News

As big a shock as it was to see the Halloween candy and decorations in the stores by mid-September, the real sign that the year is drawing to an end has been the flurry of news concerning the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This year, CES guarantees that it will refund the registration price of anyone who attends "any of the 2006 International CES conference sessions and fail[s] to gain even one new insight, tip, or piece of information you can use when returning to your place of business."

Registration for the 2006 trade show's conferences, scheduled for January 5–8, is now open and the keynote speakers have been announced. This year's speakers include Bill Gates, chairman and chief software engineer of Microsoft, at a pre-show kickoff on January 4; Sir Howard Stringer, the new chairman and CEO of Sony, on January 5; Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel, on January 5; and Terry Semel, chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Inc. on January 6.

The CEA, which operates the show, is urging all participants to make their travel arrangements now, and offers a special web page to facilitate the process.