What’s that doing at CES?
By Aaron Broder
I’ve written about CES for Scholastic for five years now, but I just learned a few days ago that this is going to be my last CES (at least for now). Next year I’m off to college, and with the later start date, CES just happens to coincide with the first week of the new quarter, so I won’t be able to come in 2012.
Thankfully, it seems that I did not pick a bad year to be my last. Some very thrilling and exciting announcements have happened this year. Why, just two days ago in the Grand Lobby, I watched as a crowd of dozens (LITERALLY DOZENS) stood with rapt attention as Reese’s, the Official Candy of CES counted down to the announcement of something they claimed would “change the way we eat Reese’s forever”.
The excitement in the air was palpable as the countdown went down to 7 seconds, then spontaneously jumped back up to 5 minutes and 20 seconds, only to drop down to 40 seconds again until at last internet personality Chris Pirillo and Jim St. John, VP of R&D at The Hershey Company introduced the most revolutionary technology at this year’s CES – the Reese’s Mini, the world’s smallest Reese’s. The magnitude of this announcement was somewhat lost on me until I heard them say it took them 5 years to get Reese’s to be this small – and only then did I realize the significance of what I had witnessed. I kid, of course (though, as you can see from the post a couple of days ago, not about what actually happened).
There was, however, something that was very exciting for me later that day. I participated in the Build Your Own PC Race for the fourth time this year, and right before the racers were called up to their computers, I got pulled aside by someone who introduced themselves to me as LJ Rich of the BBC. She did a short interview with me before and after the race, and told me that it would go live on the website. That’s right – I’m going to be on the same website as Doctor Who. Total geek out moment for me.
Just earlier today, I also got to talk to a professor from my future school – Dr. Ge Wang of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA for short, pronounced “karma”). If you’ve ever played an instrument on the iPhone or iPad, he probably had a hand in it – many of the popular ones, like Ocarina, Magic Piano, or Magic Fiddle were made by his company Smule.One of Smule’s apps, Glee Karaoke, seems particularly appropriate right now since as I sit here writing this post, I’m being graced with the.. varying vocal talents of visitors to the Oxygen karaoke station at the NBCU booth. The interview was one of the most interesting ones that I’ve ever done, and it ended up going on so long that I was late for my appointment here at the Hub – sorry!
I’m going to miss CES. I’ve had some of the weirdest and most exciting experiences of my life here. I’ve had the opportunity to do everything from meeting Elmo to interviewing Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, and it’s clear that CES is a place where anything can happen. I guess I’ll just have to get back here as soon as I can.
