1) While we were there, Mike pointed out the "Chinatown" hidden away in the North Hall - an international section with mostly Taiwanese and PRC vendors. Josh, from the swarm scholarship group, pointed out that this spatial arrangement echoes the North American view of technology production: Microsoft, LG, Intel and other large companies in the Central Hall, with the small Asian OEMs and manufacturers that drive the electronics industry relatively invisible.
2) I also went to the Adult Xpo (just down the hall at the Sands). Funny how CES had thousands of devices with different functionality that all managed to look essentially the same, while the Xpo had thousands of devices with identical (ahem) functionality that managed to look vibrantly (ahem) different.
3) Also interesting: the way that Nokia and other NFC groups promote touch as an interface mechanism, while the Zigbee and Zwave folks (also selling short-range wireless) were pushing the advantages of remote control. Most of the NFC products I saw were demo'd on public interaction scenarios (ie, like getting NextBus info by touching a bus map), while the Zigbee/Zwave scenarios were domestic (remote control for your sprinkler system! Your lights! Your kids!). There's something there I need to think through - something beyond the basic ironies of promoting closeness and touching in public and promoting distance and remote interaction in the home.
