The 2023 CES emails have been pouring in as expected, but quite a few are from companies I’ve never heard of. Why is that a concern? You have to read between the lines … are there not enough of the legacy attendees to merit my attention? I noticed the South Hall will be completely unoccupied … that’s two absolutely gigantic floors of missing companies. The new West wing is fully booked, but it’s not remotely as large as the other halls, and additionally, that’s primarily a car show. The “gift” from China is still affecting the show and preventing many who wanted to appear there from the fear of catching COVID. To see who will actually be there will be interesting and will tell you something about the folks managing those companies. Do they actually understand science, or do they kowtow to irrational fears. Not to be in attendance and be part of the tech community, can be the death knell for startups. This may be their only/final opportunity to show their tech/products to the broader community or wait until next year when there may be competitors and that magic window of ingenuity will be gone … and with it, investors.
I’ve been reading ZDNet and other commercial “news” sites about the show and I have to wonder … have they ever really been there? Or they wouldn’t be asking the questions they are. The things they are concerned with were news six months ago. Of all the 2023 CES articles I’ve read, shockingly only the non-tech Forbes seems to grasp the significance.
On a positive note, one complete section of the Musk tunnel will be open, saving an absurdly long and dangerous walk to Las Vegas Blvd. I have my fingers crossed for the car area as the new West Hall has barely been used since it opened and though much smaller, it’s a truly nice facility. This additional new West Hall was supposed to allow all attendees to stay in one central area by eliminating the need to use multiple distant hotel meeting rooms. But I noticed some folks are still displaying quite a distance away … as an example, getting to the Aria from the main convention, during show times, is more than a trifling inconvenience, it’s a real pain. I keep wondering, what were they thinking? You shouldn’t let someone who has never been to CES arrange meeting facilities.
I’m fully expecting a certain degree of lunacy as CES is ground zero for this type of thing … at the show, Kohler is announcing it’s beginning to sell the $11,500 toilet shown at the 2019 CES featuring … Alexa.
Am I the only one who finds this frightening?