Tiger Direct PC Build competition at CES 2009

Last year I was invited by the Max Borges Agency to attend their Tiger Direct/CompUSA (they bought the trademark and domain name) PC building competition with many of my industry buddies in television, print and online media.  Jim Louderback from PC Magazine and Patrick Norton (now at Revision 3,) Tom Merritt from CNET and my old buddy Al Hernandez from Fox news were worthy competitors, along with the some 30 techsperts.

In 2008, my tower PC was built in lightning time, then I booted up Windows Vista.  This was my achilles heel.  The box was supposed to grab an IP address then ping a server, with sweet victory mine.  What wasn't worthy was my installation of Windows Vista.  It did not see the wireless adapter correctly, and therefor did not attach to the router and grab and IP.  A quick reboot found the adapter and attached, but not before a hot-on-my-heels competitor pinged the server before me!

In 2009 it was supposed to be different.  I was going to take the championship and donate $10k to my charity.  But with the constant change in schedules that make up CES, I was unable to make it to the race in time; due to a last minute request for me to demonstrate the G4 TV "Best of the Best" winning products to the Chairmen of the major cable networks.  Their demo took priority before the contest.

Fortunately I did make it over at the end, and my buddy Al won first place.  Alison Haislip had fun with getting everyone psyched out over my PC building skills, and I was able to make an appearance, in the end.  I guess he ended up with the big check AND the cheerleaders.  Enjoy!

Panasonic CES 2009 Thin was in...

At last years CES, Panasonic had the talk of the show; a 150" plasma that matched the yearling weight of a Jersey cow (that's 770 pounds for you non-diary folk.)  Now I doubt any of my walls could hold that screen in place, but maybe I could replace a window with it.

This year thin was in, and that TV was shunned to a room at the back of the booth, next to the 3D screens they have created.  Since I am personally not into 3D displays, as they typically require silly colored or LCD shutter glasses, and we cannot show that off on our standard definition broadcast, I stuck with covering the things that Panasonic is known for - great cameras and displays.

Here's the clip showing their 1/3 inch plasma, 1080p HDC-HS300 Camcorder and Viera Networked plasma screens.  You may be able to notice the dry air of the Las Vegas desert and hotels was taking a toll on my voice...  I sound a bit scratchy!

CES 2009 Best Of from G4 TV

Another day has passed since returning from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and my dry throat and irritated vocal chords are nearly recovered enough to return my normal voice.  We showcased 100's of products live and you can replay them until your mouse breaks from G4TV.com/CES at your leisure.

For those of you in a hurry however, the other hosts and I gave a rundown at the end of our six hours of broadcasting on what are our favorite items that launched at this years show.  Here's the clip.  Enjoy!