Kodak recently sent me to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Of course, Kodak expense reports don't usually cover certain expenses.

"But Boss, I was doing Probability Research."

"What happens to your money in Vegas stays in Vegas." Oh well.

Whose idea was this show, anyway? It is so big that there is no way you can see everything. In fact, I think the main idea is to provide an opportunity for me to embarrass myself with my lack of knowledge about what was there.

"So, Randy, tell me about the fabulous Whatzit from Whosamajigger."

"Uh, uh, uh...I didn't actually get to the Whosamajigger booth."

"So remind me why we sent you there?"

"Probability Research?"

So as I walk the show, I realize I am getting a tan from all the photons leaping out of the huge flat-panel displays that seem to be in all the booths. Even so, I can't wait to be the first kid on my block to cover the window in my living room with my 120" HD screen. College education for the kids? Bah! I need to see American Idol with life-sized contestants. My surround sound will be the envy of all on my street, since they will be able to enjoy the subwoofer right through the walls of their houses. And I'll have all the content I could ever want pulsing through my media center, also known as a game box. When it's time to watch the big game, my remote will not only turn on my entertainment system, it will automatically close all the blinds, dim the lights, hold my calls, put the house in stealth mode and command my personal robot to bring me the beverage of my choice. System after system after system all hooked together, working in harmony and providing me with the high-technology-enabled worry-free existence I've always wanted. Just like Kodak's Founder, George Eastman, said back in 1888, "You press the button, we do the rest."

Or maybe not. Maybe I'll need that Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering I never got or that even bigger wallet I don't have to make all these things work together. And the real kicker? What if something goes wrong somewhere in all this interconnectedness? Is it a problem with the universal remote, or the media center, or the display, or is the robot not quite as trustworthy as its maker wants you to think?

Probability Research tells me that we still have some work to do.

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