The Consumer Electronics Showcase has become *THE* geek convention in recent years; Comdex has come and gone, and we needed some kind of event to rally around. I’ll be at CES for this entire week, hitting the show floor and broadcasting live on Thursday and Friday afternoon (at 1pm, Vegas time). What’s missing is my sense of anticipation. I’m not really looking forward to being away from home for an extended period of time for what might be a mediocre grouping of semi-interesting products. Yes, we’ll be seeing HDTVs and digital cameras and PDAs and phones and all sorts of services and accessories - but what’s really new? I think I’m going to take that on as a personal challenge: to find at least five to ten new and/or unique products that are ready for the consumer market. I’m sure they’re out there, I just have to find ‘em. What I don’t need is another gadget - what I do need is interoperability between my existing gadgets (and that’s not likely to come for a few more years). “Convergence” is a buzzword that seldom produces a win for the user.

Look around your desk - how many gizmos do you see? I’d say the average techie has at least five devices within arm’s length. There’s your communication devices, your creative devices, and your entertainment devices… and ne’er the tween shall meet. Each piece of hardware should serve its own purpose well, but there are times when I need one thing to work with another. We’re given plenty of choices that leave us no choice - and that’s the general state of consumer electronics today. Thousands of companies are trying to produce the next iPod - but it’s already been done. I don’t need hardware or software that makes my life more complicated - nobody cares for that. And I’m not just looking to better my lifestyle, I’m looking to detangle and refine my life. I’m tired of tolerating second-rate products due to the lack of anything better. Give me something I can sink my teeth into for once, dear consumer electronics industry. Don’t yank me around with empty promises and marketing pitches. This geek plays it conservative, and is on the lookout for something new.

Tags: gadgets, las vegas, ces, conference, technology, tech, gizmos, convention, consumer electronics, showcase, devices