I'm spending a couple of days at CES 2017 (formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.
Last year, more than 170,000 people from all over the world attended CES, making it one of the largest trade shows in the world. It's hard to imagine so many people in one (rather scattered) place, at the same time. If at all possible, you should experience CES for yourself. However, only industry professionals, news media, and celebrity invitees are permitted to attend.
Las Vegas at Night...
Photo courtesy of Paul Bergmeir and http://unsplash.com
CES comprises three large exhibit venues,
each engaging multiple buildings as well as many custom exterior buildings and trailers that have been erected for the occasion. A mind-boggling panoply of electronic and mechanical devices are on display. Today, I'm going to share a sampling of snapshots with a few captions and comments. Later, I may write up a story or two about the things I personally found most interesting.
CES Crowd in South Hall Stretches as Far As the Eye Can See - Original Photo
The view above greeted us
when we passed through the doors to the South Hall. The size of the crowd boggles the mind. There is frenetic activity everywhere, and large and intricate exhibits from thousands of commercial vendors.
The show features multi-copter drones of all sizes; drones as small as 3-1/2 inches, all the way up to an autonomous passenger drone capable of carrying two people across town. Autel Robotics showed the "Kestrel," a dual-mode drone that takes off like a quadcopter and converts in the air to a high-speed (70Kph) survey aircraft. The Kestrel, capable of two hour flights, will begin shipping sometime this year.
High-Speed Concept Drone - Original Photo
The company also had this high-speed concept drone on display. Similar to the Kestrel, it takes off and lands like a quadcopter, but two of the motors then tilt forward for higher-speed operation.
Drone Submarines - Original Photo
In addition to airborne drones of all sizes, there were even a few remotely controlled and autonomous submarines. One vendor went so far as to set up this sizable swimming pool in which to demonstrate their submersibles.
Unicycle Hoverboard - Original Photo
Another vendor from Asia was demonstrating an interesting variation on the "hoverboard" concept, called the "Trotter." The Trotter has only one, large, apparently pneumatic tire right in the center. I saw this gentleman guide it smoothly around the booth, and watched an amazing video featuring another skilled rider. One advantage obvious in the video was the ability of the device to negotiate rough and varied terrain quite easily due to the broad contact area of the tire.
Mentioning to them that I was an experienced surfer, I persuaded the booth crew to allow me to try the Trotter. I guess surfing skills don't quite transfer directly; I was rather jittery, and had to stabilize myself by holding hands with two of the helpful vendors. Dismounting was also a problem; I ultimately had to jump off.
Booth Babes on Hoverboards - Original Photo
Of course, no industry trade show would be complete without at least a few Booth Babes. This year's CES is no exception. These lovely ladies were spinning around in choreographed routines in front of a very long, wall-height video display. The number of utterly huge, full color displays at this years show was remarkable.
Believe it or not,
it can be quite exhausting to merely walk around a show this size for even six hours. We only covered the South Hall today, and that not very thoroughly. Knowing how tiring the show can be, there are a number of vendors of electromechanical massage chairs demonstrating them to weary and appreciative customers. I was going to try one out, but alas, they were all filled.
"Steak Out" Special Deal Dinner - Only $6.99 - Original Photo
After my exhausting day, back at the hotel I had a delicious and filling meal of grilled steak, baked potato with butter and sour cream, steemed vegetables, and buttered dinner roll for a very reasonable $6.99 US. Add to that a bottle of beer for another $1 dollar, and I was more than satisfied. Only in Las Vegas!
CES Show Swag of All Varieties - Original Photo
No industry trade show would be complete, either, without a wide assortment of "SWAG." What is SWAG? Those ubiquitous goodies and freebies, given out by vendors to ingratiate and remind you of them later at home. Here's a sampling of my "loot" from today; candy, pens, flashlights, eyeglass cleaning cloth, lip balm, keychains, and etc.
Of course, I've said nothing about my "real reasons" to visit CES.
In a nutshell, the real reason for my frequent attendance (I've lost track of how many times I've been here during the last fifteen years) is to see what everyone else is up to. I not only garner ideas, but I also make many useful industry contacts, sourcing materials and services for my agorist activities.
Thanks for your time and attention.
I'm here on Steemit because of you, my readers. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!
This post is intended to count towards @dragosroua's Challenge30.
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about all of them.
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