Technology

The tipping point happened about 12 years ago. It was a warm April day in 1998 and inside Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center, more than 100,000 people gathered for the spring COMDEX trade show, one of the largest technology events in the world.

Warner Brothers Studios recently wrapped a 12-stop interactive mall tour in December in Gurnee, IL, that featured Kid’s WB Game Stations showcasing the Scooby Doo, Lego Rockband, Where the Wild Things Are, Scribblenauts, Touch Master, The Clique Diss & Makeup and Game Party WB video game titles. The games are targeted at children five to twelve years old and are available on the Nintendo Wii and DS systems, Xbox 360 and on PCs. The mall tour ran in conjunction with the website kidswb.com, where a different selection of exclusively online games are available. The tour hit the road Nov.

Wired magazine on Jan. 7 offered select show-goers and members of the press at CES a chance to rejuvenate from the busy trade-show floor at its Recharge lounge at The Society Café at The Encore, a concept it first launched in San Diego at Comic-Con this summer. Besides serving as a hospitality venue for invited guests, the space was a forum for the magazine’s editors and bloggers to interview show attendees and exhibitors about new products and trends for 2010 and to showcase advertisers’ new wares.