My Favorite Things from CES

This was my first time attending CES (Consumer Electronics Show) – the massive tech trade show held each year in Las Vegas. My husband has been going for years and I can’t believe I’ve been missing so much. The show is only open to people in the tech industry and we have a videography business (okay, my husband has a videography business). I could have gone as a media representative due to my work in social media but I really just wanted to go as an observer and experience the show without all the media expectations.

CES is overwhelming. The sheer amount of tech companies that are represented is enormous. There is everything from the largest companies to the smallest start-ups and everyone wants you to know what their newest products are all about. I didn’t have an entire week to spend so I had to make the most of the time I had. I went through the halls pretty quickly because I wanted to get a good feel for the entire scope of the show. I am going back for sure next year and spending much more time. There is so much to see and do.

I wanted to share some of my favorite things from CES this year. I am ALL about anything vintage or retro so you’ll see a lot of that below. So much of this brought me back to my childhood… and they DO say that everything old is new again.

The one thing I told my husband that I had to have was this retro Crosley turntable.

I think it’s time to unpack my box of records that I have stored somewhere in the garage and see if they are too warped after all these years to even be able to play anymore. I’ve always loved the idea of a record player… had one in my room when I was a kid and buying 45’s was everything when I was my kids’ age. Sure, the sound isn’t as good as digital, but there is a deep-rooted nostalgia for me about playing an actual vinyl record. This one has a gorgeous wood base and it’s $179.95 which is a great deal for something that is not only useful but is also a statement piece. Unfortunately, these aren’t sold in stores (turntables like this aren’t a big seller) but you can get it from the Crosley Radio website.

Some other ones that were simply stunning:

In keeping with the retro theme, I’m thinking I need to buy a Victrola retro radio to go with my retro record player.

Pretty awesome, isn’t it? It’s a simple clock radio but I love the vintage feel of it and it would be beautiful next to my bed. For $49.99 I think it’s a bargain for something that has so much character.

Victrola also sells these fun desktop jukeboxes with CD players for $99.99. Wish I had known about these before I bought my kids gifts this past December.

We were walking around trying to find some of the newer televisions when I came across this display and probably bumped into a bunch of people trying to make my way over to see. HELLO KITTY! I can’t believe they make hair dryers and straighteners. Why did I not know this????

Have I spent all my money yet?

I’m pretty sure I passed a few celebrities but I was focused on the brands and products and wasn’t paying too much attention. We saw a photo shoot with someone who looked really familiar – I think he was a musician, but I couldn’t place him. Darn it! We did, however, come across Cat Cora and the food geek in me freaked out a little.

Cat was doing a cooking demonstration for Gourmia, maker of small cooking appliances. Some of these products are really fabulous… and they work with Google Assistant! How cool!

I think the highlight of CES for us was really all the drones we got to see. My husband and daughter love drones and we spent quite a bit of time in the drone section of the show talking with the brand reps.

And it wouldn’t be a tech show if we didn’t try out some of the hundreds (thousands) of earphones on display.

Okay, back to retro.

My kids are crazy about Polaroid cameras and they all have the mini ones in their favorite colors. These newer (older) models come in a bunch of fun colors too and totally remind me of the ones I had as a kid. Obviously, I had to take a photo of the neon green one (Lauryn’s favorite color).

Should we also talk about the 3-D printers? Polaroid has one of those too.

We’ve been looking into home 3-D printers since Amanda has been using them at school in her engineering classes. She really wants one and they are definitely more compact and affordable than ever before. One day, we’ll all have 3-D printers at home. This technology just blows me away.

Okay, so along the lines of 3-D printing, one of the most innovative things I saw at the show was this funny looking desk-type printer that is actually a 2.5D printer called Mofrel by Casio. What is 2.5D printing? So glad you asked. In a nutshell, it is color and texture printing on a flat surface, making it different than 3D. Say you want to get a feel for how fabric would look like on clothes or products… you can actually print that color/texture and try it out without spending the money on printing up actual fabric samples. Seriously… this is totally cool!

I kind of wish I was back working in a design firm so I can use one of these.

Our next stop was to look at the new camera equipment. I had purchased a Sony A6000 last year, one of their mirrorless cameras. This year, they were promoting their A6500. It’s a great camera but then I saw the new Canon lenses and started missing my old DLSR. A Canon was my very first DLSR and I loved it to death. I don’t even remember what happened to it but I’ve since had a Nikon that I wasn’t enthralled with… and now the Sony. Still haven’t found my dream camera… but I’m still looking.

I really did like this Canon printer, though. The Selphy CP1300 prints beautiful photos (the best of a small consumer printer that I’ve seen). And you can print a variety of sizes, up to 4 x 6. I would love to have one of these at home since I’m finding that I really need to print an actual photo every now and then.

Ready for more?

Another incredible product we were oohing and aahing over was this one. It’s an alternative (kind of) to 3D printing… a wood pen. There is some kind of wood filament in this pen that is liquid and lets you actually “write” in 3D… with real wood finishes. It’s kind of crazy and kind of incredible… and it’s really geared towards professional designers and engineers. Polaroid isn’t offering this for sale here in the United States (yet). Not sure why but they really need to bring this here soon.

Getting tired? The last product I’m going to show you made me laugh… and think. It’s a Flexispot ergonomic exercise bike called the Deskcise Pro V9. This is an exercise bike with an attached desk so you can widdle down your middle while getting your work done. I was skeptical at first… who wants to work and exercise at the same time? Well, it was actually fun to do… and when you are focused on work, you just kind of keep peddling without giving it much thought. It’s quite a brilliant idea, really. What do you think? Should I get one?

It was a really long day… topped off by Southwest canceling our return flight. We managed to get on an earlier flight, thank goodness. I do wish I had more time to spend at CES this year… but there is always next year.