The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was bigger than ever this year with close to 2 million net square feet of exhibit spaces, more than 3,100 companies and 140,000 attendees. The Show is changing and its relevance debated as Microsoft scaled back its presence and Apple not attending for years. If Smart TV sets were the big news last year, 3D rendering amazed the audience this week with an energy on the floor that I have not seen at tradeshows since the Internet bubble.
It is difficult to think green though with such a deluge of new gadgets, particularly with their shortening life-time. The organizers made an honest effort though to be eco-friendly by recycling 24 thousand square feet of signs at CES 2011 to create all the badge holders at CES 2012. And the Consumer Electronic Association (CEA) is pushing for stronger eCycling programs with a commitment to recyle 1 billion pounds of electronics annually by 2016. On the contrary, I don't quite buy the argument that an event is green by saving air travel during the year with one international tradeshow. A centralized model of doing business with offshore manufacturing is at the center of the US innovation model and can be questioned.
The interaction of smart devices and our daily life is becoming a hot subject as we are becoming more challenged in an hyper-connected world. I was overwhelmed by the quantity of information at some of the booths. And with the convergence of TV, social media and gaming, it all the more difficult to deal with a lot of diverse types of data at the same time. A number of companies like Gracenote analyze large data sets and provide user-friendly interfaces to transform our entertainment experience.
More is to come in all areas of our lives. Intellegy showed me on the Zigbee booth how to connect electricity, water and other utility devices at home via a gateway paired with a smart meter. The small company out of Australia is in trials in the State of Texas now and hope to penetrate California with new State mandates that will empower consumer to lower their monthly bills. To really preserve resources (paper, food, electricity, water, etc), it really boils down to our consumer behaviors.
Let's take the way we travel. I was excited to use the mobile phone ticket option as I checked in on my United flight to Las Vegas. It is faster for me and it saves paper. Unfortunately, I had to stop at the counter to check in my bagage, pay for it and I still got a printed receipt... So much for paper. I still had to show my ID card to go through security but it won't be too long secured identification will be available on smart phones. Going on the plane without a boarding ticket was still fun though, but is only one step of the process.
The issue of how to deal with what I would dubb an "augmented reality in a connected world" is that it changes our environment as much as it tries to simplify it. Driving is the most acute example due to safety. Bringing the digital lifestyle safely into the car was the main topic at one of the Wednesday SuperSessions, “Connect2Car: Connecting Automotive and Consumer Electronics Lifestyles.” The panelists agreed for further collaboration to integrate all the various aspects: driving green, driving connected, driving safe and driving cool.
Innovation is positively contagious at the show. But it is in stark contrast with the lack on infrastructure and decent paying jobs. a few miles away from downtown Las Vegas. CEA put theme of innovation and the connected society at the forefront of the show by inviting Fortune 500 CEO's and Government representatives to talk about the economy. The Acting Deputy Commerce Secretary talked on Thursday about “Getting us back on track: how technology and innovation can save America”.
Well, staff at the Department of Commerce may not keep their job too long as President Obama announced that he seeks executive powers to consolidate several Federal Agencies. Some argue that the technology transformation that brought efficiencies in the business needs to shake Government practices. Others see a loss of control in a part of the society worrying about public services like Education that is providing mid range-salaries.
Most manufacturing jobs have gone overseas, leaving a US economy with high income jobs in some strategic sectors and low income in many service industries . Fixing the education system and modernizing the US infrastructure were two initiatives that reached broad support during the show. Ursula Burns, the Chairman of Xerox, got the biggest round of applause when she stressed the importance of improving the education system during the panel on innovation. She explained that engineers are important to society and the US is not forming enough of them.
Julius Genachowski, the Chairman of the FCC, called for "an incentive auction law" to free up more space for wireless Internet services. While wirelibe broadband services continue to fall behind in the US, Chairman Genachowski sees in more 3G/4G wireless services a way to harness "the power of broadband Internet to drive economic growth and benefit all Americans".
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