Vegas Baby

Off to Las Vegas to eat, drink, and meet 147,00 big geeks at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Most people (at least most people that are remotely knowledgeable about those sorts of things) think that the big theme of this year (as it was last year, and possibly the year before that) is home networking. There are a lot - and trust me, I get the publicity emails- of companies working on moving entertainment around our homes. So far, no one's succeeded completely, that is, in a range that most 'consumers' can afford.

Either way, it looks like plain old box selling companies, like the one that employs me, are out of vogue for now. People already have their digital cameras, they have their laptop, and an AirPort, and the 42 inch LCD tv. Some of them even have Tivo, and Sonos and surroundsound speakers. But who's going to help them make it easy? The manufacturers aren't, that's for sure - they're too keen on owning the experience, so you hear things like "Only connects to other products made by[Large Japanese Company]" or "You've already used up your site licenses."

Well, off I go.