But the heart and soul of CES are not the prognosis that speaks well or the journalists that follow it. Technology makers make the show special, and a full virtual CES wasn’t necessarily good for them. “Smaller brands have probably suffered the most this year,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst and founder of The Heart of Tech. “Because unless you were given a designated place or experience on the site, it was just a long list of names.”
Milanesi shared an observation made by one of my colleagues WIRED: The serendipity of the discovery has disappeared. One of the most interesting parts of CES was finding a strange product in the back corner of the huge showroom and learning about something new by chance. At a virtual CES, this is a virtual impossibility.
Several technology companies with whom I sent an e-mail or with whom I spoke in the days before the event told me that they simply do not participate this year. The CTA was still paying between $ 1,200 and $ 1,500 for a gadget maker to be a “digital exhibitor.” This does not include additional fees for participating in tangential events such as Pepcom (from $ 2,500 to $ 10,000, according to documents reviewed by WIRED). For this amount, a lot of smaller companies would be better off emailing journalists or potential business partners and setting up their own Zoom briefings.
Finally, this year’s CES felt out of step with current events. A session on gender and racial prejudice in AI did not include a mention of Timnit Gebru. Another group of executives from Twitter and Google focused more on the GDPR than the bigger and more immediate news: spreading misinformation on social media and the role of Twitter in the violent assault on the US Capitol in the week before the show.
There were exceptions that made the show feel more firm of the moment. During AMD’s keynote address, CEO Lisa Su was joined by scientists who explained how AMA’s additional computational teraphylaxis helps them investigate infectious diseases such as Covid-19. Tuesday’s conference sessions began with a 30-minute conversation with Abbott’s executive vice president of rapid diagnostics and Microsoft’s chief physician about molecular testing and supply chain logistics for vaccine distribution. In another speech that morning, Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, addressed the day’s issues directly, talking about the recent SolarWinds hack and the far-reaching implications of this type of cyberespionage.
Of course, this is what technology is all about: it can be both our source of danger and a solution to our problems. Traditionally, CES has been more about solutions and this is a huge part of its appeal. “We’ve seen the tension in our health care systems, our schools, our businesses big and small,” said Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Technology Association, which produces CES each year. “But in this time of uncertainty, technology has been a stabilizer. A unifying force. ”
I asked the CTA if it considered canceling this year’s event altogether or supporting a serious show. A spokesman said he still believes CES 2021 is “an opportunity for the technology community to unite, unite and focus on a better future.” CTA has not yet sent how many people have connected to CES online. The organization stressed that, being virtual, it would be much more accessible to people around the world this year.
This can be very true. And, as with any CES, there have been a few technologies, novelties and oddities that I’m sure we’ll be talking about for a few more months.
But I really want to be together again next year.
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