LAS VEGAS -- There are two buzzwords floating around the Las Vegas Convention Center this week: "convergence" and "small."
If the show, attended by well over 100,000 gadget-driven people, is any indicator of where this market is headed, then pretty soon your television set, cell phone, PDA and PC -- if it isn't already a part of your TV -- will all work together.
And expect your favorite toys -- your PDA, cell phone, MP3 player and digital camera -- to be small. Almost non-existent.
Sony, perhaps the most popular consumer brand with an extravagant booth at the CES show, exemplified both of these trends.
In his keynote address on Thursday morning, Sony president and chief operating officer Kunitake Ando said his company was bringing over from Japan its popular "Cocoon" broadband products that run on the Linux operating system. Cocoon lets users customize their digital television settings, Internet content and music selection on one central server.
"They're the center piece of our strategy to build a new open platform that will dramatically change the whole concept of television," Ando said.
With the help of Charlie's Angels star Drew Barrymore, Ando unveiled a new camcorder that records directly onto a DVD disc.
He also presented a sleek new CLIÉ handheld that can take 2-megapixel digital images and send them wirelessly over the Internet.
While other companies didn't have as flashy a presentation as Sony, they, too, had similar products to show.
Panasonic's e-wear: To the delight of press photographers, Panasonic representatives touted a personal video recorder that fits into the palm of a hand. The device, which looks like a folded up cell phone, is actually a digital camera, MP3 player, and digital video and voice recorder. The gadget, which is a part of Panasonic's "e-wear" line, is slated to reach store shelves in April. It costs $400.
Panasonic also wooed the press with a sleek, silver voice recorder that had a USB port to connect with a PC. This little gadget hits retail stores in April and will sell for $200, a Panasonic spokeswoman said.
Also in April, the electronics maker plans to release an ultra slim silver portable CD player with MP3 player and ID3 tagging (the ability to display the artist's name and song title). That CD player will sell for $150.
Argus, Oregon Scientific shrink it down a notch: Camera maker Argus offered a range of digital cameras from 1.3-megapixel models for first-time buyers to the sub-$1,000, 5-megapixel models for the pro.
But the two little cameras that caught the most attention were the SL2650 and USB 1810.
The SL2650 -- literally the height and width of a credit card -- come in 1.3-megapixel and 2-megapixel versions. Despite its miniature size, the camera has a rechargeable battery and motion detectors that allow someone to set it up and secretly take pictures of a passerby. The company's president William Pearson said the feature was in place for security purposes like setting it up in your home to snap the picture of a burglar. The camera, which ships in June, has a suggested retail price of $150.
Just as its name suggests, the USB 1810 looks like a USB connector more than a camera. But this little gadget, which has a suggested retail price of $100 and begins shipping in April, can take pictures and act as a storage device that can later download images onto a computer. It also includes a slot for Sony's memory stick multimedia cards.
Electronics maker Oregon Scientific had a digital camera that it claimed was the world's slimmest. The camera, which is .8 mm thick and weighs 1.2 ounces, has a USB port and rechargeable lithium batteries with enough power to capture 500 shots. The camera recharges itself while connected to a PC.
Wi-Fi conquers all: In his keynote address here on Wednesday night, Bill Gates said it was "gratifying to see that Wi-Fi (wireless local area networks) has beaten every penetration expectation."
In fact, Gates expects Wi-Fi to eventually become available in "virtually every digital home and every workplace."
Wi-Fi's dominance became even more evident this week when Internet reports indicated that the Home Radio Frequency Working Group that promoted a home networking standard competing with Wi-Fi had disbanded.
The HomeRF.org website is gone, and a group spokesperson told InternetNews.com that the group had broken up.
Even though an industry analyst pointed out last year that HomeRF had already lost ground to Wi-Fi, HomeRF continued to conduct its business. However, even as it was recruiting new members like AT&T, it was losing prominent members, such as Intel and Motorola, to the Wi-Fi Alliance.
As if Wi-Fi hasn't found enough success in the United States, interest is in growing the technology abroad.. At the CES show, the Wi-Fi Alliance unveiled a website that marks Wi-Fi hot spots throughout the world. Companies or individuals who sign up for product certification can display a special logo on their products to prove that they are, indeed, legitimate Wi-Fi service providers.
"Looking down the road, we plan to increase the requirements for Wi-Fi ZONE program participation as the market matures," said Dennis Eaton, chairman of the Wi-Fi Alliance.
The CES show runs until Sunday.
