2004 was the year that saw the iPod blaze its trail through the technology heaven, saw Google Inc. go public and double its share price from $100 to $200, and watched the fortune of RIM (of Blackberry fame) founder Mike Lazaridis's fortunes grow still further as wireless e-mail became more and more the rule and not the exception. But what of 2005? Has a wider technology bounceback begun? At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2005 last week, the answer seemed to be a resounding: "Yes!"

As everyone who has not been living in a cave for the past 29 years knows, Microsoft is 100% devoted to changing the world.

"Most people are still not in the digital realm," said Bill Gates in his opening keynote at CES. But it is far from being the only onion in the stew. The industry-wide 'return of technology' has begun.

Even Gates himself acknowledged we stand at the threshhold of the post-PC world:

"The PC has a central role to play, in that it's where it all comes together - e-mail, instant messaging; if you want to organize your memories in a rich way, if you want to edit photos, if you want to create papers. But, it won't be the only device."

So, just case anyone doubts that the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2005 that ended yesterday in Las Vegas marked a turning-point in the geek technology market, here is a round-up of some of the week's highlights reported on this site, featuring not only Microsoft, but also Samsung, Hitachi, HP, Sun and others.

Gates In Las Vegas: On IPTV, MTV, and All things Digital

Yesterday at CES 2005 in Las Vegas Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect at Microsoft, and Judy McGrath, CEO and chairman of MTV Networks, addressed conference attendees. Gates was talking at CES for the seventh successive year. (Continued...)

Samsung Wows CES Attendees: Handset Features Galore

Samsung introduced a number of feature-rich mobile phones at CES, which, if rolled out successfully, may close the technology gap between Korea and the US. (Continued...)

500 GB Hard Disk - World's Largest Ever - Being Launched By Hitachi in Q1

Instead of the 40 hours or so of video storage offered by a standard 80 GB hard disk in a Tivo-type digital video recorder, Hitachi is going to help manufacturers offer consumers half a terabyte of storage. That's more than 500 billion bits of data. (Continued...)

Carly Fiorina: HP Will Take the Home Media Fight To Intel and Microsoft

HP plans to offer a media hub that does not use a cable box. HP has also designed an electronic programming guide that lets consumers find and record content. A music database service will give consumers access to song titles, CD artwork, and other artist information. (Continued...)

J2ME: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Five years on, with notable successes such as the J2ME-enabled BlackBerry wireless handheld that has already made a billionaire of RIM founder Mike Lazaridis, developers finally now have a more consistent and capable platform to use for application development. Anyone wandering round this week's CES may be inclined to agree.(Continued...)