This winter's international Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas was the largest in its history. Roughly 117,000 attendees flooded the 1.25-million-square-foot event space to pour over the latest developments in mobile electronics, home networking, audio, video and more. While the technologies were diverse, a unifying theme emerged: products were efficient, digital, small, (generally) affordable - and intended to change our everyday life.

Smart Displays
Wireless convergence was the buzz phrase for the event, but hype aside, these products offer the promise of very real convenience to the small-business and home-business niches. In a nutshell, smart displays offer the freedom to roam. These wireless touch-screen monitors let you access your PC from where ever you need. You can check e-mail in bed, surf the Internet in the kitchen, or access your hard drive from the conference room. And that's just the beginning. As more strategic partnerships roll out, these monitors should be able to expand their functionality to let consumers turn off lights in the copy room, turn up the volume on a stereo or turn off a television across the house.
ViewSonic is the first to offer this type of product domestically. Mobility comes at a price: a 10-inch ViewSonic "Airpanel" starts just under $1000.

Set-up Boxes
Similar in concept are networked (wireless or otherwise) set-up boxes, such as Prismiq's MediaPlayer. These devices bring your computer to any television in your house, letting you access the Web, play your MP3s, and watch MPEG videos. These boxes are far more affordable than the smart displays: the MediaPlayer is being sold for $250. There has been some grumbling by early adopters that the MediaPlayer needs to go through another release or two before it is really ready for prime time.
ony and HP have announced similar devices, so options should increase in the near future.

Portable Devices
Another major trend at the show were the more sophisticated portable devices. Busy professionals with overloaded briefcases and pockets can downsize thanks to more multiple-function gadgets. Hitachi's Multimedia Communicator Pocket PC is a hybrid PDA and cell phone, complete with built-in keyboard and a digital camera. This will be offered solely through Sprint PCS, and should hit the stores relatively soon for around $500.

PDAs
Sharp introduced a PDA that redefines what we can expect out of our electronic personal assistants. The Zaurus SL-C700 has a just-under-4-inch display that can rotate, letting you decide if you want it to work as a mini-notebook PC or as a traditional PDA. The 16-bit display screen has unprecedented resolution of 640 x 480, full touch-screen capability, ample memory (64MB of ROM. 32MB of RAM), and a large keyboard. All this is encased in a slim 4.7 x 3.3 x 0.7 inches.

Unfortunately, the Zaurus can only be purchased in Japan right now. Its American debut is scheduled for later this year, with an estimated price tag of $600 to $700.

Sony has built its CLIE PEG-NZ90 into the technological equivalent of a Swiss army knife. The PDA has a built-in, high-resolution digital camera, a Wi-Fi expansion slot, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity capabilities. Those who carry their PDAs in their pockets, be forewarned: the $799 device weighs in at a heft 10.3 ounces.

Cool Watch
Bill Gates and Microsoft made a serious splash with the introduction of Smart Personal Object Technology (SPOT), which taps into our inner James Bond. Technology gets more personal with the Fossil SPOT Watch. This watch is a PDA that lets users tap into Microsoft data services, ranging from stock quotes and news updates to movie times and restaurant addresses. E-mail may become available later.