Top 10 best and worst of CES

2. Conference cough
Iain Thomson: If statisticians were to look at the amount of time lost to the dreaded CES flu, I suspect companies would find they are losing millions as a result of CES.

When you get 100,000 people flying in from all corners of the globe, gathering in one place and shaking hands a lot you've built pretty much the best environment possible for getting sick.

Add in a lot of activity and short sleep rations and you'll find yourself at a low ebb and vulnerable to a virus attack. If one person has the flu then it jumps from person to person fast and, before long, everyone's got it. The Las Vegas climate doesn't help either, since it dries out your mucous membranes and makes you more vulnerable.

One of the essential bits of kit to pack before CES is anti-bacterial hand gel, according to some people, but I've got my doubts about its efficacy. I've tried it and it seldom works. Frequent hand washing in hot water is slightly more effective but it's still not enough.

This year a very nasty strain of flu has swept through delegates and as we left we ran into a fellow hack who was obviously suffering from a nasty attack of it and both Shaun and I have been hit.

Sadly there really is very little you can do about it but suck it up and isolate yourself when you get home so that you don't infect others.

Shaun Nichols: When flying in to Las Vegas for CES, journalists more or less concede that they are going to get sick. The circumstances are a perfect storm for illness.

During the show most of us are pulling 14 hour days, working shoulder to shoulder with others, and living off of coffee and whatever you come across at the press conferences or events. (I was able to eat lunch a total of one time during the show.)

Going home I was starting to feel a nice bout of chest cold setting in, but Iain was far worse. At first glance this morning he seemed a light shade of grey and from there on it didn't get much better. I know that British people usually have this sort of hue, but he still looked pretty bad.

If you have a co-worker or loved one who is coming home from CES, it's not such a bad idea to keep them isolated for a while. Granted, they may not take it well, but we all know that feelings are way less important than not getting the sniffles.

1. Microsoft's opening keynote
Shaun Nichols: Keynote gaffes and goof-ups are nothing new for Microsoft, but this year's opening address may have just been the worst ever.

Before things even got off the ground, an electrical error knocked out power to much of the stage and forced Microsoft technicians to run on the stage to diagnose and reboot two demo systems which looked to have been knocked offline.

Power was restored and the keynote kicked off with a song proclaiming 'I've got a feeling tonight is going to be a good night'. Not since Custer's scouts foresaw a leisurely stroll through the plains has a prediction been so wrong.

The power outage managed to completely disable at least one product Microsoft was planning to showcase, and the demos that did survive didn't fare much better. Hardware issues hampered the demo of Microsoft's internet-connected TV service, while a mistimed play command goofed up the HP tablet demo.

As Steve Ballmer was leaving the stage, the frustration was quite clear among all parties involved. Given Ballmer's affinity for throwing furniture I would not have wanted to be a chair backstage.

Iain Thomson: I haven't seen so many disgruntled people coming out of a keynote in a long time and Shaun looked like they'd been at him with hot knives by the time he got out.

This is actually rather odd, since Ballmer usually gives a pretty good speech. His infamous 'developers' cry or lumbering onstage dancing are the stuff of legend in the industry and it's not as though Microsoft doesn't have anything to say.

But the constant foul ups and mistakes drew first amusement and then ire, as the clock ticked on and people started to get restless. It was pushing 9pm by the time the delegates got out of the hall and many looked as though they were wishing they'd left sooner.