Gear and loathing in Las Vegas

(Pictured left to right: Marc Perton, Paul Miller, James Ransom-Wiley, Evan Blass,
Peter Rojas, Ryan Block, Barb Dybwad, Kevin Tofel, Randall Bennett)

You may (or may not) be as sick of CES 2006 as any of us, but like it or not the time came and went for us to wrap it up, pack it in, and head on home to our respective Engadget bedrooms offices, yet again. While some of us are still on the road, and though the Engadget crew certainly didn't take it any easier this year than in CES 2005, this last Sunday was admittedly a little bittersweet as we all piled in the Engadget Limo (aka the Engadget church bus, a 10-person Econoline) one last time. Everybody here had a great time going crazy on the latest and greatest while trying not to look too hung-over / disappointed by gambling losses / sleep-deprived in front of all the kind PR and media relations people -- but namely we hope we helped make some sense of the complete chaos that is the Consumer Electronics Show (and we'll continue to trickle out non-news coverage throughout the week as we're clearing up space on our hard drives and flash disks). Perhaps most importantly, however, we hope that when you looked for coverage of CES 2006 you came to Engadget, and that when CES 2007 hits you'll do the same.

Team Engadget 2006 CES stats:

Number of posts: 334
Number of lost gadgets: 7
Number of laptop-coffee spills: 1
Number of bags lost: 1
Number of WiFi networks traversed: 11
Average hours slept nightly: 5.6
Number of casinos visited: 9
Amount of money lost gambling: $200
Average number of laptops per person: 1.3
Average number of cellphones per person: 1.5
Pounds of shwag thrown away: ~74
Clearance (in inches) between the Engadget limo and the ceiling at the Venetian parking garage: 0
Number of times someone played "Let's Get Retarded": unquantifiable

The cast:

Dear Leader
Peter Rojas

Chairman of the Borg
Jason Calacanis

Number one... with a bullet
Ryan Block

Sunkissed
Barb Dybwad

Chippendale
Evan Blass

Joyrider
James Ransom-Wiley

The Dark Horse
Kevin Tofel

Deep Thoughts
Marc Perton

Fancy Stuff
Paul Boutin

Handsome Crawlmaster
Paul Miller

Wide Load
Randall Bennett

Cash Money
Steven Friedman

and finally...
Solid Gold
Shawn Gold

The backup team:

Alex Rudloff, Brian Alvey, Don Melanson, Gavin Hall, Mike Propst, Thomas Ricker, the staff at AOL hosting.

Marc, Paul Boutin, Kevin, Evan, Barb, and Paul Miller at work in the warroom, um, warlobby.

Metaphoto: snapping a shot in the Engadget limo...

... this would be that very picture. Why Marc, what deep thoughts you must have!

We got lucky, that night we had 1.5-inches clearance. The following night? Not so lucky.

The Handsome Crawlmaster eats a man's meal.

Something real interesting going on up in there?

Randall tries the EyeBud on for size.

Ryan rocks some 3D goggles that don't quite affix to one's head.

We knew there was something charming about that Hello Kitty: publicly hailing Satan.

This was about as close as Ryan and Peter could come to being the blown-away guy.

See you in 2007! It's been real!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:06AM]

Thanks for all the hard work guys. :-)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:08AM]

Awesome job guys!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:11AM]

Great work guys. For those about to buy new gadgets, we salute you!

(BTW, no sympathy on the average sleep metric. Some of us have newborns to look after. Newborns who are only calmed by the roaring engines of PGR on Xbox 360.)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:18AM]

Amazing work but 1.3 laptops per person?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:20AM]

Only $200 lost gambling... is that even possible in Vegas???

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:20AM]

best CES coverage EVER!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:25AM]

shwag? I'm definitly attending 2007.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:27AM]

I would love to have a Job like that...

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:28AM]

Even I, someone who constantly refreshes Engadget everyday hoping for updates, was overwhelmed by all the information. It'll take me hours to go back through and sort through/read all the posts. I really appreciate the time that was taken by the Engadget crew to provide full coverage.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:29AM]

Seriously, hard to balance the envy with appreciation for the hard work. So, thanks so much, ya' freakin' bastards.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:45AM]

you forgot how many of you guys went to the Adult Convention...

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:48AM]

Great work Engadget. Keep up the awesome.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:48AM]

I was at CES for three days this year and I can tell you from firsthand experience that it's overwhelming to say the least. Engadget brought a new meaning to the term "coverage", which is next to impossible at a show thats as big as 20 football fields (especially when you consider that that average gadget is the size of a deck of playing cards). Outstanding job everyone - we're all looking forward to the rest of the posts in the next few weeks. I'm sure that you're already planning next years blowout.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:05PM]

the photos aren't exposed all that well. what kind of camera did you use? did you try a dSLR?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:11PM]

grrrrrrrreat job. kinda reminds me of mine. btw, my sister is interested in paul's e-mail address. :D

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:16PM]

Kudos to the great coverage by Peter, Ryan and the rest of the Engadget gang.



Having done CES as press before (1992-2001), I can attest how hard it can be to keep up with all of the coverage. Other things in life has kept me from CES for the last 5 years, but I hope to return next year and experience the madness once again.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:31PM]

where is the affirmative action?

[jasongolden Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:32PM]

Amazing work, simply stunning. Look forward to 2007.



I know you want the entire graphics package on your limo, but you gotta at least drop some magnetic logos on the side of that van next year, ya dig?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:38PM]

Yeah, what those guys said. Thanks for making me feel like I was right there with y'all. Great coverage. I wore the F5 key right off my keyboard.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:50PM]

Dude, I *want* Paul's email address. ...And I'm a guy.



Not that there's anything wrong with that.



:)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 12:58PM]

Many thanks to you all, was great! ;-)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 1:09PM]

Yeah. I want to know if any of you visited the AVN awards while you were down there. I didn't see any new coverage of "gadgets" from those booths.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 1:12PM]

Awesome site!!! Thanks for all of the updates during CES. You guys rock!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 1:27PM]

For all the time I spent at work reading your guys' coverage, I'd have been just as productive if I had gone to CES--possibly even more so.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 1:32PM]

Awesome coverage. Thank you much! I read your site about every hour or so.



Also, plz to come to Atlanta.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 2:11PM]

"Number of posts: 334

Number of lost gadgets: 7

Number of laptop-coffee spills: 1

Number of bags lost: 1

Number of WiFi networks traversed: 11

Average hours slept nightly: 5.6

Number of casinos visited: 9

Amount of money lost gambling: $200

Average number of laptops per person: 1.3

Average number of cellphones per person: 1.5

Pounds of shwag thrown away: ~74

Clearance (in inches) between the Engadget limo and the ceiling at the Venetian parking garage: 0

Number of times someone played "Let's Get Retarded": unquantifiable"



... Indulging every last one of your gadget dreams and desires at the single largest Electronics Show in the United States... Priceless



(Can't believe no one went after that oh-so-easy played out joke! ;))



Thanks for all the great coverage guys! Now go get some sleep!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 2:13PM]

What? no picture of the Engadget Van NOT clearing the parking garage at the Venitian? That's full disclosure!



Great job people!



Got any openings?;)



Mark

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 2:19PM]

It is very tough to cover that much stuff in that amount of time. This was year three for me at CES, and it just gets bigger and bigger.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 3:25PM]

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you guys do there. If it were a real magazine or something you'd gather information and do some serious writeups of new technology, interviews, etc. For this it seems like you just wanted an excuse to write off a nine person trip to Vegas. Most of the posts were just pictures, which is fine I guess (and great for the short attention span of most people who read blogs) but I was hoping for a little more in-depth coverage.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 3:52PM]

Nice CES work guys - thanks for the effort!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 4:06PM]

Excellent work guys. Engadgt had the best CES coverage I have ever seen.



Now that techtv is pretty much gone, you guys are it for my gadget fix!

[benjaminhc Posted Jan 11th 2006 4:50PM]

what seven gadgets were lost? could we get a casualty report?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 5:02PM]

Thanks to Peter, Ryan and the team for the superlative coverage of CES..I couldn't get enough of it. You guys really outdid yourselves. Engadget had simply the best coverage of CES and Macworld anywhere!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 6:42PM]

I wanted to say phenomenol coverage to engadget and thank Peter in particular for stopping outside of the iRiver booth at CES to talk to us for about 5 mins. We were from GoNintendo.com and he took some time to tell us about blogs and how he got where he is today and some great words of advice. Thanks again Peter for taking time out. Very cool of you.



Doug Kaplan

aka Link

GoNintendo.com

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 8:37PM]

Thanks for keeping us up to date guys... KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.



You guys need some chics on your staff

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 9:44PM]

I thought this year was impressive but (there is always a but), where is the hot asian gal to round out your geeky white guy contingent? As a geeky white guy I like to see what the other half thinks beside Hello Kitty reports. If you are offended by the "geek" tag, take another look at each and every picture which is part of this page!



Stuart

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 11th 2006 11:26PM]

Seriously,



I love you guys, but you've got no soul!



Where is the blackness, there is no blackness... You guys need some blackness.



Blackness is goodness. Try it, you'll see.



Keep on keeping on!

-Astrantorastor

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 12th 2006 12:53AM]

If you guys need any help next year. Ask me first, please. Cant write for a .. but I can drive, fetch, take pictures, make coffee.



Loved reading your coverage. NO ONE did as well as you guys did. Have been a loyal reader for about a year and spent many hours on in the last week catching up on CES.



Thanks again,

Stu

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 12th 2006 4:08AM]

Great job guys.

Did i say GUYS, yes....ahem....all I saw were GUYS in the picture...what's going on.....I KNOW there were those hot sexy Maxim magazine covergirl looking chicks all over CES, but us GALS are into gadgetry too (and not just THAT kind you GUYS are thinking of)...so how about a job for me?? LOL.... Hey, I'm already going to CES next year....yip, my cousin (also a guy) says he can get me a "badge" to get in...super geek gadget girl/fashionista will be at CES 2007, Yipeee!!

~G

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 12th 2006 4:12AM]

Oh wait a sec, is there a chick hiding in that picture too??? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 12th 2006 6:51AM]

Great work!