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How big is big?

• Darren Waters
• 10 Jan 07, 03:37 PM

Coming to the Consumer Electronics Show for the first time and seeing the sheer scale of the event, I'm reminded of that line from Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.

To get a sense of the size of this event just replace the word "space" with "CES".

Buses ferry people from one end of the conference hall to the other and everywhere you go a swarm of humanity lugging their freebie bags, backpacks, leaflets, food, drink and USB memory sticks are with you.

Blogger Robert Scoble has filmed of himself rushing from one end of the event to the other.

It took him 13 minutes to complete the walk - and that's walking in a straight line.

A typical wander will usually throw up half a dozen pieces of technology you want to stop and play with in any given 200-metre area.

I'm told CES will begin to wind down on Wednesday and Thursday but we'll still be here.

I'm still keen to talk to some British technology firms about their experiences, rounding up some more cool gadgets and talking to people about their "best of" from this year's show.