CES attendees look Monday at a 102-inch plasma TV at the LG booth at the Computer Electronics Show. Photos by Clint Karlsen. CES attendees walk past TVs at the Sharp booth Monday at the Computer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

It's hard to imagine anyone with a 102-inch plasma screen television ever leaving the house.

But if they did, technology on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show could make them feel like they never left the couch.

The confluence of portable technology and wireless communication that makes it possible for people to live their lives tethered to a virtual intravenous drip of information and entertainment was just one theme of the massive event.

Bigger televisions, smaller phones, louder stereos and more realistic video games were among other highlights.

The event is the largest of its kind in the world and draws about 150,000 people, including exhibitors, to Las Vegas.

That's because much of what appears this week at CES is a preview of the everyday gadgets of tomorrow.

"We're going to look at every square inch of the show," said Kevin Gray, a staff designer for toy manufacturer Mattel. Gray said he was scouting for disruptive and emerging technologies that have potential uses in toys.

Disruptive technology, Gray said, is anything that arrives with little fanfare but has potential to change human behavior, such as the way they listen to music, consume the news or play with toys.

"I could be staring right at it, and I might not understand what is a disruptive technology," Gray said. "The disruptive stuff comes from a different angle."

It was at CES several years ago where Gray spotted a technology called digital watermarking that made its way into a toy.

Digital watermarking is a way to include an imperceptible signal in digital data that can be extracted and read with a computer.

For Mattel it meant the company could manufacture a more lifelike toy cat that could purr, hiss or arch its back based on cues from a movie.

"The cat would react to different parts of the movie," Gray said.

At another part of the show, which covers about 1.7 million square feet at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, Ji Hyuk Lee of Samsung showed off a tiny video screen not much thicker than a business card.

The full-color screen, which is less than a millimeter thick, is meant to be installed in mobile phones.

By comparison, the display screen in the popular Razr phone is about three millimeters wide, Lee said.

"All the phone makers are obsessed to make slimmer designs," he said.

The paper-thin screen won't be available to consumers until at least mid-2008, if ever, he said.

But another screen, a little more than one millimeter wide, could be in phones by late this year.

As far as Lee knew it would be the thinnest of its kind. But even if it is, Lee said it might not keep that distinction for long.

"Who knows, six months later somebody could (beat) it," he said.

The competition to be the biggest, smallest or clearest device clearly drives technological innovation.

But it can also be a trap for unwary consumers.

The most cutting-edge devices typically cost more than their predecessors and are often quickly improved.

That means patient buyers can get better products for less money.

"That is my philosophy on anything, to wait," said Gary Cowen, a Florida-based consultant. "Prices come down, plus they get the bugs out."

For example the electronics firm LG used CES to introduce its BH100 "Super Multi Blue Player."

The device is a response to the emergence of two different formats for high definition movies, Blu-ray discs and HD DVD. The competition between companies producing the different formats is often likened to the battle between beta and VHS video cassette makers in the 1980s.

The BH100 was promoted as a much-needed compromise that would allow consumers to buy one movie player that could run both formats.

But the player is already being criticized for being expensive and slow. It costs $1,200.

Robert Davis, who was looking at the player with Cowen, said upgrades already in the works will quickly surpass the capabilities of the BH100 and other Blu-ray and HD DVD players.

"Everything out in the stores now is obsolete," Davis said.

Steve Voss of Las Vegas ogled the technology at CES but couldn't remember his last high technology purchase.

And it didn't appear he would be sucked into buying an unneeded gadget just because it was getting lots of attention at the show.

"I've still got the old, regular 27-inch TV," said Voss. "It will be awhile before I go to HD."