ABC News -- The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a technology nerd's playground -- and this year it was bigger than ever.

There were more than 3,600 exhibitors spread across 2.47 million-square-feet this year. The Consumer Technology Association, which hosts the annual trade show, said the show brought more than 170,000 people to Las Vegas.

Show participants are given a glimpse into the future and new technology stars are born at CES. Here were the biggest takeaways from this year's show.

Virtual Reality Is Here to Stay

There's no doubt 2016 is the year virtual reality begins to go mainstream. Jaunt, NextVR and Oculus all grabbed headlines last week for their VR cameras -- and in the case of Oculus -- its $600 consumer headset. Luna 360, a consumer-friendly camera about the size of a pool ball, made its debut at the show ahead of a planned release later this year.

"This year is really the first year consumers have access to this," DJ Roller, founder of NExtVR, told ABC News last week. "Virtual reality is a whole other medium, as different as radio was to television."

Smarter Drones and Autonomous Vehicles

Intel showed off a fleet of drones that use the company's RealSense technology, which enables them to map an environment in real-time and react to it. Intel included the technology in Segway's Advanced Personal Robots. A race car driving experience using RealSense showed movements on the screen.

Chipmaker NVIDIA showed off another super-powered computer called the Drive PX2, which is designed to be the brain inside of self-driving cars. The car is about the size of a lunch box, the computer can process 8 teraflops, which by comparison, the company said is the equivalent strength of 150 MacBook Pro computers.

"When it comes to drones and autonomous vehicles, you are finally seeing solutions out there that aren’t perfect but are solving the biggest issues that are out there without needing a supercomputer. To make something autonomous it needs to be able to see, perceive and act," Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told ABC News.

Read the rest of the story here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ces-2016-biggest-takeaways-future-tech/story?id=36216616

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Jackless-Headphone Solutions, SKAA Wireless Audio

Receivers and Transmitters, and More Will Be Featured During the Jan. 5-8 Event in Las Vegas

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada, 1-7-2017 – Eleven Engineering has announced that it will feature numerous live SKAA® Wireless Audio demos during its annual Product Showcase, held in Las Vegas, Nev. from Jan. 5-8 at The Venetian (suite # TBD). Eleven Engineering will have its full complement of sales, marketing, and engineering teams present during the show and plans to unveil a few new product surprises for those who visit its suite.

“We will conduct live demos for the Strawberry 3 Amplified SKAA® Wireless Audio Receiver Module, as well as our Diz, Talisa and Akiko transmitters,” explained John Sobota, Eleven Engineering CEO and director. “We will also feature our full line of SKAA transmitters, receivers, and accessories during the showcase. SKAA is highly flexible as it is also compatible with any brand, any product, anytime, anywhere, with rock solid reliability, great range, and CD-quality sound.”

According to the company, SKAA is easy to use, all compatible products are ready to play right out of the box with no pairing required. “To show this impressive flexibility, we will also host numerous partner companies in our suite during the showcase, including Merus Audio,” said Sobota.

SKAA is the new wireless HiFi audio standard developed by Eleven Engineering, Inc. SKAA transmitters work with iOS & Android mobile devices, Mac & Windows computers, televisions, and just about any product with a line output or a headphone jack. SKAA is also available as a built-in technology not requiring an external transmitter in purpose-designed partner products, which are featured at SKAA.com. In environments laden with heavy Wi-Fi and Bluetooth traffic, SKAA navigates through these hostile environments with best-in-class reliability. SKAA also allows for uninterrupted audio signals that are delivered with the highest sound quality to all speakers without the latency that is inherent in other wireless solutions.

To address the recent news that Apple has unveiled the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with no 3.5 mm headphone jack, Eleven Engineering will also discuss its SKAA Diz solutions for quality-centric headphone brands during the showcase. Diz has been designed and engineered for those brands wishing to enter the market with wireless headphones that take advantage of Apple’s Lightning high-quality digital audio.

“This is why we created the SKAA Diz transmitter for Lightning,” explained Rex Whitehead, Eleven Engineering director of sales, North America. “Diz takes full advantage of Lightning’s high-quality audio and wirelessly transmits that pristine digital stream to speakers and headphones built to the SKAA standard. Products using Lightning require Apple’s MFi approval, but the already-proven Diz transmitter makes this process quick and painless.”

Brands wishing to ship wireless Lightning headphones can move to market very quickly by taking advantage of Eleven’s headphone reference designs and Eleven’s already-proven Diz transmitter.  Diz is designed to work with iPhones, iPods and iPads with a Lightning connector and running iOS 7 or later.  Diz is designed to transmit audio to all SKAA-compatible receivers, including speakers and headphones.

“Also, look for Diz-based products which let you enjoy your existing favorite headphones with your brand new iPhone 7, which are coming soon,” Whitehead added.

Rockford Fosgate has released a wide array of new products its annual Product Showcase, held at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Artist Ballroom) in Las Vegas, Nev. from Jan. 6-8, 2016. Products to be introduced at the showcase include the following:

- T1000X5ad (mobile) and TM1000X5ad (marine) 1000 watt, multi-channel, Class ad amplifiers

- The T750X1bd Power Series ultra-compact 750 Watt mono amplifier (MSRP: $799.99) for mobile applications, and the TM750X1bd (MSRP: $849.99) for moto-marine and powersports applications

- A new add-on tweeter system for 2016 Punch element-ready speakers, MSRP of $199.99

- PMX-8BB hideaway digital media receiver and companion PMX-8DH full function wired display head 

- PM2652W-MB Mini Wake Tower Cans with MSRP of $599.99

- Punch marine wake tower cans with 359 degree rotation with MSRP of $599.99

- 2016 Punch 6.5-inch element-ready coax speaker line with MSRP of $299.99

- Element ready lineup of digital media receivers, the ultra-compact PMX-0; MSRP of $149.99