More than four decades old, it?s an annual ritual for tens of thousands of people and companies. Every January, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas draws executives, exhibitors, analysts and media folk from around the world who want to get a glimpse of the latest in personal technology. This year would be made special as Apple, which had given a cold shoulder to the show, would be present with a large contingent. This would also be the year when Microsoft bids adieu to CES

Making a case for iPhone gamers

The electronics casemaker Speck has rolled out an iPhone cover that is supposedly kind to thumbs. The new CandyShell Grip is an iPhone case designed specially with gamers in mind, adding soft-finned grips so that Doodle Jump fiends and other game aficionados won?t suffer fatigue no matter how many levels they clear. The case is made of a glossy hard polycarbonate shell with a rubber lining to protect the phone from knocks. That same soft rubber is placed strategically where thumbs and fingers rest when hard at play. The raised fins allow ventilation in case the action is intense enough to moisten your grip. The case come in black, yellow, red and white and is available through Speck for $35.

Seagate Adapter boosts hard drives

Seagate introduced an accessory that will give some hard drives a major performance boost. The company?s GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter is a small station in which one can mount a hard drive and connect it to a computer with a Thunderbolt cable. When docked into the station, the faster Thunderbolt connection will increase hard-drive performance by two or three times compared to a FireWire 800 connection, according to Seagate. Developed by Intel and Apple, Thunderbolt was introduced in early 2011 and made its debut in some of Apple?s laptops. The Thunderbolt technology is theoretically 12 times faster than FireWire, according to Apple and Intel. The new adapter will come in two sizes at different prices. The GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt Adapter, priced at $190, supports 3.5-inch hard drives, and the standard GoFlex Adapter, priced at $100, supports 2.5-inch drives.

Comeback of the humble turntable

Amid all the flashing screens and high-tech gadgetry at the International Consumer Electronics Show, it?s a bit of a surprise to run across a small booth that is fronted by an antique Crosley automobile. The inventor Powel Crosley Jr also made radios. Now, decades later, a company that bought the rights to the Crosley name and sells radios, turntables and other retro electronics is benefitting from a resurgence of vinyl records. For the last three years or so, sales of turntables have been booming. At the Crosley booth, the company showed off turntables that are made to look like old radios, with a discreet compact disc player included. It also makes portable turntables that fit into small suitcases and retro turntables that wouldn?t be out of place at a garage sale, if they weren?t brand new. The turntables cost $79 to $399. Vinyl records must be purchased separately.

Larger, two-colour 3D printer

Three-dimensional printing is getting more sophisticated. Makerbot, a Brooklyn-based start-up that builds 3D printers for the consumer market, announced its latest offering, the MakerBot Replicator. The Replicator, a larger version of the company?s earlier 3D printers, can create 3D objects in two different colours. It is a little more expensive than previous models, $1,750 for a fully assembled version. In a video showing off the new 3D printer, Bre Pettis, the company?s co-founder, says the next generation MakerBot enables printing of objects about ?the size of a loaf of bread?.

Nvidia pushes into mobile processors

Chip maker Nvidia is making an aggressive push into the world of mobile processors. Its main weapon: The Android operating system. The company announced a $250 Asus touchscreen tablet powered by its brand-new Nvidia Tegra 3 processor at the Consumer Electronics

Show. The device has a 7-inch screen, similar to the one on Amazon?s $200 Kindle Fire tablet. Only a few Android smartphones include Nvidia chips, but 70% of Android tablets are run by the company?s Tegra processors.