Digital America, in hard copy

Some good reading came my way the other day — a report from the Consumer Electronics Association (the folks that bring us the annual International Consumer Electronics Show) titled "Digital America 2010."

The plot isn't very strong, but the information is quite telling. It's packed with statistics showing the history and trends of the types of gizmos people in the USA have been buying and forecasts of what we'll be buying in the months and years ahead. Stuff like, "11 million tablet computers" and "There will be 230 million Web-connected electronics devices shipped in 2013."

I haven’t been able to read this report on my Kindle, or my iPhone, laptop or desktop computer. Nope, this 140-page beauty came to me by snail mail, tucked inside an envelope. It's beautifully wire-bound (like a cookbook) and packed with low-quality black-and-white photos, charts and graphs.

Maybe the 2011 report will be sent electronically. You know, in a digital format. I'll talk to the honchos at CES about it in January.

Or maybe not. That would make too much sense.