The Consumer Electronics Show was in town this week and I was lucky enough to attend. It is not open to the public, but I am an industry affiliate in the travel/hospitality field, so I can attend. No doubt you've heard about some of the latest ideas coming to a retailer near you in the future. The show was bigger and better than it's ever been since the economic downturn. With nearly 150,000 visitors and great weather, it would have been hard to not have a good time. OTOH, I am here to say that there really wasn't much that impressed me in terms of great ideas that I must have right away. At best, the biggest innovations were old ideas that were just being developed to the next level. For instance, that Gorilla Glass screen on popular cell phones made by Corning is now being replaced with a stronger, thinner, and lighter Gorilla Glass 2. Thin TVs are getting thinner….that's not earth shattering even though they are about half the thickness of an iPhone. Those darn remote control helicopters still won't go away.

I saw lots and lots of Apple accessories. I saw a Swiss Army Knife where one of the fold out devices was a USB flash drive. There are more and more TVs connected to the internet for a more interactive experience. 3D TVs are making progress, although they generally still need glasses and I don't see that becoming mainstream. Tablet computers and very thin laptops are big. There was a huge variety of power solutions for your portable computer/tablet/phone. There was a gimmicky TV that played two shows at once and depending on what glasses you wearing determined which of the two shows you saw. And if you didn't wear glasses, it would probably make you nauseous like the 3D screens.

One thing I saw that will be big but lacks wow factor is waterproofing your phone. I believe they are using the term water resistant but it's really somewhere in-between. They take the phone, put it in a vacuum chamber, inject a gas that goes all through the phone and somehow seals all the components. There were at least 3 vendors with cell phones, tablets, and music players actively running in an aquarium, in a liquid filled dish, or being showered heavily. It would easily protect the device if dropped in a pool or hot tub, splashed at the pool, rained on, etc. They urged users to not take the devices swimming with them. Liquipel is one company that is doing it for individuals at this time for about $60. Visit their website and view their videos if you like. Most of the vendors that have a water resistant solution are hoping to get vendors to do this process at the manufacturing level, instead of the retail level. One vendor was hoping to get his machine in stores like Best Buy. Hopefully in a few years, all portable devices will have this treatment and we will all laugh at the days when we were worried about moisture in the phone.

It's really impossible to get a grasp on everything at CES. It's held in several buildings and different hotels and I mainly stayed at the Convention Center which was the center of attention. I parked at the MGM and rode the monorail. The monorail folks were metering the people getting on there so there would be room for people getting on the other stops along the way. I had to wait about 3-5 train loads each morning before I got on, so it took about 20-30 minutes to catch a ride to the Convention Center. The lines coming back to the MGM weren't bad at all because I left about 3pm each day before things started shutting down.

I had a good view of the construction behind the Flamingo and IP from the monorail, and they are indeed doing some serious demolition and clean up for the new Project Linq/Ferris Wheel thingy.

JMT, Thanks for this CES report. I am a huge electronics fan and have one of each of the Apple 'things' and a 6 year old grandaughter who has been teaching me how to use my iPod correctly.

Plus a Kindle Fire which I really enjoy and use a lot.

That water proofing process sounds to be very interesting and I have a storn feeling that the major companies will get involved.

Regarding the 3D TV's .... I've seen a few at Best Buy and so far I have not been too impressed except for the fact that computer games played on a 3D screen have been most impressive and I have heard that there is a 3D TV that does not require you to wear those glasses but the viewing angle is very restrictive.

DId you see any display of the TV Hologram and its progress?

I personally think that the next big thing in electronics will be bigger and better , wall mounted, flat screen TV's ... and I'm sure you saw a lot of them at CES .... but I am speaking about huge screens with exceptional sound systems such as those that Bose and others are presently developing.

I had the opportunity of seeing a TV demo that knocked my socks off . It included a huge screen and a Bose Surround Sound system that was better than 'being there'. It was a Best Buy demo of a $7,000 entertainment system.

Do you think that CES will continue to be a big success with the absence of MicroSoft?

Will, The TVs are getting thinner and they are getting much more content. The OLED technology is rapidly developing but not optimized for the consumer just yet. I think that you might be on the right track with an external Bose set up since the on-board audio will become extinct when the TVs get too thin for speakers. I think when the TVs get thin enough, the brains will be on a separate box that drives the cable TV, blue ray player, internet, and whatever else is to be displayed.

I've never had my cell phone get water soaked, but I know of many people who have. I think $60 is really cheap insurance for someone who wants to protect their device. I believe the Liquipel company that I referenced has drop off service if you happen to be in the area of the Orange County Airport.

I saw no holograms. Perhaps I missed them.

I've seen a few Bose demos. They are always very good.

JMT, I don't think I mentioned this earlier but I think I once read that the proposed ferris wheel was going to be constructed in the vacant lot across from Mandalay Bay were the Happi Inn used to stand ... Hacienda Road and the east side of the Strip.

Today while driving around I noticed the 're-opening' of a couple of motels on Dean Martin Drive across the freeway from Mandalay Bay. That could possibly be another good sign that the LV economy is getting somewhat better.

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of mind bought a considerable number of MGM Resorts shares at $11 per share which closed at $12.64 this evening ... so maybe things are getting somewhat better after-all ... but I still see a lot of empty tables at most of the casinos I visit on a frequent basis... in particular The Palms which Maloof recently sold.

But I should mention that the Orleans which offers $5 blackjack and craps seems to be doing rather well.

But no casino appears to be doing anywhere near the business that they were doing 6+ years ago.

But they say that the local real estate market will decrease another 5% this year.

The Ferris Wheel across from Mandalay Bay is a different project. The last report I read said they plan a smaller wheel soon, followed by a larger one later at that site.

The Ferris Wheel behind the IP is part of Project Linq, which includes Osheas and IP getting MAJOR work.

So if all goes well, there will be 3 wheels. I wouldn't be on it though.

THREE wheels may be three too many!

Many years ago we hopped on the ferris wheel in Prim and the kid who was running it wemt home while we kept going round and round for an hour or so until the next 'shift' came on duty and let us off.

We decided not to ride the roller coaster.