The second annual Maker Faire, on the San Mateo fair grounds, was a complete hit! Here are some photos that I snapped while attending the celebration of all things geek. Descriptions to follow :)

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Just arrived on the west coast for the live blogging even that is just hours away. Blogging to begin at about 12PM (GMT -8)

Anybody guess the event yet?

UPDATE: You guessed it, I’ll be snapping and blogging away at the Makers Faire!

Join us for a special event the afternoon of May 19th, you don’t want to miss it.

If the booming sales of web camera’s are any indicator, there is huge shift in the way people talk to each other. The folks at Ojo hope to ride the wave.

The Ojo personal video phone is a re-branded Motorola VoIP device that easily connects to a home-network router to deliver full duplex video phone calls (using standard the standard H.264 codec).

Although an Ojo device is required for both the caller and the recipient, setup couldn’t be easier. For a low monthly fee a live Ojo operator will help setup the device with you (which is as easy as plugging in an ethernet line), and registers the device to your phone number. To reach another Ojo user, just dial their landline phone number and you are connected. There are no standard voice functions included in the device, but the Ojo representative said a partnership with a VoIP provider may not be far off.

As far as the video quality, Ojo claims video at 30 frames per second but in the real world show demo it was closer to 15.

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If you missed Macworld after the jump is a complete full context recap of our awesome coverage, be warned it is a LONG page load.

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Intels Booth had to be the most impressive at CES, It was huge and glitzy! But with all booths there are the gitchy little showy things that make you go WTF. Intel, in this edition of ‘Things that make people in ties do strange things’, setup a green screen that buyers, and vendors can dance in front of to create their own version of the ‘Multiply’ ads. Of course as with Karaoke, this attracted everyone that had no talent whatsoever but it provided me with a much needed laugh and break from electronic radiation.

One more image of Intel’s booth after the jump

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CES is the year of the look-a-likes. Motorola and LG have independently created long lost twin phones. The Rizr and the LG Shine seem to be very similar but so the similarities only go skin deep? They both sport a similar feature set, and both work on the GSM network, launched on the same day.

No word on carrier availability, and when the devices will be released. Comparative pictures after the jump

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IO Gear, who is typically known for their KVM devices, has produced a competitor to the Logitech DiNovo keyboard with a twist. This baby is thin and good looking, but after a double take it seems to resemble the previous design of its rival. Hmmmmm.

But, IO Gear has added a Titanium Dioxide and Silver ‘nano-particle’ coating to the keyboard and mouse combo to help kill any germs or bacteria that gets on the device so you can be sexy and germ free too. Connects via USB, and works on both Macs and PC’s.

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So, LG finally committed to the hybrid Blu-Ray HD-DVD player, how do you promote it? Get one of those new HUGE TV’s to showcase those beautiful HD movies? Give product demo’s? Gratuitous booth babes? How about hire horrible Blues Brother performers to change the words of classic songs to include the words(Are they really words?) Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Nothing like having “Soul Man” push products.

Sing along “I’m a Blu Man…”

Over in the AMD booth (and not in a starving improvised nation) the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) laptop was out and available for all to touch.

Although the press on the device has been impressive it is important to note that the OS was not finished, most of the applications didn’t work, most of the IO didn’t work and AMD said they have begun shipping a bunch of units. Hmmmmmmm.

When asked what poor nations needed more: Laptops or Food, there was no answer from AMD’s lead PR person. And for the question of why the US will not have access to the Laptop for our poor and needy families, no answers.

Overall opinion of the product: Excellent idea in a utopian world, poor execution.