From the excitement in the air about rooms full of new tech to the chaos of navigating the pavilions with an expected new record attendance of approximately 200,000 people, it was another great day at CES. The atmosphere is exciting and at times mind numbing. There are 149,339 hotel rooms in this city, according to the Las Vegas Visitors Authority. Traveling 1.8 miles from my hotel to Itron’s booth takes about 30 minutes via taxi. 





I’ve really enjoyed representing Itron and showing the world what we have been up to in Itron Idea Labs. My favorite demo at CES this year has been our research into using blockchain technology to demonstrate transactive energy use cases. In this demo, we nailed up a private Ethereum blockchain implementation that showed how solar, battery storage and various other distributed generation resources could work in the future. This is possible by securely applying values to the input and output of energy in real time, creating more efficient and accurate transactions. We called our exchange currency the “Joule.”

Here are some more of the stand-out tech discoveries I have found this week:

1. As a parent, I kind of did a double take when I saw the concept of a Disposable Smart Diaper Sensor. Apparently, you can get a text message when your child’s diaper needs to be changed!
2. The fingerprint recognition pad lock seems like a really cool concept. I do wonder what happens if the battery dies!
3. Mercedes Benz previewed a car that simply shocked me. Zero to 60 in 1.8 seconds, full electric drive train. It looked like a Lamborghini yet had fascinating features including “Full Glass” cockpit display, autonomous driving, top speed of 350km/h and is street legal.[gallery type="rectangular" ids="56266,56265,56267"]
4. Of course, as a guitar enthusiast, I stopped by the Gibson Guitar area and drooled over my favorite guitars. The flying V happens to be one of my favorites. In the Gibson booth, I could grab and play anything I wanted.