in 10 categories, various product categories. And there's also going to be a People's Voice Award. That one's interesting because it has nothing to do with us in the official side. It's all of you and CNET's users who have voted online. And of course, the ultimate honor, it's the Best in Show. That is given to one product that is the best of every single thing we have seen here in these frenetic days on the floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Now, the action takes place in two zones. Here, at the awards announcement table and also back at the winners' circle, which is there to the rear of the CNET Live stage here at the Las Vegas Convention Center. So you'll be seeing action going on in two places. As I announce winners, the companies will send their representatives to the table there to receive their honor, receive their award, and get the evidence that they can show the world that they make the best product of its breed. Now, without any further ado, let's begin the Best of CES awards. All right folks, the first category that is driving some real change in what we see here at CES. ^M00:01:34 [ Music ] ^M00:01:37 That's right. It's car technology. Navigation, communication, entertainment, Internet connectivity all were part of the flavor of car tech here at CES 2009. Let's recap the nominees it the category of car technology. And they were AT&T's CruiseCast, Ford Sync, version three, and the third nominee, Gracenote Voxonic CarStars. And the winner for the best of CES in the car tech category is -- ^M00:02:07 [ Music ] ^M00:02:10 -- Gracenote Voxonic CarStars. ^M00:02:12 [ Music and screaming ] ^M00:02:14 Congratulations on that one. A very innovative technology, a flashy, innovative interface. Their music station technology lets you really get your arms around a huge variety of music. And an innovative avatar-based guide to the kinds of music you may want to listen to various types of moods and modes. All right, the next category for the Best of CES awards knows exactly where it's heading. ^M00:02:37 [ Music ] That's right, it's GPS, connectivity, live traffic, local information, and more intelligent routing, thanks to that information thief. Those were all keynote attributes this year in the category of GPS. Let's review the nominees for the Best of CES award in this category. ^M00:02:53 [Drum roll ] And they were Tom Tom Go 740 Live, Dual XNAV43HD, and Garmin's ecoRoute. And the winner for the Best of CES in the GPS category is -- ^M00:03:08 [ Music ] ^M00:03:10 -- give it to TomTom, the TomTom Go 740 Live. Congratulations to them. Report to the winner's circle. You belong there. We've seen connected GPS before, but this unit impressed us as finely getting all the elements right and perhaps kick starting a sector going forward from this CES. Our next category is one of those technologies that you can honestly call indispensable. That's right, cell phones and smartphones. And here at the show, we saw touchscreens, really inventive interfaces, connected services of all kinds, and some entirely new product types. They put their stamp on cell phones and smartphones at CES this year. Let's review the nominees in the cell phones and smartphones category. First, we have the Motorola Surf A3100, LG's Watch Phone, and the Palm Pre. And the winner in the Best of CES in the phones category is -- ^M00:04:05 [ Music ] ^M00:04:07 -- give it to Palm. Palm Pre takes it, Best of CES cell phones and smartphones. Palm very much on the comeback trail, it would seem. They have a web OS, multi-touch screen, slide out physical keyboard, and a very interesting interface. We'll be watching with great anticipation how that product does in the marketplace. Please report to the winner's circle, the Palm Team. Our next category is enjoying one of its most innovative years ever at CES. ^M00:04:32 [ Music ] ^M00:04:34 That's right. We're talking about computers and hardware. We saw machines of every size and type. New kinds of networking, new ways to think about form factor. It was a very interesting year for one of the more mature categories in consumer electronics. Let's review the nominees in the category of computers and hardware, D-Link's DIR-685 router, Sony's Vaio P Series Lifestyle PCs, and the HP Firebird with Voodoo DNA. And the Best of CES in the computers and hardware category goes to -- ^M00:05:08 [ Music ] ^M00:05:11 Sony Vaio P Series Lifestyle PC. Let's hear it for Sony, wide screen eight-inch display, completely different form factor, and all kinds of connectivity from 3G broadband to 802.11, and GPS built in, and of course, Blu-tooth technology. Report to the winner's circle Sony. The next category is again redefining how we capture an image. ^M00:05:34 [ Music ] ^M00:05:36 That's right, digital photo and video. What did we see? We saw Geo tagging. We saw wireless connectivity from the camera. And we saw a lot of still cameras that do high definition, 720P video right inside of that some device, photos and videos really moving along with this show. Let's review the nominees for photo and video. ^M00:05:54 [ Drum roll ] And they would be Casio's Exilim EX-FC100, Sony's Handycam HDR XR 520V, and the Sony Cybershot DSC G3. And the Best of CES in the photo and video category goes to -- ^M00:06:12 -- Sony, Sony Cybershot DSC G3, a Wi-Fi camera that CNET's editors believe finally got the combination right of integrating Wi-Fi, a high quality camera, and the functionality of the two. So congratulations to Sony. We've got a trophy waiting for you at the winner's circle. Our next categories all about fun, but the competition is no joke. ^M00:06:36 [ Music ] ^M00:06:38 That's right, gaming. We saw surround sound, 3D displays, completely new ways to think about controllers, and at the heart of the gaming category is, of course, innovation around the enjoyment. Let's review the nominees in the gaming category for the Best of CES award. And they were the Nyko Wand, Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision Technology, and the Psyko 5.1 surround-sound headsets. And the best of CES in gaming goes to -- ^M00:07:07 [ Music ] ^M00:07:10 Nyko Wand. It improves so much on the original Wii remote, in our editor's opinion, that it really is going to spawn a whole variety of accessories and ways to interface with the Nintendo Wii, with it's innovative transport technology. Nyko, we'll see you guys at the winner's circle. Our next category is all about sound, yes, but there are no earbuds involved. ^M00:07:33 [ Music ] ^M00:07:35 That's right. Home video -- home audio, I should say, wireless speakers that really rock. We saw Internet connected home theater units and players, AV receivers that can pull it all together with all the inputs and outputs we finally have and have always needed. That was the home audio category. Let's review the nominees. ^M00:07:51 [ Drum roll ] ^M00:07:52 First up, we have Samsung's HT-BD7200, Panasonic's SCZ-T1, and the Pioneer VSX-819H. And the winner, the Best of CES in the home audio category is -- ^M00:08:07 [ Music ] ^M00:08:09 -- Samsung HT-BD7200. Congratulations to Samsung. Winner's circle, please. Our next category is right at the center of the changing entertainment landscape. ^M00:08:23 [ Music ] ^M00:08:25 That's right. We're talking about home video, folks. Major footprint at CES. This year we saw Blu-ray with networking, DVRs with built-in technology for remote viewing, and putting the very best resolution into devices that can be taken on the go. That was home video. Let's review our nominees. ^M00:08:42 [ Drum roll ] ^M00:08:44 First, EchoStar's Slingloaded Hi-Definition DVR, LG's BD390, and the Panasonic DMP-D15. And the Best of CES in the home video category is -- ^M00:08:57 [ Music ] ^M00:09:00 There it goes. EchoStar Slingloaded Hi-Definition DVR. Congratulations. Let's get you guys to the winner's circle as well. A terabyte, hi-definition, and built in Slingbox remote viewing technology definitely wowed our editors. Our next category proves that there is a lot more than just the iPod line to think about when you go portable.' ^M00:09:23 [ Music ] ^M00:09:25 MP3 and video, the portable media players that we all love so much. We saw groundbreaking interfaces this year, new levels of integration of media and other devices, a tremendous amount of touchscreens everywhere. All of that made for a very interesting sector for MP3 and Video. So let's review the nominees that made us feel that way. ^M00:09:42 [ Drum roll ] First up, Samsung's P3, Sony W Series Walkman, and the iriver P7. And the best of CES in the MP3 and video category is Samsung P3. Three-inch, WQVGA display, innovative touchscreen interface, and sizes up to 32-gig of internal memory coming out first half of 2009. All right, folk, our next category is the one you simply cannot avoid here at CES. ^M00:10:15 [ Music ] ^M00:10:17 Of course, television. Was there any place you ever stood that you weren't surrounded by 50 of them? No. That's CES. We saw Internet connectivity, THX certification galore, and real innovation in not just the size and shape of the case, but also in the pricing, which is pretty nice for consumers. Let's review the nominees in the televisions category for Best of CES. We have the Panasonic G10 series, LG's PS80s, and the Vizio VF551 XVT television. And the best of CES in the television category is -- ^M00:10:52 [ Music ] ^M00:10:54 It's the Panasonic G10 series. THX certification, VieraCast Internet content service, Amazon video on demand, and this unit uses less than half the power of the previous models of the same type and size. So that's a very nice green angle on that one as well. Panasonic, congratulations. To the winner's circle, please. Now a category that is unique among all in the Best of CES awards. ^M00:11:19 [ Music ] ^M00:11:21 It's People's Voice, everybody. This was selected by you and the users on CNET.com, online voting for the past 24 hours. As of just minutes again, we had well over 4,000 votes that have come in over the same 30 products that I've just reviewed with you, all of those nominees, the same pool. And the winner of the People's Voice for CES 2009 is -- ^M00:11:42 [ Drum roll ] ^M00:11:45 The Palm Pre. Nice work. A double header for Palm this year. People's Voice goes to Palm for a very highly anticipated follow on to their Treo line. Now we come to the summit of the Best of CES awards for 2009. The award that every company here would love to take home, but that only one can. ^M00:12:07 [ Music ] ^M00:12:09 That's right. It's the Best in Show. Best in Show is the award. This transcends categories. The CNET editors, looking at all of the categories from 27,000 exhibitors, thousands of products. All the one's I've shown you and many more. And deciding which one transcends -- it really points the way for the exciting future of consumer electronics, regardless of category. And the winner of the CES 2009 Best of Show award is -- ^M00:12:35 [ Music ] ^M00:12:37 Palm Pre. A triple-header for Palm. That's pretty impressive. Let's have Palm onstage. We want to talk to our Best of CES winner. Who do we have from Palm? ^M00:12:50 [ Music ] ^M00:12:53 Palm Pre, of course, was highly anticipated going into this. Stefan Moss from Palm. Thank you for being with us.

>> All right. Thank you. Thank you very much.

>> Let me ask you -- come into this -- to the limelight here where you guys ought to be.

>> Thank you. I appreciate it. Glad to be back.

>> Yeah, I was gonna say "glad to be back" is kind of the theme here, isn't it?

>> That's right. We've been working really hard on this thing, and we're really excited to be back.

>> Now, give us the latest on availability of this device.

>> It's gonna be available the first half of 2009, and we're really excited about the product because it really brings everything together, your whole life.

>> What do I see in your hand right there.

>> So here's the Palm Pre.

>> There it is. This device is aimed where? Some devices are business. Some devices are consumer. Where are you gonna try and the needle?

>> Well, we're focused on bringing people's whole lives together with Palm synergy, really with layered calendars, layered context. People have this stuff all over the web. They've got their stuff in Facebook. They've got their contacts in Facebook. They've got their contacts in Outlook at work. They've got their calendars in Google. They've got their calendars at Outlook. So bringing it all together in one device that really brings it all together so you have everything together.

>> And just when I thought we'd seen every interface, you guys have come up with yet another one that looks really good.

>> That's right. We've really been focusing on a way to get everything on one device. And the key thing here is to be able to get multiple -- access to multiple views of your key things at one time. So for example, like a desktop, you can have multiple windows going at once. You can switch between applications on a dime, in what we call carts.

>> Yeah. [Inaudible] And may I personally think you for having a real keyboard in there. Thank you very much. Exactly, that's the key, when you hammer on messages, that's the way it goes.

>> That's a personal one for me. Stay right here Stephan. Can I have all of the winners of CES awards join me onstage right now. And I want to give them all a hand. Everybody, come on up or stay up. Join me here on stage. Ladies and Gentlemen, Let them know how much you appreciate the innovation and the hard work that they've been doing to really make CES so exciting and enjoyable to be part of. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Welcome. Congratulation. Go work. Chris, congratulations. Hi Josh. Congratulations. Let's hear it one more time, everybody. The award winners for the Best of CES 2009. ^M00:14:54 [ Applause and cheers ] ^M00:14:55 These are the leaders. ^M00:14:57 [ Music ] ^M00:15:06 Raise those awards up high, guys. Let them see them. ^M00:15:08 [ Music ] ^M00:15:18 All right, everybody. Thank you very much award winners. Thank you so much for joining us. Congratulations. Excellent work. And remember people; you can find all of this information, all -- ^E00:15:26