CES Las Vegas, the largest consumer electronics show in the world opened its doors today to present the masses with a huge array of new and exciting products and advancements in technology.

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.