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Lenovo's Amazing Gift to Hudson at getgeeked San Francisco


Hudson with Amanda Heater from Lenovo, who presented him with his Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro. 

Hudson and I attended getgeeked San Francisco last Thursday, and at the end of the event, Jeff Witt and Amanda Heater of Lenovo put Hudson over the moon with the gift of a Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, a beautiful 13.3" 32 GB tablet that comes complete with stereo JBL speakers and an incredible integrated pico projector.

getgeeked is a tech convention that gives people the chance to see some of the latest products in development, as well as new tech releases from major brands, and to interact with CEOs, developers and tech enthusiasts, while trying out the goodies, hands-on.

There are brief presentations and Q&As, as well as raffles and giveaways for those who share their experience on Twitter and Instagram. Hudson and I each came within a single digit of winning three of the raffles, but what was truly remarkable was that Hudson was given the Lenovo tablet after the panels and pitches were over, because he had asked so many great questions.

As we were leaving, and the event was wrapping up (it was 10pm), we happened to stop by the Lenovo stand again, and while we were talking, a woman who had been in the audience said that Hudson's questions were fantastic and one step ahead of the developers. Hudson, who's not yet eleven, was probably the youngest person there.

Jeff Witt heard this, asked me quietly if I thought Hudson would like one of their latest tablets - and, of course, I said yes. Hudson was so excited to be handed his gift by Amanda Heater that he couldn't stop smiling and saying, "This is the best tech convention I've ever been to!" - it was his first.

We weren't even certain until we got back to our car precisely which tablet he'd been given, but when Hudson discovered that it included the projector, his excitement pretty much hit fever pitch.



Dash Robotics' fantastic insect-inspired self-assembly robots.

We saw too many great new products at getgeeked to detail here in one post, but two standouts were Dash Robotics insect-inspired self-assembly robots, which you can control from your smartphone and which move really fast - and Frank Pears' MakerBloks, a wonderful collection of interconnecting color-coded "smart blocks" for children that allow them to use their imaginations and experiment with simple and more complex circuits, while building fun toys that play sounds and use light, and connect together to create games like Simon Says, and even a lie detector!



MakerBloks connect together to create simple and more complex circuits and games.

Both these products - the Dash bio-inspired robots and the MakerBloks - will be coming to market very soon and both are very reasonably priced. I believe the robot bugs are $49 each and the MakerBloks will be available in sets priced between about $40 and $100.

In the meantime, Hudson is very happily enjoying his Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro - especially the projector! Last night, he had some friends over for a sleepover and they watched The Lego Movie (an absolute favorite of ours) on the bedroom wall. The sound was pretty phenomenal, too.



Watching The Lego Movie projected by the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro. All photographs Copyright © 2015 Alexander Chow-Stuart.


If you enjoyed this post, you may also like my post from July 2011, when Hudson met Apple's design genius Sir Jony Ive for his seventh birthday treat.



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