No stars, but there's booming fun in the auto hall

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2007 | by Kevin Maney

LAS VEGAS -- Hey, what happened to the celebrities? The rock concerts? The parties that rivaled Roman bacchanals, right down to the waitresses in togas? I'm here at the Consumer Electronics Show, and it seems so much more sober this time. Last year by now I'd spotted Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes touring the aisles and had bounced between Motorola's party with the Foo Fighters and Intel's with the Black Eyed Peas.

Microsoft pulled Justin Timberlake on stage and Intel -- wonky old Intel -- had Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman. Oh, and I glimpsed Weird Al in the auto tech hall. But there's been nothing like that so far. Wonder if it's an economic indicator. I ask Motorola CEO Ed Zander. He says he had a big party lined up and canceled it in October. Analysts say Motorola is going to...