In an unprecedented turn, a major blackout happened during one of this year's biggest tech shows. North and Central halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the official venue for CES, were hit by a major power outage that lasted for almost two hours on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
CES 2018 Hit With Blackout
Initial reports about the power outage began appearing on Twitter around 11:14 a.m. PT, but the lights turned back on sometime around 1:00 p.m. PT. Some meeting rooms in the South Hall also lost power but was restored within minutes. Security personnel evacuated attendees from the affected areas at the time.
The irony of the situation is very evident, of course — and funny. A blackout during a show about consumer electronics? That's like going to Coachella and finding out all the musical instruments have been stolen. Even still, at least the power was restored shortly thereafter.
"A preliminary assessment indicates that condensation from heavy rainfall caused a flashover on one of the facility's transformers," said the Consumer Technology Association in a statement, an organization that holds the annual CES. Indeed, it was raining in Las Vegas on Jan. 8 and 9, a rare occurrence for a desert city.
In fact, it was raining so hard that Google had to shut down its giant playground-ish booth for a whole day, which was located outdoors.
CES 2018
An annual hodgepodge of tech industry bigwigs and huge brands all clumping together under one roof to show off their hottest new products, CES is undoubtedly one of the most significant venues for tech enthusiasts.
Brands unveiled a lot of hot new tech. Vivo, for one, finally showed off a phone that has an in-display fingerprint scanner, the world's first. Dell unveiled a 2-in-1 XPS 15, a MacBook Pro challenger packed with an Intel Kaby Lake G chip and AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics. HP, on the other hand, unwrapped the Spectre x360 15 laptop with 8th-generation Intel chips and AMD Radeon RX Vega M as well.
Razer also showed off how capable its smartphone is by showcasing Project Linda, which turns the Razer Phone into a fully functional Android laptop. Garmin also unveiled the Forerunner 645 smartwatch, the first in its wearable line to boast local music storage.
What's your favorite thing about CES each year and which unveiled product do you think is the most exciting? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
