Last week, Las Vegas taxi drivers were in heaven. For the 36th year, International CES, produced by the Consumer Electronics Association, came “home” to Las Vegas. Virtually every hotel, nightclub and restaurant in Las Vegas was at capacity, welcoming the more than 150,000 CES attendees.

CES is called “the world’s largest innovation event” because of its more than 3250 exhibitors and a record 1.92 million net square feet of exhibit space. Exhibitors had locations in the Las Vegas Convention Center, LVH Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and The Venetian Las Vegas. The Wynn, Encore, Marriott and Mandalay Bay properties also hosted related events. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) estimated that some 1400 jobs were involved just in moving the show into Las Vegas; countless other jobs were created for registration personnel, food service employees, models, etc.

An estimated $197 million in non-gaming revenue found its way to Las Vegas just because of the show.

I am typically overwhelmed by the size and complexity of the products on display at CES. My 2013 visit (based on my stamina) was less than three hours. Nonetheless, I noticed that TV pictures are getting prettier and prettier; the world has lots of large electronics manufacturers with names new to me; smart phones are everywhere with no-contract phones gaining in popularity; “mobile” is the word of the day; photos on some new phones now have resolutions as high as 13 megapixels; re-charging electronic devices with otherwise dead batteries seemed to be on everybody’s mind; health care and electronics are continuing to be best buddies, and a myriad of companies are dedicated to stylishly making your phone or tablet stand at attention.

Want to charge your phone while on a desert hike? Or protect your phone from drowning? Or listen to your phone’s music through earphones that don’t go into your ears? The products were all at the show.

The attached video report does not get into all the magical new products seen at the show (there were 20,000 of them). The video is just a mini-view of the show as seen during one visit. Fascinating? Yes. Tiring? Indeed. Crowded? Judge for yourself.