by Brian Solis

Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows

During CES, Intel & PC.com hosted a red carpet, celebrity-attended event at the popular LAX night club in Las Vegas to help us get “computer smart.” And, no true CES party would be complete without a performance from a major artist or group. When I heard that the event would be headlined by the Counting Crows, I was overwhelmingly surprised and ecstatic.

I’m a fan of the Crows and I was planning on seeing them over the Summer in support of their current CD Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings. However, between the travel and logistics in support of TechSet New York and TechSet Las Vegas, I unfortunately missed the concert. Intel just made my year; so much so, I’m shopping for an UMPC again

The concert was intimate, in comparison to the other major CES-related concerts taking place during the week. It was nice to be able to connect with everyone throughout the night.

As if the Counting Crows wasn’t enough to complete the evening, Intel and PC.com also recruited the one and only Brooke Burke to emcee the show. Brooke attended with her husband, David Charvet. Both were incredibly friendly and actually spent time talking with everyone. My new friend, LeVar Burton, was also in attendance and I have to say, he’s an incredible human being.

Brooke Burke

David Charvet

Levar Burton and Cathy Brooks

Levar Burton and Brooke Burke

Janna Robinson

Frank Gruber, Sarah Austin, and I were able to make our way up front, which made for some spectacular photos.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Adam Duritz is one of the most passionate and evocative singer/songwriters in the business today

Dan Vickrey

David (Immy) Immergluck

Charles Gillingham

Jim Bogios

David Bryson

LAX

LeVar Burton and Brian Solis

Taryn Southern

Brooke Burke and Brian Solis

You can follow the Counting Crows, Brooke Burke and LeVar Burton on Twitter.

For more pictures, please visit my album on Flickr.

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by Brian Solis

Intel, along with Sarah Lacy, Frank Gruber, Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com), yours truly, and the Intel Insiders, kicked off 2009 with a bang! Hosted at the former 40/40 Club at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, the party merged industry veterans with a new generation of bloggers, influencers, trend setters and thought leaders. Together we celebrated innovation in the consumer electronics, new media and digital industries. To say that it was one of the highlights of CES would be a complete under statement. Hundreds of amazing people shared experiences and forged and also renewed relationships throughout an evening that progressed that thankfully seemed to last all night long.

Thank you Intel, Sarah, Frank, Tony and the Intel Insiders!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Julia Allison and Sarah Lacy

iJustine

Jeremy Tanner and Cathy Brooks

Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb and Illija Ognenovski if worldsings.com

Jason Goldman, Jeremy Tanner, Andrew Hyde

Frank Gruber & Jessica Berlin (Justin Levy & iJustine background)

Joe Said and Efren Toscano

Justin Levy, Jennifer Klein, Chris Brogan, Karin Klein

Ken Kaplan of Intel and Joshua Pollack

Ilija Ognenovski & Ashley Biever

Frank Gruber and Tony Hsieh

Ted Murphy of Izea

Jeff Pulver

Kenneth Hong of LG

MC Hammer and Sarah Lacy

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by Brian Solis

LeVar Burton

Steve Broback of the Parnassus Group hosts an incredible party. Now in its third year, the exclusive ItWontStayinVegas blogger party is a must-attend event – if you can get your name on the list.

Hosted at the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, the party boasts a casual and fun environment for connecting with influential and inspiring bloggers form all over the world – while also learning about the history of atomic testing in the United States.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…see you next year!

Sarah Austin, Jennifer Levine, Brooke Brodack

Alexandra Mokh

Robert Scoble

Tom Foremski

Melissa Pierce and Steve Garfield

Drew Olanoff

Phil Wolff of Skype Journal

Scott Carroll of AMD

Krista Neher

Patrick Moorhead of AMD

Sonos

Rohit Barghava

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by Brian Solis

During CES, good friend Seth Combs invited Chris and Kristie Heuer and me to the Dr. Dre / Monster press party at the Paris Hotel. We were presented with the opportunity to sample the Beats by Dr. Dre line of over-ear and in-ear high performance headphones. And, we were also lucky enough to meet Dr. Dre in a quiet, personal setting. It was simply, unforgettable.

As a quick review, the over-hear headphones are a sound investment. At $349, they rival my new Bose earphones in performace and surpass them in design and style. The noise cancelling hits just the right frequency and the balance of tight bass, combined with crisp mids and highs delivers, a live, in-room surround sounce experience that will have you forgetting you’re wearing something over your ears.

They’re available now at Best Buy.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Dr. Dre

Brian Solis under doctor’s orders to sample the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.

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by Brian Solis

Julia Allison, Mary Rambin, Meghan Asha of NonSociety

The Ultimate Blogger Dinner during CES 2009 was a refreshing and enriching opportunity to connect with incredible bloggers, business leaders, social media professionals and everyone in between.

Hosted by Social Media Club and Lenovo at the Aquaknox restaurant in the Venetian during CES, the dinners and the ambiance inspired energizing conversations and fantastic pictures.

Scott Monty and Chris Heuer

Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford

Ford executive team

Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb

Tom Foremski

Jeffrey Sass

Wesley Faulkner of AMD

Cheryl Contee

Alan Mulally and and Chris Heuer

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by Brian Solis

Immediately following the impromptu, exclusive photo shoot for Dell’s upcoming Adamo notebook series, I was also introduced to graffiti artist, illustrator and toy designer Tristan Eaton. Dell is featuring Tristan’s unique artistry on several notebook lines and they scream individuality and style without broaching trendiness.

Dell set up a studio to showcase the notebooks as well as Tristan’s creativity. Very cool.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

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by Brian Solis

Thank you to fellow Intel Insider, Cathy Brooks, who helped me gain immediate access to a personal demo of the new Palm Pre smart phone. Peter Skillman, VP of Design, and the man credited with giving hope to Palm’s future, previewed the Pre at CES 2009 in a private room at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Skillman is proud and indeed he should be. It’s beautiful and it is a promising and refreshing representation of what Palm could be…

“We wanted to define a new experience with everything you touch, from the box, to the charger, to the phone,” said Skillman. This philosophy and design methadology is pervasive. Every detail and aspect imaginable and unimaginable seems to be accounted for. It most certainly delivers an elevated ambience – one on par with the quality and exclusivity of Apple. The interface is reminscient of the Apple iPhone and to be honest, it appears to be the most engaging and intuitive challenger to the iPhone.

The phone will be released by Sprint and is expected to retail around $199 – $249 with a two year contract. Sprint only holds the exclusive for the first 90 days, so you should expect to see other carriers announce support shortly thereafter.

For more details on the Pre, visit PC Magazine.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

For additional pictures of the Palm Pre smart phone, please visit my album on flickr.

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by Brian Solis

Dell hosted a press conference in the Fantasy Suites of the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas where they announced a series of new products. Perhaps the real news and excitement at the event wasn’t what was announced, but what wasn’t announced.

The much-rumored Dell Adamo made a brief, but very real, in-person appearance this morning and it sent waves throughout the consumer electronics press and blogosphere. It’s the company’s first foray into the luxury electronics market and it has already been positioned as the Macbook Air killer.

It features some truly stunning design features that are indicative of the company’s commitment to innovation inside and out. They’re strikingly beautiful, subtly bold, stylish, elegant, and they’re definitely make a statement. And, the Adamo is thinner than the Macbook Air.

Perhaps it was my charm, pure luck, or serendipitous timing, but I was given exclusive permission to not only shoot the Adamo, but also visually confirm that there are both black and white models queued up to hit the market soon. In fact, these are the first pro-quality public shots available of the Adamo and also the first pictures allowed of the white version.

I’ve uploaded all of the pictures on flickr and they are freely available for use as (CC) with credit. Digg the story here.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

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