This year marks my third for attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.  As a few of you might already know, my father is the almighty Yahya Ahdout, the owner and CEO of dreamGEAR, a video game/iPod accessory and speaker producer and distributor, and he is my ticket into this amazing show.  You can find his wonderful products at many places including your local Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Blockbuster.  One of his latest items is the Warbeast Guitar Controller for all Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Rock Revolution games on PS2/PS3. But, enough of that, lets get to the good stuff.  I will be at the show for its entirety, and I will constantly be blogging and posting every interesting thing that I find.  Like Engadget and Gizmodo, we will be posting about the biggest announcements by all the different companies, but I will also use my time to go around the smaller booths and post about the pretty cool things that everyone forgets about.  As I roam from hall to hall and booth to booth, I will be accompanied by a very good friend of mine, Michael York, who is getting his new blog off the floor, and will be working in compliance with us at blargKABOOM.

Finally, the things I will be bringing with myself on my journey:
Canon EOS 30D – To snap pictures of everything for all you guys to see!
Asus eee 901 – For blogging on the go while on the show floor.
Apple iPhone 3G – For constant tethering, and music on the go. As it is also of course my telephone.
MacBook Pro – Yes, mine is in fact the first generation model, but it will be my home-base for posting in the hotel room. 

And also, a little background for those of you who do not know what CES is; ah god im too lazy, just read about it on Wikipedia here!

Toyota will redesign the Prius next year and along with the new design will be a new, even more eco-friendly feature: solar power. No, this doesn’t mean the entire car will be solar powered, but the air conditioning will be. When Toyota releasesed the Prius way back in 1997, it was the first gasoline-electric hybrid widely available. Then in 2003, they redesigned the Prius and gave it an improved hybrid system. Now, the Prius is one of the most popular vehicles on the road and is about to get another redesign. The new Prius will feature the same basic shape, but be longer, wider, and faster. The solar panels will add even more to the Prius’s environmentally friendly look.

Reuters via Gizmodo

Tesla Motors, known for its $109,000 electric Roadster, will announce a sedan during a press conference tomorrow, according to TechCrunch. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be at the press conference to represent a deal between Tesla and the state. Little is known about the sedan, but if Tesla really wants to make a breakthrough, pricing will be key. Considering they have the pricy Roadster, they might follow course with an expensive sedan. They also could go for the market waiting for a green version of a BMW or Mercedes. So the crowd that doesn’t want the less-expensive Toyota, but can’t afford the incredibly expensive Roadster. The sedan will be a 5 passenger vehicle, to be out in 2010.

A hydrogen car has seemed like a thing of the future for a while now, but Honda announced that they are going into limited-production on the FCX Clarity. The FCX is, you guessed it, a hydrogen powered car that only emits water vapor, unlike current cars. “These car simply do not pollute,” reads the official website. The car gets an estimated 270 miles per tank, and filling-up takes ‘minutes.’ The technology powering the car isn’t the only “futuristic” aspect. The dashboard layout is pretty cool as well. A virtual display sits behind the steering wheel giving normal information, but also displays energy and hydrogen levels. Also, a navigation system is pre-installed, with features like voice recognition and a rearview camera. An aux jack as well as a USB port is provided. And one personal favorite, a one hit start button is there too. Only one color, Star Garnet Metallic is available currently (most likely more will be available with a wider-release area).

150 cars will be released over the next three years, with the first cars being available to Southern California residents this summer. Why Southern California residents you ask? Because the only hydrogen refueling stations in the US exist down there. People living in Santa Monica, Torrence, and Irvine currently qualify, and only special Honda retailers will handle leasing. The FCX Clarity will be available with a 3-year, $600 lease, and no purchase option is available. Of course, Honda says that more cars will be available when more areas add Hydrogen refueling stations. They also say that they are creating Home Energy Stations to refuel at home. Seems like the technology, and the car, of the future to me. Hopefully they’ll have one in black available soon, then I’ll be happy.

Some concept cars are out there, but the GINA Light Visionary Model concept from BMW is way out there. GINA stands for “Geometry and Function in “N” number of Adaptations.” According to Chris Bangle, Director of Design BMW Group, this means “that there’s a lot of change possible.” The groundbreaking change in this concept is the elimination of the current solid, metal material skin on the car. GINA changes that skin into a cloth that provides the ability to move (unlike current cars), to be lighter, to be made in an easier way, or more. The moving bit is really interesting. Doors open with hinges now; on the GINA concept, the cloth bends and the door bends open. Headlights now are always there, even when they are off; GINA ’s cloth would actually cover the headlights when they aren’t in use. The rear lights function in a similar manner. Since rear lights are used more often and not a feature one can turn on or off, the cloth covering the lights would be translucent so the light would shine through when on, but be unnoticeable when off. These are just a few of the features that have been tested now. Of course this is only a concept car, but could you picture the day when you are driving around in a cloth car; that’s a little far-fetched, but anything is possible in the future.

Yahoo Auto’s feature on GINA

Autoblog’s photo gallery of pictures