Las Vegas : Features

Bright LEDs, Big City By Peter Nowak Dec 1, 2007

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Every January, what happens in Vegas… gets talked about by millions of people looking for the next great tech gear. Peter Nowak explores the Consumer Electronics Show—the city’s largest trade and consumer event—and discovers that no matter how cutting-edge the gear, sex and celebrity still close the sale

"Hey buddy, I'll give you $20 for your ticket," said the exasperated man in a tailored black suit, briefcase in hand. With his neatly groomed hair and designer wire-rim glasses, he didn’t look the type that would wait in line with the unwashed masses. Considering the Las Vegas monorail ticket he coveted cost me $5, I went for the tidy profit.

"Sure," I replied, handing it over in return for a crisp 20.

As he ran towards the monorail’s turnstiles, I guessed him to be a high-ranking executive for some multinational tech company. For me, it was the back of the line, behind the waiting hordes, to get another ticket.

For him, it was a meandering 15-minute ride on the jam-packed Las Vegas monorail, behind the larger-than-life hotels and casinos of the main strip, to the convention centre for the city's largest annual gathering.The Consumer Electronics Show, a four-day circus of technology and gadgets running next month from January 7 – 10, draws more than 140,000 people to Sin City from all over the globe to take in the sensory-frying exhibit of flashing lights, blaring music and overbearing hype. It’s the Babylon of North American consumer technology, where the hot, must-have gadgets for the year to come are unveiled.

But before I could make my headfirst leap into the fray, I had to fight it out with the throng of fellow conventioneers waiting to get to the automated transit ticket kiosk. With 50 or so people ahead of me—suddenly ubiquitous frustrated executives, the pocket-protector-wearing gadget junkies passing the time playing with their BlackBerries and PlayStation Portables, and lowly shorts-and-running-shoes-clad media types like me—it was going to be a while.

I started to think that maybe my profiteering wasn’t the best idea. In a world where time is money, I’ve just been royally ripped off. Another sucker born in Vegas.

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In a way, CES and Vegas are made for each other. Both are built on lights, noise and crowds. The show actually began in New York 40 years ago and only became an annual convention in Las Vegas in 1995. But it has always been a showcase for the latest and (purportedly) greatest new technology. The show has introduced the globe to truly life-changing technology: the VCR in 1970, the compact disc player in 1981, the high-definition television in 1998 and Microsoft’s Xbox in 2001.

Every year, manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content, delivery systems and related products and services from more than 140 countries, descend on Vegas to show off their latest wares. It's a veritable who's who of the technology and electronics world—Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard are all here, joined by waves of new start-ups every year.

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