This week is the highlight of the calendar for any tech obsessive; the annual International CES – the Consumer Electronics Show. It's where each and every tech company gets together, meets, does business and – crucially for us – launches shiny new kit (apart from Apple). But it isn't just about that; it means we can get closer to the industry, get hands on with hardware and generally get the gas on what'll be happening during 2009.
One of the main themes this year looks to be the environment; though quite how Las Vegas can ever deem itself environmentally friendly is beyond us. Thousands of ludicrously thirsty taxi cabs, acres of forever-lit neon and all-night gambling don't exactly go hand-in-hand with green issues. Still expect the big tech companies to talk the talk as they attempt to press home their positive credentials.
We're also expecting to see a whole heap of OLED TVs, and more 3D than ever before. New Mobile Internet Devices, laptops and netbooks should also appear in spades – indeed details have already emerged of MSI's new releases, while we'll be reporting on what Asus is launching very soon. As for Microsoft, we're also expecting more details on Windows 7 – and the smart money's on Wednesday for a beta release.
We'll also be reporting from Palm's press conference on Thursday evening UK time where it's widely expected that the company will finally launch the new Nova, featuring an all-new Palm OS.
Read: 7 cool things to look forward to at CES 2009
So when's everything happening? Press Day is Wednesday when all the main press conferences are taking place and the majority of kit announcements are made. Sony, LG, Sharp, Netgear, Panasonic and Samsung are among the big names with slots from 08.00 PST (16.00 GMT) so expect action all evening in the UK. Then there's the big Microsoft keynote on Wednesday evening, with Steve Ballmer taking over from Bill Gates, with Intel's big tech talk slated for Friday.
The show starts in earnest on Thursday when we'll be bringing you plenty of shots from the show floor as well as getting hands on with the kit that matters. We'll be posting daily blogs from Las Vegas during the week but meanwhile, let us know below the kit you think will be launched at the show.
From CES 2009
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zoydwheeler
January 6th
1. Heh, I hadn't considered the irony of a bunch of consumer tech companies converging on the most excessive city in the western world to try to convince the rest of the world of their green credentials!! Wonder what Greenpeace would have to say about the whole shebang! (*emails Greenpeace PR...)
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