Gadget Show Live A Report from Professional Day 2012

The Gadget Show Live event at the NEC has been going some years now and the initial hanging-off-the-rafters effect of the first few years has waned a tiny bit in the face of the recession’s teeth. I think you could walk-up and buy tickets and maybe even get a seat in the live theatre on some show days – all of which was impossible from weeks in advance in previous years. But times are way tougher and it shows a bit. Talk Audio was in the house for Professional Day to report on the mobile electronics side of life. There were some big players present, with Alpine and Pioneer, Kenwood and JBL with CAS as well as the Vibe guys, who were focussing upon their new gaming subwoofer for TV set use.
I confess that I didn’t get time to go around the show’s other big hall, so don’t even know what else was on offer yet I am certain it is a well worthy ticket. There were nutty Robot Wars and flying toys in their own little aviaries, especially the wonderful AR Drone 2.0 from Parrot and there were some lovely demo cars. From the Vibe boomers to the newly revamped Kenwood Scirocco to the Alpine Passat and a Fiat 500 we have never seen before from Alpine Europe. And a collection of sexy metal on the Car Audio & Security stand, including a new Audi R8 that is used as a daily drive by the boss of CAS. Incidentally, as part of the new thrust of Keen & Eager that CAS bring to the Viper security line of stuff as their new importers, they were showing off a phone app that can start your car to idle a little and charge the battery and move oil around. Great if you are in Mauritius for three months. (I actually heard that this is can be an issue with huge Mercs at airports as they DO get left for such long ‘˜vacations’!) Remote start from any range? Makes the old Cobra remote under-your-chinbone trick look pathetic! But it was cool. Viper SmartStart is the feature’s name.
I started my day over on the Alpine stand, after a serious schmooze with the Bowers & Wilkins chaps. (I went to a mad-end HiFi shop recently-ish to ‘˜review’ a surround system of theirs with their new DB1 subwoofer and a cluster of huge tower speakers with Kevlar cones and vapour deposited Diamond dome tweeters! They are the folks who make the whorl-seashell shaped Nautilus speakers and who are copied worldwide for their tube-taper chambered concept.)
The show is a biggie and a lot of folks are expected, with nearly all tickets sold, so the Alpinistes were there in force. I took the opportunity to get one of those corporate staff shots

I was taken through the stand by Atsuhiro Takeda, who is an ASM as well as product specialist with Alpine. He was particularly keen to show me MirrorLink technology, new for 2012 and shown on a phone so fresh and new it was sent air mail by Samsung to Alpine to use at Gadget show, a Galaxy S2. Listen to the concept and watch it work, below.


Then, the far too young and cool Luke Cullen took me through the Alpine Europe Fiat 500 car. Made in Germany, I was horribly guilty of not giving it enough attention, partly as it is damn hard for me to squeeze into and partly through distraction-of-riches but is one awesome install. One internet comment under the video below already didn’t think it was as cool as the C2 but that’s because they didn’t see the full fabricated replacement seats in the back. It is done to a breath-taking standard.
Here, the guys from top end installers Bloomz are clustered around the car, marvelling at the tiny neat trim radii around the corners of the TV screens and the general quality of fit and finish.

This is the lovely new Alpine Digital radio add-on device that Alpine have made with Pure.

And here is Luke Cullen to show us through the Alpine Fiat 500 by Alpine Europe..


Amazingly, he had never heard of the Scots soup called Cullen skinkwhich was a discussion about how annoying the Luke Skywalker gags about his name have been, which I avoided throughout.
The Force is Strong with this onehere he is, drooling over the stuff in the shiny high end cabinet on show

Thence, toddled off to the Kenwood stand, fully three demo cars strong and learned more about the wee green robot dude.

Kenwood Executive Mike Edwards talked to me about Android and their new technology being revealed at the show.


The now fabled Kenwood Scirocco has been refitted for 2012 and now features a DNX 9 series front end, new leather and superb new wheels to finish it all off. Apparently girls like to stroke and smooth their hands along the silky wrap on the car until Edwards San tells them it’s Dolphin skin. (It’s Vinyl, honest!) I loved the Mitsubishi ASX Black edition 4X4. It was very ‘˜me’! It has a sexy Kenwood double-Din right off the production line.
After that, I was off to the Pioneer stand to look at the new kit. But the Smart was not there.

The one with the DJ kit in itnope, rather that the booth had been made with a pukka dancer-grade flooring over it and they had a crew of street dance dudes (one of whom recalled working with me at a Doncaster show ten years ago!) who were showing off their skills and the use of the Pioneer Steez hardware and software.
Pioneer’s street dancers


More of the talented dance crew


And here’s the technical goodies. The first car headunit with that capacitative multi-touch screen thing going onit’s gorgeous! Girish Janday of Pioneer shows us how it works

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And here’s the AppRadio QR code shot.

And lastly just about the only promo lass at the whole now far more family-oriented show was the lovely Jodie Leigh who is @jodie_leigh_xox on twitter.

It was a damn fine show and my only regret is not getting around more of it in general. But the car audio section is growing and it was brilliant to see them all there. Now, all I need is a specialist niche presenting gig on the show..