By Ethan Elser

Last year, I interned in the office of Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. During the 2009 International CES I was the “body man” for Gary, meaning I went everywhere with him, got to meet CEO’s and celebrities (I had a great conversation with Tom Hanks about his love for CE products) and see the products of tomorrow. Yet the thing that is most vivid in my mind was the show itself. The International CES is the largest trade show in North America and the largest annual consumer technology event in the world. One just cannot help sitting back and marveling at the pure size and intensity of the show. Whether you’ve been to CES once or 25 years in a row, I think it still invokes the same reaction.

Tom Hanks with Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, onstage at the 2009 International CES.

If this is your first time, I’d like to offer some tips that I think will help you survive:

· Wear comfortable shoes. If there’s anything CEA staff knows, forget style, wear the shoes that you can stand in for 12+ hours and can run around the LVCC in. I cannot stress this enough. I bought new shoes for the show which were a lifesaver. Even so, I was icing my feet every night because they hurt so badly.

· Have a plan. You can easily spend a whole day trying out the products in one hall of the LVCC, so have a plan of action. MyCES is a great tool to help you build a custom schedule for your needs. You can attend conference panels and easily find the booths you need to go to with its scheduling options.

· Take Advantage. Last year more than 110,000 people attended CES and 46 percent of that group was comprised of senior level executives. There are countless opportunities to network, learn and have fun. The best thing you can do is take some time to explore CESweb.org. It contains a nearly overwhelming amount of information about how you can best take advantage of CES.

· Just Ask. CEA staff is always willing to help if you have questions. Find us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr or look for the blue CES shirts at the show!

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By Jim Barry, CEA’s Digital Answer Man

One of the things I do often in my travels as CEA’s “Digital Answer Man” is hand new gadgets – wireless phones, e-books, mp3 players − to folks at TV stations, radio stations and newspapers. Recently I’ve noticed that virtually everyone reflexively begins to tap the screen whether it’s a touch screen or not. The assumption has become that if it’s new, it’ll be touch!

We know of course that’s not the case − at least not yet − but it soon may be. Touch screens have been around for many years but have just recently become so prevalent that we’re surprised when a new device doesn’t have one. The iPhone embellished the profile for touch screens and raised the bar for competitors who are still trying to catch up. But there are signs that touch screens may be ready for prime time on bigger gadgets including desktop PCs. I recently had the opportunity to try out the new HP Touch Smart all-in-one desktop PC and it’s very cool indeed.

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By Laura Hubbard

Have you always wanted to go to the International CES, but you’ve never had the opportunity or money to make it to Vegas. The Innovation Movement is currently running two contests that will test your innovation skills and might just win you a ticket to the big event in January.

For those left-brain analytical innovators, consider entering the “Apps for Innovation” contest http://www.appsforinnovation.com. The deadline for submissions was just extended until Monday, December 14, 2009. We are looking for developers to build apps that demonstrate how innovation and entrepreneurship are impacting the U.S. economy or help consumers advance policy goals that support innovation.

As an example, an app might take data from the U.S. government’s http://www.recovery.gov site to track the spending and use of stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to reveal where science and technology project spending is taking place.

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By Colleen Lerro

Since getting my iPhone last Christmas I’ve built up several pages of apps. I had no idea how much fun they would add to the phone and how useful they could be. When Apple says, “There’s an app for that,” they mean it. You can find the 10 fresh and funny iphone apps, apps for web designers, apps to save your relationship, green apps, the week’s best apps, new parent apps, healthy apps for triathletes, inappropriate apps (Pepsi has since apologized), useful educational apps, apps with awesome interfaces and I could go on.

To avoid turning this post into a novel and listing all of my apps, I’ll just tell you some of my favorites. My first download was the Facebook app. It has only added fuel to my Facebook addiction. My other social networking app is Twitterific. I don’t tweet too much, but follow several of my colleagues and a few tech reporters to keep up on what’s happening in the tech industry. Pandora was the other app I had to have right away. Already one of my favorite websites, having this free streaming music app on my phone is great for finding new music and listening to my favorites. Shazam is also an amazing music app. Never again will you have to sit there and try to figure out what song is playing. This app listens to the song, tells you the name and artist, allows you to get all the info you want about the artist and tag the song to buy on iTunes.

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By Carolyn Slater

If you couldn’t make it to the CEA Industry forum in Phoenix last week, don’t fret, you can still benefit from the amazing CE industry talent that gathered to inform and inspire. We’ve just posted the podcasts of the keynotes and sessions on our webpage.

Sir Ken Robinson – Monday’s keynote speaker

Each year the Forum offers a unique opportunity to get inside the heads of inspirational industry leaders. These podcasts include this year’s keynotes from Sir Ken Robinson, acclaimed Innovator and author of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything,  Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder, president and CEO of NVIDIA Corporation and Ken Schmidt, branding guru and former director of communications at Harley Davidson.

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By Cindy Arce

There is a new buzz in your purse and it’s not your cell phone vibrating. It is your makeup! Cosmetics have been fused with technology to bring you a promise of superior quality with advanced application. Last summer the cosmetics giant, Estee Lauder, introduced the first power mascara – Turbolash. The product boasts ease of use and application with professional results. Professional make-up artists have always directed amateurs to manually wiggle the brush at application and now with the new electronic vibrations, this product exceeds expectations with flawless results. Lancome cosmetics were next to follow this trend with their Oscillation Power Mascara and won the 2009 Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Beauty Insider’s Choice Award for Prestige Makeup Eye Product. The popular drug store brand, Maybelline, recently launched the Pulse Perfection Mascara at an even lower price point.

Consumer response has been phenomenal and even at the higher-end prices, the products have been hard to keep in stock.

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By Carolyn Slater

Earlier this week, CEA held its 10^th annual CE Hall of Fame (HOF) awards ceremony, sponsored by CE Vision magazine,  to induct 13 prominent CE industry leaders. The 2009 Inductees join the illustrious ranks of industry inventors, engineers, retailers, journalists and entrepreneurs who have received this honor since 2000.

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, praised the inductees for their contributions to the growth of the industry. “The CE Hall of Fame gives us the opportunity to showcase the people in our industry that offer creative solutions. Their ideas have changed the way consumers live,” he said.

Here are the 2009 CE Hall of Fame inductees in the categories in which they were honored:

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By Joseph Gizzi

I had the pleasure of sitting down at Industry Forum with social media co-conspirator Jesse Thomas of the creative agency Jess3. Jesse has an amazing resume creating data graphics and visual storytelling for major companies including Microsoft, MySpace, Mashable, Pepsi, Tropicana and more.

CEA members know him as a moderator of our panel on making money using social media, but soon he’ll be better known as the creator of a special CES project we’re rolling out together this year, currently dubbed the CES Social Circle. We can’t wait for you to hear more about it at CES Unveiled, but in the meantime, check out my conversation with Jesse on his work, what inspires him, and how data graphics can visually convey the important conversations happening around your business.

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By Sean Murphy

With the benefit of hindsight, everyone now knows that the music industry, by taking so long to see the writing on the wall, squandered valuable time to adapt and innovate. The incredibly successful and occasionally sordid history of how records got made and sold too often enriched the labels and disenfranchised the artists. Certainly, great strides have been made in the last decade and they are all consistent with the notion of a truly unfettered marketplace that has served to empower musicians. As a result the benefits are manifold for artists and audience: the entertainment is delivered at a lower cost while greater profits are possible for the people who actually create the content. It is, in short, democracy in effect and yet another illustration of innovation improving an imperfect situation.

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By Joseph Gizzi

Green, Gaming, 3D and Remotes for the iPhone.

These were the themes behind products leading the way in CEA’s second annual i-stage competition, and it’s no surprise why. Consumer interest in eco-friendly products, innovative gaming solutions and a reinvigorated 3D movie market have all been major tech stories this year. The Apple ecosystem continues to inspire developers, and a number of i-stage contestants built in apps and social feature that could be supported on iPhone.

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