A look back at CES 2016 in photos

A look back at CES 2016 in photos
LAS VEGAS — CES was larger than ever this year, with 3,800 vendors, nearly 2.5 million square feet of exhibits, and over 170,000 attendees.

LAS VEGAS — CES was larger than ever this year, with 3,800 vendors, nearly 2.5 million square feet of exhibits, and over 170,000 attendees. In this era of virtual press conferences, 6,000 journalists — including yours truly — made the trip to cover the show in person. We’ve published quite a few stories from and about the show already, but now that its over, we’ve pulled together some photos to try to give you more of an overall sense of the show, and the growing industry that supports it.

Cars were the best eye candy of 2016

While the Faraday Future — that Jamie wrote about during the show— was definitely the coolest looking concept car at the show, there were plenty of others. My favorite photo op was the Chevrolet Bolt EV set by itself (without the usual ugly trappings) in front of a gorgeous video backdrop, that you can see as the featured image for this story. The Bolt EV was also one of the hits of the show, as Bill wrote about. Toyota had one of the funkiest looking concept cars, though, a 3-seater with the driver alone in the middle of the front row, called Kikai, that showcased the “machine” heritage of the auto:

Toyota’s Kikai concept car is almost an anti-connected car, despite the ironic video display behind it.

Let no cool deed go unrecorded

Action cameras were everywhere, along with variations including many 360-degree models. Some offered livestreaming of video, others were positioned as smartphone add-ons, and many, like the HEXO+ we demoed, rode under drones. But the undeniable king of the action cameras is still GoPro. It’s huge booth was certainly a testament to that. It’s unlikely founding story was echoed by front-and-center placement in the booth of CEO Nick Woodman’s Formula race car:

In his spare time GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman loves racing cars

Location, everywhere, all the time

If vendors at CES have their way, we will soon never be able to be lost, or to lose anything. TrackR was present with its little tags and a new base station for pinning down the exact whereabouts of everything in your house, and Google and Lenovo announced a consumer version of Project Tango, so you’ll be able to have the same kind of navigation indoors that you do now on highways. But for off-road and trail sport enthusiasts, Magellan was showing the most interesting new product, an off-road, all-terrain GPS that includes maps of all our National Forests, for starters. You can not only plan your next wilderness adventure, you can share and learn from the comments of others through its social media features:

Built to go off-road in all weather this rugged GPS will find its way on a lot of handlebars and 4×4 rails

Televisions, did I mention televisions?

Like last year, the Central Hall was dominated by walls of TVs — most of which had large crowds of people gawking at them all day long. The only trouble is that the TVs are getting so good that it is increasingly difficult to see the benefit of the new technologies. 8K is coming, whether we want it or not, and HDR is now becoming a must-have for buyers of 4K sets. Samsung was showcasing its SUHD quantum-dot KS9500 series in this video wall:

In case the quality of the display on the Samsung KS9500 isn’t compelling enough for you to drop a few grand, it includes a SmartThngs hub.

A smarter path to the smart home

For years CES has featured dozens of vendors flogging various approaches to creating smarter homes, many through centrally-managed hubs. Unfortunately, most of them seem to achieve limited success among a few early adopters, and then fizzle out. But, perhaps following on the success found by Nest, this year there was increased focus on individual “smart” appliances, ranging from the expensive and futuristic, to the downright practical.

Samsung showcased a new generation of its Smart refrigerator. Unlike previous models, this one is actually kind of cool. The touchscreen on the front is now huge, and can be used as a family bulletin board, and can mirror your TV, as well as provide weather and news. Samsung is still fixated on the food management part, though, upping the ante with an internal camera you can view from the store to see what you already have. I’m not convinced that many actual humans will manage their groceries that way, but I guess it’s possible. The downside is you have to really want this thing, as its priced around $5,000:

If you want your kitchen to have that same daily briefing you get when you walk into a hotel lobby, now you can!

On a more practical note, the show’s winner for best appliance was the washer-dryer from startup Marathon Laundry Machines. On the appliance side, it incorporates a vented-dryer into your clothes washer. On the tech side, it is augmented with a high-resolution touchscreen and internet connectivity so that it can help you time your laundry based on your schedule and electricity rates, and remember preferences for each member of the family. Like a Tesla, it can get firmware updates with new features over the air:

You don’t have a dishwasher and dishdryer, so why do you for clothes, asks Marathon’s founder Glenn Reid

The internet of things is here, like it or not

While grand notions like the smart home are still elusive, there is no question that computing power is finding its way into our everyday lives in new ways all the time. Nowhere was that more evident than in the mega-booths of silicon providers like Intel and Qualcomm. Dozens of different wearables and other small devices with embedded processing power were on display — in addition to the more traditional smartphones and tablets:

At first glance, the giant figures in the Qualcomm booth look like the blueprints for the original 6 million dollar man

Wait, I finally found a computer

Conspicuous by their relative scarcity on the floor were traditional computers — especially desktops. Many industry giants including Lenovo and Dell, showcased their wares to corporate clients off the floor in rented restaurants and suites, but gone were the super-huge computer booths that once graced the show, back when Microsoft was always a featured keynote. However from time to time there was something cool for computer nerds, like this NewEgg display of awesome cases:

Okay, I’d put that case front and center in my office even without a computer running in it!

Saying goodbye to the show

Traditionally, journalist trip reports from CES end with some type of forlorn-looking image of the vacant show floor or of the Las Vegas airport. However, as my personal way to get some perspective and clarity before and after the show, I drive there and back from Northern California. That let me spend a little time in the desert and do some photography. It also helps me stay sane. So instead of a shot of a jetway, here’s one of the Joshua tree forest in the Mojave National Reserve that I took en route:

Dark skies are tough for creating great images, but work well for Infrared shots like this one.

The desert also helps me forget exactly how much of a slog it is wading (I covered 25 miles walking this time) through 170,000 people spread across three miles of Las Vegas for six days — at least until next year.

[Image credit: David Cardinal]