Bombarded with product launches from some of the tech industry’s biggest names, larger-than-life innovations and even a few surprises—these are the things we do know about the Consumer Electronics Show. Held annually, the largest assembly of the influential brands from around the globe has become a platform to showcase the future in technology. What started at around 17,000 attendees has grown to 150,000. While everyone finds the attendance, over the top product releases remarkable and hardcore technological dialogue astounding, there are interesting CES bits and pieces that can wow you more.

CES: Now and Then

The 2012 International CES opens in Las Vegas with a record breaking number of exhibitors, and promises to be the best in history, according to the event organizers. The highly anticipated affair features various mini events in between Keynotes and talks. These include the mobile showdown, ESPN 3D Events, the CES Tweetup, Celebrities meet and greet and more. There will also be awards given for innovation, engineering and special citations.

President and CEO of Consumer Electronics Association (the mother company of CES) Gary Shapiro proudly announced the astounding attendance for this year’s occasion:

“With more than 3,100 companies showcasing more than 20,000 new products, the 2012 International CES is the world’s largest hub for consumer technology innovation. The pre-show media events, which drew record numbers, created tremendous buzz as the world awaits the next generation of technology that is launching here at CES this week.

“From ultrabooks to digital health products to connected TVs, the innovation at the 2012 CES will be nothing short of amazing, as attendees witness ground-breaking products spanning one of the largest show floors in CES history.”

CES was first held in New York in 1967. The event lasted for five days from June 24^th until the 28^th. Today, the leading tech show in the world takes place every January. Around 1.6 million feet will be used up to stage the show. This is equivalent to 28 standard-sized football fields.

CES and World Changing Product Launches

There will be more than 20,000 products that will be introduced to the market by way of CES 2012. That’s a rate of 10 products launched every minute. That is really quite something.  I wonder how the audience will be able to appreciate or even pay attention to details with all new things puffing from every direction. But these episodes are what I am actually thankful for. My favorite brick game in the universe, Tetris, was first seen at CES some years ago.

In 1970, the VCR for home use was released and sold for $2,000. Four years later the laserdisc becomes the hottest item. Following these are Atari’s Home Pong Console and cheap digital watches. The 80’s saw more inventions and innovations with the arrival of compact disc, camcorder, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System and Tetris. The succeeding decades’ introductions proved that the world is thrusting technological advancements at a record pace.  The minidisc, Microsoft BOB, DVD, Apple Pippin, HDTV, digital video recorder, satellite radio, Xbox, Blue Ray, Windows Media Centre, Panasonic Plasma TV, 3D HDTV, tablets, netbooks, Android devices and smartphones graced the podium at CES over the years.

It is also fascinating to know that it takes 18 days to build and takedown the entire CES layout. If my math is still good, ingress and egress will eat up more time than the actual show, which lasts 4 days.

CES has been a global platform of innovation and creative minds. It is almost complete, except that Apple has been missing for years now. Well, it seems that the company is still thought of at CES, because the majority of the exhibitors are taking aim at Apple’s crowning glories—the iPad, iPhone and MacBook.