The Cylons are in BIG trouble. Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) is sporting the 140x zoom binoculars available from Sharper Image, SkyMall, and a myriad of other gadget specialty shops.

What’s cool about these is that they really do zoom. I’ve showcased these things at a number of tradeshows. The problem I’ve had each time is that tradeshows are always indoors, so you can’t really get a good idea of what the view is going to look like.

However, at the 2006 CES, I was working at a booth that was near one of the back bay doors. During the setup, the doors were open, so I decided to point the binoculars outside.

I was amazed with what I saw. At first, I didn’t have the binoculars on the tripod. It was a pain in the butt to see anything when I zoomed in to 140x. Yet, I could still see things. Once I put the binoculars on the tripod… The people in the Paris Hotel needed to worry. I could see individual people walking near the Eiffel Tower!

Now, for those of you not familiar with Las Vegas, Paris and the convention center are not really near each other at all. It’s not something that anyone who wasn’t totally drunk wouldn’t do (that’s another story and a different website :-D). If someone was picking their nose, I’d see it. And man! Let me tell you what I saw… Well, really nothing. Just people walking in Las Vegas, Elvis, and Jimmy Hoffa.

Now, here’s a little bit of trivia for you… Katee is a bass fisher. In fact, that’s how she scored these Wile E. Coyote style binoculars. She zeroed in on them and told me that they would be perfect for when she goes bass fishing. “Take ‘em,” I told her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more grateful person in my entire life. As you can see in the picture… She’s smiling from ear to ear. She was very sweet and gracious for her gifts. Oh, yes, there was more than one gadget that she received, but more about the automatic watch that her and Kathy Hilton received at the GBK Oscar Gift Suite another time.