14 gadgets we wish would be unveiled at CES

Messaging in 2012 is a mess. Google Talk. AIM. Facebook (FB). Twitter. BBM. iMessage. Skype. SMS. Select services that only work on select platforms and devices. Tracking down friends can be harrowing. Why can't these all end up in a single, unified place?

What if all these services shared the same third-party technological underpinnings, but simply regulated the ways in which you could be contacted by other users on those services? Once you've established a conversation with someone, your inbox and chat logs would look and work the same on any service.

That will never happen, of course, thanks to companies' competitive rivalries and eagerness to gain market share, but it's something that could easily be made reality from a technical standpoint. At this point, we'd settle for everyone just agreeing to make Google Talk or Facebook the de facto messaging standard. - AC

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