CES 2022: Nothing to see here

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It’s the tail end of the CES show for this year, and our team on the ground has a few more photos to show. The Plan today was to hit the South and Sands Expo halls. These tend to be where the really exciting things are found, with lesser known companies trying very hard to get their big break. How did it go?

South Hall? What South Hall?

In past years, the South Hall was home to some of our favorite vendors such as Antop and SureCall. This year, it was completely unused. This shot is of the South Hall entrance. In earlier years it would have been totally impassable.

On to the Sands Expo Center

The fashionable way to travel this year is by Tesla. The first three stations of the “Vegas Loop” are now open. For now, individual Tesla cars are driven by human drivers to your destination. In the future, purpose built, self-driving trams will silently whisk people throughout the city.

Electric transport is cleaner, quieter, and requires less ventilation. In time, our “boots-on-the-ground” reporter believes that this will replace the aging monorail which never lived up to expectations.

Sands: Finally some crowds?

The Sands Expo Center was once the home to the AVN Expo, an offshoot of CES that specialized in adult technologies. Admission was free with a CES registration, although I never set foot in it. In later years, Sands hosted an international conglomeration of some of the weirdest tech you’d ever want to see.

Pet tech is still strong this year, although another stalwart of the smaller halls, 3D printing, is nowhere to be found.

Eureka Park, home to small startups, was fairly busy by the looks of it, although nowhere near past years.

Finally, a tip of the hat to one of our longtime vendors, WNC, for winning an award for their fixed wireless outdoor module. This device, along with an antenna, can replace fiber internet in areas with strong cell service. This all-in-one device could be found in homes and businesses in the coming year.

More to see?

This year’s scaled-down show offered less opportunity for those random quirky photos, but all in all I’ll give it to the exhibitors for trying to keep things going. By next year, the crowd may just return and there might be a lot more to see.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.