At CES 2013, Haier showed off its concept product, the transparent washing machine.  Is this a sign of our future? Or is this an appliance design that you don’t want to see in your laundry room?

Sphero is a robotic ball that can be controlled on an iOS or Android device through a Bluetooth connection.  Using the multi-touch capabilities of these devices, you can move Sphero around indoors, outdoors and even on water. It is available online from Future Shop for $129.99

Earl Grey tea – It was one of Captain Picard’s favourite drinks, and he often ordered it on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  However, he didn’t order it from a person, or even make it with futuristic kettle and teapot - he ordered a computer to make it,  and it materialized out of thin air, nice and hot and perfectly steeped every time.  Not only could the replicator make food, it could also make small objects.  In the economy of the future, who needs money when you can make anything you want at your command?  Of the many futuristic technologies showcased on Star Trek: TNG, the replicator, along with the transporter with which it shared its technology, was probably the most far-fetched of the show.  Little did I know when I was watching TNG in 1989 that the very same technology would actually exist in my lifetime, albeit in a much less sophisticated form.

MakerBot Industries has been one of the pioneers of the 3D-printing revolution.  While the technology has been around since the early 1980s, before MakerBot came along, it was still just the domain of large, expensive machines for industrial use.  While MakerBot’s printers aren’t exactly cheap compared to your run-of-the-mill inkjet, they are certainly within the price-point that a small business, artist, or hobbyist can afford.

Tech enthusiasts have been lighting up news pages of Google for weeks and now the day before the official North American launch of the one of the most anticipated Android devices ever, the Samsung Galaxy Note. I first discovered a love for the device at CES 2012, and am enjoying reading the positives reviews...

This is my first post about CES 2012, and, yes, I know the show was a month ago, so you’re probably wondering what took me so long, when my fellow Tech Bloggers managed to get quite a few CES posts up over the past few weeks.  Well, I won’t make too many excuses. Suffice to say, it was my first CES, so I had no idea what to expect. The show totally burnt me out after only a few days, and I had to go on vacation soon after the show.  Anyways, enough about me, onto the article, which will be the first of many tardy updates about CES from me.

If you are a little confused as to why I am looking for an ice cream sandwich at an electronics show, I’ll fill you in a bit first.  Ice Cream Sandwich (which I will refer to as ICS going forward) is Google’s code name for the latest and greatest version of their Android OS – Android 4.0.  Launched late last year on Samsung’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy Nexus (available from Future Shop on Bell, Virgin, Telus, Rogers, Fido and Sasktel), ICS is the first version of Android to be designed from the ground up for both tablets and phones.

My fellow bloggers, Elliott and Buzz, have weighed in with their thoughts from CES 2012 in Las Vegas, and what they see as the big factors for the next 12 months until we do it all over again. That leaves it to me to offer my two cents about what I think will come from the show, and why the companies that aren’t there sometimes reap the benefits.

While there isn't necessarily one announcement or product release dominating the CES headlines, there are several initiatives creating a lot of excitement among media and tech enthusiasts alike. Looking back at my week at this year's show, here are my seven newsmakers from CES 2012

Sony roared right out of the gate from day one of CES 2012, making a slew of announcements from celebrities and online content, to Crystal LED and displaying the re-born Walkman. 

It will only be a matter of a couple years when the term "sound dock" will join the retired electronics world of Beta, laserdisc and Atari, and become obsolete. Wifi and Bluetooth - "Airplay" in particular are making remote music playing a reality. 

Did you know the average family household does six loads of laundry each week? That's 312 loads a year. To make life easier in the wonderful world of cleaning, both LG and Samsung unveiled new washer and dryer pairs at CES 2012.

Gibson is synonymous with guitars. Since 1894, the American guitar maker has been making beautiful guitars relied on music lovers of all levels. The company is keeping up with the connected world we live in through recent acquisitions of pro audio market leaders, Stanton Group and Onkyo. 

A smart move, given the age where making music, mixing and uploading immediately to Youtube matters. So, seeing them with a sizeable booth at CES was no surprise.

A closer look at what Lenovo is doing, and one might think the company is going through something of a makeover. Lenovo has traditionally been viewed as a business and enterprise-oriented company that didn’t play the game of fancy design and colours consumers love so much. That’s been changing the last few years with a more well-rounded focus that culminated with a pretty good lineup at CES this year.

Do a search on coverage from last year’s CES and you’ll no doubt find tons of stuff on tablets, the device category that was the theme of the show. Manufacturers flooded the show floor with ‘me too’ devices meant to take on the iPad and vie for a piece of a still nascent market. A year later, tablets were often talked about, and there were plenty on the show floor, but they weren’t the focus this time around.

This year’s CES is Microsoft’s last, and instead of going out with a bang, their swan song at the show has looked like more of a whimper. Behind closed doors, there may have been more shown under private auspices, but out on the floor, it was a lot of ‘been there, done that’. Windows 8? Nope. Windows Phone with Nokia and other handset makers? Nada. New and unique software or apps? Not really.

Except for the company’s vision of Kinect working with Windows PCs, it looks increasingly likely that Microsoft opted to hold back on making any kind of noise as they bow out of the show.