Power outage at CES plunges thousands of exhibitors and attendees into darkness

By Luke Dormehl Published January 10, 2018

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is home to all manner of different technologies, and just about all of them have something in common: they require power to work. Unfortunately, that was a commodity in short supply at CES today as its main building, the Las Vegas Convention Center’s (LVCC) Central Hall, was plunged into darkness for over an hour. Fortunately, power was restored following what’s being called an “isolated power outage.”

The power outage started at around 11:14am PT. The outage follows a previous one that forced Google to shutter its display in the LVCC’s car park. The LVCC’s Central Hall is home to booths from major companies including Sony, Samsung, and LG. Attendees who were in the venue were evacuated. No explanation was given for the outage, although sources told Digital Trends it was related to a transformer in the parking lot. The issue came after the city’s first rainfall in more than 100 days, which caused flash floods. Ironically, today’s weather is clear, warm, and dry.

Recommended Videos

It was bad news for all involved: Digital Trends’ live-stream was temporarily down, tech demonstrations were brought to a grinding halt, and booths belonging to companies (including smaller startups) who paid a premium to be at CES were left unable to do anything. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the event’s organizer, said that booths in the South and North halls were unaffected by the outage.

In a tweet, the official CES account wrote that: “We’ve been informed by Nevada Power that the outage has been addressed and they are in the process of restoring power. We will continue to restrict access until full power has been restored. Thank you for your continued patience. We encourage you to visit other open show areas.”

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show 2018 is predicted to welcome 170,000 attendees from around the world to Las Vegas this year. The event boasts 3,900 exhibitors, although not a whole lot of them were able to do much temporarily. Given that this is only day two, hopefully this problem won’t be a recurring one on subsequent days of the event.

Right about now would be the perfect time for someone to introduce the breakthrough grid-free renewable energy source they’ve been working on. Anyone?

Former Contributor

I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak

Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you

Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Emerging Tech

This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion

This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.

Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Emerging Tech

This smart knitted fabric can flip switches, count your steps, and even change shape

Grandma's knitting just entered its Iron Man era

Representative Image

For most of us, knitting brings to mind sweaters, scarves, and perhaps an ambitious grandmother determined to make winter more fashionable. Researchers at Harvard University, however, have a far more futuristic vision. They've transformed ordinary knitted fabric into a programmable material capable of changing shape, acting as an electrical switch, sensing movement, and potentially forming the foundation of tomorrow's wearable technology.

The research, published in Advanced Functional Materials by scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrates how machine-knitted textiles can "snap" between multiple stable shapes without relying on motors or rigid mechanical parts.