Blog

SkyScout Connect [ info | photos ] is an accessory that allows you to control your Celestron Computerized Telescope with your SkyScout.  For more details, check out this video demonstration recorded at the 2008 CES.

Here is a video demonstration of Celestron HDM Live from the floor of the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show.

With our marketing folks busy entertaining various media reps and sales people chatting up the prospective clients, I managed to make a quick escape to check out the rest of the Sands Expo convention hall. I tried to photograph anything that appeared even remotely interesting [ all photos ].

Here is a small selection of the lesser known yet interesting products. For all pictures, please click here.

Russian company Art Lebedev Studio has displayed their Optimus Maximus - the one-of-a-kind fully customizable keyboard that has a miniature screen embedded in each button. Although the steep price tag puts this out of reach for most consumers (yours truly included) you have to give them all the credit for a revolutionary approach to an otherwise ordinary device.

SeeOn Technologies from Korea was showing off their uber cool windows XP based in-dash computer called CarPC Neo. Despite the fact that I already work and browse on at least 5 devices on a daily basis (Dell Desktop, HP Tablet, BlackBerry, IPOD Touch and of course the Wii), I would not mind adding one more to my arsenal. Somehow, I am sure we’ll all have these in our cars a couple of years from now.

Star Trek fans rejoice! The universal translator is finally here! Actually, it is called Compadre: Interact made by MN company SpeechGear Inc. Interact is the ultimate electronic interpreter: you speak to the system, it repeats what you said in a different language and at the same time generates a complete transcript of the conversation.

This last product provides a space-age spin on good ole’ coupon clipping. These nifty gadgets from Ecrio Inc. of sunny California are powered by their proprietary MoBeam Technology. Small enough to fit on your key chain, they can store thousands of coupons from a variety of manufacturers. Use it in your local friendly grocery store to zap coupons or gift cards directly to the conventional POS scanner. Coupons will be available to download from the internet or via email. Can you say “No more junk mail?”… Nah.

P.S. Tomorrow, we are planning a trip to the LV Convention Center to check out the main hall. We will be uploading more pictures and posting as well, so keep coming back for the latest news from CES.

The first day of the show was very exciting and busy as well. But before we knew it was over, leaving us with a blurry memory of countless conversations, numerous cups of $5 coffee (someone makes a killing over here),  and a surprise celebrity sighting.  But let me start from the top…

Our brand new booth [ Celestron 2008 CES Booth Photos ]  was really cool.  Very open, warm and inviting it exceeded my best expectations.  It really provided a terrific environment to do business and to show off our product. Kudos, marketing department.

With all the excitement in the main hall, the day one at the Sands Expo [ photos ] is traditionally slower than the others.  However, the traffic at our booth was unusually heavy.  Our new LDM [ info | photos ] and HDM [ info | photos ]  digital microscopes have definitely become “the talk of the town”.  There were many more interviews with news outlets and publications such as CNN, CNet [ photo ] and Discover [ photo ] to name a few.

Our best kept secret - SkyScout Connect [ info | photos ] - has also attracted a lot of attention. This product is a “missing link” that allows Celestron SkyScout owners to control their Celestron Computerized Telescopes (SLT, SE, GT, Advances and CPC and CGE series) with a touch of a button.  Considering the huge demand for this functionality among Celestron customers, this accessory promises to be another successful addition to the Celestron SkyScout family of products.  SkyScout Connect will be available in March of this year.

As we were getting ready to call it a day we received a visit from a real life celebrity.  Being an avid fan of  the new BattleStar Galactica I was very excited to see Lucy Lawless and “entourage” browsing through our products.  My inner paparazzi was awakened and I could not help snapping some quick photos.

After a very bumpy flight from LA we have finally arrived at 2008 consumer electronics show [photos]. The first order of business was CES Unveiled, where all the latest and greatest gadgets are presented to the media.

Celestron was “unveiling” our brand new LCD Digital Microscope (LDM) [info | photos]. It was a huge hit with the media. Our other recently released products SkyScout Scope [info | photos] and Handheld Digital Microscope [info | photos] have also generated tremendous interest. Our pr and marketing folks had given numerous on and off camera interviews that should be “coming to the TV set near you” in no time.

Personally, it was very nice to see a large turn out of the fellow bloggers at CES. Many are doing “live” blogging and some articles and videos can already be found on the web:

• http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/01/ces_celestrons.html
• http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/ces-2008-celest.html
• http://gizmodo.com/339406/celestron-digital-microscope-rocks-digital-screen-and-2+megapixel-camera

As you can see from the latter video, we have also unveiled a new accessory for the SkyScout - SkyScout Connect [info | photos].  Keep it tuned into this blog to learn more about this innovative new product…