technology • Gadgets revealed at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas flop more often than they pop. This year's show, however, delivered many products that are bound to make a difference for years to come. Here are the can't miss developments from the show, which ended Sunday:

Tablets.

Touch-screen tablet computers crowded the show, as brand names large and small showed off a slew of devices meant to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad.

From a hardware standpoint, companies touted features that the iPad doesn't yet have, such as front- and rear-facing cameras for video chatting and taking high-definition videos and the ability to operate over wireless carriers' new and forthcoming high-speed networks.

As for software, the upcoming Honeycomb version of Google's Android software seemed a popular choice. Many of the tablets unveiled will run Honeycomb, which is more geared toward tablets than current versions of Android. Some tablets shown will run Windows 7 PC software. And the business-focused 4G PlayBook, which comes from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Inc., runs RIM's own software.

Verizon's first consumer 4G devices.

Verizon Wireless lit up its 4G network in December, with limited coverage but unsurpassed data speeds. The network uses fresh, uncrowded spectrum and is designed from the ground up to carry data, resulting in connections that in many cases beat the speed of DSL lines and cable modems. (In the long run, with more people on the network, Verizon expects download speeds to average 5 to 12 megabits per second, comparable to cable modems.)

For now, only laptop modems can take advantage of it, but at the show, Verizon showed off smart phones from Motorola, LG Electronics and Samsung set to arrive in the first half of the year, along with two tablets.

AT&T is building its own 4G network, and plans to have it up and running this summer.

Windows running on cell phone chips.

The computers looked half-finished, with exposed components, and ran what looked like plain vanilla Windows 7. Under the hood, though, these computers had components that signal a seismic shift for Microsoft and the PC industry.

Instead of running on processors from Intel Corp. or Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the mainstays of Windows PCs for three decades, these computers were running on cell-phone-style chips based on designs from ARM Holdings PLC.

That could mean laptops and tablets with longer battery lives, and give Windows a better chance of gaining a foothold in the emerging world of tablet computers.

Apple Inc.'s hit iPad tablet runs on an ARM-based chip, which is part of the reason it can last 10 hours on one charge.

Intel and AMD strike back.

Intel and AMD, whose processors are the "brains" of PCs, unveiled new chips with significant design changes, in part to help them hold off threats from tablets and smart phones. The idea is to make traditional, low-cost computers more competitive with mobile devices.

The new designs promise to make computers better at doing graphics-intensive tasks and playing video.

An added benefit is longer battery life.

3-D TVs with cinema glasses.

Last year's big new thing in TVs, 3-D, didn't catch on as manufacturers had hoped. One problem might be the bulky, expensive, battery-powered glasses the sets need.

This year, LG Electronics Inc. is trying a different take on 3-D, with light, inexpensive glasses of the kind used in movie theaters.

In LG's and Vizio's version, the resolution is halved, but not everyone will notice.

Free TV on the go.

TV broadcasters are adding signals to their towers that are designed to be picked up by portable gadgets such as TVs, laptops and cell phones.

It's unclear how interested the public will be in this technology. An earlier attempt at broadcasting subscription-based TV signals to gadgets failed for lack of interest. But gadget makers are forging ahead, providing consumers with an array of "Mobile DTV" gadgets this year. They range from portable TV sets to plug-in antennas for the iPad.

High-speed color printing.

It's not often that a new printing technology comes along. A startup called Memjet promises a twist on inkjet printing. The technology allows a desktop printer to spit out one page per second in color, at low cost.

Instead of having a print head that moves back and forth across the page, it has a head that's stationary and spans the whole page.

By Rachel Metz and Peter Svensson, The Associated Press