• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, January 6, 2011

I was going to make this my prediction column for digital marketing and media for 2011, but since I'm in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, I want to write about the show as well. So, I'm going to combine them, which is easy since everything that CES is about is what digital media and marketing are about. They are becoming inextricable.

* Connected, intelligent devices. They have finally arrived at scale. Whether it's smartphones, connected gaming consoles, tablets or connected TVs, they are all over the convention hall floor and they're already all over America. They will have an enormous impact on our market this year as marketing and media devices.

* Linked media. It was only appropriate that virtually everyone in media and marketing was at Michael Kassan and Wenda Millard's Media Link party last night. Consumer electronics are now linking those companies with their users and customers in ways and at a scale that was never possible before. And no one brings key players together like Wenda and Michael. The party alone makes the CES trip well worth it.

* Microsoft's year? Microsoft is very high-profile here. Google's and Apple's profiles are very low. Might the era of connected larger screen devices, particularly gaming consoles and TVs, give them a chance to leapfrog others and make up for where they have fallen behind on the Web and on phones?

* Optimism. Everybody at CES is optimistic about 2011. Of course, optimism sort of goes with the territory in this industry. However, it is interesting that there is so much optimism when so much of the country (including Las Vegas) is still reeling from the recession. I hope and believe that the optimism is well-founded.

* 3D TV is already yesterday. Last year at CES, 3D TVs were all the range. This year, while they are all on the floor, no one is talking about them. Can't bode well for 2011.

Who else is out here? What do you think?