Consumer Electronics Show officially starts on January 6, but, as is customary, evening-the-night-before keynote kicks off the trade show, on what I call Day 0. Not that many vendors wait, and for good reasons. CES is such a cacophony of product announcements early is the only way to assure news coverage. Hehe, if any.

I haven’t flown to Las Vegas since 2008 and, yes, celebrate my seventh year kicking CES to the curb. It’s not worth my time or money. The news value is null. (Although I might feel differently if writing for a high-traffic tech blog where geek readers can’t get enough information fast enough about the next, new thing.  Audience matters. Write for it.) The press meetings rarely yield meaningful relationships, because you’re just one of many reporters that vendors grope for attention (CES 2014 official number of news media attendees: 6,575). Deals are made at the show, and for the companies or venture capitalists making them there is huge value rarely seen behind the mayhem. But I’m no rainmaker, just a lowly journalist.