I should be in Vegas in about 12 hours, boarding a plane in 8, getting up in 4 or 5. So not ready: still packing, looking up contacts, keying up a week of TiVo. Bought the most boring walking shoes on Earth; built in spring coils in the soles (guaranteed to set off airport security alarms). I'm thinking of CES as a gadgety walkabout, hundreds of kilometers of carpeted concrete to navigate.

I want to meet people there, old friends, online colleagues, and some of the people who are hawking today's gear but are sketching out the 2008-2009 time frame for their industry segments.

I'll have to nap on the plane but at CES I want to see:

• who brings video waaay down in price so it becomes a baseline capability of all hardware.
• the most unexpected hardware convergence (where's my Skype Certified espresso machine?)
• products beautifully niched, especially for those over 65 years old.
• how eBay staffs and works the conference and the show (several Skype sales people are speaking, some Skype partners are taking up a little bit of eBay's booth)
• who is really catering to whom
• hospitality suites with real product demos and the people who design them
• if anyone thinking beyond the cell phone has money to spend on show space
• products designed for developing economies

The whole "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" slogan sure doesn't work for the tens of thousands of reporters decending on the trade show. It could happen, though, if mobile reception and the internet are as swamped and scarce as everyone warns me. More later. Sleep now.

Stuart Henshall and I will be going to the International Consumer Electronics Show in January. Will you be there shopping or selling? Leave a comment that you're going and maybe we can swing by your suite or booth or party or demo or swimming pool or limo or ... Stuart remains on a mission to find the ultimate Skype-smart headphones. As for me, I've never been a gearhead. But gadgets are how we experience and mediate conversation and I want to grok the product pipeline furnishing our Conversation 3.0 lifestyle. January 5-8.