Tomorrow's Tech on Display Today at CEATEC (Pictures)

Japan's annual gadget-fest, the CEATEC show, is always a hotbed of the futuristic and the prosaic. Some of the technologies wind up on the cutting room floor but some ultimately winds up in living rooms across the globe.

While the show reliably draws crowds of geeks from across the world, CEATEC is more than just a pavilion for cool tech toys. The show has earned a reputation for offering a glimpse into technology innovations that are likely to find mainstream application in the not-too-distant future.

And this year the early buzz talk surrounded a 3D TV from Toshiba that requires no 3D glasses. Not to be outdone, however, Sharp demonstrated prototype no-glasses-necessary 3D displays that were even smaller than Toshiba's TVs. But that was only part of the story. Our sister site CNET has reporters on the ground to cover the conference this week and you can find their updates here. Also, make sure to check out our accompanying photo gallery to get a taste of what's on display. It's likely that some of this stuff is going to wind up at your local consumer electronics store before long.