How I survived my 20th Consumer Electronics Show

Above: Samsung’s press event had good Internet access.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

At Sony, we had another connectivity nightmare. I couldn’t get online at all, except via a chat function. I wrote a story offline and then submitted it to my offsite colleagues via the chat group. They posted it for me, and added the art, as well. Heather Newman was able to get online using my iPhone 6 as a tether, but the tether and the Mi-Fi didn’t work for me at all. We got our stories up, but spent much of the time frustrated. I watched as the battery on my Dell XPS laptop gave out, and I switched to the Toshiba. Harrison Weber, my colleague, left in frustration and watched on a livestream in a hallway where there was Wi-Fi. Sony keeps breaking my heart this way at every CES.

When I was done, I rushed to the rental car in the parking lot, about a half mile away. The shoulder bag was breaking my back. I drove to the 10-story self-parking garage at the Venetian Hotel, where the opening keynote speech was held. I got there at 6:29 pm, just a minute before the scheduled start.

At the escalators, I met some goons (the security staff at the Venetian). They said the place was at capacity and only VIPs could go up. I told them that I was with the press. They said I couldn’t get in. They turned away dozens of people, and I waited. I sent a text message to Bill Calder, PR man at Intel. Then one of the security managers said we could go up a level. There, we met another line of security guards who wouldn’t budge. I called Calder on the phone, just as one of the security guys went into full riot mode. “Push them back!” he yelled at his guards.

I saw a Financial Times writer give up and turn away. And I’m pretty sure that I beat most of the other tech press who were coming from Sony. Fortunately for me, I got Calder on my phone. He came down the escalators with a VIP badge and took me upstairs to the room, where 5,000 people were watching Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, give his keynote speech.

Above: Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony, looked like an ant.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

The Wi-Fi went in and out, and so I filed four stories via Mi-Fi, again with help from my offsite colleague Jordan Novet. He captured photos for me and I used them in my stories. The Toshiba battery held out. To me, that was amazing, as I got through the day on two laptops without having to charge either one. In the past, I remember going to CES events and running out of battery after one hour. Laptop batteries have advanced so far that I can almost get through the whole day with just one. To me, that’s a tech miracle that few people seem to appreciate. We take it for granted now.

When that event was over, I continued writing and then went to the car in the parking garage, where there was a lighter traffic jam than usual. I drove to the Mirage Hotel, parked, and walked a quarter mile or so to the Pepcom Digital Experience party. The party had a couple of hundred tech product vendors showing their wares at tables. I grabbed a couple of hot dogs first, and then I went from table to table, taking videos and pictures.

During the party, the battery on my Nikon gave out. I used my second battery, and took videos on my iPhone. But after 45 minutes, the party shut down. While I was walking back to the car, I uploaded videos to YouTube via my iPhone 6. I went back to my hotel and finished my stories. That was the end of a trying day.

Above: Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

The rest of the show

The next morning, I had to get up early once again and head to the keynote speech of Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix. I took at lot of pictures, but we didn’t write as much about Hastings’ talk, as most of it wasn’t about technology. After that, I hit the show floor for the first time, taking pictures just about every step of the way. I also took videos with my Nikon, but the battery gave out by the afternoon. I tried a second battery, but it wasn’t fully charged, so it failed soon after. I found that video chewed up a ton of battery power on the Nikon. This was truly the first epic battery fail of the show. It was the only time I would have sacrificed my kingdom for a battery, a lithium-ion battery.

But my iPhone 6 battery, boosted by the Mophie, lasted all day. So I was able to take pictures at booths, record videos, and then do more of the same at the Showstoppers party, which also had hundreds of vendors present. Some of my colleagues were too tired to hit the party. But I figured it was worth it, as it was better to cover hundreds of vendors at the party than try to wade through thousands of vendors across the show floors. Sadly, some of the vendors who depended on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth couldn’t show their demos, as the wireless networks were too jammed at the party.

I stopped in at a secret Intel press room to upload videos and pictures. There, I found highly valued wired Ethernet cables. But I had to borrow an Ethernet-to-USB adaptor, since I had failed to transfer my own from my backpack to my shoulder bag.

Above: I demoed the Oculus Rift once again at CES 2016. The Medium app was amazing.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

After the Showstoppers event, I made it to the Microsoft CES party at the Omnia nightclub. It was a true spectacle of Las Vegas, with loud DJ music from Steve Aoki and wall-to-wall people.They were jumping and dancing. I took photos and videos with my iPhone 6, and I posted them on social media. It would have been a pity if, at midnight, I’d had no phone battery left, because that was my Kodak moment of the show. I just wish my iPhone 6 had a better-quality camera.

During the whole affair, I had to remember to keep backups of everything. I had to upload pictures and voice recordings, just in case I wouldn’t be able to do so later. I had to have backup equipment in case something failed. I carried spare USB cables, recorder batteries, an extra camera battery (not enough), and spare SD photo cards. A single 64-gigabyte SD card actually lasted the entire show for me. That, again,was a minor miracle. I even carried a spare Samsung phone, without a service plan, just in case I needed to access my calendar or something else, in case I lost my iPhone.

My Intel Basis Peak smartwatch told me that, over four days at CES, I walked 73,376 steps, or 18,344 per day. The Basis Peak worked wonderfully, and I only had to charge it once. I wish it was a little better at warning me about low battery, as the first indicator is when the screen goes dark and it says, “low battery.” But fortunately, I had my charger when I needed it and I didn’t lose any of my Vegas step data.

The Basis Peak also preserves my sleep data. But I can tell you this. There wasn’t much of it. Sleep is for the weak.

Above: The Microsoft party at CES 2016.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi