How things have changed.

Now, one of the biggest stories here at --if not the biggest story--concerns the race among wireless carriers and their device-maker partners to roll out as many devices as possible that connect to the carriers' new, fast, 4G wireless broadband networks.

By the , 2011 seems poised to be the year that the tech-buying public becomes aware of what 4G is, and why it's important to the performance of their device that it be connected to such a network.

Some people I spoke with here claim that the general population doesn't yet know (or care) what "4G" means. But I think that's changing--and fast. In the same way that a Verizon advertising blitz helped make Android a household name, wireless carriers and gadget makers alike have helped to make "4G" a familiar term. The public at large may not know what it means in a technical way, but they do know that it connotes "new," "fast," and "desirable." The term has meaning and cachet now, and that will only increase.

The major wireless carriers here all made big splashes around 4G devices, seemingly trying to outdo one another with the number of 4G devices that will become part of their product portfolios this year.