CES: The new IT show

It's time once again for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where hundreds of thousands of people will wander the halls looking at plasma TVs, DVD players, stereos, car entertainment systems, and, oh yeah, networking equipment (especially wireless).

The "it" show for the high-tech industry used to be Comdex in November, but for several reasons (the show going bankrupt, Sept. 11, etc.), people stopped going to Comdex and started going more to CES. It's probably now the largest technology-related trade show in the U.S., and it will probably feel like the Comdex days of old.

Technology companies certainly recognize the importance of consumers -- look at what Gateway and Dell did last year when they started to sell LCD televisions and MP3 players along with their computers and notebooks. Technology has officially moved out of the office and into the living room (a trend we noted a few years ago, thank you very much). If I see only 10 different companies with a wireless digital media center (play MP3 files on your stereo and view photos on your TV streamed from your PC) at this show, I'll be surprised. More like 20 companies will likely have some form of device.

But that's good news for networking folks, as all of these devices with their fancy names and Utopian promises of cordless freedom and entertainment bliss will still need to be connected up somehow, and that means anyone with any kind of networking knowledge will be getting the phone call from Aunt Jane, who wants to play her 50 Cent MP3 on her stereo system downstairs.

So stay tuned to this space, as the Cool Tools staff (again, just me) heads out to sunny and warm Vegas to try to find some cool stuff that you will want to get your hands on in 2004.

We're not going to provide a billion different updates, but we will try to update this site with news from people we've met with, and maybe even some quirky updates from weird goings-on at the show.

This year, we're even more prepared to try and do this, as I become a one-man production staff. Armed with laptop, paper notebook, wireless LAN connection, blogging software and even a digital camera, I will attempt to blog as much as I can without driving myself crazy and missing my next vendor meeting...