CES 2012: Ben's Journal - Day Zero
posted:
1/11/2012 4:19:00 AM
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CES 2012
Las Vegas is very much thought of by most visitors as a city of lights; the neon of the strip, the soft yellow light of the casino floors that leave you feeling you’re living in perpetual dusk, the brightness of the desert sun.
To me, Vegas is a city of music with a soundtrack not unlike that of New York City, or even Los Angeles. In fact, from the minute you get off the plane the “ding ding ding” of the airport slots hit your ears like the opening stanza of a well known tune. While the song isn’t always classic Rat Pack swing or even the sweeping thematic scores of the Bellagio fountain shows, it’s usually a song that is as enticing as it is continual.
Sadly for me, the music of my first day was very much a “Bittersweet Symphony”, even before I started my trip. A power outage on Sunday night left me with very little sleep and less than ready for the day to come. A 5 am cab ride ending in a 5 hour flight was not the highpoint of the day to be certain, but things didn’t stop there. On the way to my first meeting of the day, I was knocked down on a stairway by teens being chased by security. The fall wasn’t so bad other than it caused me to rip my pants from stem to stern, if you catch my drift. Amazingly, it wasn’t the kind of rip anyone could see, so I literally sat in my first meeting of CES with the lovely rep from Gameloft in a rather drafty pair of jeans.
Thankfully, the mall was very close by, and after some quick shopping I was back ready to take on the day. It’s a good thing, because I still had the walk back to the Excalibur to check in and take advantage of some down time to gamble a bit and relax before heading to Digital Experience.
Digital Experience is a smaller event that piggybacks on the draw of CES to get companies in front of press at a much less expense pricepoint. This show is usually a mix of big names that everyone knows, and smaller companies no one has ever heard of. The 2012 edition was no different, with some great discussion about tablet gaming at a budget price point with the Pandigital folks, and a look at the next Star Wars and DC Universe branded flash memory products from MIMOBOT, plus a few more things I’ll be writing about in further detail later in the week. Plus, I got to meet reigning Ironman World Champion Craig "Crowie" Alexander who was representing a new sports earphone product. With the way the day started it certainly ended better than expected.
To me, Vegas is a city of music with a soundtrack not unlike that of New York City, or even Los Angeles. In fact, from the minute you get off the plane the “ding ding ding” of the airport slots hit your ears like the opening stanza of a well known tune. While the song isn’t always classic Rat Pack swing or even the sweeping thematic scores of the Bellagio fountain shows, it’s usually a song that is as enticing as it is continual.
Sadly for me, the music of my first day was very much a “Bittersweet Symphony”, even before I started my trip. A power outage on Sunday night left me with very little sleep and less than ready for the day to come. A 5 am cab ride ending in a 5 hour flight was not the highpoint of the day to be certain, but things didn’t stop there. On the way to my first meeting of the day, I was knocked down on a stairway by teens being chased by security. The fall wasn’t so bad other than it caused me to rip my pants from stem to stern, if you catch my drift. Amazingly, it wasn’t the kind of rip anyone could see, so I literally sat in my first meeting of CES with the lovely rep from Gameloft in a rather drafty pair of jeans.
Thankfully, the mall was very close by, and after some quick shopping I was back ready to take on the day. It’s a good thing, because I still had the walk back to the Excalibur to check in and take advantage of some down time to gamble a bit and relax before heading to Digital Experience.
Digital Experience is a smaller event that piggybacks on the draw of CES to get companies in front of press at a much less expense pricepoint. This show is usually a mix of big names that everyone knows, and smaller companies no one has ever heard of. The 2012 edition was no different, with some great discussion about tablet gaming at a budget price point with the Pandigital folks, and a look at the next Star Wars and DC Universe branded flash memory products from MIMOBOT, plus a few more things I’ll be writing about in further detail later in the week. Plus, I got to meet reigning Ironman World Champion Craig "Crowie" Alexander who was representing a new sports earphone product. With the way the day started it certainly ended better than expected.
