techno.blog("Dion")

I was very fortunate to be the person to accept the award bestowed on the Google Gears team by PCWorld for Most Innovative Product of the Year. It was an honour to get to go to the event to pick it up on behalf of Aaron Boodman, Chris Prince, Othman Laraki, Scott Hess, Mike Tsao, and the entire Gears team.

Also, we would have never gotten this award if it wasn’t for companies like Zoho, Remember The Milk, Salesforce, Oracle, Timepedia, and the others who actually used the platform to extend their applications. Whoever got to decide on who won the awards surely did so by using an application that happened to be powered by Gears, rather than looking through the documentation, or blog posts.

I have to say, I have the tiniest glimpse of what it is like for the actor that wins an award and Kevin Spacey, Robert Dinero, and Client Eastwood were also in the running. Frankly, having the iPhone come in at #2 is a bit of a shocker. I mean, the iPhone is really out there and is pushing a mobile revolution. There were other fantastic products in the top 25, and it was nice to be able to see them all at the event.

The products were very broad. I would walk around and see the odd web site such as Tastebook and Mint, a couple of browsers such as Opera, Maxthon, and some Windows only time and space thingy.

But then there were the guitars, GPS companies, hard drives, batteries, toys, cords, and random car stuff. It was an eclectic bunch to say the least.

The room was full of press, and it again showed me how amazing it was that we got the top spot here. No one knew what Gears really is. “So I download it and it can run applications?” I got to talk to ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and other publications and had a fun time talking to people that wanted to see a cute gadget.

But then I got to meet the Editor in Chief of PCWorld, and he got it. He understood that Gears is about the potential to change the way the Web works, to upgrade the Web in place if you will. Gears didn’t win for what came of it in 2007, but what will hopefully happen in 2008. New browsers, improved platforms, a better place to deliver great applications to a growing number of people still jumping onto the net.

From walking around CES land, I was surprised to see the number of guitar related gadgets and electronics, obviously thanks to Guitar Hero. I wonder if kids are picking up the real guitar because of the game? If so, then a nice bridge would be the Ediface Digital Guitar Interface, which allows you to play guitar hero from a real guitar. It also comes with its own game that suites a full size guitar better. One the kids get a little bored with the 5 button version, maybe they will progress and keep the game alive with a true axe.

Or, maybe you want to go the other way, and join the most popular booth… the dood playing air guitar hero:

Now air guitar means something.

What is most bizarre is that both of the corporate websites for these devices have no information on them. Spend all that money to come to CES and now have anything on your site???? Are you kidding me?

I was sitting at my parents over the winter break checking up on the news. You know, how Man U are doing, laughing at the Scoble issue, the caucus news, and of course all of the details of Britney and her sister and how they are great role models for parenting.

I suddenly realised that I was doing this all on a tiny phone, and it was working out pretty well. It is a touch small, and zooming aroung can be a pain depending on the layout. You find yourself flipping between landscape and portrait, but it pretty much does the job.

Look at the difference between how I read the news the last time I was at my parents house:

And now:

I am wondering if the Kimble fits in to this picture too. I am tempted to get one. I love the idea of the device always just being on and working, and not having a monthly bill for that privilege. My only concern is whether or not I need another device. Can I just use the phone? Or, my laptop?

Speaking of laptops, ever since I got Emily an iPhone, I have seen her computer use diminish. Sure, she still does her email / browsing on it sometimes, and of course she has to be on it for Scrabulous, but in general she does most of this on her iPhone too. I am starting to grok the asian way even more, and how, especially for Joe Schmo who mainly used the computer for email/browsing, the laptop may get less and less use over time.

CES is here, and I wonder what other convergence devices are on show.