Path to connected future clear at CES 2012

Las Vegas: From the world's first eye-controlled laptop and a pet-tracking app to a glass-encased ultra-thin notebook, 2012's Consumer Electronics Show produced more than a few gems to point the way forward in research.

From Wifi-enabled vacuum cleaners telling you when to change the filter, to Facebook apps in a Mercedes-Benz and Pandora in a refrigerator door, the message from the show was that all electronics will before long be part of a seamless network.

"In 1998 that was very science-fiction," said Joe Ambeaut, a director of product management for phone network Verizon, looking at the Internet vacuum cleaner. "Now that use case feels like it's an inch away. It's not fantasy. It's real."

Ninety per cent of the world's population will be connected to the Internet by 2015, said the CEO of mobile telecom company Ericsson, who spoke at the show, and there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020.

"If you were at CES three or four years ago, it was all about who could build the largest flat-panel TV," said Henry Samueli, co-founder of wireless networking firm Broadcom Corp. "Today, everybody is talking about how I connect up devices, how do I share my media, my movies, my music. It's all about connecting the consumer electronic devices."

The Federal Communications Commission

Visiting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, put it succinctly. "If you shut off the Internet, virtually nothing on the CES floor would work."

Devices from research mainstays as well drew their share of admiring crowds, with Hewlett Packard's all-glass "Specter" in the vanguard of what Intel hopes will be a new generation of super-slim, fully wired and touchscreen laptops to replace the clunkers of yesteryear.

Samsung's 5.3-inch screen "phablet" - the Galaxy Note phone-cum-tablet - as well drew debate about whether there is room for a miniature tablet to compete with the 11-inch Apple Inc iPad.

To be sure, mobility and connectivity have been consistent themes at CES since Apple's iPhone kickstarted the mobile consumer Web revolution. TV makers from Samsung to LG have touted so-called Smart TVs - Internet-enabled sets that allow you to surf and stream the Web -- for several years in Las Vegas, with limited success.

The cornerstone of PC-based computing

But with Intel - the cornerstone of PC-based computing, along with Microsoft - jumping feet-first into "ultrabooks," the paradigm of ever-more-portable, instant-on, just-enough-brainpower to run YouTube devices is now emphatically mainstream.

Despite the new emphasis on the network, or what has become known as the ecosystem - the place in the cloud where songs, movies, magazines and apps are stored and accessed - it is clear people are after all entranced by devices themselves. That interest in the physical and visual experience looks like it will help keep CES relevant and popular.

Even companies that do not exhibit - just as Apple Inc and Amazon.com - sent execs to the show to see what's new. The show is now the prime place for tech people to mingle with partners, potential clients, venture capitalists, startups and the media.