If you’re into gadgets like we are here at Consumer-Rankings.com, then we can only assume you’ve been paying attention to what’s going on at CES this year. The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opened on Tuesday and ends tomorrow with a total of over 3,100 companies exhibiting. This is the biggest trade show of the year and it is where new consumer technology has traditionally been unveiled.

Although tech giants like Apple and Google have the resources to get attention for new products at any time, CES is still going strong with a record number of exhibitors and 20,000 new products on display this year. CD players, HD tvs, Camcorders and even the game Pong all got their start here.

Journalists see this as an opportunity to get a feel for the upcoming trends- a way of visualizing the future of technology. Check out tech writers this week and you’ll see observations on this year’s CES offerings, analysis of new directions and predictions for next year.

Unfortunately for me however, I can’t go. In fact, CES is only open to people who work in the consumer electronics industry. Therefore most consumers, and therefore most of this blog’s readers, won’t be heading off to Las Vegas to get some ideas for next year’s holiday gifts. While this means that we can’t see what’s there on our own, it does mean that any great expectations we have for the year’s technological breakthroughs won’t have to be disappointed just yet. As far as I know, in some near-forgotten corner of the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center, there sits an inventor with a prototype of my flying jetpack on the table in front of him.

Ok, maybe a jetpack is a bit cliché. But this is a great opportunity to dream about how far technology can take us this year and hope that if it isn’t at CES this year, it will be there next year.