• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 4, 2013

Hundreds of companies will share their wares at the Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 8, but a few trends and patterns have begun to emerge, such as brainwave technology that identifies intent before movement.

Qualcomm filled the opening keynote, taking Microsoft's place this year, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff will attend the show for the first time to deliver the Brand Matters keynote interview, a sign that mobile and cloud computing will play a major role.

Combining wireless with computing, Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor powers mobile devices supporting the ability to serve up content related to sports, entertainment and education and help developers create new technologies and connect devices.

Paul Jacobs, CEO at Qualcomm, will talk about the future of smartphones and demand for data during the keynote. Smartphones become even smarter when connected to televisions and car entertainment systems that send and receive content through the cloud.

Today, consumers use apps, but those will transform into intelligent agents that use signals to push information, based on location, preferences, calendar events and searches on engines across networks. Consumers will share content across screens and operating systems.

Another prediction: eye tracking will become a consumer technology and sensors will begin capturing intent prior to movement, going beyond features in gadgets like Microsoft Kinect. IBM exec Kevin Brown predicted brainwave technology would become beneficial within five years.

This year, Ariel Garten, Trevor Colemen and Chris Aimone -- co-founders of InteraXon and innovators of Muse -- will demonstrate at CES the potential of brainwave-sensing technology related to improving brain health, ADD/ADHD, entertainment, stress management, fitness training, gaming and studying aids.

More than 1.9 million square feet of exhibitor space will bring significant innovation, from 3D screens that don't require glasses, to self-driving cars from Toyota and Audi. Google has been working on driverless cars. Now big automakers are getting serious, too. A video shows a Lexus LS, complete with driverless technology.

"Brain Radar photo from Shutterstock"