High-tech gadget show opens doors in Vegas

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The International Consumer Electronics Show kicked off on Tuesday with a dazzling array of high-tech gadgetry including ultra-thin laptops, snazzy smartphones, iPad rivals and flat-screen and 3D TVs.

A record 3,100 companies from around the world have staked out booths in the cavernous Las Vegas Convention Center for the four-day event, displaying their wares over a space equivalent to more than 35 football fields.

The host of CES, the
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The latest in TV technology is also on display as mostly Asian manufacturers show off OLED sets and make another push to bring 3D TV into the home.

Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, said half of the TV models sold by the South Korean giant this year will be "3D enabled."

But in a rare admission that 3D TV has not yet caught on in a big way with consumers Baxter said "we know there still isn't enough content to make 3D a 'must have' feature."

While 3D TV may not yet have gone mainstream, more television sets rolling off the manufacturing lines are able to connect to the Internet.

The CEA's DuBravac said 12 percent of the TV sets sold in the United States in 2010 were Internet-enabled but nearly half of all televisions shipping this year will be able to tap into the Web.

Some of them will even be voice-controlled -- welcome news for anyone who has ever struggled with the bewildering array of buttons on a TV remote control.

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Members of the JabbaWockeez dance crew perform holding a tablet with the Qualcomm Snapdrogan processor during a keynote address by Chairman and CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs of Qualcomm at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Cars and home appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers made smart with sensors, computer chips, and Internet connections will also be among the attention-getters at CES.

Also grabbing attention is Microsoft, which is making its final appearance at CES.

Microsoft chief executive Ballmer or his predecessor, Bill Gates, have delivered the opening keynote address at CES for the past 15 years and the US software giant has traditionally had one of the largest booths on the exhibition floor.

But Microsoft has said this year's show will be its last because the January timing does not coincide with its product development calendar.