This year’s CES is winding down and I finally have time to slow down long enough to catch my breath, rest my aching feet, and reflect on the road trip in general. This isn’t really a reflection of the show, it is instead my thoughts on the road trip and the mobile gear I used this year. It is a look at what worked, what didn’t, and why. Join me for this look at the past week.
Before the road trip, I shared my thoughts about the gear I was going to bring and why. I mentioned I was bringing the iPhone 3G, but also the Palm Pre as my experience with the AT&T network while traveling was not a very good one. Bringing the Pre was a very good thing, as I found the iPhone virtually useless for calls and data coverage from day one. AT&T can say what they want about its data coverage, I am continually finding it to be poor during my road trips, and this one was as bad as ever.
The iPhone 3G was great to have for reading e-books, but not much else for most of the week. I couldn’t do anything that required data, until late Saturday. I could tell when a lot of people here for the CES left town, as the AT&T network came back to life. There is absolutely no question in my mind that the AT&T network cannot handle saturation during an event like the CES. The Sprint network rarely faltered during the week. I don’t know why, given its horrible reputation, AT&T wouldn’t beef up coverage for an event like this. Let’s face it, if they can’t provide service to a gathering of technology journalists who cover such things, they have a real problem.
The real joy for me the whole week was using the ThinkPad x200 Tablet. It was liberating being able to use the multitouch x200 in slate mode, especially in tight spaces where there was no room to comfortably use a laptop. I got admiring glances all week while I was using the slate, mostly from others precariously balancing a laptop in very uncomfortable ways. The x200 worked well for me no matter what the circumstances were, and it was great to take notes during crowded press events on the slate with the pen.
The only area I wish worked better was in handling video I shot during the week. The MacBook would have been better for this, strictly due to the ease of use that iMovie 09 provides. I could do everything I needed using Windows 7 on the x200, but not nearly as easily. It still worked though, and I am happy I brought the x200 and left the MacBook at home.
The one gadget that saved my bacon regularly all week was the Verizon MiFi, but I knew that would be the case. My hotel room had both wired and wireless connectivity, but it worked so inconsistently that I just used the MiFi. It never hiccuped, and I had outstanding bandwidth the entire trip with the MiFi. For those interested, I used right at 1 GB of my 5 GB data cap the whole week, and I used it for hours each day. I watched a lot of CES videos this week so it’s a good indication of how much usage would be required to exceed that 5 GB cap.
I brought the docking station for the ThinkPad as it allows me to charge the second battery at the same time as the other battery. That came in handy only once, as the battery life on the x200 is so good I only drained it once during the week. I never brought the charger with me during the day, so I was on battery all day every day. I regularly got over 6 hours of life on the battery. The one day I drained it I just swapped batteries and kept going. Back in the hotel room that night I popped the x200 into the dock, and the second battery into the charger connection on the side of the dock. It was wonderful never having to worry about conserving the battery, and especially nice not to be looking for a power outlet at the show.
With the first week of 2010 in the books, we thought we would take a look at the most popular posts of the new year in this week’s weekly wrapup. In this edition we’ve got tips for 
In a world where emails, phone calls, texts, and Tweets constantly bombard us, it is getting harder and harder to manage the firehose of data and information being thrust our way. For young companies to succeed this environment, it is imparitive they become organized and efficient lest they fall behind and quickly become overwhelmed.
The best advice we can give you is to know your audience. You don’t try to sell booze to pregnant women, you don’t make God-jokes in Utah and you don’t get a term sheet without tailoring your pitch. Investors are already blogging about what they want from potential portfolio companies, so if you’re looking for funding you should be reading their blogs. While we know there are plenty of useful investment-related blogs, here’s a list of five to get you started. 
So you’ve got a fabulous idea for a startup? That’s great, but before you get wide-eyed and start thinking about wireframes, venture capital and moving to San Francisco, get your feet wet first by beginning to build your community.
Best known for its movie stars, sun and surf, Los Angeles probably isn’t the first place you’d think to breed technology. But when you consider the influence of investors like Jason Calacanis and Mark Suster, in addition to the fact that companies like 
