CES Unplugged: Power Goes Out at High-Tech Showcase -- Update
January 10 2018 - 7:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Katherine Bindley
LAS VEGAS -- The lights went out at the nation's premier
consumer-technology conference, leaving thousands of attendees and
a legion of shiny gadgets in the dark.
The culprit was a power outage at the Las Vegas Convention
Center, where tech enthusiasts, corporate vendors and members of
the media were on hand for the annual CES show.
The illumination from scores of smartphones equipped with bright
screens and flashlight-camera apps filled the massive central hall,
home to the booths of Samsung Electronics Co., Intel Corp., Huawei
Technologies Co. and dozens of other companies.
The Consumer Technology Association, which runs the conference,
said the outage began around 11:15 a.m. PT, and affected the
central and south halls of the convention center. It lasted for
more than an hour. Power since has been fully restored, the
organization said.
Heavy rainfall the day before drenched the streets around the
convention center -- buckets were still scattered throughout the
halls collecting water from leaks. According to a preliminary
assessment, condensation from the rain affected a facility
transformer, the CTA said.
Josiah Nuzum was standing near an area where people could sit
and experience an automated-driving demo. "This indeed does require
power," Mr. Nuzum, a sports-marketing manager with Intel, said
sarcastically.
"Most technology" does, he added. Intel made light of the
situation on Twitter.
About 10 minutes after the power went out, a musician who goes
by the name Häana was slated to perform live on Intel's stage got
up and began playing her electric violin unplugged. A crowd formed
around the musician, cheering when she finished.
Around the fringes of the great hall, the normally low-profile
vendors of boomboxes and DJ equipment switched to battery power and
fired up the dark venue with booming bass and laser lights.
Klipsch, a speaker maker, had a boat at its booth. With the lights
out and music still playing, it was among the few signs of
activity. Vlad Grodzinskiy, who works for the company, hadn't seen
anything like the power outage in his 11 visits to CES.
Still, he was unfazed. "We work better with the lights off," he
said.
Michelle Valberg was 25 minutes into a visual presentation for
Nikon Corp. called "Wild Creatures Extreme Conditions" when the
room went dark.
"How ironic, right?" said Ms. Valberg, a photographer, who
eventually started mingling with the viewers. "I can't say that's
ever happened to me before."
Write to Katherine Bindley at katie.bindley@ wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 10, 2018 19:16 ET (00:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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