INBOX: Among the iPod rip-offs, leopard-print Taser guns, radio-controlled beer coolers and coffee machines that also tested your urine, there were plenty of interesting new gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week.
But more interesting still were the wider trends implied in the launch of many new devices.
One major trend is that electronic gadgets are simply getting easier to use.
The software that powers them is becoming more consumer friendly, especially when setting up the things in the first place.
Companies that have realised this is the way to go include Philips and Samsung. Granted, few firms are going to spend as much time and money as a company like Apple does when designing a user interface. But at least setting up a simple DVD player is no longer quite the issue it might once have been.
Another trend is the move towards devices that talk to each other. In the past, the industry has been ruled by proprietary standards. Now it is moving towards interoperability and openness.
As a result you will now find products such as digital media players that will now play back many types of files, while keyboards and other peripherals that can now support rival companies' products.
In the realm of watching television, Slingbox, the company that allows you to watch your television from your PC anywhere on the planet, impressed a lot of observers.
It launched three new versions along with the new SlingCatcher product.
The latter is especially clever. It sends the signal from your television over the internet to any other television you happen to be sitting at. No more need for another PC to receive the signal.
However, at the moment it's bulky - meaning you may as well bring the laptop out on your holiday or business trip.
Sharing digital media around the home wirelessly is also set to become easier.
Netgear, a dull company normally known for the WiFi boxes in the corner of the office, is setting its future path in this direction.
Web radio is finally coming into its own. Streaming radio stations across the net is now commonplace but it's more fun when you can do it from something that looks like a radio. It's a market such as this that the new Squeezebox Duet from Logitech is designed to address. You can even plug your headphones into its wireless controller.
High Definition TV is here to stay now and the sets are getting thinner and thinner. Hitachi produced HDTVs only 1.5in thick at CES.
This is the shape of things to come, something I'm sure a lot of fatter TVs are more than a little concerned about.
For them, the rubbish tip beckons.
