The freshly spun-off Motorola Mobility has made a huge impact at CES 2011 with the new Android-powered Atrix 4G, a dual-core Android smartphone with 1GB of RAM that can be docked in a multimedia desktop dock or an 11" notebook dock, making it a full-blown Android PC either way.

Atrix 4G, simply stated, is the most powerful smartphone that has ever been announced. It has a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, support for up to 48GB of storage, a 4" (960 x 540) screen, 5 megapixel flash camera and front-facing VGA cam, HSPA+ mobile broadband, 802.11b/g/n, and Android 2.2 with MotoBLUR.

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Toshiba feels confident enough in its 3D technology that it has introduced an HDTV display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show that no longer requires the viewer wear glasses. Instead, the effect is maintained through a sophisticated system that recognizes the viewer's face to ensure proper viewing angle and a special lens that angles images for both eyes.

What this does in effect is akin to the 3D photos first made popular years ago, those who have seen it say. In order for the effect to work, it is only turned on when a camera on the monitor detects that the eyes are properly aligned. While this means a restricted viewing angle, Toshiba says that the benefits of not needing glasses would make the new technology appealing.

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Second-generation Intel Core Family processors are here, and laptop manufacturers are wasting no time announcing new models. Samsung has the eye-popper of the Consumer Electronics Show (OK, so far), and it's sure to make MacBook Air owners whine with envy (that is if they're between Apple Kool-Aid fixes). Hell, I want one. The Samsung 9 Series packs big performance in a little package.

How little a package? The 9 Series has a ".64-inch profile," (16.3 mm) according to Samsung. MacBook Air thickness ranges .11-.68 inches (3-17 mm) Both laptops weigh 2.9 pounds (1.73 kg). The two thin-and-lights feature 13.3-inch displays with 1366 x 768 resolution, DDR3 memory and no optical drive. But the 9 is two full Intel processor generations ahead of the Air, with second-generation 1.4GHz i5 Core processor compared to the aged 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

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Sprint on Tuesday unveiled a new Novatel MiFi device with 4G compatibility, a newer version of the previous 3G-only model. Connectivity for up to five devices at once would be supported, and the unit would also include storage capability with a microSD slot that would support up to 32GB chips. Like similar devices from its subsidiary Clear, the MiFi would use WiMAX in cities where it is available, and revert back to 3G where it is not.

The new MiFi is also lighter and has a longer lasting battery, supporting four hours of use on a single charge. Service plans for the device would cost about $60, and allow for unlimited usage of WiMAX, however 3G usage would be capped at five gigabytes per month.

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Feeling the heat from Verizon and that company's expanding 4G rollout, AT&T said Tuesday at CES that would accelerate its LTE plans, planning to have the network complete by 2013. In addition, the company plans to start preparing customers by releasing 20 4G-capable phones during 2011.

The carrier would also move up the launch of LTE overall -- expecting to enable the higher speeds by the middle of this year. Until now, AT&T had been rather vague in its plans for LTE's launch, but it is likely Verizon's high-profile 4G push has given AT&T impetus to catch up to its biggest rival.

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Vendors aren't waiting for the Consumer Electronics Show to officially open. The kick-off keynote, with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, starts tonight at 9:30 pm ET. The show officially opens tomorrow. Early announcements, such as ASUS, Toshiba and Vizio tablets, tumbled out like little stones falling down the mountainside on Monday and Tuesday. Today, it's the avalanche. Which announcements matter?

Amazon is opening an Android apps store. That's right, it's Amazon versus Android for Android developers. The Amazon appstore Developer Portal beckons Android developers away from the Android Marketplace. Apple can laugh all the way to the bank.

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Web retailer Amazon.com is launching its own Android app store both for Android devices and for the Web. Wednesday, the company opened the beta of its developer portal, inviting Android appmakers to enroll in the program and submit their apps for approval.

There may be one "official" Android Market that is run by Google, but that doesn't mean Google necessarily owns the Android application trade. Thanks to the mobile OS's open source underpinnings, there are many third-party app stores designed by carriers, manufacturers, and software companies. Some companies that have released devices running on Android have also created app stores exclusive to their devices.

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Actually, I'm hoping to be wrong in this assertion, and with main Consumer Electronics Show events commencing tomorrow there's still a chance I might be. The most important tablet, or table concept, must come from Google. The plethora of Android 2.x tablets won't be competition enough against iPad. When it comes to products and marketing, there often isn't safety in numbers.

During CES 2010, Google released the Nexus One. The search and information giant designed the HTC-manufactured smartphone, which ran the then newest Android version -- 2.1. Many bloggers and journalists wrongly wrote that Google charted new retail waters by selling direct. I repeatedly corrected this claim. For example, Nokia has sold phones direct for years, Many blog or news posts about the N1 also missed the point: Google wasn't going into retail sales but establishing a reference design for manufacturers and developers. From that perspective, Google executed brilliantly with N1 and continued with last month's release of the Samsung-made Nexus S.

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Okay, so, I'm throwing things into a rollie and a backpack to head off to the Consumer Electronics Show tomorrow. It's the usual drill, which I could probably do in my sleep by now, but I still have to apply some consciousness. For example, tomorrow evening I get my rental bike delivered to the hotel, but Vegas is going to be cool this year. So, I have to pack light but warm items: wool cap, ski glove liners, windproof shell.

And I'm not taking my HP Jornada as a note-taking device for the first time since 1998. This time, I need to stay connected. So, an old Lenovo X301 with Windows 7, solid-state storage, 3G and WiFi will have to do it. Oh, and extra battery. At this point, I'm as ready as anyone can be for the chaos that is CES. What is going to be like there? The rest of this post highlights various aspects of the show, some perennial, some dynamic.

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Streaming entertainment service Netflix announced ahead of CES 2011 Tuesday that it had partnered with select manufacturers to include a Netflix "button" on remote controls. So far Blu-ray players from Dynex brand, Haier, Memorex, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba will include the button, as well as Internet connected TVs from Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

Netflix buttons would provide one-click access to the built-in application, which the company hopes will increase usage of what has become an increasingly larger percentage of its business. The first enabled devices would appear in the spring, the company said.

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Smartphones and tablets may be the early buzz darlings of this year's Consumer Electronics Show, but no one should forget USB 3.0. This afternoon, Samsung reminded me in a press release about new USB 3.0 drives it's popping this week.

Three drive lines -- two of which are portable -- will be available. Portable drive colors: Onyx black, Sapphire blue and Coral pink, with capacities up to 1TB. The new desktop drive comes in 1, 1.5 and 2TB capacities.

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Forrester Research claims that one in three Americans will own a tablet PC -- that's 82 million of us -- by 2015. No wonder "Tablets look to steal the show at CES and beyond," as my colleague Ed Oswald asserted yesterday. It's no coincidence that Forrester released its tablet forecast less than two days before the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show starts.

Already, the tablet noise is growing, with Microsoft rumored to be showing off Windows-powered tablets during CEO Steve Ballmer's June 5th opening keynote. Then there are the Android rumors, such as the HTC Scribe running Honeycomb (Android 3.0).

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Reports indicate that Microsoft is prepared to show off a connected television solution of its own, and will demo a TV set top box this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device will be similar to those already offered by competitors Apple and Google.

The Seattle Times reports that the device will come in at a price point below $200, and is expected to go on sale later in the year. In the simplest terms, it is an effort by Microsoft to bring its Windows Media Center concept to the masses.

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Let the march to Android 2.3 begin, with (gasp) more smartphones running version 2.2. You've got to love this one-step-behind (sometimes two) innovation that defines Android. My Google-branded Nexus S runs Gingerbread (aka Android 2.3), and it's the only phone that officially does. The carrier and OEM channels move much slower than does Google operating system development. I kind of understand the slow upgrading of existing handsets, but most everything new shouldn't run something old. Hehe, "these aren't the Droids you're looking for." Today's 2.2 star: the HTC EVO Shift 4G from Sprint, available on January 9 for a cool $149.99 (with two-year contract and after $100 mail-in rebate). Update: After I posted, Best Buy announced presale availability of January 6.

By the specs, Sprint's new smartphone impresses (except, perhaps the processor): 800MHz Qualcomm processor (MSM7630); 3.6-inch capacitive touchscreen (with 800 x 480 resolution), slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 720p video capture, FM radio and all the other expected stuff, like GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. Too bad that the EVO Shift 4G is but another new Android phone running an old OS version.

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I sure don't. Otherwise I would have joined the cacophony writing about Apple's market capitalization milestone yesterday. I see the $300 billion valuation as another excuse for pageview-obsessed bloggers and journalists and hype-seeking Wall Street analysts and investors to write even more about Apple. It's great news for driving the share price higher.

From one perspective, Apple's valuation achievement is so impressive it shouldn't be ignored. Following the Sept. 29, 2008 stock market collapse, Apple's valuation plummeted. Apple's market cap was a mere $88.68 billion on Oct. 2, 2008, down by nearly half from a month earlier. Apple's stock price comeback is nothing short of miraculous over the past two years. In late May, Apple's market capitalization topped Microsoft.

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