CES Will Be Held In-person in Las Vegas Next Year (theverge.com) 15
The group behind CES plans to hold the enormous tech convention in person in Las Vegas next January, despite concerns that the coronavirus pandemic may still be a threat. The Consumer Technology Association has announced that it intends to give exhibitors a way to showcase their products "both physically in Las Vegas and digitally." From a report: The stakes are high for CES. It's one of the largest conventions held each year in Las Vegas, responsible for bringing a huge number of visitors to the city, with around 175,000 attendees last year. The Las Vegas Convention Center, the primary venue where the event is held, is scheduled to complete a $980 million expansion just in time for next year's show. And while consumers may know CES as the event where new TVs, cars, and other gadgets are announced, it also remains an important venue for meetings between retailers, manufacturers, and all the companies in between.
And that hot red head is going to sleep with me (Score:4)
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They can hold a conference, the virus doesn't stop that. Now the consequences on the other hand might be bad enough that it ends up being the last CES.
Let's hope vaccines are effective by then, and that our society's stubbornness only makes things marginally worse and doesn't kill too many people.
Optimistic, CES is. (Score:1)
What if they staged a convention and no one showed up?
Even CES admits they expect a number of vendors might decided to exhibit virtually rather than with large in-person teams, and some vendors may simply not exhibit at all (leaving large empty carpeted areas in the middle of the halls since the space has already been paid for).
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It's a response to the IFA show in Berlin, which is throttling the guest list, rivals CES dramatically, and takes the same evil chance of being an infection vector as it was last January (by some accounts).
This is a commerce and PR show, and CES has no possibility of sustaining their organization if they don't do the show, IMHO.
Could there be a vaccine by then? Will the numbers have ACTUALLY gone down by next January? Both aren't likely. No virtual exhibit can compete with the live one, and CES will squeeze
Terrific news (Score:3, Interesting)
First time I've heard anyone, anywhere, recognize that this silliness eventually has to end.
The constant prognostications of doom are getting a little tiresome, when in fact in 2019-2020 we are tracking very close to the 'total deaths, all causes combined' of 2017-2018.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/... [cdc.gov]
Hard to believe, but apparently true.
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Re:Terrific news (Score:4, Interesting)
in fact in 2019-2020 we are tracking very close to the 'total deaths, all causes combined' of 2017-2018.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/... [cdc.gov]
You'll have to walk me through that one. What I see on your link is that the annual death rates for the calendar year 2019 (i.e. before coronavirus) was equivalent to that for the calendar year 2018 (i.e. also before the coronavirus), just as we'd expect.
Your link doesn't have any data for death rates during coronavirus. It doesn't have anything for 2020.Q1 nor for 2020.Q2.
So I'm not understanding why you're providing this link in the context of your comment that coronavirus worries are silly.
Re:Terrific news (Score:5, Insightful)
The constant prognostications of doom are getting a little tiresome, when in fact in 2019-2020 we are tracking very close to the 'total deaths, all causes combined' of 2017-2018.
Why wouldn't our current mortality rate from all causes be similar to 2017-18? We shut down our society so only 100k have died so far in the US, which is only 28 / 100,000 deaths in the last three months. Considering figures are usually around 900 / 100,000, plus or minus 100, an uptick of 28 / 100k wouldn't move the needle much. But the exponential growth of deaths we were seeing in mid/late March was bringing us towards a million or more dead by now, which would have certainly made Q2 2020 far worse than previous years.
If your doctor started you on blood pressure medication and then ten years later you hadn't had a heart attack, would you have said you wasted your time with the medication too?
i'm going to skip it (Score:3)
I go almost every year to CES just for fun, but I'll be skipping in 2021. I could totally see there being far fewer attendees next year, which would be nice. It's just gotten so insanely crowded over the last decade. However, I bet there will be so many rules and restrictions that that it'll still be a pain to attend.
All that being said, I saw just a video clip of The D casino in Vegas reopening today and it was packed. It didn't look like most people were wearing masks. That's just not going to work out well.
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However, I bet there will be so many rules and restrictions that that it'll still be a pain to attend.
Throwing it out there, it may not be nearly as bad by then. In context, January 2021 is a long way away. Between better access to testing, lots more overall cases leading to the presence of antibodies, better individual testing, and better treatment availability, we'll be in a better position by then to address Covid cases.
It's also likely that by then, other large gatherings will have taken place, making E3 stand out less than it does today.
If, by then, there are precedents where bigger gatherings do not s
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We stayed a night in Vegas last week on a road trip to home (Arizona-Oregon). We took a walk on the strip while it was still closed down. Mask wearing was not in evidence and people were gathering in moderate sized crowds. I imagine it's worse now it's opening up.
One reason (besides the oncoming heat) for leaving AZ for home was that a large fraction of people in shops were basically ignoring any guidelines and it seemed likely AZ was going to to enjoy a resurgence of the covids. The subsequent data confirm
On the plus side (Score:3)
By March or April, we might have fewer tech bloggers.
Please proceed! (Score:2, Flamebait)
One of my younger siblings got it at work and infected their immediate family (spouse, kids). Our elderly mom (who suffers from a number of respiratory ailments) missed getting it by one day: she normally wouldve had dinner at their house the day after their symptoms manifested. It wouldve have most certainly killed her.
Having seen what they went through—COVID isnt “just a flu”; whoever says is lying or galactically stupid—I have zero empathy for anyone who isnt taking this seriou