The big story running on the wires and through the squawking heads today on TV is that this is the "year of the gimmick" according to CNet.

The sad part about that accusation by the online news giant is that they don't acknowledge that CES 2009 is in a Catch-22. Despite a distracted nation and a troubled economy , CES 2009 has managed to set a spark across our collective synapses and bring us touch screen technology in watches, PCs and  virtually everywhere else, new technology for the hearing and sight impaired--and  did we mention 3D TV(!). CES is being accused of the very thing that it needs this year: a gimmick.

Almost like the World's Fair(s) of old when man dared to dream and fail and look silly in the name of the next big thing, CES needs to clone that excitement every year, in my opinion, and take us all on a blindfolded, candy striped trip down the rabbit hole known as the internet and technology just to show us that the technology of tomorrow is always brighter, bolder-- and yes, more useful-- than today.

What gives CNet? Why all the hateration on CES?