Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show
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The Show

Two weeks ago I spent one insane day at Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show. It is the premier conference of everything technology, from kitchen appliances to video games to tricked-out cars. I first attended as a wee pup – convincing my parents to take me to the Chicago CES after watching some tech documentary. I remember distinctly playing the Super Nintendo version of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior for the first time. I also remember scrapping up the $70 or so bills a few months later to buy the new cartridge.  

This year’s event was somewhat lackluster. Actually, last year’s event was different, too. The show has felt a light for a while. The problem is CES has been a little too successful in spreading the tech word. Now every conference is a CES show. We don’t need a dedicated tech show any more. 

Last summer I connected with an editor at a national magazine. I was honest with her: “I specialize in sex, music and technology, so it’s a bit of a stretch to write for your [relatively wholesome] pub.” Her eyes actually lit up. After I finished my spiel, she suggested I write for her food section. “Anything tech related! We want tech stuff!” I was happy, primarily because I love food (and I love getting paid, though nothing would come of the meeting). However, the main thing I felt was confused. Food is about the intimacy, the sensuality, the, you know, cooking. I don’t want a robot scrambling my damn eggs. But obviously some people, or at least the focus groups visiting major marketing departments, want more plugs and batteries in the kitchen. I’d guess the bedroom room would have tech priority over the kitchen. And that is another column. 

For the sake of argument though, let’s make the tech kitchen assumption, and let’s assume when they say tech, they mean the newest toasters and automatic coffee brewers, not Rosie the Robot. Professional foodies will get tech toys at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo or, say, the international Food Tech Expo, just as furniture experts, home security guys and computer-philes will be attending their own conferences throughout the year. The Computer Electronics Show is a big, crowded mass of products. Visitors have to be prepared to fight the traffic – particularly on the pre-game media day – while exhibitors have to assume their booth will be noticed among the several thousand there. It’s like going to a 10,000-item buffet and being asked how the chow mien was: you’re not going to remember and, after packing your stomach, you’re not really going to care. Even a specialist would have a hard time getting to where he or she needed to be and staying focused on those said innovations. At this point, we don’t have to go to the CES show to see the latest technology in our field. We can just go to our respective conferences because now, unlike any time before, technology directly affects nearly every field under the sun. 

We have trumpeted YouTube, TiVo and other symbols of tech democracy, but it has hurt several people. Yes, even me. When my first book, the Pocket Idiot’s Guide to the iPod, came out two years ago, I did what anybody else would do: I went to the store to buy my own book. It was a great, egoriffic experience, until I walked into the [big chain bookstore]. Would my book be in the Music section? Nah, under Technology. Or Computers? My glorious moment ended when I actually had to ask someone where my own book was. Luckily I was able to show off at the counter. But the point is my existential moment, the minute of not knowing what kind of book I actually wrote, couldn’t have happened in 1965 with The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to the RCA 8-Track. No, that moment could have only happened today – now – in an age where we can’t even manage our music without a computer. It’s the reason the Nintendo Wii assumes you have a wireless router in the house. It’s why people without email are considered illiterate. It’s why the Consumer Electronics Show was boring. Tech is everyday life, holding our modern day living hostage like a golden cage, and having an expo dedicated to general technology is like having a three-day conference on chewing. 

Keep in mind, however, that this is coming from a jaded guy who has been hitting tech conferences since high school. I received a half dozen excited calls from relatives, friends and Luddites after the announcement of the iPhone (“No, I was at the other conference.”). I smiled when I saw the electronic warmer toilets I remembered from a Tokyo Denny’s four years ago. I played Genji with the video game chair salesman and then wondered why he left the shiny Playstation 3 sitting out in the open… at a tech show. If there is any magic in the show, I see it from connecting with others, particularly those that aren’t techies. People who can’t set their VCR clocks are excited that I have a Wii, ask about the Microsoft Zune and are looking forward to the next TiVo upgrade. The Consumer Electronics Show is like one fat Las Vegas reminder to them – to everyone – that tech is equal to breathing. Lest we forget. 

Maybe we do need the CES show, to keep around as a symbol, if anything. And I probably will be there again on assignment next year. It’s just too bad the expo doesn’t give the same adrenaline rush as it did before tech broke out of the basement. And really, whose fault is that? 

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