Things To Do In SW Florida

By WYATTE GRANTHAM PHILIPS (AP Business Writer)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — CES, the Consumer Technology Association’s annual trade show of all-things tech, is kicking off in Las Vegas this week.

The multi-day event, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, is set to feature swaths of the industry’s latest advances and gadgets across personal tech, transportation, health care and more — with burgeoning uses of artificial intelligence almost everywhere you look.

The Consumer Technology Association bills CES as the world’s largest audited tech event held in-person. Organizers hope to bring in some 130,000 attendees this year. More than 4,000 exhibitors, including over 1,200 startups, are also expected across 2.5 million net square feet of exhibit space.

That’s still below the headcounts of pre-pandemic years and would mark a 24% dip in attendance compared to the show held in early 2020, just before COVID-19 consumed much of everyday life. But 2024 is on track to beat more recent years. The anticipated numbers would surpass 2023’s nearly 118,000 attendees, for example. read more

While United Launch Alliance celebrated a successful launch from Cape Canaveral early Monday, its main customer was troubleshooting issues with its lunar lander that threatened its chance to get to the moon.

Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander looked to be on its way after ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, making its first flight, shot into the Space Coast sky at 2:18 a.m. from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41.

The Pittsburgh-based company’s lander was the first to launch under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract, and it did manage a successful separation from the upper Centaur stage that placed it into a trans-lunar injection trajectory.

A lot is riding on Astrobotic moon lander set for launch Monday on new Vulcan Centaur

Teams were able to then establish communications and activate Peregrine’s propulsion systems becoming fully operational, according to a company statement.

“Unfortunately, an anomaly occurred, which prevented Astrobotic from achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation,” it stated later Monday morning. read more

For the second consecutive week, no Central Florida restaurants were shut after state health inspections, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

No emergency orders for food and safety violations were issued during the inspections performed week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6.

Complaints and warnings

Volusia County had the top spot for most warnings and other complaints in Central Florida, with 18.

Orange County was next with 14, while Brevard had seven, Seminole had five, Osceola had three and Lake County had one. Warnings given with required follow-up inspections could lead to a business being shut down if problems remain.