It's a Vegas Vacation on "News To Me" this weekend! The good news: it's free, there are no Elvis impersonators and you won't lose at the craps table. The bad news: the whole trip only lasts 30 minutes, Eric may do his Regis Philbin impression, and you won't win at the craps table!

Just like Vegas, there is a lot to see in this episode of "News To Me." And just like Vegas it all goes by pretty quick! So here are the links to all the raw video and websites we featured on this weekend's show:

Inside Afghanistan:
Watch Ben Anderson's full 8 part series about 24 hours in the life of British soldiers training Afghan troops in Afghanistan at VBS.tv.

Eric vs. the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show:
There was literally TOO MUCH to see at the convention... but here are some of Eric's favorites -
- Inada Sogno massage chair
- fuji enviromax batteries
- Tri-Specs bluetooth sunglasses
- Electric bike from ELV Motors
- LED jacket by Nyx Illuminated Clothing Company
- Underwater digital camera scuba mask
- Hitachi Gesture Control TV Interface prototype
- Faithful Friends host Electra Mustaine
- Mattel Mind Flex mind control game (due out in the fall)
...and in case you missed it – take Eric's exclusive tour of the HLN/CNN workspace at CES and get a first look at the new Jeopardy! set!

Ideas by Chuck:
Here's a good idea... check out Chuck's blog: ideasbychuck.com

Blue Suit Skaters:
Watch the full blue suit, white knuckle video on designer Adam Kimmel's website: adamkimmel.com

OK, time for us to be leaving Las Vegas. We hope you enjoyed HLN's spotlight on citizen journalism, viral video, iReports and Web culture! We'll see you again next weekend for "News To Me" when Eric will show you how you can use the Net to become part owner in a professional football (soccer) club. Yes you! And you don't have to be Mark Cuban! See you then!

"News To Me" hit the Las Vegas strip for the show this weekend! What better backdrop for a show about citizen journalism than a city where everyone has a story?

Speaking of stories Eric has some DOOZIES to tell this weekend on "News To Me." He'll introduce you to an idea man in search of a man with a plan, take us behind enemy lines in Afghanistan and into the world's largest gadget convention! It's our version of a splashy Las Vegas show... except it's free and Eric won't be wearing a sequined jumpsuit. At least not for the whole show...

More pics from our shoot on the strip after the jump »

Howdy! Eric here, fresh from Vegas!

What a wild week it was for me! Let me first start off by saying, "Wow, where has the year gone already?" I am almost ready to turn the magic number of 38 years old in February. More on that later.

Anyway... back in November I was asked to be the HLN reporter for the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. What an honor! However I was not 100% prepared for the experience at hand... until I got there.

The plane ride there got me started. I used to be afraid of flying, but through all my travels on small jets and big 'uns... [my fear of flying] has subsided for the most part. BUT, the "unexpected turbulence" I experienced on the jet from Atlanta to Las Vegas, got me a little off... (never been on a plane where people screamed and had to use the "magic bags" in the seat pockets - usually this happens on the plane ride HOME from Vegas). But we made it through.

Believe it or not this was my first time to Sin City... and for someone like me who doesn't gamble it was a shocker.

We arrived and immediately began our treasure hunt of the latest gee-whiz-wowzers-techno-gizmos. From the moment we landed to the time we took off again, we worked the floors of this 1.7 MILLION square foot trade show. I made friends, I made people mad - it's what I do. BUT I got the stories HLN wanted - what is hot, what is not. Thanks to Ashley Preskar, and Paul Chase for editing all the pieces, Dan Wright for everything and Ferre Dollar and Eric Yanak for making it all look and sound good... a great crew.

See below for the ERIC LANFORD "what's hot and what's not" list for CES:

HOT:
3-D TV: is a'comin' but you will have to wear those geeky glasses.
Touch Screens: EVERYTHING will be touchy feely soon... I mean everything.
Convergence: ONE device that does everything.
Really small computers: really small, but yet you can still type.
Remoteless TV's: Do it all with your hand, not remote.
Vegas: Need I say more?

NOT:
Flat TVs: They are getting much thinner...trust me...like paper thin.
WebTV: Didn't see much about this, is it still a viable thing?
Vegas: Man, everything costs...I mean everything...

I could go on and on, but they limit me on the blog.* In summary, I had a great time and it got me back to my roots of having fun with people and showcasing my personality (and yes, I do have one).

That's all for now... see you on the "tech-side!"
-Eric

"News To Me" will come to you from Las Vegas next weekend! Including much more from CES!

*Editor's Note: It's not that Eric is being "limited" from the blog, it's more like YOU (the reader) are being "protected" from Eric.

Jeopardy, the actual TV game show Jeopardy, shot several episodes here at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. You won't see the shows on TV until March, but you can take a video tour of the set with Eric right here, right now! Click the picture above to go behind the scenes and get a view of the stage that only Alex Trebek and the contestants usually get to see!

It's online right now at CNN.com!

A lot of the products being unveiled at CES this year are prototypes. They work, but they're not going to be on the shelf at Best Buy for a while. One of the most talked about items and one of the most closely guarded is the cell phone watch from LG. Eric is one of the few people at CES who actually got a chance to try it on and seen it in action! Even though it's much larger than a standard wrist watch it's not SO bulky that it stands out, and the touchscreen interface is very slick. It probably will not replace your Rolex but your calculator watch has met it's match!

Speaking of bulky things that you wear, this is the latest in underwater photography fashion. Meet the scuba mask/HD video camera/lighting rig combination! It's from Liquid Image and I'm certain the video it records looks much cooler than the person wearing it.

Coming up... a special behind the scenes video of the new Jeopardy Game Show set that debuted at CES this weekend!

Here's the answer: The Signaling Button.

The Question? What is Eric Lanford not allowed to touch!

We finally made it over to the Sands/Venetian portion of the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show on Friday. It was only a FAST "run and gun" through the hall but we'll be back! The Central Hall where HLN and CNN are based is cool, it's got all the big names like Intel, Microsoft, LG, Panasonic, Hitachi, Sony... you get the picture. Just one a short distance (but excruciatingly long bus ride away) over at the Sands/Venetian area however you'll find the more "home-spun" innovations... the stuff that people put heart and soul into.

The big buzz coming from the Sands is the Mattel "Mind Flex." That's Eric (of course) in the picture above wearing the controller. There's no joystick, no motion sensors, not even a video screen. This is a game you play using brainwaves. Simply by putting those (kind of silly looking) sensors on his noggin and then attaching a couple soft clips to his earlobes Eric was able to maneuver a small ball through a series of obstacles using only the power of his MIND!

We also met a couple celebrities on our journey to the Sands...

Electra Mustaine. Host: "Faithful Friends"

Chris Gerling: Breaks things on Hak5.org

First up were the kids from Faithful Friends on Animal Planet! A group of very happy little girls who were roaming the hall (with parental supervision of course) learning about how all these big tech companies are changing in order to be more green! Amongst them was Electra Mustaine, daughter of Megadeath front man Dave Mustaine! Eric now has her autograph.

On the way back to the central hall, we were lucky enough to catch the topless double decker CES Express bus. Even luckier to sit amongst the team from Hak5.org. That's cast member Chris Gertling waving in the pic over there. When I asked Chris what his role in the Hak5 web show is he said, "I break things." We'll be tuning in to find out exactly what that means!

Coming up on TV AND here on the blog, we'll show you one of the hottest and most closely guarded items at CES... the LG Wristwatch Cell Phone! It's been done before, but never in a package like this! Stay tuned, or subscribed, or whatever you do to follow this blog!

Before we go for today... a big hello to all of you who linked over to the "News To Me" blog from CNN.com/TECH. We've had a blast covering this exciting event and hope you are enjoying these updates. However, the real reason for this blog is to keep viewers updated on our TV Show called "News To Me.". We have an awesome episode on tap for you on Saturday 1/10 at 7:30pm and 9:30pm EST on HLN. You'll meet a courageous man who we first learned about on iReport.com. We're the very first national TV show to feature his inspirational story. Please make some time to check it out!

See you then!

Here at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, HLN, CNN, CNN International and CNN.com are based in the Central Hall. The workspace is basically a large office cube except with much higher walls and a second story. Want to take a look? "News To Me" host Eric Lanford will be happy to escort you on a tour. No credentials necessary!

Watch the video on CNN.com »

Left to right: "News To Me" host Eric Lanford & CNN Photojournalist Ferre Dollar at the CES.

Maybe it fell between the cushions, maybe you left it in the other room, maybe your dog thought it was a new chew toy... at one time or another we have all found ourselves looking for a lost remote control. Or even worse, finding out that your remote has used up all the juice in it's batteries. You'd think we'd learn to keep AAA's on hand for such an occasion, but we never do.

Well, the folks at Hitachi have come up with a solution to both these problems: get rid of the remote! It's not quite ready for prime time, but devices that you can control with a wave of your hand or a twirl of your finger are on the horizon. To change the channel, swipe your hand left to right in the air a few feet away from the TV. Adjust the volume by pointing at the screen and twirling your finger, like you are spinning an imaginary ipod clickwheel. This particular demonstration included a "home automation" feature that will (someday) allow you to change the lighting or even the temperature in your home with just a gesture.

At the Gesture Tek booth across the convention hall, Eric used a similar system to play a driving game. No special accessories required, he just "gripped" a virtual steering wheel in the air in front of the game monitor and drove. Yes, the car in the game was totaled several times, but it was still cool!

You can catch Eric demonstrating the Hitachi system from the floor of the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today on Morning Express with Robin Meade!

Left to right: Eric Lanford: host of "News To Me," Brian Cooley: CNET.com, CNN Cameraman Leon Jobe

Brian Cooley from CNET.com dropped in to give Eric a lesson on how to live in "The Cloud." Connectivity is a big buzzword here at C.E.S. It's a convoluted word that alludes to the fact that soon everything, absolutely everything, will be connected to the internet. "The Cloud" is the ultimate in connectivity... it's an invisible bubble where people are already starting to store all their files so that all that data is accessible anywhere and everywhere.

Brian showed us four new gizmos that are already using a lot of the media that lives in "The Cloud", taking connectivity to the next level:

- Linksys by Cisco Director – wireless music player and touchscreen remote.

- The Dual XNAV 43 HD gives you both GPS mapping AND HD radio plus tons of other info at your fingertips.

- The Asus Eee T91 is a tiny notebook computer, that turns into a tablet computer... inside is a GPS antenna, TV tuner AND FM transmitter! See convergence! Lots of different utilities in one "do-everything" package.

- Samsung Internet-connected Blu-Ray Player which opens up a world of streaming video AND DVD extras.

We'll see you bright an early tomorrow on Morning Express with more from C.E.S. and we'll see you this weekend for an all new episode of "News To Me" on HLN!

Samsung super thin digital photo frame prototype. Screen is only 1.2mm thick!

Samsung super thin digital photo frame prototype. Screen is only 1.2mm thick!

Eric's first report from the floor of the convention center highlights these prototype video screens from Samsung Mobile Electronics. Lance Ulanoff, Editor in Chief of PC Magazine helped us wrap our heads around how these micro thin displays work and where we can expect to see them popping up in the future.

Imagine the GPS display that now takes up space in your dashboard, embedded in the windshield of your car... no more taking your eyes off the road in order to see where you're going!

The screen you see in the pics next to this text is a prototype of a next generation digital photo frame. Right now all over the C.E.S. convention floor vendors are pitching digital photo frames of all shapes and sizes, but NONE of them come close to the design specs of this bad boy. It's 1.2 millimeters thick! Right now it's just for still pictures, but someday you'll be watching "News To Me" on a screen that thick!

No, you can't buy it now, but that's part of the allure of the Consumer Electronics Show... it's a glimpse into the FUTURE!

Is there is a gadget here at C.E.S. that you've heard about and would like us to check out? Leave a comment and let us know... we'll track it down, test it out and let you know if it lives up to the hype (so far almost everything has).

Looking ahead to tomorrow: Eric is geeked about the "Hall of cars," the Sustainable Planet area, and getting his picture taken on the "Jeopardy" set.