gdgt Live in Chicago

This evening, I attended an event at which, a year ago, my friends would never have expected to find me—a party thrown by a gadget website. My job and, more specifically, my particular clients, have turned me on to gadgets and up-and-coming technology, immersing me in the exciting world of TV-Internet integration, smartphones, mobile devices, and more. So, I was unabashedly excited all day about going to the gdgt party at Gallery 233.

gdgt.com is a site I originally started reading for work, but began frequenting in my spare time after buying my Droid in November. It's a great guide for all the features on my phone, as well as how-to’s and answers to common questions or issues with the phone. It’s a great, community-oriented resource for all my tech inquiries (and no, no one’s paying me to write any of this). So, when Free Things to Do in Chicago posted about the gdgt party earlier this week, I emailed all my co-workers and started getting a bit, well, psyched!


I have seen pictures and read about a large number of the devices that I actually got to play with and view in action tonight, which is really, really cool. Microsoft demoed the Windows 7 Phone that’s not coming out until fall, as well as the KIN phones which launch tomorrow (the "Turtle" is the cutest phone I’ve ever held in my hand—it’s like a makeup compact in shape and size); Boxee showed off its capabilities and I spent some serious time chit-chatting with their reps; and I got to play with uber expensive Logitech mice.


My favorite table was the CherryPal table, though. A company like CherryPal stands out in the tech space because they are making technology affordable for developing nations. They manufacture small, simplistic, and inexpensive computers that make connectivity and technology accessible in nations that have very little. I asked their rep how they could afford to make such inexpensive computers (the smallest one starts at $99, with a 2 GB memory, and an SD slot—simple but functional). He told me that they are a company of 50 people, they work out of a warehouse with no A/C in Palo Alto, CA—in other words, they have very little overhead. That, and the fact that they sell thousands of these computers, allows them to continue doing what they’re doing. FYI, when I said that the little computer was like a tablet with a keyboard, he told me they're going to be releasing a tablet.


After spending some time at CherryPal (the last table I visited during the evening), I mingled with a few co-workers, and watched some interviews that will no doubt appear on gdgt soon. I spent some time whining about how the iPad competitors have been pulling out of the market left and right, and had some completely nerdy conversations with some other event-goers as we speculated about HP's tablet and how the company's acquisition of Palm will affect HP's approach to the device. I met some cool people, not the least of which was engadget blogger Nilay Patel (I read his stuff on a daily basis, and was really excited to meet him).

So, tonight, I completely embraced my tech geekiness, a side of me to which usually only my co-workers are privy, and it was so much fun! Along the way, I acquired a couple of free T-shirts, a free month of Zune Pass and a couple of free drinks; met Nilay; and made a really good (hopefully) connection with an editor in Chicago. Oh, and enjoyed the 10:1 men to women ratio at this event (ladies, pay attention). I’m still excited about the whole evening, which is why I’m writing this instead of sleeping…