The 20,000 new products launched at this year’s US Consumer Electronics Show provide an array of tools for innovation, each with opportunities for applications, many of which will generate new businesses.
            The Show was dominated by several companies offering different versions of TVs that can do lots more than our traditional TVs have been able to offer us – largely to do with the interface to the TV; one enables the viewer to control the TV with voice or hand gestures, and offers access to games and apps, another enables viewers to use the TV to send messages to one another; and Google of course enables the viewer to use its search engine to find whatever you will, and suggests programmes based on your viewing habits. Apple’s iTV – yet to come. This development has been unusually slow in coming, a delay which can be attributed to the fact that renewing one’s TV is a periodic event, not a regular one; and until recently there has not been a great deal of material available on the internet that was well-adapted to the ways we currently use our TVs. Now, music, YouTube, films and social media; and no doubt shortly also, theatre, opera, concerts and other live performances, are all becoming available for us to tune into on our TVs.
            Ultra-thin and light Mac Book Airs were also a big feature this year; and Kindles and their ilk continue to sell well and look like disrupting the book publishing industry even faster than iTunes did the music industry.