While 
music streaming service Spotify commands the spotlight for its growth over the years, a giant looms in its shadow: Sony.
As Sony rebrands its online offerings, Sony Network Entertainment could prove an important platform for delivering music to consumers through a host of devices.
Valve, 
the creators and caretakers of the incredibly successful PC game distribution service Steam, has been hinting around its plans to move into the living room for more than a year. Apparently, the company has finally put its money where its mouth is.
Valve has invested in the fledgling hardware company Xi3, the maker of small desktop PCs, to create a mini gaming PC.
Qualcomm 
brought the stars out at its first pre-CES keynote speech.
CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs is only the third person to kick off the show (Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have done it every other year). And, perhaps realizing the pressure, he opted to punch up his discussion of the mobile generation with appearances by over a half dozen celebrities from the movie, music, sports and political worlds.
With 
high-definition flat screens now firmly entrenched in living rooms and bedrooms around the globe, the world’s television manufacturers are already looking for the next big thing.
3D, so far, hasn’t really engaged consumers. Oled sets have been stuck in neutral for a few years and recent reports indicate there have manufacturing problems for Amoled TV screens. The same reports say LG and Samsung are shifting their focus from Amoled to 4K LED, but 4K is just making its debut. Will any of those technologies be the game changer the industry wants? What else can we expect to see in the coming years?
Paramount 
Pictures is going mobile as it ramps up promotion on “Star Trek Into Darkness.”
The studio is teaming with Qualcomm to launch an app at the end of January that will let fans unlock nuggets of information about the film in the months leading up to its May 17 release, with the first info drop occurring during the Super Bowl.
Qualcomm 
CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs faced a big challenge when he accepted the opening keynote position at CES this year. To date, only two people had taken the stage — Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
So Jacobs brought an eclectic group of bold-faced names to help him out, including Big Bird, helmer Guillermo del Toro, “Star Trek Into Darkness'” Alice Eve, NASCAR champ Brad Keselowski, Maroon 5, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a move meant to serve as a ceremonial passing of the torch.
While 
Nvidia has been an important player in the video game industry for years, it has never been a direct competitor to console manufacturers.
That’s about to change.
While 
the remote control is certainly a big step up from the days of manually changing the channel, the technology is starting to feel a bit dated.
Today’s televisions are like patients in a hospital, hooked up to several devices feeding them content, each with its own remote, which can get confusing real fast. Universal remotes can only do so much — and some people find them too complicated to program.
The 
transition of videogame consoles into something more than just game machines started in 2000. Sony, in one of its most prescient moves, included a DVD player in the PlayStation 2 — at a time when the technology was still relatively new and expensive. And consumers couldn’t buy the system fast enough.
The speed of consoles’ evolution has increased dramatically in this generation, and the dawn (and explosion) of streaming media has been a large part of that. As Nintendo launches its next generation system — and Microsoft and Sony prepare for theirs, non-gaming elements are shaping up to be a critical part of the landscape.
Sharp 
is doubling down on giant TVs in 2013, and plans to enhance them for the second screen.
The manufacturer announced its 2013 lineup with 22 models that were 60-inches or larger at its press conference at the International CES, in Las Vegas on Monday.
Chris Morris: Journalist 