CES, Las Vegas

I had to visit this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for some meetings. What a zoo! 150k attendees descended on Las Vegas for this event.

CES has two venues -- the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Convention Center. The former hosts all the giants like Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, etc. The top photo shows the LG "Life is Good" mega exhibit, complete with DJ, plush carpets and couches.

All of the gritty smaller companies (and most of the innovation) are at the Sands. These include a mixture of silicon valley startups and small companies from places like China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. I especially enjoyed the cluster of robot vendors, ranging from relatively big companies like iRobot and WowWee to tiny servo manufacturers. (See Times coverage of robots at CES; overview of coolest new products.)

Amusingly, the adult video industry trade show takes place every year next door to CES at the Sands, which makes for an interesting mix of people :-)