Name: Why CES Still Matters
Uploaded: 2016-01-06
Duration: 2 min 12 s
Description: Fortune's senior tech editor explains from Las Vegas.

There's about 170, 000 people here at this show in Los Vegas and only a few of them are behind me. We're expecting to see a lot of drones, virtual reality, the internet of things, and car tech. [ MUSIC ] In just this evening, and the show hasn't even started yet, I've seen companies that are measuring sleep, how fast I can run and walk, how often I sit and stand at my desk, about a dozen companies that measure how secure my home is, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I'm not even sure what they do. Do yet. Just to get a sense of how big this is, we spoke to Gary Shapiro, who's the CEO of the CTA, the organization that puts this whole shebang on. This is our largest footprint ever. We're over 2. 4 million net square feet of exhibit space with over 3, 600 companies, But it's just not the size of the show. It's the innovation that's here that really matters. There is more new companies. Over 500 start ups in Eureka park and there is more growing areas in technologies than ever. [ UNKNOWN ]. CES isn't just a place to see cool gadgets, it's also where business gets done. We're here to talk to as much consumer media as we can. Identify some new companies and inventor opportunities to get new technologies. And you guys are part of one of the hot trends at CES this This year, which is a smart home. Are you looking for other startups, and have you seen anything that's really exciting to you? Not yet, but we have seen some cool things around facial recognition that can be leveraged in camera solutions, which I think have a lot of applicability for smart homes as we go forward. We have seen some new things even here tonight that are kind of interesting. Obviously nothing we're ready to announce. Every year at CES we get excited about new products that are launched at the show that we should see in stores the coming year. And some of them never make it. So this year, which will be the products that we see, and which will be the ones that break our hearts. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Fortune's senior tech editor explains from Las Vegas.