First question for followers of VNU's CES show coverage:"Are we getting a little late in starting to ramp up coverage of the forthcoming show in January or are the organisers getting a little earlier with their marketing and promotion for the Las Vegas based, January show? "

As Europe swletered in summer heat this year, I remember seeing in July the odd email start to appear in my inbox about CES registration. I did think wow, its probably time to start posting, but then changed my mind as January seemed so far away.

My reasons for not posting probably stem from my deep seated hatred of seeing "back to school" advertising in the shops the first week of my summer holidays or seeing Xmas decorations starting to appear in September.

But the reason for starting preparations earlier and earlier for the show are probably justified as the show is rapidly becoming one of the most important shows of the IT calendar and the vendors pull out all the stops to get the punters through the doors.

One tactic the vendors use very well is to jet in the Hollywood A-list who are a mere hour's flight away.

Last year, Yahoo and Intel jetted in Tom Cruise  and Ellen for the show, while rivals Google hired in  Robin Williams. Sony, thought its interest in digital books would be helpful if Dan Brown said a few words, while Tom Hanks thought it might be a good idea to promote his then forthcoming film, the Da Vinci Code