The Internet is at the forefront of nearly every single technological development, it is the global communications medium of the world. In the entertainment industry alone a war is raging and digital downloads are winning the battle. The likes of  iTunes and Amazon are the future of digital entertainment. Even the upcoming release of the new Sony PSP Go is devoid of a UMD port, digital downloads are your only option.

It is inevitable that the Internet will soon be the single point of access to every conceivable piece of information we require. Google cornered the search engine market many years ago, reinvented PPC advertising, and has acquired many Internet giants including the likes of YouTube, Postini, FeedBurner, DoubleClick and many more. If Google has our best interests at heart we shouldn’t be worried. However, current estimates value Google at $220 billion and growing. It is a commercial entity and exists to make money, something it does extremely well and for this reason it is biased. Google will make decisions based on profitability, not our best interests.

Consider that in a few years you will plot a route on Google maps, use your Google Android phone to navigate to your destination and pass the time by turning on your Google Chrome OS powered laptop. You then access the Internet using the Google Chrome browser, read your Google Gmail emails about your Google AdSense revenue or the latest Google Shopping purchase you made using Google Checkout.

In the future will we have a choice or will our decisions be made for us, by Google? Google applications will saturate our everyday lives encouraging us to interpret information in specific ways.  Google already knows our habits, it is now building the platform to exploit them.

Some may argue that Google is not a monopoly because nearly all of its consumer services are free and for this reason they don’t have the power to raise prices. Google therefore has no ability to exclude competitors or block access to competing services. However, consider this, Google now has the power to affect our buying decisions, our ability to communicate and how we access and interpret information and knowledge. Many consider this the greatest power of all.

Much of my work is done at night and I do prefer to have the lights off. I find it cuts down on distractions and allows me to focus. The downside to sitting in the dark is the distinct inability to see the keyboard. For this reason I went about researching illuminated keyboards. There isn’t many on the market, however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Logitech produce one and as per usual they have delivered a product of exceptional quality.

The Logitech Illuminated Keyboard is sleek in design and ultra slim measuring in at just under 10mm thick! The keys are responsive, quiet and streamlined with four brightness settings allowing you to fine tune the intensity of their illumination.

I have no frame of reference, this being the first illuminated keyboard I have ever purchased, but I know quality when I see it, so I would recommend this keyboard to anyone willing to pay that little bit extra.

This particular keyboard is packaged as a standalone product so I also had to buy a new mouse. I opted for the Logitech VX Revolution, another superb product designed with functionality in mind. This mouse is ergonomically designed to fit your hand with the addition of forward, back, zoom, search, and scroll functions all at your fingertips.

If you are thinking of buying a new keyboard or mouse I would definitely recommend the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard and VX Revolution! Both of these great products are available to buy direct from Amazon so make sure you check out the links below!

• Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
• Logitech VX Revolution Mouse

Although many of the people I spoke to today commented on how small the show was this year in comparison to previous years, it was my first, so I was pretty impressed at the scale and grandeur of the event having only been to smaller affairs in the UK.

Cutting edge products included the very latest OLED displays measuring a fraction of a millimeter in thickness, the worlds largest LCD TV developed by Panasonic weighing in at an impressive 150 inches and the very latest interactive cinema and video game experiences.

NVIDIA used CES as a launch platform for their new product ‘3D Vision‘, a “fully immersive stereoscopic 3D experience “. I was amazed at how this new 3D technology delivered an extremely crisp high quality experience and at just $199 this is a product not out of reach of many consumers. Of course there is one catch, the 3D Vision package isn’t the only hardware you need to make use of this technology. A compatible graphics card and monitor capable of running at 120Hz is also required.

One technology that definitely deserves a mention is a software package developed by Gen Audio. The software called Astound Stereo converts standard stereo sound into fully immersive virtual 3D surround sound. The demos at the show were ‘astounding’ and can be downloaded for free on their website.

I was a little disappointed by the distinct lack of new technology in the ICE arena, however there were some impressive looking cars on display including a fully working replica of ‘Kit’ from the hit TV series Knight Rider. Aside from advancements in Satellite Navigation hardware and software, In Car Entertainment seems to be a relatively stagnant market with many car stereos still utilizing old school technology.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the show, nowhere else could you expect to see the very latest electronics and cutting edge technology coupled with the occasional ice cold beer. I am a gadget lover at heart and CES was a vast playground for me. I would certainly recommend it to anyone that is enthusiastic about new technology and will certainly consider going again in the near future.

Approximately four years ago I upgraded my 512Kb connection to what was, at the time, a super fast ADSL service running at a capped 8Mb download speed. I know that these figures are exaggerated and, hidden well within the small print, this maximum speed will likely never be achieved based on varying factors, but you would expect to get somewhere close…

After this upgrade my internet connection consistently dropped out and I was told this was because my line could not handle the service. My connection was reduced to 2Mb. Another month passed and with continued trouble my connection was reduced by another 50% to 1Mb. For a couple of years I have remained on a 1Mb connection which has been far from satisfactory, consistently dropping out at the weekend and during busy periods.

I have decided it is time for change so I’ve been doing some research on connection speeds in my area and I am amazed at the fluctuation in QoS (Quality of Service) that BT provide. Some areas can achieve upwards of 7Mb connection speeds… at my home address the maximum connection I have been told to expect is 256Kb! I was amazed when I discovered this. It didn’t matter what service I chose or which ISP I used, the telephone exchange from which I am fed is at fault. This is a BT issue and one that won’t be resolved in the foreseeable future which brings home how decrepit and out-of-date the national service in which BT have been entrusted actually is.

I have now decided to look into signing up to mobile broadband which will offer me a maximum 3.6Mb connection speed until September 2009 at which point it will increase to 7.2Mb. These figures may not sound great for some people that are experiencing ADSL speeds of 6-7Mb and most certainly wont impress those lucky enough to have the luxury of an ADSL2 connection but for me this will be a significant improvement.

I suggest if you are having trouble with your broadband speeds and reliability, you have run out of options using a BT line, and you are in an area that Virgin Media do not cover, check out the latest mobile broadband deals because, although this is still very new technology, it is likely to be the future of broadband Internet for people in slightly remote locations and more importantly is a service that has zero interaction with BT’s antique infrastructure.