AS 130,000 gadget enthusiasts gather in Las Vegas today to decide the future of technology, they face an unexpected question: is the gadget itself becoming obsolete?

With high-speed internet connections now the norm in many First World households, the focus of the Consumer Electronics Show — which previously introduced consumers to the video recorder (1970), the CD player (1981) and the Xbox (2001) — has suddenly shifted towards the ways in which television shows, movies and songs are delivered to mobile phones, car stereos and living rooms.

This year’s CES is more about politics, software and technology standards than shiny new boxes. Most surprising is the involvement of “old media” power players such as the Motion Picture Association of America, which, until recently, regarded such technology gatherings as the enemy.

“Something happened with the show this year,” joked Gary Shapiro, president of the US Consumer Electronics Association, the host of the event, as he welcomed visitors to the world’s biggest geekfest. “Hell has frozen over.”

At this year’s show Google and Yahoo — which began as internet directories — will make aggressive efforts to become the television networks of the 21st century. Terry Semel, Yahoo’s chief executive, and the former head of Warner Bros studio, Hollywood, told USA Today: “Anything on Yahoo can move to a TV set.”

Such ambition is likely to cause violent power shifts in the media industry and result in plenty of deal-brokering on Wall Street during 2006.

Apple has pioneered the sale of music videos and television shows over the internet with its iTunes service, which can be hooked up to video-capable iPods. Others are now trying to catch up. Apple is virtually ignoring this year’s CES, choosing to hold its own technology jamboree, Macworld, in San Francisco next week.

The so-called “convergence” of computers and media has been talked about for years, but wireless devices and high-speed networks have finally made it a reality. Products on display at CES include the Sonos ZonePlayer ($349 — £197), which allows music from a PC to be beamed into any room in the house without the need for wiring.

With US sales of MP3 music players expected to reach $4.4 billion this year, up from only $100 million in 2001, no one doubts that downloading is the way that most media will be delivered in the future.

For many industries, the shift is traumatic. Television networks are still reeling from the introduction of the Tivo digital video recording service, which lets viewers record shows automatically and skip the advertisements. They are also having to deal with an invention called the Slingbox, on display at CES, which sits on a TV set and beams programmes to a computer or a mobile phone anywhere in the world.

Online distribution threatens to bypass television networks altogether. The same goes for cinema chains, which in 2005 suffered their worst decline in 20 years. Starz Entertainment Group used CES to launch an online movie downloading service, Vongo, which is backed by Microsoft and Sony. For $9.99 per month, subscribers will have unlimited access to more than 1,000 films on a laptop or a portable media player.

The race to deliver television and films over the internet also managed to overshadow such traditional technology topics as Microsoft’s new operating system (Windows Vista), or the backroom brawling at CES over the format of next-generation DVDs.

But the impact of 2006 CES is likely to be more profound than the “cool factor” of flat-screen HD television on show. As Mr Shapiro, said: “To me, it is more than a show. It is a Mecca, a vision, a holy grail for all those who have dreams for a better world that technology can provide.”

WINDOW ON THE FUTURE

Fuel-cell laptop
Powered by a fuel cell instead of a chemical battery. Panasonic says 6¾oz of methanol will power this computer for 20 hours. The hardware providing the power is slightly bigger than a typical laptop battery pack, and fuel cells will be sold separately

Tarantula keyboard
A gleaming keyboard for computer game fans from the Razer company. It allows more than three keys to be pressed at the same time for characters to perform simultaneous actions in games. Its keys can be removed and customised.

Samsung ZX20
A mobile phone whose internet speed is faster than most broadband connections, it has an MP3 player and 1.3 megapixel camera with video recording capability. It has instant messaging and can use stream audio and video files from the internet

Video MP3 player
The Creative Zen:M has a 2½in square screen that displays 262,144 colours. The video iPod is capable of displaying about 65,000. It has a voice recorder and allows subscription music. You can view photos while listening to music on this acid-green gadget

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