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The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas began almost 40 years ago in a handful of casino ballrooms, where guys in polyester suits were cranking the Bee Gees to demo tube amps and Smokey and the Bandit was spinning in every videodisc player. In 2016, the convention drew more than 170,000 visitors, who perused everything from iPhone cases to self-driving cars.
While CES’ epic takeover transforms Las Vegas for six days every January, its impact can be felt year-round. The convention’s Sasquatch-size footprint—almost 2.5 million square feet of exhibition space this year—keeps growing. Aria was an official CES site for the first time this year, hosting seminars on “digital disruption” and “fostering creativity”; the property recently announced that it will add 200,000 square feet of convention and meeting space by 2018. Of course, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has expansion plans of its own: The Global Business District, planned around the current site of the Riviera, will add 2.5 million square feet of space, nearly doubling the size of the current facilities.
Perhaps the reason for CES’ seemingly endless expansion is the fact that every industry is getting wired. It's the Internet of Things, the buzzword for when all of your tech-enabled devices are integrated and your phone can talk to your doorbell or your laptop can turn on your dishwasher. Microsoft’s Bryan Roper said in a seminar that “we can do amazing things with the data that comes from these devices to help consumers be more productive in their home.” However, Roper’s example of monitoring every time someone in your house opens a refrigerator or turns on a light felt a little more Orwellian than utopian.
Automotive technology was a big part of the convention, growing 25 percent from last year. Nevada is trying to create a new image as the home of cutting-edge cars, but the anticipated unveiling of the Faraday Future was a bit of a bust: The glossy black race car looked cool as shit, but something with four engines and one seat would be judged impractical even by a 12-year-old boy. The other automaker with ties to Nevada, Tesla, was also represented—sort of. Somewhere off the auto floor, wedged into a sliver of space between two unrelated booths, was a lone Tesla. Not even a poster: It was like Elon Musk didn’t realize CES was happening until Day 2.
However, there were some impressive automotives on site. Mercedes-Benz unveiled a touch-screen dashboard and its IAA (Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile) concept car—a curvaceous, satin-finished silver coupé with LED lights, as well as wheels and a tail fin that retract and realign according to driving conditions. Volkswagen introduced its fully connected, electric-powered minivan, the BUDD-e. It has solar panels, a roving Wi-Fi hot spot, a refrigerator in the bumper and it can consolidate everyone’s iPhones into one playlist. If you’re a rich stoner with Coachella tickets, this is the car for you.
Another sector with an increased CES presence was sports technology. Under Armour launched a variety of connected fitness devices with its HealthBox, which can track things such as weight, heart rate, sleep, etc. For those actually participating in sports, a number of technologies monitor speed, jump height, how often you make your shot/hit/throw and anything else a sensor can be attached to. “We’re seeing an explosion of sensors,” said Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, addressing a sports tech forum, adding that the combination of sensors and software can give every athlete a personal “coach” to analyze their game.
For spectators, Cuban was excited about the new “connected” sports venues, which can send everything from parking info to player stats to your phone—as well as remembering what kind of beer you like to drink in the fourth quarter. Yet Cuban thinks the tech should stop when the game starts. “The energy you feel when you walk into an arena is the most valuable part of the product,” he said, adding that the goal is for “people to not look at their phone because they’re so engaged and having so much fun.” Put down your device and interact with the real world? CES is the last place we’d expect to hear that.
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