A major theme of the event was Intel's latest international ad campaign featuring nerdy "rock stars" like Intel researchers Ajay Bhatt, co-inventor of the USB standard, and Joshua Smith, a developer of wireless and robotics technologies. Both Bhatt and Smith were on hand for the event, but host Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer, let the crowd in on a little secret -- the television ads featuring the two researchers have actors playing the roles.

"You have to have a [Screen Actors Guild] card to be in a commercial," explained Bhatt.

Intel research projects were divided into four zones at the event. These were:

-- The Immersive Connected Experiences Zone, where Intel provided a peek at real-time ray tracing, co-processor memory sharing for visual computing and its engine for prototyping a 3-D Internet, called ScienceSim.com.

-- The Mobility Zone, featuring the chip maker's wireless resonant energy transfer technology, classroom collaboration software built around Intel's own Classmate netbook and a model home entertainment center of the near future, which funnels various media delivery mechanisms like the Internet and television through a single display, and is controlled by a handset computer that accepts both voice commands and gestures like a Wii controller.

-- The Eco-Innovation Zone, where green efforts like sleep state networking for computers and computer platform power management were on display.