Dinosaurs, robot ping pong, and the things we saw at CEATEC 2014

I always feel a little sorry for CEATEC. "Japan's biggest consumer electronics show" sounds like it should be a big deal, but the country's biggest hitters like Sony and Sharp tend to make their biggest announcements elsewhere, and shows like Photokina, CP+, and Tokyo Game Show attract most of the attention for the industries Japan still thrives in.

Still, that's not to say that there isn't enough to make it worth the commute to Chiba each year, just a couple of weeks after Tokyo Game Show is held in the same cavernous Makuhari Messe complex. This year's CEATEC may not have turned up much news, but it did involve creepy androids, inexplicable dinosaurs (see above), and a strange fixation on the production of vegetables.