“This year’s CES had the feel of a World’s Fair,” writes Molly Wood for The New York Times. “There were futuristic BMWs zipping around the streets surrounding the Las Vegas Convention Center, drones buzzing through the air inside and outside the convention center, and just about everywhere you looked a vision of roboticized homes that take perfect, synchronized care of their inhabitants. There was even 3D-printed food.” Wood describes an energy in the desert that has been lacking in recent years, but also offers a compelling look at how much of the tech generating buzz this past week is based on “big ideas” introduced much earlier. A home automation system was demonstrated in 1934, GM imagined an automated highway system in 1939, Morton Heilig patented the Sensorama immersive viewing system (with head-mounted display) in 1962. Wood provides some fascinating context regarding what it takes for innovation to eventually impact our lives.