Consumer Electronics Show Year Five

Kid Reporter returns to technology convention

Five years ago, I stepped onto the floor of the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the first time. I was the youngest reporter to ever cover the convention.

Also, that year was the 40th anniversary of the show. Everyone was talking about wireless technology, smaller and more intelligent cell phones, and bigger and better TVs. Everyone is still talking about all of those things (although people care more about whether or not TVs have three dimensions than if they have large dimensions), but other hot topics have risen and fallen over the past five years. Here are two things that I've noticed over my years covering this convention.

The Recession and CES

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which runs CES, says that the recession still hasn't affected the show much. This year the show floor is 100,000 square feet larger than it was last year. But even as the numbers remain strong, there's evidence that even the biggest convention in the CE industry hasn't been left untouched by the global economic crisis.

In 2009, only 110,000 people attended, a drop of more than 30,000 people from the previous year. Although there was an increase in 2010, it still doesn’t match the pre-recession numbers.

In addition, while big companies like Microsoft continue to have huge booths with lots of exhibits, smaller companies have cut back.

Technology Convergence

The first year I wrote about CES, Bill Gates gave a keynote speech about one of Microsoft's key strategies moving forward: an integration of services between Windows, Windows Mobile, and Xbox. This integration of technology is a trend that continues today on a much greater scale.

Every year, in the days leading up to CES, the CEA hosts a State of the Consumer Electronics Industry speech that discusses the trends to watch. Last year as well as this year, there's been an increasing tendency for these trends to overlap.

One trend, the "Sensorization" of technology, fills ordinary technology with a lot of sensors that take data from the real world. This leads directly to objects that are able to respond to one another and their environment, or "Intelligence of Things”—another trend that was listed in this year's talk.

Shawn DuBravac, the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the Consumer Electronics Association who helped give the presentation, thinks this growing overlap isn't a coincidence.

"There probably is an underlying trend at work,” he said. “I think it highlights how interconnected things are becoming. These trends play off each other, [and] even feed off each other."

As CES continues, I will be blogging about everything I learn at this year's convention. Check back for daily updates!

—Aaron Broder

PHOTOS: (Top) Kid Reporter Aaron Broder at his first CES five years ago. (Bottom) This year at the convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photos Sue Broder)

Snowstorm in New York City

 
It fell too fast, says Mayor Bloomberg

When I left my Upper West Side apartment in New York City on the Sunday after Christmas Day, I noticed snowflakes lightly sprinkling the sidewalk. Throughout the day the snow continued, soon sticking and building into mounds of white.

After dinner that night I put on layers of clothes and took a walk to Central Park. It was covered in waves of white!

The snow was above my knees, forcing me to lift my legs high as I walked. Plus, the weather had transformed into windy, hard sleet. After a few minutes, I had enough and headed back home. That night the hard snow returned and didn’t end until morning.

The next day—Monday—transportation had almost completely stopped. A city that runs on subways, buses, and cabs had come to a standstill. Some were stuck in subway trains for up to 15 hours! A short trip on foot took at least an extra 30 minutes or more. Streets were mostly deserted and blanketed with snow.

I trampled through the park to go sledding, except once again I didn't stay for long because of the freezing weather. I returned home to a cup of hot cocoa.

By Tuesday the snow was being cleared by trucks with plows that piled the frozen, dirty ice into large clumps along the sides of the roads and sidewalks. As you walk down the block, you feel as if you are surrounded by dingy white walls.

The snow had reached its ugly stage. The fluffy white became a mix of dirt and mucky blacks and browns.

“It’s Slush City," said one woman picking her way along the treacherous sidewalk. Huge puddles of blackish icy water clogged most street corners. To keep from being soaked, you have to be either really good at leaping or be wearing a great pair of tall boots.

Wednesday was like Tuesday, though the snow was even dirtier. Cleared roads meant transportation had improved, though. People were returning to work.

The sixth largest snowstorm on record left about 20 inches of snow on New York. Although it will not go down in history as the worst storm on record, it may go down as one of the worst cleanups. It took three days to clear the streets and get people back to work—something almost unheard of in the city.

Says Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been blamed for the slow cleanup, “It fell too fast.”

—Fred Hechinger

PHOTO: On December 28, 2010, a street in the Sunset Park section of the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York remains unplowed two days after snow fell across every corner of the city. The city has cleaned up from big storms before with ease, but this blizzard became unlike anything New Yorkers had seen in decades. (Photo: Seth Wenig/AP Images)

Midwest Socked by Snowstorm

After digging out, snow can be a lot of fun!

Just a week before Christmas, my community was hammered by a major snowstorm. We got about two feet of snow—24 inches! Unless you’ve gotten that much snow at once, you have NO idea what that’s like.

Add high winds to a snowstorm and you end up with chaos. There were drifts upwards of four feet high, and once the snow plows go through shoving all the snow off the streets, it’s not uncommon to see five foot high snow piles here and there. There’s a huge—and I mean HUGE—pile of snow in the corner of the parking lot at my school. It’s at least 10 to 12 feet tall.

As if snow and wind weren’t enough, we had sub-zero temps too! It was so cold that just to walk to the mailbox and back, my Mom would make me wear snow pants and a scarf.

When Dad came back in from snow blowing the driveway, he had ice in his moustache. I had to go out to help him, and when I came in I had a bit of frostbite on my cheek. Not Good!

The temperature was minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit without the wind chill factored in. Super Brrrrr! With the wind chill, it was about minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit. I would literally start shivering if I stood inside by a window too long.

Once the snow stops coming, we Midwesterners have plenty of fun, though. Between building snowmen and sledding, show shoeing and snowmobiling, it’s hard to decide what to do first.

There are lots of places to go to enjoy winter, too. I like snow shoeing, but this year, I want to learn how to drive a snowmobile. Needless to say, once the snow is off the roads, it’s time to crank it up and have fun!

—Amanda O’Toole

PHOTO: Winter in Wisconsin. (Photo Courtesy Amanda O'Toole)