Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Techlicious - CE Week

Back on June 23rd I jumped on a train from Philly to NYC courtesy of Techlicious to attend a mini blog conference.   It was held during  CE Week -- the CE industry’s annual mid-year conference and new technology showcase -- and they provided access to this wonderful event.  As you may know already, I am 100% gadget junkie so I was beyond excited. 

Instead of printing my reservation I figured I could scan the barcode from my phone like you can at the airport.  So I was standing there looking like an idiot trying to make this work, thankfully I looked over and realized I wasn't the only one trying to do this.  But... I was caught!! To my left Karla Trotman, Belly Button Boutique, was standing there.  All the Philly Social Media Moms were meeting at the train station but this isn't how I wanted to be found.  We met up with Julie Meyers Pron, Robin Elton, Melissa Angert and Andrea Howard.

We made it just in time for the panel discussion, How to work with Mom Bloggers, hosted by Suzanne Kantra, Founder/Editor-in-Chief
Techlicious.com.  During this discussion I learned scores are not everything and Mom Bloggers give your brand a personality and reason to buy it.  It was a very insightful discussion. After this was finished we went to the press room and attended a mini conference where Suzanne presented tech ways to make blogging easier.  Some of the items presented were:  

  • Photogene to add watermarks using your iPhone or iPad.  Not only does it provide watermarks but editing and sharing capabilities for the iOS devices but it IPTC stamps the file.
  • iRig Mic for iPhone - this is key for interviews
  • Zoom Q3HD - This is perfect for sound and HD quality video.  Tip - always use 2 hands while recording and if you have to move, move your whole body and not just your hands.
We then sat down for a tasty lunch provided by Cohn & Wolf where Chad Latz spoke with us.  Post lunch we were treated to a personal tour of the CE Week Exhibitors from Suzanne.  During the tour we visited many booths where we learned about sustainability products that are coming out, neat little gadgets and everything 3D you'd ever want to know.  Can you believe they had a 72" TV there? 

What a great charger!   


The Thrive is a dual core 10" Android tablet!

Of course HTC was there and it is now official... I love the Sensation.  This truly made my day, wish I had longer to play with the device.  It felt small in hand considering it has a 4.3" screen, and SOLID! Not cheesy like my iPhone 3gs that ended up dying half way through the show.

There were many other great products at the show and I am grateful that I was invited.  At the end we were given a gift bag that included many fun products but my kids have not stopped playing with the Hex Bugs since I got home.  Most toys in the house have a life span of a few hours but these little things keep crawling around everywhere.  Speck gave us a beautiful A Line Bag for iPad's and 10" Netbooks along with a shell for the iPad 2... now if only I had a tablet.

Thanks Julie for organizing this!

**Disclosure - We received free transportation and conference entrance along with a gift bag.