The biggest U.S. tech trade show (officially called the 2011 International CES) is an over-the-top extravaganza that is expected to draw more than 126,000 attendees and command more exhibit space compared to last year, said Jason Oxman, senior vice president at the Consumer Electronics Association, which stages the show. The return to growth will be welcome, since CES is a barometer for the health of the tech economy and is the place where companies display their gadgets and services for the upcoming year.

In an interview, Oxman said, “Based on our best estimate, [the show] will have more square footage, and attendance will be equal or slightly higher than where we were last year.”

This year’s show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and other venues from Jan 4 – 9. Oxman said exhibitors have reserved more than 1.5 million square feet and that reservations are still coming in. For the January 2010 show, exhibitors took out 1.44 million square feet. Attendees in January, 2010 were 126,641, which was up from 113,085 but down from 141,150 in January 2008. In the past five years, the biggest attendance number was 152,203 in 2006, while the biggest exhibit space was 1.86 million square feet in January 2008.

“As a bellwether, CES is a strong indicator for the tech industry’s fortunes for the year,” Oxman said. “The strength and strong buzz about innovation at this show will bode well for the industry.”

This year, companies have shifted their buying patterns to wait longer before they book the space. Usually, the biggest exhibitors book their space for the next year just after one show ends. That means late bookings are up, with bookings from July through November beating sales records. Overall, there will be 2,500 exhibitors this year, including a number of new ones. Some of the more prominent ones include General Electric, Audi, Kenmore and Nike. The big selling point of CES is that attendees stage a dozen meetings on average at the show, eliminating the need for travel later in the year.

As for trends, Oxman said that broadband communications will be a big deal as wireless providers begin to launch their 4G high-speed mobile networks. A new category of connected home appliances — such as smart grid power usage monitors — will be on the show floor. There are special areas dedicated to tablet computers and eBook readers — with more square footage dedicated to those categories this year, Oxman said.

Connected TVs will likely dominate the cornucopia of new TVs at the show. This year, more of those TVs will debut with apps built into them so they can replicate the smartphone experience in the living room. 3D TVs will continue to evolve and make a splash at the event. Motion-control systems such as Microsoft’s Kinect for the Xbox 360 video game console are also expected to be popular. The sustainable planet section of the show is expanding, as is the space for in-vehicle entertainment. All of the major smartphone vendors are exhibiting. Mohammed Awad, a product manager for Broadcom, expects near-field communications to have a lot of buzz.

Overall, the CEA expects the U.S. consumer electronics industry’s sales to grow 3 percent in 2010. It will update its forecast for 2011 at the show.

On average, U.S. consumers are expected to spend $232 per household on consumer electronics gifts over the holidays, up 5 percent from last year, even though the overall amount spent on gifts will be down 2 percent to $750 this year. That number is the highest in 17 years, according to an October survey announcement. For the full year, consumers are spending $1,380 on consumer electronics, up $151 from last year, based on CEA’s survey from May. Black Friday sales reports confirmed the strong recovery in consumer electronics sales.

As for issues, Oxman said that the association wants the Obama administration to negotiate more international trade agreements, which often have a direct bearing on sales. That’s important since 95 percent of tech gadget consumers are outside the U.S. now. Of the show’s expected 126,000 attendees, roughly 25,000 will like come from outside the U.S. Those attendees are important because they are often tech buyers.

Another big issue is the allocation of wireless spectrum. Mobile broadband usage is starting to hit its limits. The CEA wants to shift allocation of spectrum away from the underused over-the-air TV to mobile phone applications. That kind of change requires congressional action. The CEA also wants government officials to review tax policy and to focus on spurring the economy.

Oxman said that attendees so far are saying that they are pleased by the hotel deals they’re getting. In the past two years, Las Vegas has added 10,000 hotel rooms, helping to ease the crunch that happens every year with CES. A few years ago, attendees complained they were getting gouged by the hotels. Among the celebrities expected to show for the many events and parties: Earth Wind & Fire. Keynote speakers include Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who kicks off the official show on the evening of January 5. Others include Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon; Rupert Stadler, chairman of Audi; Boo-Keun Yoon, head of displays at Samsung; and Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford.

[photos (3D glasses demo, overview of show floor, Taylor Swift at Sony press event last year; 3D glasses at Panasonic booth) are from our photo gallery of the January 2010 CES]

Date            Square Ftg      Attendance
2006    CES     1,690,000       152,203
2007    CES     1,804,070       143,695
2008    CES     1,857,161       141,150
2009    CES     1,711,403       113,085
2010    CES     1,441,808       126,641

Tags: 2011 International CES, CES, Consumer Electronics Show

Companies: Broadcom, Consumer Electronics Association, ford, Microsoft, Samsung

People: Jason Oxman

Get ready for the new Android king. Google has finally unveiled its Nexus One successor, the Nexus S, which will come equipped with the latest Android release, version 2.3 “Gingerbread.”

The phone will be available unlocked for $529, or together with a T-Mobile plan for $199, at Best Buy’s website and stores on December 16. It hits Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse stores on December 20 in the United Kingdom.

The company didn’t reveal much today that we don’t already know about the Nexus S: It’s co-developed by Samsung (which explains its similarity to Samsung’s Galaxy S phones), will feature a 1 gigahertz Samsung Hummingbird processor, and contains a 4-inch display that’s contoured to fit snug against your face. The phone sports a front-facing camera for video conferencing, and a rear 5 megapixel camera capable of shooting 720p high-definition video.

The Nexus S will also feature a “pure Google experience”, just like the Nexus One. This means the phone won’t be burdened with any third-party software like other Android phones and will also receive Android updates faster than other phones.

As Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned weeks ago, the Nexus S also features near-field communication (NFC) technology, which allows it to wirelessly retrieve information from NFC tags on items like posters and stickers, as well as make in-person purchases without the need for a credit card. The inclusion of the technology is a big sign that NFC will find its way into many more Android phones in 2011. We recently reported that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile were joining together to build an NFC-based mobile commerce network dubbed Isis, which will also debut some time next year.

The Nexus S will also be the first Android device to run the Gingerbread version of the OS, which will bring improvements such as a more refined user interface, NFC support (not surprisingly), a new keyboard, built-in VoIP calling, better copy and paste functionality, and support for gyroscope sensors. Google also announced that its Gingerbread software development kit, which contains a bevy of programming tools, is now available to developers.

Coinciding with the announcement, the Nexus S product page is now live on Google’s website. There’s also a new Twitter account, @googlenexus, that’s dedicated to Nexus S news. Google put together two short videos on the phone as well, one on the back story of the device, and another that’s a trippy demonstration of its capabilities. You can find them both below.

Tags: Android, nexus one, Nexus S, NFC, smartphones

Companies: Google, Samsung

Many of these ideas for gifts aren’t brand new. That’s because new stuff breaks and costs a lot. You won’t see web-connected 3D TVs that play apps on our list because that’s too far on the bleeding edge now. They’re just not safe purchases, given how fast the technology is changing and how much better and cheaper they’re going to get with time.

Our top picks were easy. Apple or Apple or Apple. Which Apple device, was the hard question. But the iPad captured everyone’s imagination this year, as the device’s unique design finally set fire to the tablet computer category. Some devices like the Apple iPod Touch and the iPod Shuffle are also great products, but we can’t make our list full of nothing but Apple devices, can we? Throughout the year, these devices got more and more useful as the apps multiplied and the content, such as Beatles songs, arrived in droves.

What’s the right way to shop these days? Start online to find the best deals and prices. Skip the store warranty. Watch the prices go down. Of course, that won’t work with some items on this list. Microsoft’s Kinect motion-control system and the Sony PlayStation Move, for instance, are in short supply.

You can find our last year’s list here. Here’s this year’s list:

1. iPad (Apple. $499 to $829). The iPad still has about 95 percent of the tablet computer market, even though it was introduced way back in March. As we suspected, games have turned out to be the most popular application on the iPad as well as the iPhone. The mesmerizing 9.7-inch screen is great for hand gesture controls, and the accelerometer control lets you tilt the screen to make things happen. Titles such as Angry Birds show that developers are producing apps that work great on the unique hardware platform that Apple created. But other apps, such as the New York Times and Flip Board, have made the iPad into a great media consumption device. The iPad isn’t as versatile as a computer, but when you fire up an app on the iPhone, you can pretty much bet it’s going to work and it’s going to be easy to control. A lot of critics have called it too expensive. Apple should bring down the price and come out with new versions on a faster timetable. But the iPad comes with one big advantage: You can get a ton of free stuff, given the thousands of free apps available on it. From the New York Times to the loads of free games, the iPad is one of those devices that can wind up saving you a lot of money on content. Many of the paid apps are just 99 cents.

2. iPhone 4 (Apple. $199 to $299, with two-year AT&T service). Apple outdid itself and its competitors again by coming up with the best phone on the market (check out our iPhone 4 review). The high-resolution retina display delivers sharp images, and the combo camera and camcorder can capture great images to display on the device. It does video calls, multitasking, high-definition video, and the reception problem — known as Antennagate — has pretty much died down, as all you have to do is get a cheap rubber case to ensure your calls don’t get dropped. The wide variety of apps — nearly 300,000 of them — make this phone more useful to people who want to have a combination of productive work and diverting entertainment in one device. Games, books, and location apps are taking off like wildfire with iPhone consumers. Apple is adding new functionality with its improved operating system. You can find games more easily with Game Center, browse through iAds, and organize your apps with ease.

3. Kindle (Third Generation) (Amazon. $139, $179) The Kindle has long been a good gift idea, but it’s even more compelling this year, since Amazon has dropped its price considerably with the introduction of the $139 WiFi-only model. The $179 model with 3G is still a steal compared to its $259 price this time last year. What’s more, the third-generation Kindle offers many improvements over previous versions, including a higher contrast E-Ink screen and an impossibly thin profile. It’s not hyperbole to say that the Kindle is even more portable than a small paperback. Amazon will soon add book lending to the device, so you’ll be able to share books with friends easily. And the widespread availability of Kindle software across other platforms (iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, PC, and more) means that you’ll always have access to your ebooks.

4. Kinect (Microsoft.  $149, $299 with Xbox 360 bundle). Microsoft’s motion-control system for the Xbox 360 (which starts at $199) is rough around the edges. It’s not as good as we expected, but we are hard to please and it’s a lot better than other competing products on the market. We’ll wager this sells well because there are an awful lot of consumers who don’t care about Kinect’s weaknesses, which include inaccuracy, weak games (sold separately), and a limited power of recognition. For kids, it’s a magical device that lets them use their bodies to control a game on the TV screen. If you can suspend disbelief and tolerate the inaccuracy, it’s a pretty fun experience. We get a kick out of watching people play the system for the first time. They don’t mind making fools of themselves in front of their family and friends. In that sense, Kinect is inspiring wonder in consumers who were fascinated with Nintendo’s Wii motion-sensing console in 2006. Since Kinect is a software-upgradeable platform, Microsoft has a lot of time to iron out the bugs and then issue software fixes for them later. Also, game developers are likely going to learn how to make great games that compensate for the limitations of the technology. That reduces the risk of buying the system now. For now, this is the closest thing to the gesture-controlled computer that Tom Cruise used in the film Minority Report. For Microsoft, that is high praise. Usually, Microsoft’s devices come nowhere near Apple’s in terms of creating magical experiences. This device may be very hard to find by the end of the holidays, given the high demand for it.

5. OnLive MicroConsole (OnLive. $99). This system is one of the biggest bargains you’ll come across. Bundled with a wireless controller with fast reaction times, the MicroConsole is disruptive for the game consoles. By attaching it to your TV and the web, you can use it to play high-end video games on a high-definition screen with 1080p resolution. The MicroConsole taps OnLive’s games-on-demand servers. Those servers compute the game images and send them down at high speed over broadband connections to the device, which displays them on the screen. Normally, the game consoles do all of the heavy-duty computing. But with server games, the distribution system is all digital. A lot of critics said the technology wasn’t feasible. But OnLive has blown past everyone’s expectations and delivered a high-quality console experience, as you can see in this video. You can boot up the system and start playing a game in about 15 seconds. The box is tiny, and it’s silent. The only hitch right now is that there are 35 games, and you can’t play the hot game of the season, Call of Duty Black Ops, on the Onlive system. You also need a 5-megabit-per-second broadband connection to play HD games on a 40-inch TV. Better content will come, and when that happens, consumers and console makers will finally realize just how disruptive the OnLive system will be.

6. Roku XD (Roku. $80) Roku’s latest generation devices are cheaper and more capable than anything the company has produced before — giving you little reason not to pick one up if you still need a way to watch Netflix streaming video on your TV. The XD is the mid-range offering in Roku’s lineup, but there’s also the cheaper $60 Roku HD, or the top-end $100 Roku XDR. We like the XD because it gives you pretty much all the features you would need, and it’s a much better value than the $100 Apple TV. It offers a better Netflix experience than the Apple TV, as well as other services like Hulu Plus that Apple doesn’t offer yet. While you don’t have the convenience of iTunes purchases on the Roku, you have easy access to TV shows and movies via Amazon’s video on demand store.

7. MacBook Air (Apple. $999 to $1,599) Much like the iPad, this device blurs the line between work and play. But it has a lot of the features that the iPad ought to have, such as universal serial bus (USB 2.0) ports and full browsers. It’s great for entertainment because it has the full Mac OS operating system and all of its applications. It can also run Microsoft Office and other productivity apps. The device uses flash memory instead of a hard drive. That means you can turn it on instantly and it’s fast. You can switch back and forth between fun and work without having to reboot or wait a long time. That speed is a requirement for any device that purports to straddle the line between work and play. The MacBook Air comes with either an 11.6-inch screen or a 13.3-inch model. It’s only 0.68 inches thick at the thickest part and just 0.11 inches at its thinnest. It weighs 2.9 pounds, but it’s made out of solid aluminum so it’s sturdy. The size matters because you can carry it around and it won’t give you a backache. The FaceTime video phone app lets you call people with an iPhone 4 and chat with live video. It’s beautiful enough that people will stop and ask you about it. So it can’t be bad for your social life either.
8. Sony PlayStation Move (Sony. $49 and up). The PlayStation Move is Sony’s big bet on motion controls for the Playstation 3 (which starts at $299). Based on our interview with motion-control guru Richard Marks, Sony didn’t think that 3D motion cameras, such as those used in Kinect, were ready for prime time. Instead, Sony stuck with a wand-like device you hold in your hand. It has traditional buttons, but it also has a variety of tracking sensors — a light bulb, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a compass — that give it pinpoint accuracy in tracking where your hand is moving. As such, it could prove to be much more accurate than either the Nintendo Wii or the Kinect. So far, Sony has a good combination of hardcore and casual games for the Move. But it lacks a killer application to really make the device sell. We’re not sure if Sony stretched far enough to go beyond Nintendo and to match Microsoft with the Move. If you’re a Sony fan, this could be your best purchase for the holidays. But Microsoft’s Kinect will probably stretch the imagination farther with its no-controller motion-sensing system. With Move, you get a better experience if you hold two controllers in your hand, and you also have to have a PlayStation Eye camera. When you add up all of those costs, you could spend $130 or more on the whole system.

9. Samsung Galaxy S (Samsung. $199 with two-year contract from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint) Out of nowhere, Samsung unleashed some of the most compelling Android smartphones ever seen — and it also had an ambitious plan to bring them to all major US carriers. Samsung’s Galaxy S phones aren’t the fastest or most fully featured Android phones out there, but they are a happy medium between mainstream Android handsets, and monstrously large phones like the Evo 4G. All of the Galaxy S phones feature a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, which is by far the brightest cellphone display available, and run Samsung’s 1 gigahertz Hummingbird processor. If you’re having trouble choosing an Android phone at the moment, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the Galaxy S options. And yes, even iPhone 4 owners will be envious.

10. Nook Color (Barnes and Noble. $249) Just when you thought Barnes and Noble’s Nook e-reader was in serious trouble — given the new Kindle’s better display and cheaper price — the company unleashed the shockingly inexpensive Nook Color, a device that appears to be part e-reader, part tablet, and all Android. The Nook Color drops the E-Ink display of the original and instead opts for a 7-inch touchscreen LCD display. It’s half the price of the iPad, and more portable to boot. It’s also a better option for younger kids, as it’s far more rugged than Apple’s tablet. It’s not a genuine Android tablet, since it won’t run Android apps, but B&N says it will let developers create apps specifically for the Nook Color. We still prefer the Kindle for pure text reading, but if you’re interested in electronic magazines, or a way to enjoy colorful children’s e-books, the Nook Color is by far one of the best values this season.

Front photo via Mat Packer

Tags: Android, Galaxy S, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPhone 4, kindle, Kinect, Macbook Air, MicroConsole, Nook Color, OnLive, Playstation Move, Roku XD, smartphones, tablets, xbox 360

Companies: Amazon, Apple, Barnes And Noble, Microsoft, OnLive, Roku, Samsung, Sony