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The CES 2012 Parties

Bob Buskirk — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:51:58 +0000

One of the best things about CES is the parties that companies throw. Las Vegas has some of the craziest and most over the top hotel rooms and suites. Many companies rent these suites out for private parties. This year there were 3 parties that were pretty memorable this year.

The first party was the “Night Before CES” party that has been going on for quite sometime. This party is put on by FutureLooks.com and Redux. This is one of the best parties not only because it is at the Palms Place Penthouse, which has one of the best views of Vegas, but this is the party where most site owners show up so it is one big party for all of us.

Photo my buddy Shawn took of me on the balcony, notice the awesome view of Vegas!

The next party was put on by Zotac, NZXT, iBUYPOWER and ADATA. This party was held at the Palms 2-Story Sky Villa.

This is one cool suite. Not only is it 2 stories it has a pretty large pool on the balcony! This also makes for a great view of Vegas as well. Did I mention this suite has beds that are shaped like circles and they have a remote to make them rotate!

The last party was at the Hardwood Suite at the Palms and was put on by Patriot, MSI and Intel.

The Hardwood Suite as you can guess from the photo above is a basketball themed suite. It has a basketball court inside the suite itself! This was the first time I’ve been in this suite and it is probably the craziest suite that I have been in, in Las Vegas. It definitely made the party different than the normal CES party.

The CES 2012 Swag Haul!

Bob Buskirk — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:30 +0000

One of the best things about going to CES is getting swag, free stuff companies give out as they lure you to come check out their booth. I mean what better way for companies to get your attention then with free stuff! Also rumor has it that on the last day of the show if you stick around long enough many companies will just give away stuff so they don’t have to pack it up and take it back with them. Anyways here is what I was able to snag this year at CES.

Some of the more noteworthy things are a tablet, Thermaltake headset, Corsair solid state drive, and a Kingston Wi-Drive. My favorite thing would have to be the backpack from Rosewill (the black one on the right). It is actually a really nice backpack, much better than the one CES gives press. It is more or less a camera bag with a bunch of protective compartments in it. I used it on my way back from Vegas as my carry-on and I plan to use it in the future, so thanks Rosewill!

Stay tuned for a contest on ThinkComputers where I will be giving a lot of this stuff away!

What a Vegas Trip!

Bob Buskirk — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:26:09 +0000

Well as I said I was heading to Vegas for CES and I have just got back. All I have to say is what a trip! This trip seemed different than all other trips to CES. I am really not sure what it was, but it was a good feeling for sure. This year was definitely more relaxed, less stressful and just a lot of fun! So why was this year so different from others?

First we stayed at a condo this year, not a hotel room. The place we stayed at was called The Jockey Club and it was right in the middle of the strip. Having a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo was much more comfortable than having everyone in a single hotel room. The condo also had a full kitchen, which definitely was a plus. Having the extra room of a condo made it possible for CyberPower to provide us with a desktop system to do video editing on. This not only saved us time, but make working much, much easier.

Second, the ThinkComputers coverage was all video this year. This meant we did not have to write as much. Coming home after a long day on the show floor, press events and industry parties the last thing you want to do is sit down for 2-3 hours and write articles. Having video meant that we really only needed to write intros for the articles. This definitely elevated a lot of stress. To give you an idea of the videos we shot check out my interview with Bill Owen of MNPCTECH!

Third, things were much more relaxed. It seemed in the past I really got stressed out over things at CES, but this year things were just chill, even down to our “dress code”. I decided this year that myself and staff could wear jeans and a simple dress shirt or something similar, most importantly everyone could wear sneakers instead of dress shoes. Besides just our dress code I scheduled most of my meetings so I was not running all over the place.

Finally I have gone to CES so many times I knew exactly what I needed to do and what I needed to get done. I don’t think there was one time during the week where I was super stressed or pissed off. Another great thing was my staff, not only are these guys great at what they do they are great friends and who better to spend a week in Vegas with! Stay tuned for many different posts about the trip. You can also check out all the coverage over on ThinkComputers!

Headed to Vegas for CES 2012!

Bob Buskirk — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:00:05 +0000

As you are reading this I am most likely on a plane from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas (gotta love being able to schedule posts with WordPress). I am on my way to Vegas for this years Consumer Electronics Show or CES as we all call it. If I am counting this right this will be my 6th year at the show! I can’t believe 6 years ago I made the plunge and went to CES and Vegas for the first time ever. A lot has changed in those 6 years that is for sure! Luckily since I have been blogging since 2005 you can go back and see my blog posts about previous shows.

Obviously I am going to CES for ThinkComputers. We hope this year is going to be a huge year for us and we will be doing mostly video coverage. To give you an idea of what to expect check out the video below.

To follow all of the coverage on ThinkComputers you can bookmark this URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/tag/ces-2012/ or follow myself or ThinkComputers on the social networks below.

ThinkComputers
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Bob Buskirk
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See everyone in Vegas!

Frzy Boy Go Music Video Shoot

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:00:18 +0000

Some of you may know that I work with a few different artists in the Pittsburgh area. One of them is Frzy, a rapper who has become a very close friend of mine. I have been helping him out with social media and other internet related things. A couple of weeks ago he was shooting a video for his new song “Boy Go” and he asked me to come along and be in the video. So I showed up and it was a lot of fun and a great experience.

I had never been to a music video shoot before so I did not know what to expect. I think the weirdest thing was having to get makeup done. Everyone at the shoot had to get makeup done, even the guys. The shoot started at 9PM and we were there to about 6AM so it was a long night, but it was a lot of fun! Here are some photos I took when I was at the shoot.

Make sure you follow me on twitter for my latest updates!

PodCamp Pittsburgh 6

Bob Buskirk — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 05:27:26 +0000

PodCamp Pittsburgh 6 was this past weekend and it was a blast! PodCamp is a free conference that is put on to teach people about blogging, social media, podcasting and much more. I didn’t attend PodCamp last year so I was interested to see what sessions there would be this year. PodCamp started on Saturday and there were sessions from 9am to noon then lunch. I ended up going out the night before so I made it down to PodCamp around noon, just in time for lunch!

At lunch I met up with Jerimiah and Kelly. At lunch they had a huge projector screen showing everyone tweeting about the event. We sat down and ended up meeting some other cool people like Thomas and Amy. This is what is so great about PodCamp is you meet so many great people who are interested in the same thing as you and it is so easy to strike up a conversation with people. After lunch I went to the rest of the sessions during the day.

During each hour block there are up to 5 different sessions so you had to pick the one your really wanted to go to. Most of the sessions I went to throughout the weekend were about social media, but I did attend a few on blogging as well. Out of all the sessions I did attend my favorite was the Myths About Social Media with Justin Kownacki. He has been working in social media for a while now and it was great to hear some of his insights.

Once again PodCamp Pittsburgh was a great event and I am glad I attended this year! If there is a PodCamp in your area I highly suggest you attend!

Clique Vodka 1 Year Anniversary Party!

Bob Buskirk — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:00:13 +0000

I can’t believe it has been a year since Clique Vodka launched! Clique Vodka was started by some of my close friends and the company and vodka brand has really grown over the past year! They have gone from not being in any stores to being all over the Pittsburgh area, now moving in to the Philly area with expansion in to other states coming soon. The spirits industry is one of the most difficult to get into and they have done a lot in just 1 year!

Just like last year they had their 1 year anniversary party at the PPG Aquarium. It really gives you a different atmosphere than say a club or hotel banquet room would. There are not many places you can enjoy drinks and check out penguins at the same time. This year at the party they really stepped things up with multiple drink stations showing off the different things you can do with Clique Vodka. There were 2 DJ’s playing great music and this year they added a photo booth, which was a real hit! Now only did you get your photo right there but one was e-mail you as well. Here is just one photo from my many trips to the photo booth during the night!

The night was filled with drinking, fun, and great conversations with many friends. To give you a better idea of what went on check out the video below.

Again this was one of the best times I’ve had all year, the guys at Clique really know how to throw a great party! Congrats to them on their 1 year anniversary and I can’t wait for the next one! You can learn more about Clique Vodka on their website and also be sure to follow them on twitter!

The I Am Still Music Tour Pittsburgh

Bob Buskirk — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:18:48 +0000

A few weeks ago Pittsburgh hosted the I Am Still Music Tour featuring Lloyd, Keri Hilson, Far East Movement, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne. Recently I have been working with a local rapper named Frzy and he was picked to play at the VIP tent so of course he asked me to come along. I had no idea Live Nation was going to hook us up with a VIP box to watch the concert! The seats were perfect and I was really excited because I am a fan of most of the performers, especially Rick Ross. I really like Far East Movement’s “Rocketeer” song. They performed it as their last song with Lloyd.

My favorite performer of the entire concert was Rick Ross, I’ve been listening to him for the past 4 years and it was great to see him live. Here are 2 of his songs…

Lil Wayne went on last as he was the headliner of the show. His set was the longest and the stage effects and setup was really cool. At one point in the show they lowered a bridge down so he could come up in to the crowd. He was literally 5 feet from us!

The concert was awesome and a great was to relieve some of the stress of getting ready to move. More on that in a future blog post…

A Great Memorial Day Weekend!

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:05:30 +0000

Memorial day weekend is a huge deal here in Pittsburgh. It really marks the start of summer and the weather is usually great. For this reason many people have cookout’s and there is always so much do to around the city. For the past 5 years Faded Industry has held the white party. Just like the name says the idea of the white party is for everyone to wear white. I actually went to the white party for the first time last year and I definitely was going this year! I’m really good friends with the guys from Faded Industry so they invited me on a party bus. We took the party bus around the entire city before we went to Diesel, where the event was being help. We filmed the entire thing, check out the video below.

The white party was so much fun and after watching the video above I’m sure you will want to go next year! You can check out all my photos from the white party here.

After recovering from the white party I decided to have a party at my place. The last one I had was a huge success so why not have another one. About 50 people showed up and it was a great time. The party lasted to about 5am! I guess my friends know how to have a good time!

Memorial day this year was great and I hope I have more weekends like this over the short summer we have here in Pittsburgh!

My First GXL Experience

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:43:14 +0000

This past weekend I made my way out to Philly to check out one of the largest LAN parties on the east coast, theGXL. I have been going to LAN parties for quite some time, but for the past few years I really have not gamed that much therefor I did not attend many LAN parties. I have been wanting to get more people involved with ThinkComputers and what a better way to do that than set up a booth at a LAN party. We did it at the latest Pittco event and it went really well so we decided to do it at theGXL.

Our booth was setup with 3 of our test machines. This way we could show off some of the products we review and when people come over to the booth to check them out they can learn more about the site. The event was actually a dual event help by both theGXL and the TooManyGames 2011 Expo. The Expo was a really cool place where you could find all kinds of old video games, video game art and much more.

The event went really well and I met a lot of great people. If you are looking for a great LAN party to check out theGXL should be on your list! We will be at the next event!