Today marks the official start to the 2010 Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas where all of the biggest electronics manufacturers show off their coolest and newest products. While CES is mainly a gadget show, entrepreneurs looking for the next big thing should pay close attention to the innovative ideas being pushed into the consumer market. The big show is just getting underway, but we are already seeing some trends emerge that could point to new opportunities for startups in 2010. Sponsor Televisions On everyone's CES prediction list this year are new TV technologies, including 3D viewing and the apparent rebirth of Web TV . Recently, various set-top boxes have brought web apps into our living rooms, including the Roku player , and BluRay players with Netflix , YouTube and Pandora integration. As we reported earlier this week, Skype has partnered with LG and Panasonic to integrate their service with new Internet-connected HDTVs. In addition, Internet media aggregator Boxee is marketing their brand new Boxee Box set-top device, and Yahoo! announced plans today to expand its presence in the living room. As more media and applications migrate onto televisions, startups will have the opportunity to find new niches and provided services on these new products. Automobiles Another trend is the implementation of new technologies into automobiles, and as we mentioned yesterday , Ford's new MyFord Touch is leading the way. By placing LCD touch screens in the dashboard and turning the car into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, Ford is opening doors for new platforms in the automobile. Current companies are already taking advantage of the the growing auto-tech industry. Streaming music service Pandora recently announced a partnership with Pioneer to bring Internet radio to your dashboard - albeit for a hefty $1,200 price tag. When the day comes that everyone has a connected car that can sync and share data, startups will be needed for services that organize and make use of these new forms of information. Augmented Reality And finally, while we may not see a plethora of new gadgets in this space at CES, augmented reality looks to make a huge splash in the consumer electronics market in 2010. Right now, most AR experiences are on cell phones or desktop computers, but fans of augmented reality expect to see some Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) or new transparent LCD screens in the near future. The potential for augmented reality has been flying under the radar for years, and only in recent days have improvements in technology allowed for it to begin to flourish. AR is a quickly expanding field with many opportunities for innovation, and is a field in which startups could quickly find a foothold. Discuss

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TVs, Cars, AR - Oh My! Hot Tech Trends For Entrepreneurs At CES

Chad Hurley and Loic Le Meur just talked about the past and future of YouTube at LeWeb . According to Hurley, YouTube 's users now upload over 24 hours of content per minute. Hurley refused to talk about YouTube's revenue, though he did mention that revenue at YouTube is up and the cost of operating the site are down. Hurley acknowledged that the mobile site is currently growing faster than the regular website. YouTube also plans to provide more live programming on the site with the help of its partners. Sponsor The ratio between creators and viewers on YouTube is very heavily skewed towards viewers. The number of creators doesn't make up more than just a few percent of all of YouTube's users. Challenges: Better Search and Discoverability According to Hurley, one of the biggest challenges for YouTube is to make videos more discoverable. YouTube needs to develop a better search experience, but the team is also thinking about recommendation technologies and adding more social networking features. Currently YouTube leverages social services like Twitter and Facebook, but isn't much of a social service itself. Hurley hopes that YouTube will be the place where users consumer videos, but isn't necessarily interested in turning YouTube into a full-blown social destination. Moderator Loic Le Meur asked Hurley how YouTube manages to filter content on the site and how the team decides what to take down. Hurley mostly sidestepped this question, though he did mention YouTube's technology for finding copyrighted material. Handful of Users Make more than $1 Million per Year Hurley noted that a handful of users on the site make more than $1 million per year from their videos on YouTube. The company wants to create more opportunities for publishers on the service, though Hurley didn't go into details. YouTube in the Living Room Asked about YouTube on TV and in the living room, Hurley said that his vision is basically a "box, an Internet connection and pizza." He did note, though, that all TV will move towards an on-demand model. Image credit : @scobleizer and thanks to DutchCowGirls for letting us use the visualization of Hurley's argument. Discuss

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Chad Hurley: YouTube Needs to Improve Search - More Live Programming Coming Soon