TheConsumer Electronics Showis wrapping up in Las Vegas this week.
Every year, tech companies get together to show off all their coolest stuff.
Most of it isnt as cool as they think.
However, some trends give us an idea of what we can look forward to from tech in 2016.
Both should arrive in consumers hands this year.
The Oculus Riftwill retail for $599when it starts shipping at the end of March.
If you cant wait,pre-orders opened on Wednesday.
This is one of the first high-end VR headsets that will be commercially available.
Both of these VR headsets will offer the first high-end experience for virtual reality in the home.
Up until now, your only other options were theall plasticSamsung Gear VRordo-it-yourself cardboardkits.
The important question is, do you reallywantthis?
At $600, the first edition of the Oculus Rift will be a hard sell for many people.
The Oculus Rift also comes withsome hefty system requirements.
Oculus sellsRift-ready PCs, that are in the $1,000 range.
Once you get it, theres the question of apps.
VR headsets are primarily gaming devices, and graphics-intensive games are notoriously expensive.
Theres a reason there are a hundredequally-adequate Flappy Bird clones, but first-person shooters are harder to come by.
Developing games for the Oculus will take time.
Think of it like the launch of a new console.
Of course, there are non-game uses for VR, too.
Oculus already hasan app storethat, while mostly full of games, has a few non-game uses.
Netflix, Hulu, and Twitch also have apps thatoffer whole viewing experiences inside the headset.
The price of entry for high-end, desktop-based systems alone may keep it out of many hands.
Well see how many others will follow.
All of this could mean big things for the VR landscape.
Or the whole idea might fizzle and die off once regular people get their hands on it.
Either way, if youre interested in VR, nows your time.
However, Netflix decided to make an appearance to kick 2016 off bycompletely owningyour entire TV watching habits.
Thats a huge new audience.
Theyre also adding 600 hours of new content this year.
Thats a lot for a company thats not a TV web link.
And thats only the original content.
If youre looking to cut cable, theres never been a better time.
Which is great, since the interface was one of the worst elements of an otherwise decent service.
The company is also adding ESPN3 to its existing library which already includes ESPN and ESPN2.
NBC also jumped into the pool with a comedy-focused servicecalled Seeso.
Its yet another in the long list of narrowly-focused video services.
All of that isjustwhat was announced this week at CES.
Most of us watch at least a few shows, and cable isnt getting any cheaper.
If youve been thinking of cutting the cord, theres never been a better time to do it.
To wit, Samsung kicked things off this year with a refrigerator housing a massive touch screen.
This was not Samsungsfirst smart refrigerator.
The hits dont stop there.
Securifi madea wireless router thats also a security system.
This isa 9 volt battery for smoke detectorsthat can send push notifications to your phone.
Look, CES is weird, okay?
Theres a reason most normal people dont go, and its not because its supposed to be press only.
Some smart things are awesome.
Others make you wear out the word Why?
For example, wearables are maturing.
Fitbit released a fancy new fitness tracker that actuallykind of looks like a watch.
Casio announceda rugged Android Wear watchthat can, coincidentally, function like a fitness tracker.
Its also specced to handle enough wear and tear to be suitable for military use.
However, they havent died off, and people are actually buying more of them.. Bottom line, putting a couple sensors and a wireless connection in something doesnt immediately make it better.
If CES is good at nothing else, it excels at advertising fancy smart gadgets that nobody needs.
Just dont weara smart belt, okay?
Theyre an admittedlyreally cool hobbythough.
The rules regarding where and when drones can be flown are catching up to the hobby.
There have already been issues with drone safety.
In one instance, dronesprevented emergency services from helping people in burning cars.
The Secret Service got involved when someone flew his dronea little too close to the Presidents motorcade.
Towards the end of 2015, the FAA releasedits first drone regulations.
Everything drone-related up until this point has existed in a sort of wild west of regulations.
Now well start to see how they integrate into society at large.
A Chinese company has the crazy idea touse autonomous drones as taxis.
And Im still holding outhope for the Tacocopter.
Were still scratching the surface of what droneswhether remote-controlled or autonomouscan do.
This year that happened, but with one key difference: the updates arent all that interesting.
This TV with a lot of pixels hasa slightly smaller bezelthan this other TV with a lot of pixels.
Another company made a laptop that looks a bit like a Macbook.
Computers are slightly faster than they used to be.
This is actually kind of a relief.
We rely heavily on an increasing number of gadgets that iterate too quickly.
However, most of these are iterating because tech simply gets better over time.
Not because youneedto upgrade now.
If youre happy with your basic devices, just enjoy them this year.
If you feel like spending some money on a gadget, there are better places to look.
All of the interesting trends in tech are going to be outside the realm of basic devices.
Likethis amazing turntablethatAlan is geeking out about.
Photos byNan Palmero,Oculus, Getty, and Associated Press.
