尽管 Omicron Covid-19 变体的威胁迫在眉睫，纽约 (CNN Business) CES 通常是今年最大的科技贸易展之一，但仍在推进本周举办面对面组件的计划。
尽管该活动将自 2020 年以来首次重返拉斯维加斯——这是自大流行开始以来在美国举行的第一次大型面对面技术会议——但它看起来将与 Covid 之前的时代有所不同。首先，与会者将被要求戴上口罩，出示疫苗接种证明，并可以使用自测工具包。它也将比原计划提前一天关闭。
主办此次活动的消费者技术协会表示，已有超过 2,200 家参展商和 3,300 多名媒体成员注册亲自出席，但许多媒体组织和知名公司，如微软、谷歌、亚马逊、英特尔和 Meta，前身为 Facebook——最近几周取消了亲自参加的计划。 （该活动通常会吸引大约 4,000 家参展商。）继去年的全虚拟 CES 之后，它还将再次举办数字版本的会议。
CTA 总裁加里·夏皮罗 (Gary Shapiro) 最近在 LinkedIn 上发表的一篇博文中表示，取消今年的活动将伤害数以千计的小公司，这些公司已经投资建设展品，并指望 CES 来帮助他们的业务。
“CES 将而且必须继续，”他写道。 “它的小公司会比大公司多得多。它可能在展会上有很大的差距。当然，它会与往年不同。它可能会很混乱。但创新是混乱的。它有风险和不舒服。”
尽管面临与大流行相关的挑战，但今年的展厅很可能会展示巨大的电视、漫游机器人和预示科技未来的小工具。
预计今年的 CES 亮点
预计汽车行业的影响力将比以往任何时候都大。尽管通用汽车 (GM) 取消了亲自出席的计划，但首席执行官玛丽·巴拉 (Mary Barra) 将发表会议的开幕主题演讲，并有望分享更多有关该公司大规模采用电动汽车的愿景。通用汽车将在 1 月 5 日的车展上推出一款全新的全电动皮卡。
其他形式的交通工具也将展出，例如电动滑板车、电动自行车和一架 Sierra Space 飞机，该飞机正与 NASA 合作将货物运送到国际空间站。
在过去两年中加速发展的数字健康领域也将成为今年 CES 的主要关注点。虽然公司将吹捧新的健康小工具、应用程序和服务，但小组讨论将突出远程医疗和新兴产品的未来，例如支持移动应用程序的家庭 Covid-19 测试。医疗保健提供商——雅培医疗器械公司——将首次发表主题演讲。
同时，还计划围绕科技行业面临的各种政策问题进行讨论，例如如何制定有效的隐私法、如何应对日益增长的网络攻击威胁以及如何监管加密货币。此次事件发生之际，美国和其他地方的监管机构正在考虑如何控制占主导地位的大型科技公司，以及如何负责任地管理人工智能、加密货币和自动驾驶汽车等新兴技术。
美国交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格、众议院多数党党鞭众议员詹姆斯·克莱伯恩以及网络安全和基础设施安全局局长珍·伊斯特利都有望参加 CES。
其他重点领域包括食品技术、NFT、增强和虚拟现实，以及专注于元宇宙的会议、互联网 3D 版本的愿景，其中数字化身可以四处走动并实时互动.
一个大考验
除了为即将到来的科技年奠定基础之外，CES 很可能成为大型国际会议回归的重大考验。类似的活动，包括在瑞士达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛年度活动，最近由于变体的不确定性而被推迟。
消费者技术协会在一份声明中说：“我们正在积极跟踪有关新 Omicron 变体的新兴新闻和科学。” “我们将在必要时继续监控和调整我们的计划和健康协议。”
Tech's biggest event starts this week. Here's what to expect
New York (CNN Business)CES, typically one of the year's biggest tech trade shows, is moving forward with plans to host an in-person component this week despite looming threats of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
Although the event will return to Las Vegas for the first time since 2020 — marking the first major, in-person tech conference in the US since the start of the pandemic — it will look different than in pre-Covid times. To start, attendees will be required to masks, show proof of vaccination, and will have access to self-test kits. It will also close one day earlier than originally planned.
The Consumer Technology Association, which hosts the event, said more than 2,200 exhibitors committed and over 3,300 members of the media have registered for in-person attendance, but a number of media organizations and prominent companies — such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Intel and Meta, formerly known as Facebook — have canceled plans to physically attend in recent weeks. (The event normally draws around 4,000 exhibitors.) It will also once again host a digital version of the conference, following last year's all-virtual CES.
In a recent blog post published on LinkedIn, CTA president Gary Shapiro said canceling the event this year would hurt thousands of smaller companies who have made investments in building their exhibits and are counting on CES to help their business.
"CES will and must go on," he wrote. "It will have many more small companies than large ones. It may have big gaps on the show floor. Certainly, it will be different from previous years. It may be messy. But innovation is messy. It is risky and uncomfortable."
Despite the pandemic-related challenges, this year's show floor will likely be a spectacle of giant TVs, roaming robots and gadgets that promise the future of tech.
Expected CES highlights this year
The auto industry is expected to have a bigger-than-ever presence. Although General Motors (GM) canceled its plans to attend in person, CEO Mary Barra will deliver the conference's opening keynote address and is expected to share more about the company's vision for mass-adoption of electric vehicles. GM is set to unveil a new, all-electric pickup truck at the show on January 5.
Other forms of transportation will also be on display, such as electric scooters, electric bikes and a Sierra Space plane, which is partnering with NASA to take goods to the International Space Station.
The digital health space, which has accelerated over the past two years, will be a major point of focus at CES this year, too. While companies will tout new health gadgets, apps and services, panel discussions will highlight the future of telemedicine and emerging products, such as mobile app-enabled, at-home Covid-19 tests. A healthcare provider — Abbott, a medical device company — will deliver a keynote presentation for the first time.
Meanwhile, discussions around a variety of policy issues facing the tech industry are also planned, such as how to craft effective privacy laws, how to address the growing threat of cyberattacks and how to regulate cryptocurrencies. The event comes as regulators in the United States and elsewhere consider how to rein in dominant big tech companies and how to responsibly manage emerging technologies such as AI, cryptocurrency and autonomous vehicles.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly are all expected to attend CES.
Other areas of focus include food tech, NFTs, augmented and virtual reality, and sessions focused on the metaverse, the vision for a 3D version of the internet where, among other activities, digital avatars can walk around and interact with one another in real time.
A big test
Beyond setting the stage for the upcoming year in tech, CES will likely be a major test for the return of large, international conventions. Similar events, including the World Economic Forum's annual event in Davos, Switzerland, have recently been postponed due to uncertainty over the variant.
"We are actively tracking the emerging news and science around the new Omicron variant," the Consumer Tech Association said in a statement. "We will continue to monitor and adjust our plans and health protocols as necessary."
