LAS VEGAS – Convention Center Courtyard, NextGen Life|ware Home -

Hello, everybody. Nice seeing you again.

It’s Monday night, and I have been through one of the most energetic and intense days that I’ve ever had at EI. The line to get in to the NextGen home never ended as folks came to see not just the gadgets and the gear, but how people live with and use them in an integrated digital home.

This is the third year EI has done the Next Gen home. At this show we’re previewing the forthcoming Life|ware 2.0, our Windows Vista-based product, but we’re doing it in an entirely new way; instead of throwing gigabits and megahertz at you, we’ve got actors in each room showing you how Life|ware can bring all these kickin’ digital entertainment and automation products together in one seamless package.

Today, I’ll tell you about the kitchen.

Mom comes in and hits Hello on an HP TouchSmart PC — this cool all-in-one countertop touch PC that was unveiled at this show. One button and lights, shades, music and security systems all react intelligently to her presence. It’s pretty cool.

Mom also uses the HP TouchSmart to look up recipes, check email, pay bills. It’s got all of her entertainment and all of her automation on it, and it’s a family message center, too. She cues up her music on a Life|point touch panel. A Brizo faucet sprouts magically and happily from the countertop when she gets dinner ready. Mom’s gotten into the smart appliances from LG as well. Intelligent washers and dryers can message every screen in the home when her laundry is done.

When Mom leaves, she hits the Goodbye button — lights dim, security system arms, shades lower. One button. She doesn’t roam the home shutting off the lights her kids left on anymore. In short, Mom is in motion all the time — managing a home and her job from the kitchen of the Life|ware home. It’s a pretty cool demonstration, because it’s not all technical. It’s about her life, what she does and how her home helps her do it all efficiently and gracefully.

Here’s a shot of the line…

Out back, folks can talk to Best Buy for Business sales about getting a system in their home, or take a brief marketing survey.

If you can’t figure out the survey (like this guy) we have plenty of help right at hand.

One of the first groups I took in on Monday were these peeps from Las Vegas’s Cark High School. Good Times, Chargers.

EI’s Brett Fitzgerald poses with a guest named William Mays. Say hey, Willie.

Finally, I’m sure you’re wondering: after the Life|ware home, what is the coolest thing you’ve seen at CES? (Or awesomest. Or sweetest. Or most magically sweet-a-licious.) Well, I haven’t had much time to walk the floors yet. You’re gonna think I’d go with this kickin’ monster truck…

…and maybe on a normal day, I would. But any day in which you run into the original a reproduction (ed. Dang! Finding out it wasn’t original is like being gut-punched) Batmobile is not a normal day. I’m still kind of incredulous that I was right next to it.

Hey — EI dropped a ton of news today. Check it out.

OK, folks…it’s getting late. As I write this, Ohio State is down significantly to Florida in the National Championship and the Columbus-based EI employees in the next room are uncharacteristically quiet. Time for the Buckeyes to come up big.

Good times and Go Bucks, everyone.

Wait…wait…EI’s Regional Sales Manager Rob Dahl (Utah-based) just came into the room and made several jokes at the expense of the Buckeyes. I am left with no alternative but to publish this picture I took of him today:

Good times.

Tomorrow: The Great Room.