Well. I understand CES has opened again in Las Vegas. Just sitting here wondering if Joe is taking in the sights. Can we expect a report on whats the next craze?

It's been a really busy week and Lee is right that I took a little time to scope out the Consumer Electronics Show. Let's not forget that this week is also AVN. the "porn convention". And it's also mob month. CES isn't the only game in town but it is the only one I'll talk about now. The pre show buzz was that it would be overflowing with new tablet computers that would compete with the iPad. I pretty much skipped over them as they are either driven by Android, Windows, or RIM (Blackberry) and I don't care to be in the vortex of any of those operating systems. The Android Honeycomb and the RIM OS are brand spanking new operating systems for their tablets. and will not be compatible with their phone counterparts. Buyer beware.

What I noticed was a lot of fuzzy TVs. TVs that look more blurry than after a night of adult beverages. Then when you put on a special set of glasses, you are thrust into the middle of the action. They call it 3D. Not only is it displayed as movies, it is becoming part of the gaming consoles. This technology is also moving into hand held camcorders. The 3D technology without special glasses is very much in it's infancy, but my bet is that is what the future holds. Nobody wants to wear special glasses and those that already wear glasses are heavily restricted. And if you saw the number of international visitors that already wear glasses, you can more easily see the problem. My advice is to hold out.

TVs are also getting slimmer and slimmer with the LED and laser technologies. They are only limited by motherboard and input jack thickness. Speakers are playing a secondary role and the audio from these super thin TVs is horrible. So much so that home audio is growing again. Some super thin TVs have a thicker base to house the speakers and input jacks, but they are not ideal for wall mounts, and if you have a base mount TV, thin vs super thin isn't really a game breaker.

Verizon fans will be happy to know that the company is really focused on their LTE high speed internet.

The Microsoft display area was crazy crowded with gamers.

Printers for your computer are big as color laser becomes smaller and more consumer friendly. It might not be ready for prime time just yet.

Portable HD cameras are big and the uses are expanding. You can use them as dash cams, helmet cams, or spy cams. Being wireless and having internal memory or memory cards open a lot of doors.

And the cell phone market, WOW. The phones that will be out by summer are more computer functional than many laptop and desktop computer. Multicore, super AMOLED, fast buss speeds, inputs, outputs, storage, etc. If you go to buy a smart phone in the next 3-6 months, you will be lost.

I liked the robot sweepers and mops. I have a robot floor washer but since it is about 15 in diameter, it is not good in tight areas such as a bathroom. They now have a new one that is about 6 inches in diameter. I'll be getting one of those.

I've always been a big fan of video arcade games. Someone has designed a box with those same exact buttons and joystick controls to replicate those classic games. This box has an iPad dock so that you can play your favorite arcade games on your iPad. The game developers still need to get on board with this.

The convention was big this year. One trend that is developing that I do not like is the celebrity endorsement of the devices. They draw big crowds that may or may not be interested in the actual device. These crowds block many aisle ways to the point that some exhibitors are being cheated. Lady Gaga was the biggest offender for the second year in a row. This year she was endorsing Polaroid cameras and printers, and to be honest, Polaroid probably needs her endorsement. There are also endorsements from too many other celebs on too many other products.

I noticed that in years past, the computer graphics companies and sound board manufacturers have been big at CES. This year they are small potatoes. Companies like Creative Labs, nVidia, and Radeon were much smaller. Even companies such as Intel and Asus were much smaller.

The product line that I most wanted to see opted out of CES this year. No, it's not Apple. HP aka Hewlett Packard made an announcement that their webOS products will be announced on Feb 9, in San Francisco. All they are saying is Think Big, Think Small, Think Beyond. I take that to mean Palm phones, Palm pads, and cloud storage.

Sorry for the lack of details. The show will still go on for two more days but I will be at work. I'm sure the news and more specifically the tech websites such as Engadget will cover it fully.

I knew we could count on you to check this out! <VBS>
So, what your saying is, I screwed up getting the iphone4 this past december?
I guess that is my big problem, I am never cutting edge, it takes too long for me to make up my mind and then jump!
I do beleive my next big item purchase will be 3D TV. Ive been watching the prices drop on these lately too!
Joe, Thank You for checking it all out.....now about this AVN........

Are you looking at 3D TVs that need special glasses? I honestly don't know alot about 3D other than I don't like to wear glasses.

As for the iPhone. This is just a WAG, but my prediction is that by the end of the year, smart phones will be smarter than some PCs and will be so complex that it will help the iPhone market. People will turn to the iPhone because they know how it works. Most people will not know how to take advantage of many of the features of the new phones.

Remember when we were kids and were fascinated with the Dick Tracy watch? Remember when a computer the size of warehouse was shrunk down to single box? Remember when they said the computer power of the Apollo spacecraft would fit in $10 calculator?

Now take those those thoughts and read this...

Are you familiar with the iPod Nano that has a screen about 1" square? Have you seen the wrist bands that you can put that Nano in, so it looks like a watch? Are you familiar with skype and Apple's Facetime on the iPhone where you kinda make video phone calls? Do you realize we are just one or two computer generations from having a practical and affordable video call from a watch? And we're maybe one more generation from a watch that "does it all"...ie, stream movies to the screen of your choice, stream music to the device of your choice, communicate with your home, car, or office with computer data, and the list goes on and on.

Again, it will be so complex, many will flock to just a plain old iPhone because they know how to use it.

BTW, I got me an iPhone 4 today. I flushed all the blue water out of it and it's now sitting in a bed of rice. I'll try and fire it up after it dries and see if I can figure out who it belongs to.

Oh NO! A flushed phone????

I actually got it to power up. The iPhone 4 sure comes apart a lot easier than any previous versions.