Vying for the title this year are "Ultrabooks," very light notebook computers that build on the popularity of the MacBook Air, along with tablets of every shape, size, and operating system. So are products that marry technological features in novel ways, such as LED lightbulbs that double as stereo speakers, turning your lamps into a sound system.
Want a splash- and grease-proof Linux tablet designed for the kitchen and loaded with how-to videos for nascent chefs? It's coming this year from a French manufacturer. Who needs Julia Child?
How about a cheap, rugged tablet powered by a hand-crank and designed to bring Internet access to children in the developing world? Marvell, the chipmaker, is showing off a prototype that builds on the One Laptop Per Child initiative. More than one wag suggested that OLPC will need a new acronym.
Not everything on display at CES is actually on the market right now, although stirring interest among distributors and retailers is a prime purpose of a gathering that this year is expecting more than 140,000 registrants from across the globe. Nor does it necessarily count as “vaporware” — hardware or software promised but never delivered.
On Monday night, for instance, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, joined onstage by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, sought to woo a packed ballroom with demonstrations of Windows 8 and its smartphone and tablet companion, which aren't expected to debut till late in 2012.
But for an hour Tuesday morning, a panel of technophiles shared their thoughts of what's farther down the road - such as the "CityCar" being developed by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and described by panelist Henry Holtzman, chief knowledge officer at the famed MIT Media Lab.
