There were many highlights of the two full days at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The drone light show described earlier was the most amazing, but there were many amazing things. The crowd of 180,000 was like a swarm everywhere in town. Fifty+ pictures of some of the things my son and I saw are here.

AI was everywhere. Samsung showed an 8K TV which used AI to scale up the video content since Hollywood has not yet produced anything in 8K format. Samsung also showed The Wall a 146 inch screen with brilliant colors and contrast. All the major car manufacturers were there showing off their latest autonomous driving vehicles. Electric cars and trucks were everywhere at the show and were supplemented with some fuel cell cars and trucks.

IBM had a nice presence with Watson and its new Quantum Computer. If you scan through the pictures I posted, you will see one which looks like a chandelier. That is the quantum computer. One company showed a device which looked like kitchen appliance. You put a shirt in it, and the appliance folds it perfectly.

The lowlight of the conference was the power failure which occurred on Wednesday morning, and lasted for two hours. Thousands of people were lined up at multiple entrances to the Las Vegas Convention Center, but not allowed in. People already in were coming out, which made the crowds swell. Lines everywhere. Ironic and unprecedented for a high technology to be hijacked by an electrical problem. 

One of the other highlights was the volocopter, a German feat of engineering. It represents the first autonomous, fully electric and safe Vertical Take and Landing aircraft in the world. The company sees the volocopter as humanity’s dream of flying come true and an aid to help modern cities resolve their increasing mobility issues. With 18 propellers, it looks like a giant drone. The plan is to make a request to go somewhere and a volocopter will come get you and take you there with no pilot. Take a look at the video below.