A Wider Net

Today was mostly a travel day. That means I spent something like 12 hours being treated like either cattle or cargo. Here’s the breakdown:

5:30 AM - Cargo - 90 min ride to airport
7:00 AM - Cattle - 30 minute curbside check-in line
7:40 AM - Cattle - 15 minute boarding process on Southwest
8:00 AM - Cargo - 6 hours of flying into the wind, middle seat, full flight, no movie.
2:00 PM - Cattle - 10 minutes of trams and aisles enroute to baggage
2:30 PM - Cargo - 20 minute Cab ride through CES traffic to hotel
3:00 PM - Cattle - 30 minute Check-in at hotel
4:00 PM - Cargo - 30 minute ENDLESS cab ride to convention center
4:30 PM - Cargo - 45 minute EVEN MORE ENDLESS shuttle bus ride to the OTHER side of the convention center where registration actually was.
9:15 PM - Cargo - 30 minute shuttle bus back to hotel.

The folks at CES were infuriating - giving multiple different answers to simple questions like “where is registration?” and “If it’s in this building, why, again, do I have to wait for a bus?”

I also spent more than should be allowed on bottled water. At TF Green Airport in Rhode Island, a bottle, which must be bought after the security check-ins (to foil the much-feared water bombers) sells for $19.20/gallon. At the hotel, it’s running a mere $12.80/gallon. Not gasoline, jet fuel, or free-range methanol - WATER.

Oh, did I mention that CES doesn’t have a show guide? Well, to be honest - it does, but everything isn’t included in the show guide. You also need the inch-thick 10lb show directory, a half-dozen map/guides, and an on-site chirporactor to re-allign your bulging disks from carrying them and trying to reading them at the same time.

I also went to a MyCES kiosk and tried to print my planning pages from the BD Metrics-powered information and networking system. I was successful at printing them but oddly, fairly unsuccessful at finding the highlighted booths among the mazes of exhibits. Some turned out to be closed-door meeting rooms. What’s up with that? So far, the trip planning system has been a bust. Hours put in to searching through endless exhibitors and waiting for the screens to refresh, only to end up with stacks of papers with more cryptic treasure maps than Davey Jones ever saw. For a show with over 1.7 MILLION net square feet, I wish it was easier to navigate.

Speaking of navigation - my favorite moment of misdirection was in the a Philips booth. After admiring a few new Plasma screens with their patented Ambilight technology, I asked for some help, and after a few questions I learned that all the plasma screens were just wall decorations. I was in the Philips Surge Suppressor booth. The Philips booths with the plasma screens is in another building entirely. Woops.

I love gadget shows, and I did see a lot of cool stuff today - more to come…