Wet Paint At CES

There are many benefits to arriving at the International Consumer Electronics Show a day or two earlier than most people.

For starters, there were no cab lines at the airport Tuesday morning when my flight landed at McCarron Airport in Las Vegas. You also get there early enough to see the organized chaos of vendors trying to finish their convention floor booths before the whole world arrives.

This year, Intel folks – who have been trying to keep some of their new branding announcements secret until Thursday – were painting huge signs sporting their new logo out in plain view near a building entrance. And they were none too pleased that reporters were trying to ask questions, or take pictures or video of their new corporate face, literally, before the paint was even dry.

(You can catch a quick video shot of the new Intel logo – which looks a lot like the old Intel logo – by clicking on the CES video report at Digital Connect on Wednesday.)

About 4,000 reporters are scheduled to show up and cover this event - not even counting everyone who will be blogging it. Last night, the first major press event of the show took place - "CES Unveiled" - where vendors are given a first chance to show off products and technologies to reporters who showed up early for the convention. Reporters waited on a line that was about two city blocks long to get into the event at The Sands, and seemed to outnumber vendors by a ratio of about 10-to-1. Ye-gads.

But don't let the hype and glitz detract from what is now a very big event for both the commercial and digital home channels. CES organizers know this, and are using the show to promote their services for integrators and installers - including their TechHome.com database- on the official CES blog.

If you're attending CES, and have any interesting stories, advice, warnings, comments or tips, please drop me a note at emoltzen@cmp.com