Looking at that parking lot now, it’s hard to imagine that in less than 48 hours, the entire place will be filled with 120,000 attendee’s for the annual Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
This event is closed to the public, open to the trade. Fills the 2 million square feet inside the Las Vegas Convention Center plus the parking lot, plus the Hilton next door, plus parts of the Sand Convention Center, plus…. You get the picture!
This is where we get to see what will be filling the shelves and the websites of your favorite office supply, technology and home entertainment store next fall and beyond. The newest in technology innovation and convenience.
Last year it was all about convergence. Getting everything to work and communicate together. The internet connected to your office coffee interacting with your wide screen plasma television at home (long story). This year it’s all about being socially connected, being thin and of course, the tablet.
Thinner televisions, phones, camera’s and computers. More connection with GPS enabled gadgets that also connect to social media and the Internet at large. More app’s than ever before to connect, teach and tease us, not to mention confuse us. (don’t worry, we lost our privacy years ago)
For many people, this is where the rumors stop and the dreams begins. This is where the developers and designers show off their latest and greatest to the store owners, the marketing whiz and the retailers who will sell it to you. This where we get to touch, feel, play and compare side by side what they have been raving about. We get to see if their pre-release hype matches the finished product.
We get to watch 60 year old men in Brooks Brothers suits play tag team Donkey Kong on a wall size screen! (sorry, bad images probably just got burned into your head….)
Yes, this is a geek’s paradise in the land of entertainment! And it’s almost here!!!
CES runs the first weekend in January. This year its January 6-9, 2011
I will try to update when I can…
Mark Anthony
