So finally got done reading all the articles worth reading on CES and finished watching the keynotes. YouTube and Netflix executives were the only ones who had anything meaningful to say, mostly because they are doing things that are not conventional. But apart from that, I was glad I didn’t break my streak and get on a plane to go to Las Vegas, even though some of our companies including scorching hot Veniam Networks were at the show.

Why I don’t go to CES is the same reason I didn’t much care about Comdex. For me, CES, the giant technology convention, might as well be consensus electronics show, a giant celebration of what is predictable and mundane. It is more known for headlines than any hit products. And why does anyone want to be in Las Vegas for work? No thank you! I want to go to the Sin City, for well, fun.

As a reporter, you don’t quite get the complete experience the event of his grangatuan size. At best you can do a few meetings, attend a keynote and check out a few dozen booths and products and by day two, you either are too tired or have a cold. And what’s worse — you are writing the same stories as everyone else. It is good for business development meetings, though, so I understand why many business people like the perceived efficency of the show.

For much of our publication’s life, Stacey, Kevin and Janko would cover CES, but now they are doing it for other publications, though it seems Kevin has finally seen the light and is stayed at home! Stacey and Janko, did a stellar job of distilling everything down that was important. Nevertheless, the great thing of sitting afar is that you can scan the news from multiple locations and start to draw some conclusions.

Some already are thinking about this as the CES of drones and their transformational impact. Good point — after all, Intel is buying drone companies and talking up drones on its website. Qualcomm is pushing the idea of portable graphic and vision processors with Qualcomm Flight. In my cynical world view however, Intel and Qualcomm drone efforts is that they desperately need to find new growth markets — PC isn’t too far from the retirement home and for Qualcomm, the smartphone gogo years are coming to an end. We are in a world where “what’s next growth bonanza”isn’t very clear.

That said, I was intrigued by the huge presence of automobile companies at the show. It was impressive to see Sony and others bring back old school devices such as turntables and handheld video recorders, but like I said, these aren’t likely to have a major impact on the market.
There is one upside of CES — so many people are away at the show, which means much less email and finally a chance to get within a nose length of inbox zero.

Have a great week everyone!

January 10, 2016, San Francisco