CES: The big tech trends to watch

The International Consumer Electronics Show kicks off next week in Las Vegas, and there's plenty of tech trends to keep an eye on.

While some of the biggest player in consumer tech like Apple and Google host their own events for product launches, CES still plays a big role in setting the scene in the tech industry for the coming year.

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Here are some of the big tech trends we can expect to see at CES.

Wearables were talked about a lot last year, but the mass market hasn't really taken to the trend just yet. This year, though, may be the year wearables get big.

Wearable tech seems to be the biggest buzzword going into the conference. There's even a TechZone called WristRevolution dedicated to the evolving smartwatch.

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Besides smartwatches, there's also a number of vendors, including Fitbit and Misfit, that will be showing off their latest activity trackers.

And of course we can't forget smart glasses. With Google Glass expected to launch in 2014, there's a lot of excitement when it comes to connected eyewear and we can expect to see some companies showing off devices that integrate a camera into a headpiece.

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Apple's fingerprint scanner on it's iPhone 5S was just the beginning of biometrics in consumer devices.

All the major smartphone and tablet makers are looking to build these types of functions into their devices for security purposes and to enable other features, like payments.

The company Bionym has even developed a wearable device called the Nymi that uses a person's heartbeat to unlock their devices.

The health-care system is getting a major overhaul, and with that digital health is getting a lot of attention--and a lot of investments.

At CES this year, we will see a slew of digital health companies showing off their latest and greatest consumer devices aimed at helping people to diagnose, monitor and treat illnesses.

Telemedicine and real-time health monitoring will be two of the biggest themes in digital health. Companies like Telecare, which makes a wirelessly enabled glucose meter, and iHealth, which develops personal health-care products for tracking vitals via mobile, are just a couple of vendors that will be showing off their devices.

All cars are connected cars these days, and we can expect to see a big push this year from automobile manufacturers across the board showing off their version of the smart car.

Ford, BMW, Audi, Chrysler, General Motors, Mercedes and others will all be at CES this year revealing their latest technologies just a week before media preview days at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

—By CNBC's Cadie Thompson. Follow her on Twitter @CadieThompson.