A Wider Net

This year I’m sitting CES out, and believe me - it isn’t easy. CES is a candy store of oceanic proportion for a gadget freak like me. But there are too many trade shows to hit and I’m opting for other shows this year.

So, like many of you, I’m watching the insanely prolific coverage through the blogs and news sites. It has to be the most well-covered trade event in the world. CES has a significant virtual event component solely through the power of the press and the reports by it’s attendees. This is the right way to do it - leverage the enthusiasm of the folks who are there to deliver the show to the folks who aren’t there. I believe CES should be enabling this coverage themselves, giving their attendees the power to cover the show and highlight the content from within a CES social media environment, and I suspect we’ll see that within one to three years.

For this year, I’ll highlight some announcements that I think you’ll want to pay attention to. If you’re interested in trolling the rapids for news as well, try these links:

Engadget’s CES-themed version of their site.

Gizmodo has a “best of CES 2008″ section and a regular CES section.

CNET appears to be lagging a bit but their coverage is usually well done.