CEA estimates that about 140,000 people attended CES, and the state of the industry is showing strength. Gary Shapiro predicts that consumer electronics spending will show a 6% increase for 2010, to $180 billion, and will rise an additional 3% this year, to more than $186 billion. The predominant themes this year were tablets, apps, 3D, 4G, gestural interfaces, and ‘smart’ connected devices. We saw a great deal in terms of sharing content across multiple CE platforms – and the high-speed networks required to do so. ETC will have a post show analysis with details of the major themes and trends available by next week.

Winners of this year’s CNET Best of CES Awards were announced Saturday morning in the lobby of South Hall. ‘Best of Show’ went to Motorola’s Android-based XOOM tablet, one in a growing number of tablets targeting the burgeoning iPad market. This year’s ‘People’s Voice Award’ went to the Razer Switchblade – an Intel Atom-based concept design to bring PC gaming to a portable form factor. Razer has taken the familiar keyboard and redesigned it as a tool for mobile gaming controls.

Home Server Technologies Inc. (HSTi) showcased an innovative new technology called Wireless Media Stick, a simple and affordable ($119) product that allows media connectivity between mobile devices, TVs, DVD players and other devices. What’s especially interesting about the technology is that you can also stream on-the-go; the Wireless Media Stick app is downloadable for smartphones and by taking the Stick to any location you can directly stream data from a mobile device to any TV, computer or stereo that is USB playback compatible.

RIM hasn’t kept the BlackBerry PlayBook much of a secret, but there was one specification it saved to announce at CES — the PlayBook will be a 4G device. Sprint Nextel will offer a version of the PlayBook that runs on Sprint’s next-generation network. The 4G PlayBook is expected to be available this summer. Unlike most of the iPad competitors, PlayBook does not use Android, but will run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS that uses QNX technology.

A new company called Kryptos is showing an app to provide secure, fully encrypted voice communications over mobile phones. Kryptos provides VoIP connectivity for secure calls over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi if users on both ends have downloaded the app. Might be an interesting solution for executives, teams working on sensitive projects, or paparazzi-dodging celebrities.

ooVoo offers up to six-way video calling via multiple open panels on the screen from cellphones, laptops, and PCs. Their software download runs over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi networks to Windows, Mac, iOS 4, and Android devices. This is a fast, simple, and economic tool for people on the go to run video chats among virtual teams.

T-Mobile promises to double the speed of its existing 4G network to 42 Mbps downloadable by the end of 2011, when it expects to have 4G in 25 markets. The company also debuted its first tablet, the Dell Streak 7, running Android 2.2 on a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor with Adobe Flash support. The Streak 7 has a 7-inch display and a front-facing camera for video chats.

LG Electronics debuted its first 4G phone, the Revolution, which will be available later this year through Verizon. It powers up to eight WiFi devices. The Android 2.2 device has a 4.3-inch touch screen and a 5 megapixel camera capable of 720p capture. LG also got a booth buzz going with proof-of-concept technology for a mobile lenticular display, but had no product release scheduled.

Verizon, which has arguably led the industry in terms of infrastructure but lagged in terms of debuting 4G phones, announced 10 new devices for 2011, including Android talk units from LG, Samsung and HTC. The company also debuted a 4G tablet and unveiled integration deals with Electronic Arts and Skype.

Motorola and AT&T on Wednesday unveiled the ATRIX 4G mobile phone, which combines a 2GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM with up to 48 GB of onboard memory. It docks to a special station that allows it to function as a desktop computer. The company also debuted the industry’s first Android 3.0 tablet, the Verizon XOOM, which is 1080p capable.