The gateway to a world of innovation and creativity. (Flickr, CC0)
This past week, Las Vegas hosted the annual Consumer Electronic Show (commonly abbreviated as CES), which features more than 4,500 exhibiting companies that look to prove that their technology is both innovative and cutting-edge. The show is spread throughout 11 different venues and spans more than 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space in order to accommodate the 180 thousand attendees that come from 155 different countries.
CES 2019, which took place on January 8-11, was expected to deliver on the program’s extensive history of breakthrough technologies. And deliver it did. Companies that specialized in all types of consumer markets, including 3D-printing, self-driving technology, artificial/virtual reality, artificial intelligence, audio and video, and robotics, revealed their latest projects and research, culminating in an avant-garde experience for everyone who attended.
Although each company is sure to bring its best products in hopes of attracting a larger consumer following, there are stand-outs that make ripples in the technology world every year.
One piece of technology that excited many attendees concerned Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant that is quickly making its way into newly released cars, implying that your car will not only be able to drive itself, but you’ll also be able to bark commands at it while it does so.
Another was the introduction of new TV-related concepts, such as the implementation of AI into your TV or the development of MicroLED panel technology, which would enable users to change the size and resolution of their screens with ease.
But every light comes with a shadow. Certain markets, like the photographic and virtual reality industry, were either lacking in substance or didn’t give concrete plans for their products, and Apple, like always, was missing from CES.
Despite a few slightly disappointing acts, the conference, as a whole, couldn’t be classified as anything less than successful. Although the smarter, faster, and more ergonomic laptops, smart-home technologies, and headphones were outshined by the TV and AI industries, their introduction still made the summit equally, if not more inventive, than those of years prior.
We can expect future CES’s, the next one scheduled for January 7-10, 2020, to host more eccentric and ingenious products.
