The Consumer Electronics Show is undoubtedly the biggest tech event at the start of each new year. It usually offers the tech community a titillating precursor of things to follow later in the year. So what should one expect to see at this year’s event? Sadly for those of you already feeling inundated, CES 2011  is likely to be dominated by tablets.

According to Digitimes, Taiwanese vendors ECS, Asus, and MSI are all planning to showcase a wide range of tablets at CES. Apart from introducing a number of Windows 7- and Android-based slates, ECS will be showcasing new e-reader models featuring capacitive touch screens and support for Android and Linux. Its tablet lineup will be a mix of models built around Intel’s Atom processor and slates featuring ARM-based chips.

Asustek will be unveiling a 12-inch enterprise tablet running Windows 7. Rest of its lineup will be made up of a couple of 10-inchers and one 7-inch tablet. One of those 10-inchers is said to feature the Windows 7-Oak Trail combo, whereas the other is built around Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform and Android.

MSI will also be bringing a 10-inch Wintel-based tablet to the show floor. Also on display will be engineering samples of the company’s ARM-based Android tablets.

Cloud gaming startup OnLive has been vacillating on its monthly subscription fee from its very inception. While it initially set out to charge $14.95 per month for the streaming games service, it not only lowered the monthly fee to $4.95 just before launch, but also offered a free one year subscription to early adopters – those who signed up during the service's inaugural month. But the company seems to have finally found a solution to its pricing conundrum.

OnLive has permanently abolished the monthly subscription. According to Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive, this is what the startup always wanted but was waiting to for the right moment.

“Although we wish we could have confirmed no monthly fee from the get-go, pioneering a major new video game paradigm is hard: we had to first grow to a large base of regular users before we could understand usage patterns and operating cost,” Perlman wrote in a blog post.

“Now that we’ve reached that stage, we can confidently say a monthly fee is not needed, which deserves a double WOOT! WOOT!”

Japan's Brother Industries recently showcased a head-mounted transparent display, called  AiRScouter, which projects images directly onto the retina, conjuring up a rather “mysterious effect” – that of watching a display hanging in air about one meter in front of the eyes. The head-mounted display, based on the company's propriety Retinal Imaging Display (RID), made its maiden public appearance in 2008. However, it wasn't going to have a proper name until an year later when Brother unveiled a more advanced prototype.

"Firstly, we expect this display will be used in industrial applications. Using the AirScouter, it's possible to look at a manual or the like while working on site. The advantage of this is, it reduces the time lost in moving around. Also, a camera can be attached, so pictures of the work site can be sent to head office. This makes it possible to work in collaboration, while receiving instructions from experts in the office,” the company said in a release.

“Apart from industrial applications, this display could be used in AR technology, combining the real and virtual worlds. In the future, it'll be possible to connect a smartphone to the AiRScouter, so the display of the smartphone can be seen on the head-mounted display.”

Brother plans to begin shipping the AirScouter before the end of fiscal 2010.