Ben the PC Guy: What’s in my bag (and pocket) for CES 2012?

A few months ago Steve wrote a post on my “tools of the trade” – basically, everything that I carry on a day-to-day basis. For a show like CES where I’m on my feet for 12+ hours each day I pare down what I carry. Below is what’s in my “CES Assault Pack” (which these days is a Swiss Gear Synergy backpack), and in my pockets.

Laptop: You don’t get a nickname like “The PC Guy” without owning a lot of PCs. For a show like CES I usually carry my Lenovo ThinkPad X220. It’s a 12.5” Windows 7-powered laptop which makes it small and light enough to carry on my back all day, and with the optional 9-cell battery I can get over 8 hours of uptime – plenty for a full day of blogging. I love ThinkPads because they’re basically indestructible (which I demonstrated in my ruggedized PC video), and because they’re easily repairable in the field. Mine’s a little bit modded from standard issue; it’s packing a second-gen Intel i5, 8GB of RAM, Windows 7 Ultimate and dual SSDs (an 80GB OS drive, and a 160GB data drive).

NOTE: The inspirational sticker is also not standard issue. Although it should be.

Camera: I just upgraded from a Sony NEX-5 to a Sony NEX-5N. It’s a 16.1MB powerhouse that shoots 1080/60p video in a package that’s only bit bigger than a point-and-shoot. Add the removable flash and mic and it’s a perfect travel-sized all-in-one photo/video rig. Mine has an 18-55mm lens attached, and I also carry the 14mm pancake lens (not pictured) for wide shots.

Phones: I carry one each of all of our US-available new phones, including the Samsung Focus S, Samsung Focus Flash, HTC Radar 4G and HTC Titan. The Titan is my current everyday carry; the huge screen is awesome for typing and texting, and the 8MP camera takes beautiful shots. I also keep a Nokia Lumia 800 in my bag (because it is, in my opinion, the most beautiful phone ever built), and the crazy awesome waterproof Toshiba-Fujitsu T1215. It doesn’t work in the US, but it’s a heck of a conversation piece.

When I’m on my phone at CES I rely on a few apps – some built-in and some from the marketplace – to stay productive. My top 5 are:

• Local Scout: Local scout is built-in to search, and it’s ideal for finding someplace to eat (or someplace to shop) when you’re in an unfamiliar town. One tap finds me good grub and whatever else I need, wherever I am.
• The Me Tile: One touch access to a quick tweet or Facebook status update. Indispensible when you live your life online like I do.
• Rowi: My #1 favorite Twitter app for Windows Phone. I love the built-in Twitter functionality of the Me tile, but for a deeper experience that includes direct messages and threaded conversations, I rock Rowi. And it has Live Tile support that tells me when I have new mentions or DMs.
• Outlook: You might be saying “it’s just email”. But for a professional at a tradeshow, email is your link back to the office. It’s how I share full-res photos, presentations, briefing books and more with my colleagues on the floor and back in Redmond. I use this app more than anything else on my phone.
• GeekBits: The killer app for staying on top of tech news. It helps me keep up with all of the breaking news from the show floor, without having to hit a million sites.

Other Tech: I keep a 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter with my X220. It lets me charge my laptop and another gadget at the same time, which comes in extremely handy at CES where outlets are at a premium

• That being said, I also carry two phone chargers with me, in case I can find a second socket.
• When all else fails, I turn to my Scosche 5000mAH portable battery back. It’s got enough juice to charge 3 phones before going dry and it’s smaller than a deck of cards. The best $100 I’ve spent in a long time.
• One of the handiest pieces of tech I’ve ever acquired is a Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE hotspot. Verizon’s LTE service is as fast as standard broadband and it’ll hook up 5 devices at the same time. Now my internet addiction is never without a fix.

There’s one other thing that I’m bringing with me to CES – a whole bunch of these:

Why? Well, that’s a secret…for now. Let’s just say that you should follow my tweets and the #smokedbywindowsphone hashtag. If you do, you might have a chance to win one of these – or.

See you in Vegas!