I don't even need to check the calendar to know that CES is but a mere ziplock-bag-through-Security away. My jammed emailbox is the dead give-away, filling up with so many invitations, press releases and announcements that my poor Blackberry is already begging for another New Year's de-tox.

I'm looking forward to Saturday's CES Unveiled: The Official Press Event of the International CES. It's a 'sneak peek of the hottest product debuts' along with the Innovations Design and Engineering Honorees Showcase. Some 80 'leading technology' companies will be there including Samsung and LG. I'm guessing this event will be the official beginning of the Battle of the Mondo HD TVs. Last year it was an inch-by-inch shoot-out, with Panasonic's 103-inch plasma giant taking the prize.

Funny thing is, every year we come to this digital entertainment extravaganza and spend hours gawking at these monster screens while we listen to sales-souls hawk countless innovative features and benefits. And yet, the reality is -- and let me switch to my Research Hat -- a significant chunk of America is gobbling up these gorgeous, giant HD models and never actually watching HD. They know they want the latest gizmo but unless they stumble upon a savvy salesperson at the local Circuit City or Best Buy, they aren't putting all of the confusing pieces together. Despite the healthy jump in sales, HD remains a mystery to many.

The truth of virtually every device, gadget, piece of software or hardware, is that most users tap into at most, 60% of the product's capability. From my days doing research for Microsoft's brilliantly bloated Office Suite, I remember writing that nugget into report after report. Microsoft kept coming up with utterly genius features (not Clippy!) that few ever used.

This then is one of the challenges of CES. Even writing for my audience of smart-ass, cynical, media pros and tech-savants, I have to temper my excitement over these glorious new geegaws. Does it matter that people simply buy because its shiny and new and that alone makes it uber-cool?