An unlikely vendor, Hewlett-Packard Co., pushed Microsoft's theme the hardest. It introduced not just a server based on Microsoft's technology but a line of MediaSmart televisions that, essentially, has built-in software that operates as the media brains behind the server. MediaSmart provides an easy graphical environment for distributing media from the Internet, aggregating it from multiple computers throughout the house and playing it. Like Apple TV, it's kind of like TiVo on steroids although, in this case, you have to buy a whole TV to get that capability.

Then, there was lots of networking equipment, such as the new generation of Wi-Fi equipment based on the still un-ratified 802.11n standard, which is tuned to handle streaming media better than the current generation of Wi-Fi, 802.11g. Samsung, for example, was showing a prototype of a Wi-Fi-enabled television that connects to Wi-Fi-enabled computers and other devices that store media.

Again, this was hardly the only type of product at the CES. But it undoubtedly was the topic area with the most juice, with the most vendors showing the largest number of products. That's not to say, of course, that you will have a connected, media-centric home in the next year or two. But it is to say that Microsoft, HP and hundreds of other vendors would like you to.

The best gadget

Given the intense competition for best gadget award at an enormous show focused on gadgets, our choice is SanDisk's Sansa Connect Wi-Fi media player. But while some may find this a surprising choice, this little gadget does what Microsoft failed to do with its much-hyped Zune: It uses Wi-Fi wisely to help users collect more music. And it has an interface that goes Apple and its iPod one better.