There was a day when Steve Ballmer’s keynote to the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show would have been truly exciting.  Now, it is just more stuff.  Do we really need the PC to take over the driving experience?  The range of computing devices is truly impressive, and the success of Windows 7 is well deserved, but what are people doing on those devices and this great OS?  Something they could just have easily done on the telephone two decades ago?  We still have phones.  The enabling technology is in place, and at no small cost, but what is being enabled? It’s true consumer electronics...

Tonight a 6:30 PM PST Steve Ballmer will keynote the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show from Las Vegas: Click here for streaming video. The New York Times is reporting that Ballmer will preview a slate tablet from HP with multi-touch, e-reader, and multimedia functionality: “This product better be good because Apple is expected to unveil its take on the slate/tablet form factor later this month. If history holds, Apple will issue a product that surprises people in a few ways and that stands out from the crowd.” Tablet technology, much like voice recognition technology, has loads of potential,...