I'm in Las Vegas right now, because tomorrow I'm hosting the i-stage event at the Consumer Electronics Association's Industry Forum event. By "hosting," I mean that I am sort of the Ryan Seacrest of the event: Kevin Kelly of Wired, Jeff Pulver, and Ryan Block are the judges. It's a pretty interesting and cool-sounding contest, actually: It deals with software, hardware, and services, and the winner gets $50,000 and a free booth at CES. And while the organizers assure me they've got a really big check for the winner, I think it might be the free publicity (and preshow publicity) at CES that's the really big draw.

The finalists haven't been much-publicized, but from what I gather, they include everything from a price-comparison engine to a glove that can control your car doors. It should be pretty cool. Kara Tsuboi is covering it for CNET TV, so look for video of the finalists late Monday or the next day. The event goes on all day, with voting in the evening, and I'll try to blog as much as I can during breaks. You can also follow me on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

I've discovered over the past week that Vegas has an awesome food scene I never knew about, and it is delicious. Now, before I hit you with my recommendations, let me be clear: There's no shortage of food in Vegas. The parties serve all the free egg rolls, chocolate fountains, cheese and crackers, and mini hamburgers you could ever want. There are hotel buffets, there are the hundreds of high-end gourmet restaurants that have been cropping up all over Vegas in the past few years, and there are hamburger joints galore, and every night in our hotel (across the street from the Convention Center), an intrepid army of people sneak around shoving pizza delivery fliers into the door jambs.

But you know what? You can only eat so many hamburgers, egg rolls, and slices of greasy pizza before you're desperate for a little variety. So my friends and I went hunting, and we turned up a little-known treasure trove of ethnic food. Over the past three nights, I've had Korean takeout, Ethiopian takeout, and Greek delivery. And all three of them were absolutely delicious! So, for current and future Las Vegas convention-goers, here's my must-dine list.

Kimchi Korean BBQ
Highlights: the pork bulgogi and the duk gook, but look out when you're ordering crab dishes. Ordering the takeout over the phone is slightly challenging, and from what I could understand, they don't make all the same dishes every night. The crab dish I wanted wasn't available and I somehow ended up ordering "spicy crab," which turned out to be a big pile of little tiny raw crabs in a very spicy sauce. (We have kitchens in our hotel rooms, so we just sauteed them up and sucked the meat out.) Downside: They don't deliver, but they're right off Convention Center Drive in the little plaza with the awesome sign that says, "Sports World Kimchi." That's them.

Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant and Market
This place was yummy, although the ordering over the phone is, again, a slight challenge (these dish names are even harder to pronounce than Kimchi BBQ's), but a language barrier is also the mark of delicious authenticity. We had the Sambusa (vegetarian), Yebeg Alicha (lamb stew), Yetsom Migb (vegetarian combo, which is outstanding), and Firfir (beef and injera). Note that there's really no need to order extra injera, which we made the mistake of doing, and the above order was more than enough for four people. Also, there's no honey wine on the menu, but if you ask, you can add it to your takeout order (and yes, you should).

CES standout: Stephanos' shrimp kebab

Oh, and did I mention that all three of these places are incredibly reasonably priced and won't bust your per diem? Just budget extra for the honey wine. Bon appetit!

If Hulu.com officially launches from its private-beta state this week, you can say you heard about it from me first. It's only the first day of CES, and I already remember what I love about it: the dish.

Here's what happened. I was in line at Starbucks this morning, bright and early, and this nice man started chatting me up. Turned out he was from NBC Universal, but the actual television side and not the technology side (so while he'd heard of CNET, he probably didn't know I was mentally blogging our whole convo). So, we're talking about the future of television and how grim things are for traditional TV, and he tells me that the folks at NBC got an "internal e-mail" a few days ago about how, probably this week, they'll be releasing "this thing called Hulu." Me: "Oh, really? Interesting!"

So, my apologies to you, anonymous Starbucks line guy, and I hope I don't get you in trouble with any of the folks at NBC, but you made my CES day.

UPDATE: An NBCU representative called to let me know there will be NO Hulu announcements at CES. Bummer. That's the last time I listen to guys in the Starbucks line.