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.

Samsung announced a tablet that runs on Windows instead of Android. The Sliding PC 7 is a touch-screen device with its own slide-out keyboard, giving users the option of a multi-touch display or full keyboard and mouse. Larger than an iPad but smaller than many Netbooks, the 10.1-inch Sliding PC 7 features a multitouch screen so it can operate in both tablet- and Netbook-like formats.

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.

ZAGG is showing its new ZAGGmate, a combo aluminium case/portable keyboard and stand for your iPad. This clever gadget for iPad owners is available from the ZAGG site or Best Buy for $99 ($69 without keyboard).

NEC introduces the LT-W Cloud Communicator, a prototype slate with two full color screens and special two screen software for home and school use. The prototype device features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. NEC reps say the tablet will be introduced in Japan, possibly in the next six months.

Aiming to make it easier for consumers, Samsung has introduced AllShare, their software platform that uses DLNA to move content around a user’s home network. AllShare will allow many of Samsung new products such as the Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy smartphone, Blu-ray players, TVs, and home router to move content around the network seamlessly.

The Moneual H1004 intelligent robot is “personal health centered IT at work.” It monitors patients and the elderly, purifies the air, supports web surfing, and plays soothing therapeutic music. It also wanders from room to room, staying only as long as it takes to clear the air before moving on.

Samsung and Comcast announced that Comcast’s Xfinity TV service would be available later this year on Samsung Smart TVs and the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab. Xfinity TV is developed to enable customers to browse, discover and sort video content, and access that content across multiple devices.

AMD’s new Fusion series of graphics accelerated chips features the E Series, which combines the power of AMD’s Northbridge chipset, a discreet-level graphics processor and dual core CPU onto a single, tiny chip that operates at 13 watts instead of 47. A 9 watt version, the C Series, is also available, with the quad core C Series for larger form factors set for summer.