CES Is Obsolete

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This guy makes a rather convincing argument why the Consumer Electronic Show is obsolete. Agree? Disagree?

The decline and fall of CES as the world's premiere stage for new technology is no tragedy. Consumer technology has simply outgrown CES, which was an exclusive club of buyers and sellers and journalists. The forces that have obliterated "electronics" and the "gadget" as the atomic unit of consumer technology, and rendered the trade show obsolete as the sole mechanism for launching them into the world, are the same ones that have made technology more powerful and accessible and human than ever before. If anything, we should be dancing on its grave.
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....and he is right.

It's more of a trade show for entrepreneurs and "the little guys" at this point. The big boys will host their own events, in their own controlled environments, and with their own marketing spin whenever they have something big to roll out.

I do find CES fascinating to see what trends are coming. For example, it looks like 3D, for all intents in purposes, is dead.
 
The whole thing looks like a high school science fair to me.
 
There is a reason HardOCP does not attend anymore.....
 
Seems CES is going the way of ComDex. Late 90 to early 2000s back when ZDTV broke out ComDex was the place to be, then it died away and CES took over. I guess every trade show has a limit to its run.
 
I can remember computer shows and even server rack shows,I guess those are bygone days now.....
 
OldDeadOne said:
I can remember computer shows and even server rack shows,I guess those are bygone days now.....
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I think that's mostly due to the Intertubes taking over. Most nerds strike me as the kinds of people that would prefer to roll out of bed and directly into a chair (or just get their laptop from a night stand next to bed), not have to bathe, brush their teeth, or get dressed just to check out a bunch of racks that they can see in the privacy of their own home instead of being around a ton of other drooling guys.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I think that's mostly due to the Intertubes taking over. Most nerds strike me as the kinds of people that would prefer to roll out of bed and directly into a chair (or just get their laptop from a night stand next to bed), not have to bathe, brush their teeth, or get dressed just to check out a bunch of racks that they can see in the privacy of their own home instead of being around a ton of other drooling guys.
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Congrats on rolling out of bed we've bastardized a tablet with an oven with a refrigerator and a monkey, ALL into ONE! WOW. OMFGWTFBBQ! And no you aren't dreaming!! Isn't this show awesome!
 
Skripka said:
Congrats on rolling out of bed we've bastardized a tablet with an oven with a refrigerator and a monkey, ALL into ONE! WOW. OMFGWTFBBQ! And no you aren't dreaming!! Isn't this show awesome!
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I hardly saw any news at all about CES this year aside from people making fun of it. And who puts a tablet that'll be obsolete in like 2 years on a refrigerator that you're gonna have in your kitchen for like 10 years at least? ZOMG people are just looking for the next walking wallet to convince themselves that they should buy one for all the "benefits" it imparts.
 
ComputerBox34 said:
For example, it looks like 3D, for all intents in purposes, is dead.
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Who would have thunk. Just like the last time it came around to leave its unique stink of ass hanging around the air.

Admittedly its been barrels of laughs reading all the "no this time its different 3D is here to stay" proponents bellying up to keyboards to type words over the past couple years.
 
I don't think 3d is anywhere near dead, it's just not news worthy anymore. The technology and content is there for people who want it. I have not played a game without 3d vision in a year and I don't miss it.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I hardly saw any news at all about CES this year aside from people making fun of it. And who puts a tablet that'll be obsolete in like 2 years on a refrigerator that you're gonna have in your kitchen for like 10 years at least? ZOMG people are just looking for the next walking wallet to convince themselves that they should buy one for all the "benefits" it imparts.
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It's fun to actually be hands on with audio equipment, but just about everything else can be broken down by website benchmarks.
 
I see CES as a sort of Worlds Fair. It is there to show what tech companies have achieved over the past year. It's a glimpse into the future; something you can look forward to seeing in your home in the near future.

Shit.. I know those huge 4k tv's and bendable OLED display's are outrageously expensive. However I remember a time when plasma TV's were the same price.
 
same thing in Europe, stopped going to Cebit in Germany for the same reason, last year I attended was 2008, and already then it was pretty shallow affair. Any real news was already announced at CES or online, and onsite only the "small guys" had something interesting to show, and even then, this news could have easily be distributed virtually to a much larger readership at a fraction of the cost.

the cost to have a booth at these events is ridiculous. While it's sad to see these shows disappear, it just the way new technology replaces old, and the old tech of announcing tech at these shows... is being replaced by online PR with all bells and whistles.
 
LOL I love his reference on the Nvidia shield:

Five years later, the "best" of CES 2013 so far includes very pretty wireless speakers and an uncomfortable controller with a screen bolted onto it that, even if it makes it to market, will be bought by precisely 17 people.
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I think electronics shows are going the way of electronics bazaars, for lack of a better term. I remember growing up and my dad would take me annually to Computer Fest and sometimes Hamvention at the Hara Arena in Dayton. I always had a blast with him, seeing everything from enigmas to the latest processors and computer components at the time. It was just awesome to be around all that stuff and to see vendors selling all sorts of things that ranged from the useful to the just plain weird. But, by 2000 it had really begun to shrink and went from a lot of the latest and greatest to being more like a flea market hocking cheap used hardware (and junk, lots of junk). It's just the nature of them and the internet. People who go to things like that, and to trade shows like CES, are typically some of the more technology savvy people, meaning the internet is their go-to resource anymore. So, why go to a show to get parts when Newegg or Amazon has them every day and not just at a single show that happens once a year? It's sad in a way, as I said I have really awesome memories of just being in awe at seeing acres of computer-oriented stuff everywhere. And electronics trade shows are just a form of what I would call "quaint and antiquated" marketing and less about real products as much as product image.

Of course, I could be wrong, but based on my observations that's my thinking on trade shows and the like.
 
Perhaps Ed Dillinger said it best: "If you've seen one consumer electronics show, you've seen them all..."
 
shaolin95 said:
I have a pirate eye patch I can send you for free since you seem to enjoy 2D flat words more than 3D ones :rolleyes:
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Seriously 3D TV was a dumb idea when it was first a fad and it was still a dumb idea this last time around. It just doesn't really make anything any better and is totally a vomit-inducing thing to watch. I'm so glad it didn't catch on. Now we need to kill off the "thin is everything" and "tablets are the future" fads so I can buy a nice affordable computer that doesn't need a $100 dock or keyboard to turn back into somthing that's actually productive. :)
 
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