Lights Out At CES: Power Outage Hits World's Biggest Technology Show


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CES, the world's biggest technology show, is being hit by a power outage that has left attendees at the central hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center in the dark.

"I think it is kind of ironic. It is supposed to be the pinnacle of human achievement in technology but then there is a little spark and the whole thing blows," said Matt Gaffney, a video specialist for content provider Oath, who was walking around in the dark in the central hall.

Gaffney added: "People seem unphased."

[Related: 30 Cutting-Edge Products At CES Unveiled 2018}

CES's official Twitter account released a statement shortly after the outage:

A show representative announced over an intercom at about 3:30 pm EST that the lights would be back on in 30 minutes. As of 4:02 pm EST, lights were starting to come back on at the central part of the hall.

Furthermore CES advised in a tweet:

A wave of Twitter users made light of the power outage in one tweet after another.

One Twitter user, IHU Solutions, tweeted a photo of a scene from the movie Airplane where an air traffic controller pulls the plug on the tower with the cutline: "I think we found the problem."

"Maybe it is time that these companies (exhibiting at the show) invest time in coming up with a new power source," said Adi Cohen, the senior director of video distribution for Oath, also walking the show floor in the dark.

"For it being an electronics show here at CES, and there's no electricity, I find it kind of ironic in a way. They should really be prepared for something like this," said Miguel Carrasco, an intern with The Tiffen Company.

Another intern at the company, Jeremy Ayres, put it this way: "Maybe CES finally exceeded its limits."

Here's what another group of attendees had to say about the power outage:

 

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