It’s been just two weeks since I walked through an unusually blustery Las Vegas wind to visit the outdoor Central Plaza at the International CES. The Gibson tent had a 15-foot wide pair of “Onkyo headphones” at its entrance. As I paused in its sweet spot, alone in the cold, huge twin speakers thumped out a glorious, full-bodied rendition of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again”. That’s my favorite memory of the show this year.

Here are a few more odds and ends from CES 2013:

• I was going to make this a post by itself, but I figured that you’d heard enough about streaming non-directed channels versus on-demand programming. At CES, I had a great conversation with Jennifer Baisch of iStreamPlanet. She explained how her company handled the 2012 Olympics streams with no problems, but iStreamPlanet also has clients that broadcast 24/7. The next day, I talked with a guy from a major streaming device company who didn’t want me to quote him. He said that cord-cutting is overblown, and that the overwhelming percentage of viewers continue to subscribe to pay TV. Over-the-top internet-based delivery makes a great complement to that, he said, and it will continue to co-exist with the traditional cable model. Maybe I was hasty in shutting down my streaming channel. If I come up with a compelling reason to program a new one, I’ll do it.
• On Monday’s press day at the Mandalay Bay, the press facilities were simply overwhelmed. CES likes to say that it issues more press credentials than the Super Bowl, and when all those people cram into one large room, it’s not good. I was just leaving to get some fresh air when I spotted a flier advertising Nokia’s press hospitality suite upstairs. I went up there and enjoyed a half hour of peace and quiet, rehydrating while my phone recharged. Many thanks to Nokia for providing that oasis in the desert.
• To me, what makes CES worth it is not the products I see, it’s the people I meet. My favorite this time was entrepreneur and Wired editor Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, Free, and his latest, Makers. Anderson gave a nice presentation on Makers at the American Express OPEN booth, always a great place to get good business ideas.
• I warned you about the iPhone cases. If I said I counted each and every one of them, I’d be lying, but doing the math, I’m sure there were at least 100,000 of them physically present at CES. They were in every hall, in big booths and tiny booths, occasionally under water, but more often in long rows and columns. Here are just a couple photos of them. I have more.

That wraps it up for me. If you want a really long post with a lot more product profiles, go visit Robert J. Elisberg’s post on his CES trip. I completely agree with everything he says up to his ninth paragraph. Unlike Robert, I was brave enough to visit Central Hall. Twice!