I’m writing this on a plane heading from Philadelphia to Las Vegas, where I’ll be spending the week with 150,000 of my closest friends at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. This year’s event will surely have its share of gee-whiz products with features to wow. After eight years of covering CES, I’m expecting — hoping, really — for more of something else in this ninth edition. Ideally, this year’s CES will set up 2014 for Consumer Electronics Simplicty.

We’ve been in the midst of a “simple” revolution, whether you’ve noticed it or not. People are relying less on traditional computers and more on computing appliances.

Think of what the current smartphone era has brought: More powerful pocketable devices that are by and large far easier to use than the previous generation. The same applies to tablets. I’ve never seen an infant pick up quickly on how to use a desktop…