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There are still a few days before the golden gates of gadget heaven swing open, but that's no reason we we all shouldn't speculate like crazy about what's going to happen in Vegas just a few short days from now. Here's a short list to whet your appetite for free pens and boring press conferences.

SERIOUS

  • The HD DVD vs. Blu-ray smackdown will be in full effect, complete with monumental announcements and lots of celebrity firepower
  • The monumental announcements and celebrity firepower will not be enough to make people give a crap about either of the HD disc formats
  • The 100-plus-inch behemoth TVs will be overshadowed by the sweet smallness and huge contrast ratios of OLED TVs.
  • Canon and Nikon will keep their mouths shut for the time being, but I feel a Sony camera announcement coming on. It's been a while since they've made a big fuss out there.
  • Something is going to go down with the Xbox 360 and HD DVD. Either it's going in the box or they're going to drop the price substantially. I'm hoping for the latter.
  • UMPCs will become the new iPod dock. Everyone and their uncle are trying to put a PC in your pocket these days. Sorry, my pants are full.
  • DRM is going to take a beating. Maybe this one isn't so much a prediction, but a wish. I have this beautiful dream that I show up at the convention center and big media companies will have realized that they need to get their crap together.

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    Smart-ass
  • For every good product we see, there will be 20 companies trying to take over the world with a shitty-looking iPod case.
  • Toshiba will do their own version of Deal or No Deal that they do at every trade show and I won't get to play.
  • I will leave with more than 100GB of storage in the form of promotional thumbdrives
  • I will miss every media appointment I've made because I'm somewhere eating free sandwiches
  • I'll go to the Monster Party for 20 minutes, then leave.
  • Brian Lam will put all kinds of things down his pants.
  • Lots of attendees will talk big about hitting on booth babes, then nod shyly and move along when it comes time to interact with them.
  • The Microsoft booth will be so humongous that I'll get overwhelmed and leave without seeing anything
  • A new record will be set for the most amount of awkward dancing done over the course of a week.
  • The few sports fans in attendance will crowd around anything with a TV tuner to catch the end of the LSU vs. Ohio State game. Then they'll hand out wedgies.