The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January usually is an ideal window on the up and coming technologies in, well consumer electronics!
This year the undoubted winner on the press coverage front was 3D television. As is often the case with such new features there are competing formats, each with their own pluses and minuses and a number of technology hurdles still to over come. Most of the big Far-Eastern manufacturers have declared an interest and a few have even announced product.
Time will tell which, if any, of these make a big impact on living rooms but BluRay disc makers and several TV broadcasters have also announced plans. 3D in the cinema has certainly been a popular move.
Another area of interest at this years show was that of contact-less battery charging. The ideas behind the technology revolve around "induced" power where a device (such as a mobile phone, MP3 player etc.) is fitted with a special battery which can be charged by simply placing the device on a special charging "pad". The advantages are clear with greater compatibility and no more lost chargers!
While Google's Nexus One smart phone was arguably the biggest phone story of the show computing news was almost completely dominated by the anticipation of Apple's iPad which was officially announced some days later at the Mac World show.
Perhaps the most hyped computing product history, the iPad launch brought few surprises except perhaps the low price. Few would predict it will be anything but a raging success.