CES 2011

Another Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone. There were tons of great announcements this year, and tons of new products unveiled. Last year's show was somewhat (though not entirely) boring, being in the middle of the recession and all. It was the year of e-book readers, with every manufacturer showing off something that could compete with the Kindle.

This year was the year of tablets, as various electronics companies are trying to come up with unique products to counter the iPad. Almost every single one of the new tablets runs Android, and many will likely never be produced as real products. Some were very exciting, though, including those from Motorola, Asus, and Vizio. The Vizio devices, in particular, are interesting since they include an infrared emitter and act as universal remotes for your TV and home theater gear, a perfect feature on a device you'll likely be using on your couch.



3D was also present in a big way at this year's show, with every major TV manufacturer showing off cheaper, bigger, and better 3D TVs, some of which don't even need glasses. The Nintendo 3DS made another appearance and will go on sale this year. There were 3D laptops and tablets, cheap 3D video cameras, and lots of other gear. It won't be long before 3D will be as common as HD and nobody will think twice about it.

Another trend this year was crazy fast mobile phones. Devices from Motorola, Samsung, LG, etc. all showed off dual core processors, high amounts of RAM, and high resolution screens. With these devices (and the Motorola Atrix in particular), this is set to be the year that the line between phones and computers really starts to blur.

I have never been to CES, unfortunately, but I follow it closely every year. With sites like Engadget, Android Central, and Gizmodo all providing in depth coverage, I am never lost for news to read during CES week. Google Reader is still one of the most valuable tools in news reading, and without it, keeping up with CES news would be next to impossible.

You can expect a future post from me about RSS and news reading. It's a utility that mainstream tech sites seem determined to kill, but I feel so strongly about that I can't help myself from writing about it.

And maybe I can finally attend CES next year. For someone like me who consumes tech and gadget news like water, CES is like the promised land. The chance to be surrounded by people who share your interests, and a chance to write about tech news first hand would just be awesome.