CES 2012 Top Picks: Just the Best Gear, Gadgets, and Tech

Tech that shined at CES 2012 ranged from Ultrabooks, tablets, faster wireless technologies, and innovative gadgets that would make James Bond envious.

That's the verdict from PCWorld editors who spent a week wandering the 1.86 million square feet of the CES trade-show floor and attending offsite press events.

What you won't find in our Best of CES 2012 roundup is overhyped digital gear that fell flat. Nor were we snookered by the likes of Snooki of MTV's Jersey Shore fame (who was in Vegas to promote iHip's Bedazzled headphones). What we did find were genuine tech gems from companies as big as Microsoft to tiny firms you've never heard of.

Here is a collection of the the best of CES: The products, the themes, and some quirky meditations. Also check out our Worst of CES 2012 for an overview of what stunk this year.