In The New York Times today, David Carr writes of a different CES than what has generally been reported during the recent week. Carr describes an event that is no longer just about new tech, gadgets and services, but is growing into a major meeting place for deal-making between Hollywood, Madison Avenue, the tech community, and additional industries — an event that has become “a kind of Woodstock for marketers, brands, agencies and media companies.” According to Michael Kassan, founder of MediaLink: “There’s been a mash-up between chief technology officers and chief marketing officers as what they do becomes more interrelated. Now it has taken off, and it’s the place where Google talks with Unilever and Facebook gets together with Kraft.” (Thanks to community member Lee Lanselle for bringing this interesting article to our attention.)

A well-funded startup called Gogoro unveiled its electric Smartscooter at CES. The company plans to introduce the e-scooter and its battery stations to urban areas (according to the UN, the number of mega-cities with more than 10 million residents nearly tripled from 1990 to 2014). “The Smartscooter runs on two lithium-ion battery packs that the driver can easily retrieve from under the seat,” explains Smithsonian. “The impressive plan calls for battery charging and swapping stations the size of ATMs that allow drivers to replace in seconds a depleted battery with a charged one.” Co-founder and CEO Horace Luke, former chief innovation officer at HTC, has raised $50M in venture capital from Taiwanese investors and is working on raising a $100 million round. The goal is to provide city transportation that is convenient, clean and cost effective.

“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.

Sony went all in on 4K this year, with compelling ways to watch and create UHD content. Its 55- and 65-inch XBR-X900C is its thinnest LCD TV to date with a unique design that makes it appear as if it is floating. To provide some context, the X900C has a miniscule depth of 7.1mm, which is thinner than LG’s 55-inch OLED TV — in fact, it’s thinner than the iPhone 6 (check it out via videos from Digital Trends and CNET). Sony also introduced some affordable 4K camcorders, scheduled for February availability, including the $500 FDR-X100V 4K Action Cam, a GoPro rival that shoots Ultra HD video at 30fps, 1080p at 120fps or 720p at 240fps. “Bigger — but not by much — is the new HDR-AX33 Handycam, which is the smallest handheld 4K camcorder Sony has released to date,” reports Wired. The $1,100 camera “shoots 3,840 x 2160 XAVC S video at 30p and 24p, and it has built-in Wi-Fi that enables it to live-stream footage to Ustream.”

While we have yet to see the killer VR product (or content/experience) that could help spark consumer interest, a number of devices demonstrated at CES are getting strong reviews. We already reported that Razer unveiled its own open source headset, which is tied to the new OSVR Consortium that plans to offer a new test bed for VR developers. Another headset that has been generating a lot of press is the Crescent Bay version of the Oculus Rift, which the company says is the closest it has come to a consumer-ready version. “It was impossible not to shift around to avoid debris thrown by explosions, and virtual bullets whizzing past,” explains TechCrunch. “The new immersive audio tech definitely helps with a sense of immersion, too, and changing the angle and orientation of your head really does change the soundscape in pretty much exactly the way you’d expect.”

3D Printing may have taken a back seat at this year’s CES to the Internet of Things, compelling TV news and a dizzying array of wearables, but the technology still had a strong presence of 50+ companies at the Sands Expo. The 2015 gathering saw more diverse and affordable printers, faster and more precise capabilities, a push into 3D-printed attire, 3D printing with paper and food, design applications for those who don’t want to learn CAD, and perhaps most interestingly, a new era of filaments with a shift from plastics to include wood, metal composite and carbon fiber options. CNET has posted a slideshow with details regarding a few dozen of the more interesting products – ranging in cost from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

In addition to a flood of UHD TVs on the CES show floor this week, and some noteworthy announcements regarding streaming content, physical media fans also have some interesting news. “The Blu-ray Disc Association has confirmed the name of its 4K format (Ultra HD Blu-ray) and many of its capabilities,” reports Engadget, “while the Secure Content Storage Association has its own demo for Ultra HD movies you can download and transfer (almost) at will, with backing from Fox, Warner Bros., Samsung and others.” Panasonic demonstrated its prototype Ultra HD Blu-ray player (we could see discs by the end of this year). And like the BDA, SCSA says its finalized spec is “coming soon.” When it’s ready, the spec will be used by Samsung and M-Go to launch a 4K movie download service.

Energous claims to have a solution to the often imperfect practice of wirelessly charging our mobile devices. The company’s WattUp technology — winner of this year’s Best Innovation from Engadget’s Best of CES — can charge up to 12 gadgets at once within a radius of 15 feet (the closer your device is to the $300 transmitter, the faster the charge). According to The Verge, “Energous’ vision is that your phone, wearables, and other devices will slowly charge throughout the day, preventing you from ever having to actually plug it in or worry about power level.” The tech may one day appear in smartphones and wireless speakers, but in the short term you’ll need to place your phone in a WattUp battery pack.

U.S. consumers may be ready for the connected cars prevalent at CES this week. According to a Harris Poll for AutoTrader.com, a majority of drivers would pay up to $1,499 to have new entertainment and safety features in their vehicles. “Back-up cameras, USB ports and smartphone charging are among the top desires,” reports Bloomberg. “About 55 percent said music streaming services such as those of Pandora Media and Spotify make driving more enjoyable.” At CES, vendors demonstrated self-driving cars, curved touch screens, connection with phones and smartwatches, and more. Accenture says in-vehicle tech is now the top selling point for 39 percent of buyers, while a mere 14 percent are most concerned about horsepower and handling.

A joint research study by NATPE/Content First and CEA indicates that millennials now place more value on Netflix than broadcast and cable TV subscriptions. The findings were presented yesterday at CES. “The biggest takeaway was just how important streaming has become to how millennials, the generation defined as people ages 13 to 34, consume TV content,” notes The Hollywood Reporter. “According to the study, 51 percent of millennials consider Netflix subscriptions very valuable, compared to 42 percent for broadcast channels and 36 percent for cable subscriptions. Young people are also more likely to stream a full-length TV program than watch it live on TV during its original air time or time-delayed on a DVR.”

Speaking at the Variety Entertainment Summit during CES, CBS Interactive President & CEO Jim Lanzone announced that the network’s All Access Internet TV service is a hit with super-fans, and subscribers who pay $5.99 per month are watching twice as much content as regular broadcast viewers. While he did not reveal the number of subscribers, “Lanzone noted that about 10 million U.S. households have broadband but do not pay for cable or satellite TV,” reports Variety. “Lanzone said CBS All Access has been a ‘Rorschach test’ of where industry executives believe television is going. But he maintained that all along, the broadcaster’s goal with the over-the-top service was simply to cater to an audience that wanted to access more of the Eye’s programming, on more devices.”

Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Mercedes parent company Daimler AG, unveiled the F 015 concept luxury vehicle earlier this week at CES. “The front seats can swivel to the rear as the steering wheel recedes into the instrument panel and the car takes control,” Bloomberg explains. “Sculpted open-pore walnut wood veneers and ice-white leather add to the chill-out ambiance of the interior, while six screens allow passengers to interact with the machine via touch, hand gestures and eye-tracking.” The so-called Luxury in Motion prototype, which Zetsche describes as “a mobile living space,” is part of an effort by upscale manufacturers to compete with Google’s push into self-piloted vehicles. At CES, Audi showcased an autonomous A7, which arrived in Las Vegas after a 560-mile journey.

It was a big year for television at the 2015 CES, with buzzwords such as 4K, HDR, OLED, contrast, color space and curved screens filling the air in Las Vegas. Another hot topic was quantum dots — tiny crystals designed to enhance color and efficiency. Manufacturers including Samsung, LG and TCL are following Sony’s lead in introducing the technology.“Quantum dots promise to solve a very fundamental problem with modern LCD TVs, which is that the range of colors on LED-backlit sets are simply not as good as the ones on plasma and OLED TVs,” reports The Verge. “The allure of quantum dots is that they can be added as a layer on top of an LCD TV’s LED backlight to fine tune the light that makes it through. That can dramatically improve the color gamut, and do it at about a third of the cost of producing OLED displays.”

Gaming tech company Razer unveiled the Android-based gaming console it first announced during Google I/O last year. The $100 Razer Forge TV, due out in Q1, is a 4×4-inch micro-console designed to serve “as a platform for hardcore PC gaming, for Android gaming, and for Android-based entertainment services via Google Play,” according to TechCrunch. “The Forge TV will run on Razer’s Cortex: Stream (out in spring 2015) and focuses on low-latency and HD resolution, which the company says will help the device cut down on some of the lags and other hiccups that have plagued other streaming services.” The console features quad-core processing, a high-end graphics engine, wireless and network connectivity, and 16GB of internal storage.

CES week has yet to wrap up, but the “Best of” lists are already starting to appear online. We’ll provide some highlights from CNET and others to accompany our upcoming reports. In the meanwhile, you may be interested in a few from Engadget: AmpStrip (best startup), Sling TV (home theater), Energous WattUp (best innovation), Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet (mobile device), LG Art Slim 4K OLED (TV), Razer Forge TV (gaming), Lenovo LaVie HZ550 (PC), AirDog (drone). And from Digital Trends: Dish Sling TV app (best of show), LG EF9500 Flat 4K OLED TV (home video), LG G Flex 2 (mobile), Jins Meme smart glasses (wearable), Dell XPS 13 notebook (computing), Panasonic HC-WX970 prosumer camcorder (photography), Audi Tablet (automotive).