CES 2025 Unveils Six Major Tech Trends Shaping the Future

6 Tech Trends from CES 2025 That Will Define the Next Era

Though it sometimes feels like everyone's following the same trend (AI), the technology we saw at CES 2025 was remarkably diverse, from practical devices for your home to mind-bogglingly powerful laptops to the next revolutions in health tech. Some of the concepts at CES might come years in the future (or never), while many other products are available for sale right now. Here are the six biggest trends from CES that we think will make the largest impact in 2025. If you're looking for the very top products from the trade show, be sure to check out the official 2025 Best of CES Awards, selected by the CNET Group. Most of the non-novelty robots shown at CES bear a functional resemblance to the robots used commercially -- by that I mean you can tell they're the product of the same research in movement and AI as they pick things up, fold, clean and so on. Expensive models like Mi-Mo, Beatbot, R2D3 and more. More consumer-friendly models were less functional, like the tiny, fuzzy bots that you hang on your handbag as a fashion statement or the adorable model with huge anime eyes that follows you around on wheels but seems like a surveillance nightmare (the TCL AI Me). There were also the concepts of yesteryear that finally edged toward saleability, such as Samsung's Ballie -- a spherical bot with a projector in its belly, like a baby Teletubbie. On the "whut?" front perches a tiny robot whose function is simply to blow on hot beverages. But the models that resonated the most with us were home helpers that don't cost tens of thousands of dollars, like Roborock's Saros Z70 robot vacuum cleaner -- it sports an arm that can pick up your socks -- or Eureka's J15 Max Ultra, which detects spills and untangles its own brushes. And one of the most innovative was the Lymow One, a robot mower that cuts the grass and feeds mulched matter back to your lawn. There's always a ton of laundry robots -- unsurprising given how much everyone hates laundry -- like Tenet's AI Laundry Robot, which washes and folds. And we can't forget the token "most human-looking" robot, Realbotix's $175K Aria robot, which is designed for "companionship and intimacy" -- and looks it, given she's built along the lines of an old-school Barbie. Ultimately, we chose not to pick a best robot because of how removed they were from interaction. In fact, many of the expensive models were in more of a zoo environment: Look at the magical creature in its habitat, repeatedly picking things up and moving them elsewhere. That's the kind of thing we've been seeing for years. Nvidia doesn't make robots, but it's been working on its robot LLMs and operating systems for years. And every time Nvidia trots out this visual at its events, I can't help but think that Nvidia is building a robot army. Well, that and Metropolis. There seemed to be less hype about AI in devices (though it's possible I have successfully learned to tune it out), but about the same in mobile apps like Delta's AI concierge. However, it was everywhere in laptops thanks to the annual chip updates from Intel and AMD -- which of course brought the usual faster, better and improved battery life -- plus bundles of "try it!" software for your out-of-the-box AI experience. But in this respect, Nvidia stole the show for its Cosmos AI model (Nvidia has been working on and licensing its various models for autonomous cars, robots and more for years, but this seemed to be its biggest "moment"), as well as its unveiling of the newest generation of consumer graphics. Read more: Nvidia Hands-Down Won AI at CES 2025, and Also the Show Itself. Here's Why That Matters The GeForce RTX 50 series not only promises the typical performance bump PC gamers expect, but thanks to the new Blackwell generation of GPUs, it brings more powerful and better generative AI capabilities down to your local system. That means cheaper entry for developers, the ability for end users to run bigger models, as well speed improvements (via Nvidia's DLSS 4) and more sophisticated capabilities for games. There weren't a lot of new smart glasses, but Halliday's stood out for the way they present information: Rather than on the screen, they have a tiny monochrome display that shows text. Read more: Commentary: The Smart Glasses Moment Is Here. But They're Still Missing Something Big The big AI news for cars at CES wasn't, for once, autonomininity: It was Volkswagen bringing ChatGPT to its voice assistant for more complex, natural-language help. Read more: Nvidia's CEO Explains How Its New AI Models Could Work on Future Smart Glasses One of CES' core pillars is entertainment (it used to be baked right into the name), which generally means TVs and audio. There weren't any new screen technologies, but there were improvements and innovations with existing ones. Tweaks to OLED came to TVs, with LG's G5 OLED's quality bump impressing us the most for its better brightness and contrast, along with HiSense's 116-inch MicroLED model. But the TV that seemed to make the biggest impact on us were Displace's hang-anywhere-thanks-to-huge-suction-cups TVs, shipping versions of prototypes we've seen in past years. I think its impact was partly due to the enormous opportunity for "suck" puns. There was the usual complement of gaming desktops, laptops and monitors, the latter offering the typical year upgrade to higher refresh rates (500Hz and 600Hz). But the biggest hit was Lenovo's new handheld console. The company is the first to offer (or at least announce) a SteamOS-based model, one of the new Legion G S models. Acer's Nitro Blaze 11 gaming handheld, however, earned some mockery, because you can't really respect a "handheld" if it's bigger than your head. Read more: Commentary: The Time for an Xbox Handheld Is Now But it was also kind of hard to sustain excitement about gaming hardware at CES this year, because of a shiny new thing possibly on the horizon. Rumors say the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming soon. Sometimes I think CES specializes in sleep, skin and smart rings, plus technology designed to make you feel like a loser -- so many smart mirrors, though none yet use generative AI to simulate your mother's critical voice or to show you what you could look like if you just tried harder. But maybe that's just me. There may not have been as many this year, but there were some standouts. Withing's Omnia smart mirror combines a scale and a mirror to not only tell you if you're overweight and in bad health, but to show you as well. There's always a device for analyzing your skin to tell you what to buy to fix it, such as L'Oreal's BioPrint. (To be fair, I don't know what it's suggestions are.) And, oh, the rings. One way to attract attention among the plethora of rings designed to monitor your health is to make it gold and platinum, like the UltraHuman Rare ring: Nothing's more romantic than a ring that says, "Marry me" and "Please don't die," simultaneously. Or alternatively, "Show me off on Instagram." Don't forget the annual dose of flatware that makes you healthier. This year's entrant is Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, intended to give you that salty taste without any of the nasty sodium -- by zapping your tongue with a bit of electricity. On the other hand, if they could do that for chocolate, I'd be first in line. And while the Nike x Hyperice's "boatlike booties are basically recovery high-tops festooned with buttons and designed to help your weary tootsies recover from soreness and strain," they sound pretty awesome. But there were some truly practical and innovative new products, like the Ozlo Sleepbuds, which stay in, are flush with your ears for side sleepers and have sensors and other tech to help improve the quality of your sleep. Our team also called out the YoctoMat, a smart yoga mat that provides feedback on your poses. And while I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as health or beauty, in the interest of hydration, the Roam SodaTop is a bottle cap with a CO2 cartridge so you can carbonate your water on the go. Home tech tends to cover a lot of bases, many of them robotic. No one really likes to vacuum, do laundry or mow the lawn like the AI-driven robot vacuums and lawnmower I mentioned above. Read more: Commentary I Really Don't Want an AI Pot to Turn My Plant Into a Tamagotchi From Hell Video smart locks seemed to be the focus of home security upgrades this year -- we call out Lockly's Vision Prestige and TCLs Smart Lock D1 Ultra -- providing more information than existing models. Notable, also, because someone breaking in doesn't use the video doorbell. Cooling and heating were hot as well, especially Samsung's DHS Mono R32 HT heat pump, which heats outside air, condenses it to water and feeds it to your water tank. As an apartment dweller, I'm partial to the Gradient All-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump, which supplies heat when the weather gets frosty. Cooling and heating go hand-in-hand with utility bills and power backup -- I was really intrigued by the BioLite, which provides battery backup for a couple of key appliances, like the refrigerator. And Savant's Smart Budget is designed to save you money by routing power automatically (and manually) to balance output, thereby potentially saving you the expense of rewiring your home to support new, power-sucking devices. Plus, Aqara introduced the Touchscreen Dial V1, a clever and useful dial that can control all your smart devices And lest we forget the bread-and-butter of small appliances. There are always plenty, though really it's the oddballs and gimmicks that catch more attention than the mundane. This year, we saw the phone-controlled Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Multi-Oven, the Apecoo tortilla and roti maker (food samples really seemed to attract us), LG's "Perfect Fancy Microwave for Social Media" with a 27-inch display and much, much more. The big deals for cars (and other things that tote people) tend to be new technologies and other future-flung concepts. BMW gave us panoramic IDrive with operating system X, a three-tier, ultra wide holographic 3D windshield display that's actually not too far out from your next BMW, and Hyundai Mobis holographic windshield display one-ups it by constraining the angle of view to the driver. We see flying cars at the show every year, but sadly we're no closer to me getting one. This year's concept-du-jour was the Xpeng AeroHT, a massive six-wheeler with an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle in its trunk. Aptera's solar EV isn't a flying car, but it really looks like it should have wings. The Pebble Flow Electric RV concept -- solar chargeable -- came back for a visit, as did Sony's Afeela, and the latter is ready for your money, if not delivery. Honda trotted out prototypes of its 0 series EVs (one step closer to reality than the concept we saw last year), a sports sedan and a van. See the new photos. But a new motor concept claims to vastly increase the range of EVs -- arguably more important than all the shiny paint and glowy dashboards. Another concept that appealed to me personally was Nanosys' next-gen MicroLED, dubbed UV LED, which uses ultraviolet light to energize RGB quantum dots to precise frequencies: Different lIght frequencies are how we perceive color. MicroLED may potentially supplant OLED in big screens and small. It somewhat upstaged Samsung's MicroLED watch concept with an uber-bright screen. Samsung also brought us a somewhat disturbing-looking stretchable screen for a 3D-ish view and a transparent MicroLED screen. Lenovo's concept ThinkBook with a rollable screen looks and gesture controls appear sleek. In a class by itself, the Flint Paper Battery claims to be a new, sustainable power source that may eventually replace lithium ion with cellulose. Finally, I will never forget Bridget Carey smuggling Gummy Worms in her shoe to test TSA's new scanner -- after complaining about the ick factor of shuffling our socks or bare soles across a floor that's had thousands of other shoes scrape across it. Gummy Worms in your shoe has a pretty high ick factor, too.

6 Groundbreaking Tech Trends from CES 2025 That Will Change Everything

Though it sometimes feels like everyone's following the same trend (AI), the technology we saw at CES 2025 was remarkably diverse, from practical devices for your home to mind-bogglingly powerful laptops to the next revolutions in health tech. Some of the concepts at CES might come years in the future (or never), while many other products are available for sale right now. Here are the six biggest trends from CES that we think will make the largest impact in 2025. If you're looking for the very top products from the trade show, be sure to check out the official 2025 Best of CES Awards, selected by the CNET Group. Most of the non-novelty robots shown at CES bear a functional resemblance to the robots used commercially -- by that I mean you can tell they're the product of the same research in movement and AI as they pick things up, fold, clean and so on. Expensive models like Mi-Mo, Beatbot, R2D3 and more. More consumer-friendly models were less functional, like the tiny, fuzzy bots that you hang on your handbag as a fashion statement or the adorable model with huge anime eyes that follows you around on wheels but seems like a surveillance nightmare (the TCL AI Me). There were also the concepts of yesteryear that finally edged toward saleability, such as Samsung's Ballie -- a spherical bot with a projector in its belly, like a baby Teletubbie. On the "whut?" front perches a tiny robot whose function is simply to blow on hot beverages. But the models that resonated the most with us were home helpers that don't cost tens of thousands of dollars, like Roborock's Saros Z70 robot vacuum cleaner -- it sports an arm that can pick up your socks -- or Eureka's J15 Max Ultra, which detects spills and untangles its own brushes. And one of the most innovative was the Lymow One, a robot mower that cuts the grass and feeds mulched matter back to your lawn. There's always a ton of laundry robots -- unsurprising given how much everyone hates laundry -- like Tenet's AI Laundry Robot, which washes and folds. And we can't forget the token "most human-looking" robot, Realbotix's $175K Aria robot, which is designed for "companionship and intimacy" -- and looks it, given she's built along the lines of an old-school Barbie. Ultimately, we chose not to pick a best robot because of how removed they were from interaction. In fact, many of the expensive models were in more of a zoo environment: Look at the magical creature in its habitat, repeatedly picking things up and moving them elsewhere. That's the kind of thing we've been seeing for years. Nvidia doesn't make robots, but it's been working on its robot LLMs and operating systems for years. And every time Nvidia trots out this visual at its events, I can't help but think that Nvidia is building a robot army. Well, that and Metropolis. There seemed to be less hype about AI in devices (though it's possible I have successfully learned to tune it out), but about the same in mobile apps like Delta's AI concierge. However, it was everywhere in laptops thanks to the annual chip updates from Intel and AMD -- which of course brought the usual faster, better and improved battery life -- plus bundles of "try it!" software for your out-of-the-box AI experience. But in this respect, Nvidia stole the show for its Cosmos AI model (Nvidia has been working on and licensing its various models for autonomous cars, robots and more for years, but this seemed to be its biggest "moment"), as well as its unveiling of the newest generation of consumer graphics. Read more: Nvidia Hands-Down Won AI at CES 2025, and Also the Show Itself. Here's Why That Matters The GeForce RTX 50 series not only promises the typical performance bump PC gamers expect, but thanks to the new Blackwell generation of GPUs, it brings more powerful and better generative AI capabilities down to your local system. That means cheaper entry for developers, the ability for end users to run bigger models, as well speed improvements (via Nvidia's DLSS 4) and more sophisticated capabilities for games. There weren't a lot of new smart glasses, but Halliday's stood out for the way they present information: Rather than on the screen, they have a tiny monochrome display that shows text. Read more: Commentary: The Smart Glasses Moment Is Here. But They're Still Missing Something Big The big AI news for cars at CES wasn't, for once, autonomininity: It was Volkswagen bringing ChatGPT to its voice assistant for more complex, natural-language help. Read more: Nvidia's CEO Explains How Its New AI Models Could Work on Future Smart Glasses One of CES' core pillars is entertainment (it used to be baked right into the name), which generally means TVs and audio. There weren't any new screen technologies, but there were improvements and innovations with existing ones. Tweaks to OLED came to TVs, with LG's G5 OLED's quality bump impressing us the most for its better brightness and contrast, along with HiSense's 116-inch MicroLED model. But the TV that seemed to make the biggest impact on us were Displace's hang-anywhere-thanks-to-huge-suction-cups TVs, shipping versions of prototypes we've seen in past years. I think its impact was partly due to the enormous opportunity for "suck" puns. There was the usual complement of gaming desktops, laptops and monitors, the latter offering the typical year upgrade to higher refresh rates (500Hz and 600Hz). But the biggest hit was Lenovo's new handheld console. The company is the first to offer (or at least announce) a SteamOS-based model, one of the new Legion G S models. Acer's Nitro Blaze 11 gaming handheld, however, earned some mockery, because you can't really respect a "handheld" if it's bigger than your head. Read more: Commentary: The Time for an Xbox Handheld Is Now But it was also kind of hard to sustain excitement about gaming hardware at CES this year, because of a shiny new thing possibly on the horizon. Rumors say the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming soon. Sometimes I think CES specializes in sleep, skin and smart rings, plus technology designed to make you feel like a loser -- so many smart mirrors, though none yet use generative AI to simulate your mother's critical voice or to show you what you could look like if you just tried harder. But maybe that's just me. There may not have been as many this year, but there were some standouts. Withing's Omnia smart mirror combines a scale and a mirror to not only tell you if you're overweight and in bad health, but to show you as well. There's always a device for analyzing your skin to tell you what to buy to fix it, such as L'Oreal's BioPrint. (To be fair, I don't know what it's suggestions are.) And, oh, the rings. One way to attract attention among the plethora of rings designed to monitor your health is to make it gold and platinum, like the UltraHuman Rare ring: Nothing's more romantic than a ring that says, "Marry me" and "Please don't die," simultaneously. Or alternatively, "Show me off on Instagram." Don't forget the annual dose of flatware that makes you healthier. This year's entrant is Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, intended to give you that salty taste without any of the nasty sodium -- by zapping your tongue with a bit of electricity. On the other hand, if they could do that for chocolate, I'd be first in line. And while the Nike x Hyperice's "boatlike booties are basically recovery high-tops festooned with buttons and designed to help your weary tootsies recover from soreness and strain," they sound pretty awesome. But there were some truly practical and innovative new products, like the Ozlo Sleepbuds, which stay in, are flush with your ears for side sleepers and have sensors and other tech to help improve the quality of your sleep. Our team also called out the YoctoMat, a smart yoga mat that provides feedback on your poses. And while I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as health or beauty, in the interest of hydration, the Roam SodaTop is a bottle cap with a CO2 cartridge so you can carbonate your water on the go. Home tech tends to cover a lot of bases, many of them robotic. No one really likes to vacuum, do laundry or mow the lawn like the AI-driven robot vacuums and lawnmower I mentioned above. Read more: Commentary I Really Don't Want an AI Pot to Turn My Plant Into a Tamagotchi From Hell Video smart locks seemed to be the focus of home security upgrades this year -- we call out Lockly's Vision Prestige and TCLs Smart Lock D1 Ultra -- providing more information than existing models. Notable, also, because someone breaking in doesn't use the video doorbell. Cooling and heating were hot as well, especially Samsung's DHS Mono R32 HT heat pump, which heats outside air, condenses it to water and feeds it to your water tank. As an apartment dweller, I'm partial to the Gradient All-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump, which supplies heat when the weather gets frosty. Cooling and heating go hand-in-hand with utility bills and power backup -- I was really intrigued by the BioLite, which provides battery backup for a couple of key appliances, like the refrigerator. And Savant's Smart Budget is designed to save you money by routing power automatically (and manually) to balance output, thereby potentially saving you the expense of rewiring your home to support new, power-sucking devices. Plus, Aqara introduced the Touchscreen Dial V1, a clever and useful dial that can control all your smart devices And lest we forget the bread-and-butter of small appliances. There are always plenty, though really it's the oddballs and gimmicks that catch more attention than the mundane. This year, we saw the phone-controlled Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Multi-Oven, the Apecoo tortilla and roti maker (food samples really seemed to attract us), LG's "Perfect Fancy Microwave for Social Media" with a 27-inch display and much, much more. The big deals for cars (and other things that tote people) tend to be new technologies and other future-flung concepts. BMW gave us panoramic IDrive with operating system X, a three-tier, ultra wide holographic 3D windshield display that's actually not too far out from your next BMW, and Hyundai Mobis holographic windshield display one-ups it by constraining the angle of view to the driver. We see flying cars at the show every year, but sadly we're no closer to me getting one. This year's concept-du-jour was the Xpeng AeroHT, a massive six-wheeler with an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle in its trunk. Aptera's solar EV isn't a flying car, but it really looks like it should have wings. The Pebble Flow Electric RV concept -- solar chargeable -- came back for a visit, as did Sony's Afeela, and the latter is ready for your money, if not delivery. Honda trotted out prototypes of its 0 series EVs (one step closer to reality than the concept we saw last year), a sports sedan and a van. See the new photos. But a new motor concept claims to vastly increase the range of EVs -- arguably more important than all the shiny paint and glowy dashboards. Another concept that appealed to me personally was Nanosys' next-gen MicroLED, dubbed UV LED, which uses ultraviolet light to energize RGB quantum dots to precise frequencies: Different lIght frequencies are how we perceive color. MicroLED may potentially supplant OLED in big screens and small. It somewhat upstaged Samsung's MicroLED watch concept with an uber-bright screen. Samsung also brought us a somewhat disturbing-looking stretchable screen for a 3D-ish view and a transparent MicroLED screen. Lenovo's concept ThinkBook with a rollable screen looks and gesture controls appear sleek. In a class by itself, the Flint Paper Battery claims to be a new, sustainable power source that may eventually replace lithium ion with cellulose. Finally, I will never forget Bridget Carey smuggling Gummy Worms in her shoe to test TSA's new scanner -- after complaining about the ick factor of shuffling our socks or bare soles across a floor that's had thousands of other shoes scrape across it. Gummy Worms in your shoe has a pretty high ick factor, too.

The Future is Now: CES 2025 Unveils 6 Transformative Tech Trends

Though it sometimes feels like everyone's following the same trend (AI), the technology we saw at CES 2025 was remarkably diverse, from practical devices for your home to mind-bogglingly powerful laptops to the next revolutions in health tech. Some of the concepts at CES might come years in the future (or never), while many other products are available for sale right now. Here are the six biggest trends from CES that we think will make the largest impact in 2025. If you're looking for the very top products from the trade show, be sure to check out the official 2025 Best of CES Awards, selected by the CNET Group. Most of the non-novelty robots shown at CES bear a functional resemblance to the robots used commercially -- by that I mean you can tell they're the product of the same research in movement and AI as they pick things up, fold, clean and so on. Expensive models like Mi-Mo, Beatbot, R2D3 and more. More consumer-friendly models were less functional, like the tiny, fuzzy bots that you hang on your handbag as a fashion statement or the adorable model with huge anime eyes that follows you around on wheels but seems like a surveillance nightmare (the TCL AI Me). There were also the concepts of yesteryear that finally edged toward saleability, such as Samsung's Ballie -- a spherical bot with a projector in its belly, like a baby Teletubbie. On the "whut?" front perches a tiny robot whose function is simply to blow on hot beverages. But the models that resonated the most with us were home helpers that don't cost tens of thousands of dollars, like Roborock's Saros Z70 robot vacuum cleaner -- it sports an arm that can pick up your socks -- or Eureka's J15 Max Ultra, which detects spills and untangles its own brushes. And one of the most innovative was the Lymow One, a robot mower that cuts the grass and feeds mulched matter back to your lawn. There's always a ton of laundry robots -- unsurprising given how much everyone hates laundry -- like Tenet's AI Laundry Robot, which washes and folds. And we can't forget the token "most human-looking" robot, Realbotix's $175K Aria robot, which is designed for "companionship and intimacy" -- and looks it, given she's built along the lines of an old-school Barbie. Ultimately, we chose not to pick a best robot because of how removed they were from interaction. In fact, many of the expensive models were in more of a zoo environment: Look at the magical creature in its habitat, repeatedly picking things up and moving them elsewhere. That's the kind of thing we've been seeing for years. Nvidia doesn't make robots, but it's been working on its robot LLMs and operating systems for years. And every time Nvidia trots out this visual at its events, I can't help but think that Nvidia is building a robot army. Well, that and Metropolis. There seemed to be less hype about AI in devices (though it's possible I have successfully learned to tune it out), but about the same in mobile apps like Delta's AI concierge. However, it was everywhere in laptops thanks to the annual chip updates from Intel and AMD -- which of course brought the usual faster, better and improved battery life -- plus bundles of "try it!" software for your out-of-the-box AI experience. But in this respect, Nvidia stole the show for its Cosmos AI model (Nvidia has been working on and licensing its various models for autonomous cars, robots and more for years, but this seemed to be its biggest "moment"), as well as its unveiling of the newest generation of consumer graphics. Read more: Nvidia Hands-Down Won AI at CES 2025, and Also the Show Itself. Here's Why That Matters The GeForce RTX 50 series not only promises the typical performance bump PC gamers expect, but thanks to the new Blackwell generation of GPUs, it brings more powerful and better generative AI capabilities down to your local system. That means cheaper entry for developers, the ability for end users to run bigger models, as well speed improvements (via Nvidia's DLSS 4) and more sophisticated capabilities for games. There weren't a lot of new smart glasses, but Halliday's stood out for the way they present information: Rather than on the screen, they have a tiny monochrome display that shows text. Read more: Commentary: The Smart Glasses Moment Is Here. But They're Still Missing Something Big The big AI news for cars at CES wasn't, for once, autonomininity: It was Volkswagen bringing ChatGPT to its voice assistant for more complex, natural-language help. Read more: Nvidia's CEO Explains How Its New AI Models Could Work on Future Smart Glasses One of CES' core pillars is entertainment (it used to be baked right into the name), which generally means TVs and audio. There weren't any new screen technologies, but there were improvements and innovations with existing ones. Tweaks to OLED came to TVs, with LG's G5 OLED's quality bump impressing us the most for its better brightness and contrast, along with HiSense's 116-inch MicroLED model. But the TV that seemed to make the biggest impact on us were Displace's hang-anywhere-thanks-to-huge-suction-cups TVs, shipping versions of prototypes we've seen in past years. I think its impact was partly due to the enormous opportunity for "suck" puns. There was the usual complement of gaming desktops, laptops and monitors, the latter offering the typical year upgrade to higher refresh rates (500Hz and 600Hz). But the biggest hit was Lenovo's new handheld console. The company is the first to offer (or at least announce) a SteamOS-based model, one of the new Legion G S models. Acer's Nitro Blaze 11 gaming handheld, however, earned some mockery, because you can't really respect a "handheld" if it's bigger than your head. Read more: Commentary: The Time for an Xbox Handheld Is Now But it was also kind of hard to sustain excitement about gaming hardware at CES this year, because of a shiny new thing possibly on the horizon. Rumors say the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming soon. Sometimes I think CES specializes in sleep, skin and smart rings, plus technology designed to make you feel like a loser -- so many smart mirrors, though none yet use generative AI to simulate your mother's critical voice or to show you what you could look like if you just tried harder. But maybe that's just me. There may not have been as many this year, but there were some standouts. Withing's Omnia smart mirror combines a scale and a mirror to not only tell you if you're overweight and in bad health, but to show you as well. There's always a device for analyzing your skin to tell you what to buy to fix it, such as L'Oreal's BioPrint. (To be fair, I don't know what it's suggestions are.) And, oh, the rings. One way to attract attention among the plethora of rings designed to monitor your health is to make it gold and platinum, like the UltraHuman Rare ring: Nothing's more romantic than a ring that says, "Marry me" and "Please don't die," simultaneously. Or alternatively, "Show me off on Instagram." Don't forget the annual dose of flatware that makes you healthier. This year's entrant is Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, intended to give you that salty taste without any of the nasty sodium -- by zapping your tongue with a bit of electricity. On the other hand, if they could do that for chocolate, I'd be first in line. And while the Nike x Hyperice's "boatlike booties are basically recovery high-tops festooned with buttons and designed to help your weary tootsies recover from soreness and strain," they sound pretty awesome. But there were some truly practical and innovative new products, like the Ozlo Sleepbuds, which stay in, are flush with your ears for side sleepers and have sensors and other tech to help improve the quality of your sleep. Our team also called out the YoctoMat, a smart yoga mat that provides feedback on your poses. And while I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as health or beauty, in the interest of hydration, the Roam SodaTop is a bottle cap with a CO2 cartridge so you can carbonate your water on the go. Home tech tends to cover a lot of bases, many of them robotic. No one really likes to vacuum, do laundry or mow the lawn like the AI-driven robot vacuums and lawnmower I mentioned above. Read more: Commentary I Really Don't Want an AI Pot to Turn My Plant Into a Tamagotchi From Hell Video smart locks seemed to be the focus of home security upgrades this year -- we call out Lockly's Vision Prestige and TCLs Smart Lock D1 Ultra -- providing more information than existing models. Notable, also, because someone breaking in doesn't use the video doorbell. Cooling and heating were hot as well, especially Samsung's DHS Mono R32 HT heat pump, which heats outside air, condenses it to water and feeds it to your water tank. As an apartment dweller, I'm partial to the Gradient All-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump, which supplies heat when the weather gets frosty. Cooling and heating go hand-in-hand with utility bills and power backup -- I was really intrigued by the BioLite, which provides battery backup for a couple of key appliances, like the refrigerator. And Savant's Smart Budget is designed to save you money by routing power automatically (and manually) to balance output, thereby potentially saving you the expense of rewiring your home to support new, power-sucking devices. Plus, Aqara introduced the Touchscreen Dial V1, a clever and useful dial that can control all your smart devices And lest we forget the bread-and-butter of small appliances. There are always plenty, though really it's the oddballs and gimmicks that catch more attention than the mundane. This year, we saw the phone-controlled Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Multi-Oven, the Apecoo tortilla and roti maker (food samples really seemed to attract us), LG's "Perfect Fancy Microwave for Social Media" with a 27-inch display and much, much more. The big deals for cars (and other things that tote people) tend to be new technologies and other future-flung concepts. BMW gave us panoramic IDrive with operating system X, a three-tier, ultra wide holographic 3D windshield display that's actually not too far out from your next BMW, and Hyundai Mobis holographic windshield display one-ups it by constraining the angle of view to the driver. We see flying cars at the show every year, but sadly we're no closer to me getting one. This year's concept-du-jour was the Xpeng AeroHT, a massive six-wheeler with an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle in its trunk. Aptera's solar EV isn't a flying car, but it really looks like it should have wings. The Pebble Flow Electric RV concept -- solar chargeable -- came back for a visit, as did Sony's Afeela, and the latter is ready for your money, if not delivery. Honda trotted out prototypes of its 0 series EVs (one step closer to reality than the concept we saw last year), a sports sedan and a van. See the new photos. But a new motor concept claims to vastly increase the range of EVs -- arguably more important than all the shiny paint and glowy dashboards. Another concept that appealed to me personally was Nanosys' next-gen MicroLED, dubbed UV LED, which uses ultraviolet light to energize RGB quantum dots to precise frequencies: Different lIght frequencies are how we perceive color. MicroLED may potentially supplant OLED in big screens and small. It somewhat upstaged Samsung's MicroLED watch concept with an uber-bright screen. Samsung also brought us a somewhat disturbing-looking stretchable screen for a 3D-ish view and a transparent MicroLED screen. Lenovo's concept ThinkBook with a rollable screen looks and gesture controls appear sleek. In a class by itself, the Flint Paper Battery claims to be a new, sustainable power source that may eventually replace lithium ion with cellulose. Finally, I will never forget Bridget Carey smuggling Gummy Worms in her shoe to test TSA's new scanner -- after complaining about the ick factor of shuffling our socks or bare soles across a floor that's had thousands of other shoes scrape across it. Gummy Worms in your shoe has a pretty high ick factor, too.

We Saw the Future of Tech at CES: 6 Biggest Trends That Will Shape 2025

Some of the concepts at CES might come years in the future (or never), while many other products are available for sale right now. Here are the six biggest trends from CES that we think will make the largest impact in 2025. If you're looking for the very top products from the trade show, be sure to check out the official 2025 Best of CES Awards, selected by the CNET Group. Most of the non-novelty robots shown at CES bear a functional resemblance to the robots used commercially -- by that I mean you can tell they're the product of the same research in movement and AI as they pick things up, fold, clean and so on. Expensive models like Mi-Mo, Beatbot, R2D3 and more. More consumer-friendly models were less functional, like the tiny, fuzzy bots that you hang on your handbag as a fashion statement or the adorable model with huge anime eyes that follows you around on wheels but seems like a surveillance nightmare (the TCL AI Me). There were also the concepts of yesteryear that finally edged toward saleability, such as Samsung's Ballie -- a spherical bot with a projector in its belly, like a baby Teletubbie. On the "whut?" front perches a tiny robot whose function is simply to blow on hot beverages. But the models that resonated the most with us were home helpers that don't cost tens of thousands of dollars, like Roborock's Saros Z70 robot vacuum cleaner -- it sports an arm that can pick up your socks -- or Eureka's J15 Max Ultra, which detects spills and untangles its own brushes. And one of the most innovative was the Lymow One, a robot mower that cuts the grass and feeds mulched matter back to your lawn. There's always a ton of laundry robots -- unsurprising given how much everyone hates laundry -- like Tenet's AI Laundry Robot, which washes and folds. And we can't forget the token "most human-looking" robot, Realbotix's $175K Aria robot, which is designed for "companionship and intimacy" -- and looks it, given she's built along the lines of an old-school Barbie. Ultimately, we chose not to pick a best robot because of how removed they were from interaction. In fact, many of the expensive models were in more of a zoo environment: Look at the magical creature in its habitat, repeatedly picking things up and moving them elsewhere. That's the kind of thing we've been seeing for years. Nvidia doesn't make robots, but it's been working on its robot LLMs and operating systems for years. And every time Nvidia trots out this visual at its events, I can't help but think that Nvidia is building a robot army. Well, that and Metropolis. There seemed to be less hype about AI in devices (though it's possible I have successfully learned to tune it out), but about the same in mobile apps like Delta's AI concierge. However, it was everywhere in laptops thanks to the annual chip updates from Intel and AMD -- which of course brought the usual faster, better and improved battery life -- plus bundles of "try it!" software for your out-of-the-box AI experience. But in this respect, Nvidia stole the show for its Cosmos AI model (Nvidia has been working on and licensing its various models for autonomous cars, robots and more for years, but this seemed to be its biggest "moment"), as well as its unveiling of the newest generation of consumer graphics. Read more: Nvidia Hands-Down Won AI at CES 2025, and Also the Show Itself. Here's Why That Matters The GeForce RTX 50 series not only promises the typical performance bump PC gamers expect, but thanks to the new Blackwell generation of GPUs, it brings more powerful and better generative AI capabilities down to your local system. That means cheaper entry for developers, the ability for end users to run bigger models, as well speed improvements (via Nvidia's DLSS 4) and more sophisticated capabilities for games. There weren't a lot of new smart glasses, but Halliday's stood out for the way they present information: Rather than on the screen, they have a tiny monochrome display that shows text. Read more: Commentary: The Smart Glasses Moment Is Here. But They're Still Missing Something Big The big AI news for cars at CES wasn't, for once, autonomininity: It was Volkswagen bringing ChatGPT to its voice assistant for more complex, natural-language help. Read more: Nvidia's CEO Explains How Its New AI Models Could Work on Future Smart Glasses One of CES' core pillars is entertainment (it used to be baked right into the name), which generally means TVs and audio. There weren't any new screen technologies, but there were improvements and innovations with existing ones. Tweaks to OLED came to TVs, with LG's G5 OLED's quality bump impressing us the most for its better brightness and contrast, along with HiSense's 116-inch MicroLED model. But the TV that seemed to make the biggest impact on us were Displace's hang-anywhere-thanks-to-huge-suction-cups TVs, shipping versions of prototypes we've seen in past years. I think its impact was partly due to the enormous opportunity for "suck" puns. There was the usual complement of gaming desktops, laptops and monitors, the latter offering the typical year upgrade to higher refresh rates (500Hz and 600Hz). But the biggest hit was Lenovo's new handheld console. The company is the first to offer (or at least announce) a SteamOS-based model, one of the new Legion G S models. Acer's Nitro Blaze 11 gaming handheld, however, earned some mockery, because you can't really respect a "handheld" if it's bigger than your head. Read more: Commentary: The Time for an Xbox Handheld Is Now But it was also kind of hard to sustain excitement about gaming hardware at CES this year, because of a shiny new thing possibly on the horizon. Rumors say the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming soon. Sometimes I think CES specializes in sleep, skin and smart rings, plus technology designed to make you feel like a loser -- so many smart mirrors, though none yet use generative AI to simulate your mother's critical voice or to show you what you could look like if you just tried harder. But maybe that's just me. There may not have been as many this year, but there were some standouts. Withing's Omnia smart mirror combines a scale and a mirror to not only tell you if you're overweight and in bad health, but to show you as well. There's always a device for analyzing your skin to tell you what to buy to fix it, such as L'Oreal's BioPrint. (To be fair, I don't know what it's suggestions are.) And, oh, the rings. One way to attract attention among the plethora of rings designed to monitor your health is to make it gold and platinum, like the UltraHuman Rare ring: Nothing's more romantic than a ring that says, "Marry me" and "Please don't die," simultaneously. Or alternatively, "Show me off on Instagram." Don't forget the annual dose of flatware that makes you healthier. This year's entrant is Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, intended to give you that salty taste without any of the nasty sodium -- by zapping your tongue with a bit of electricity. On the other hand, if they could do that for chocolate, I'd be first in line. And while the Nike x Hyperice's "boatlike booties are basically recovery high-tops festooned with buttons and designed to help your weary tootsies recover from soreness and strain," they sound pretty awesome. But there were some truly practical and innovative new products, like the Ozlo Sleepbuds, which stay in, are flush with your ears for side sleepers and have sensors and other tech to help improve the quality of your sleep. Our team also called out the YoctoMat, a smart yoga mat that provides feedback on your poses. And while I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as health or beauty, in the interest of hydration, the Roam SodaTop is a bottle cap with a CO2 cartridge so you can carbonate your water on the go. Home tech tends to cover a lot of bases, many of them robotic. No one really likes to vacuum, do laundry or mow the lawn like the AI-driven robot vacuums and lawnmower I mentioned above. Read more: Commentary I Really Don't Want an AI Pot to Turn My Plant Into a Tamagotchi From Hell Video smart locks seemed to be the focus of home security upgrades this year -- we call out Lockly's Vision Prestige and TCLs Smart Lock D1 Ultra -- providing more information than existing models. Notable, also, because someone breaking in doesn't use the video doorbell. Cooling and heating were hot as well, especially Samsung's DHS Mono R32 HT heat pump, which heats outside air, condenses it to water and feeds it to your water tank. As an apartment dweller, I'm partial to the Gradient All-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump, which supplies heat when the weather gets frosty. Cooling and heating go hand-in-hand with utility bills and power backup -- I was really intrigued by the BioLite, which provides battery backup for a couple of key appliances, like the refrigerator. And Savant's Smart Budget is designed to save you money by routing power automatically (and manually) to balance output, thereby potentially saving you the expense of rewiring your home to support new, power-sucking devices. Plus, Aqara introduced the Touchscreen Dial V1, a clever and useful dial that can control all your smart devices And lest we forget the bread-and-butter of small appliances. There are always plenty, though really it's the oddballs and gimmicks that catch more attention than the mundane. This year, we saw the phone-controlled Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Multi-Oven, the Apecoo tortilla and roti maker (food samples really seemed to attract us), LG's "Perfect Fancy Microwave for Social Media" with a 27-inch display and much, much more. The big deals for cars (and other things that tote people) tend to be new technologies and other future-flung concepts. BMW gave us panoramic IDrive with operating system X, a three-tier, ultra wide holographic 3D windshield display that's actually not too far out from your next BMW, and Hyundai Mobis holographic windshield display one-ups it by constraining the angle of view to the driver. We see flying cars at the show every year, but sadly we're no closer to me getting one. This year's concept-du-jour was the Xpeng AeroHT, a massive six-wheeler with an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle in its trunk. Aptera's solar EV isn't a flying car, but it really looks like it should have wings. The Pebble Flow Electric RV concept -- solar chargeable -- came back for a visit, as did Sony's Afeela, and the latter is ready for your money, if not delivery. Honda trotted out prototypes of its 0 series EVs (one step closer to reality than the concept we saw last year), a sports sedan and a van. See the new photos. But a new motor concept claims to vastly increase the range of EVs -- arguably more important than all the shiny paint and glowy dashboards. Another concept that appealed to me personally was Nanosys' next-gen MicroLED, dubbed UV LED, which uses ultraviolet light to energize RGB quantum dots to precise frequencies: Different lIght frequencies are how we perceive color. MicroLED may potentially supplant OLED in big screens and small. It somewhat upstaged Samsung's MicroLED watch concept with an uber-bright screen. Samsung also brought us a somewhat disturbing-looking stretchable screen for a 3D-ish view and a transparent MicroLED screen. Lenovo's concept ThinkBook with a rollable screen looks and gesture controls appear sleek. In a class by itself, the Flint Paper Battery claims to be a new, sustainable power source that may eventually replace lithium ion with cellulose. Finally, I will never forget Bridget Carey smuggling Gummy Worms in her shoe to test TSA's new scanner -- after complaining about the ick factor of shuffling our socks or bare soles across a floor that's had thousands of other shoes scrape across it. Gummy Worms in your shoe has a pretty high ick factor, too.

6 Biggest Trends We Saw at CES 2025: Eerily Adorable Robots, Super-Powered Chips and Much More

There weren't a lot of duplicate products at CES 2025, but some trends sure felt repetitive, from AI everywhere to robots -- the good, the bad and the just plain creepy. But, we also saw smart-time and labor-saving devices for your home and lots of eye-popping concepts. Here's what CES 2025 says about the tech we'll be seeing later this year and beyond. If you're impatient, though, there are some CES products you can buy now (or soon). We winnowed down the plethora of products at the show to come up with the official winners for Best of CES 2025. Most of the non-novelty robots shown at CES bear a functional resemblance to the robots used commercially -- by that I mean you can tell they're the product of the same research in movement and AI as they pick things up, fold, clean and so on. Expensive models like Mi-Mo, Beatbot, R2D3 and more. More consumer-friendly models were less functional, like the tiny, fuzzy bots that you hang on your handbag as a fashion statement or the adorable model with huge anime eyes that follows you around on wheels but seems like a surveillance nightmare (the TCL AI Me). There were also the concepts of yesteryear that finally edged toward saleability, such as Samsung's Ballie -- a spherical bot with a projector in its belly, like a baby Teletubbie. Of course, on the "whut?" front perches a tiny robot whose function is simply to blow on hot beverages. But the models that resonated the most with us were home helpers that don't cost tens of thousands of dollars, like Roborock's Saros Z70 robot vacuum cleaner -- it sports an arm that can pick up your socks -- or Eureka's J15 Max Ultra, which detects spills and untangles its own brushes. And one of the most innovative was the Lymow One, a robot mower that cuts the grass and feeds mulched matter back to your lawn. There's always a ton of laundry robots -- unsurprising given how much everyone hates laundry -- like Tenet's AI Laundry Robot, which washes and folds. And we can't forget the token "most human-looking" robot, Realbotix's $175K Aria robot, which is designed for "companionship and intimacy" -- and looks it, given she's built along the lines of an old-school Barbie. Ultimately, we chose not to pick a best robot because of how removed they were from interaction. In fact, many of the expensive models were in more of a zoo environment: Look at the magical creature in its habitat, repeatedly picking things up and moving them elsewhere. That's the kind of thing we've been seeing for years. Nvidia doesn't make robots, but it's been working on its robot LLMs and operating systems for years. And every time Nvidia trots out this visual at its events, I can't help but think that Nvidia is building a robot army. Well, that and Metropolis. There seemed to be less hype about AI in devices (though it's possible I have successfully learned to tune it out), but about the same in mobile apps like Delta's AI concierge. However, it was everywhere in laptops thanks to the annual chip updates from Intel and AMD -- which of course brought the usual faster, better and improved battery life -- plus bundles of "try it!" software for your out-of-the-box AI experience. But in this respect, Nvidia stole the show for its Cosmos AI model (Nvidia has been working on and licensing its various models for autonomous cars, robots and more for years, but this seemed to be its biggest "moment"), as well as its unveiling of the newest generation of consumer graphics. Read more: Nvidia Hands-Down Won AI at CES 2025, and Also the Show Itself. Here's Why That Matters The GeForce RTX 50 series not only promises the typical performance bump PC gamers expect, but thanks to the new Blackwell generation of GPUs, it brings more powerful and better generative AI capabilities down to your local system. That means cheaper entry for developers, the ability for end users to run bigger models, as well speed improvements (via Nvidia's DLSS 4) and more sophisticated capabilities for games. There weren't a lot of new smart glasses, but Halliday's stood out for the way they present information: Rather than on the screen, they have a tiny monochrome display that shows text. Read more: Commentary: The Smart Glasses Moment Is Here. But They're Still Missing Something Big The big AI news for cars at CES wasn't, for once, autonomininity: It was Volkswagen bringing ChatGPT to its voice assistant for more complex, natural-language help. Read more: Nvidia's CEO Explains How Its New AI Models Could Work on Future Smart Glasses One of CES' core pillars is entertainment (it used to be baked right into the name), which generally means TVs and audio. There weren't any new screen technologies, but there were improvements and innovations with existing ones. Tweaks to OLED came to TVs, with LG's G5 OLED's quality bump impressing us the most for its better brightness and contrast, along with HiSense's 116-inch MicroLED model. But the TV that seemed to make the biggest impact on us were Displace's hang-anywhere-thanks-to-huge-suction-cups TVs, shipping versions of prototypes we've seen in past years. I think its impact was partly due to the enormous opportunity for "suck" puns. There was the usual complement of gaming desktops, laptops and monitors, the latter offering the typical year upgrade to higher refresh rates (500Hz and 600Hz). But the biggest hit was Lenovo's new handheld console. The company is the first to offer (or at least announce) a SteamOS-based model, one of the new Legion G S models. Acer's Nitro Blaze 11 gaming handheld, however, earned some mockery, because you can't really respect a "handheld" if it's bigger than your head. Read more: Commentary: The Time for an Xbox Handheld Is Now But it was also kind of hard to sustain excitement about gaming hardware at CES this year, because of a shiny new thing possibly on the horizon. Rumors say the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming soon. Sometimes I think CES specializes in sleep, skin and smart rings, plus technology designed to make you feel like a loser -- so many smart mirrors, though none yet use generative AI to simulate your mother's critical voice or to show you what you could look like if you just tried harder. But maybe that's just me. There may not have been as many this year, but there were some standouts. Withing's Omnia smart mirror combines a scale and a mirror to not only tell you if you're overweight and in bad health, but to show you as well. There's always a device for analyzing your skin to tell you what to buy to fix it, such as L'Oreal's BioPrint. (To be fair, I don't know what it's suggestions are.) And, oh, the rings. One way to attract attention among the plethora of rings designed to monitor your health is to make it gold and platinum, like the UltraHuman Rare ring: Nothing's more romantic than a ring that says, "Marry me" and "Please don't die," simultaneously. Or alternatively, "Show me off on Instagram." Don't forget the annual dose of flatware that makes you healthier. This year's entrant is Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, intended to give you that salty taste without any of the nasty sodium -- by zapping your tongue with a bit of electricity. On the other hand, if they could do that for chocolate, I'd be first in line. And while the Nike x Hyperice's "boatlike booties are basically recovery high-tops festooned with buttons and designed to help your weary tootsies recover from soreness and strain," they sound pretty awesome. But there were some truly practical and innovative new products, like the Ozlo Sleepbuds, which stay in, are flush with your ears for side sleepers and have sensors and other tech to help improve the quality of your sleep. Our team also called out the YoctoMat, a smart yoga mat that provides feedback on your poses. And while I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as health or beauty, in the interest of hydration, the Roam SodaTop is a bottle cap with a CO2 cartridge so you can carbonate your water on the go. Home tech tends to cover a lot of bases, many of them robotic. No one really likes to vacuum, do laundry or mow the lawn like the AI-driven robot vacuums and lawnmower I mentioned above. Read more: Commentary I Really Don't Want an AI Pot to Turn My Plant Into a Tamagotchi From Hell Video smart locks seemed to be the focus of home security upgrades this year -- we call out Lockly's Vision Prestige and TCLs Smart Lock D1 Ultra -- providing more information than existing models. Notable, also, because someone breaking in doesn't use the video doorbell. Cooling and heating were hot as well, especially Samsung's DHS Mono R32 HT heat pump, which heats outside air, condenses it to water and feeds it to your water tank. As an apartment dweller, I'm partial to the Gradient All-Weather 120V Window Heat Pump, which supplies heat when the weather gets frosty. Cooling and heating go hand-in-hand with utility bills and power backup -- I was really intrigued by the BioLite, which provides battery backup for a couple of key appliances, like the refrigerator. And Savant's Smart Budget is designed to save you money by routing power automatically (and manually) to balance output, thereby potentially saving you the expense of rewiring your home to support new, power-sucking devices. Plus, Aqara introduced the Touchscreen Dial V1, a clever and useful dial that can control all your smart devices And lest we forget the bread-and-butter of small appliances. There are always plenty, though really it's the oddballs and gimmicks that catch more attention than the mundane. This year, we saw the phone-controlled Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Multi-Oven, the Apecoo tortilla and roti maker (food samples really seemed to attract us), LG's "Perfect Fancy Microwave for Social Media" with a 27-inch display and much, much more. The big deals for cars (and other things that tote people) tend to be new technologies and other future-flung concepts. BMW gave us panoramic IDrive with operating system X, a three-tier, ultra wide holographic 3D windshield display that's actually not too far out from your next BMW, and Hyundai Mobis holographic windshield display one-ups it by constraining the angle of view to the driver. We see flying cars at the show every year, but sadly we're no closer to me getting one. This year's concept-du-jour was the Xpeng AeroHT, a massive six-wheeler with an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle in its trunk. Aptera's solar EV isn't a flying car, but it really looks like it should have wings. The Pebble Flow Electric RV concept -- solar chargeable -- came back for a visit, as did Sony's Afeela, and the latter is ready for your money, if not delivery. Honda trotted out prototypes of its 0 series EVs (one step closer to reality than the concept we saw last year), a sports sedan and a van. See the new photos. But a new motor concept claims to vastly increase the range of EVs -- arguably more important than all the shiny paint and glowy dashboards. Another concept that appealed to me personally was Nanosys' next-gen MicroLED, dubbed UV LED, which uses ultraviolet light to energize RGB quantum dots to precise frequencies: Different lIght frequencies are how we perceive color. MicroLED may potentially supplant OLED in big screens and small. It somewhat upstaged Samsung's MicroLED watch concept with an uber-bright screen. Samsung also brought us a somewhat disturbing-looking stretchable screen for a 3D-ish view and a transparent MicroLED screen. Lenovo's concept ThinkBook with a rollable screen looks and gesture controls appear sleek. In a class by itself, the Flint Paper Battery claims to be a new, sustainable power source that may eventually replace lithium ion with cellulose. Finally, I will never forget Bridget Carey smuggling Gummy Worms in her shoe to test TSA's new scanner -- after complaining about the ick factor of shuffling our socks or bare soles across a floor that's had thousands of other shoes scrape across it. Gummy Worms in your shoe has a pretty high ick factor, too.

10 weirdest gadgets of CES 2025

Electric spoons, robot vacuums with a claw, brain-powered wristbands and more There's no better way to start the new year off right by checking out the latest devices and gadgets at CES in Las Vegas. From new gaming handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go S to the latest graphics cards from Nvidia's RTX 50-Series and all sorts of smart home devices and of course, bigger, brighter TVs, CES 2025 has been a busy week for Tom's Guide. While we checked out some awesome new products you can buy right now or will release later this year, we also came across some that are one of our favorites parts of CES. While we've already given out our best of CES 2025 awards, it's this weird and futuristic tech that has our imaginations running wild every year. Some of it might never make its way into an actual product while some of the weirdest gadgets do end up turning into actual products eventually Here's our list of the weirdest gadgets we saw at CES 2025. Wearables and keeping track of your health go hand in hand but what about for productivity? Well, the Mudra Link is a smart wristband that you can use to control your Android, macOS and Windows devices using your mind. Yes, you read that right. The first neural wristband lets you use Minority Report-style gestures to control your devices by reading your brain signals. And the best part, unlike the super expensive Apple Vision Pro, you'll be able to pick up the Mudra Link for just $199. The fun doesn't stop there though as Wearable Devices, the company behind the Mudra Link, is partnering with TCL so that you can use its wristband as a remote for smart glasses. During our time testing out the device, we played a virtual violin, pulled a face like a rubber band in multiple directions by waving our hand in the air and doing a pinch gesture and even sliced through multiple fruits in Fruit Ninja. Hand and gesture controls have the potential to change how we interact with all our devices but it will certainly be strange seeing someone use the Mudra Link out in public for the first time. Do you love your food being extra salty? Or maybe your doctor wants you to cut back on sodium but it's the one thing you just can't give up. Well, the Japanese beer company Kirin has you covered with the electric spoon it brought to CES this year. Officially known as the Kirin Electric Salt Spoon, this one-of-a-kind gadget uses a weak electric shock to make your food taste saltier. The idea being that you can use less salt but still get that same taste you're used to, at least if you're using Kirin's spoon. Once turned on, the Electric Salt Spoon has four levels of "saltiness" or in this case, electric current strengths. When our own Kate Kozuch tried it with a bowl of miso soup, she said that at the end of her spoonful, she "noticed a faint tinging" that did in fact make the soup taste saltier. Unlike some of the other gadgets we see at CES each year, this one is available to purchase right now. However, you'll need to travel to or buy it from Japan and this high-tech spoon will set you back $100. Rollable displays are nothing new but this year at CES, Lenovo showed off one in a laptop you'll actually be able to buy. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 is the world's first rollable laptop and with the push of a button or even a hand gesture, its 120Hz OLED display can grow from 15 inches to 16.7 inches. When fully extended, you can scroll through long pages or documents with ease but you can also have two apps right on top of each other. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 was one of the most impressive gadgets we saw at CES this year but it's also one of the weirdest. Imagine you were at a coffee shop and the person next to you's laptop suddenly started growing. This rollable laptop will certainly turn heads but since it starts at $3,499, I wouldn't expect to see too many of these out in public. Then again, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 could certainly come in handy for people who need that extra screen space but want to travel light and have the budget for it. Unlike the eVTOL Flying Car we saw last year at CES, the Land Aircraft Carrier from Xpeng isn't your typical flying car. Instead, it's a gigantic electric SUV (think Cybertruck) that just so happens to have an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) Air Module to go with it. Housed in the back of the vehicle, it folds out and from there, and you can take and fly for up to two hours on a charge. The Air Module has a max speed of 90km/hour (~55 mph) and when its battery runs out, you just put it back inside the Land Aircraft Carrier, which has enough power on board to recharge the flying module six times. What's probably the most exciting thing about this Transformer-like vehicle is that 3,000 intent orders have already come in and deliveries are expected to begin next year. In case you're wondering, what will effectively be the first flying car you can actually buy sells for just under $300,000. If you're one of the few people that actually liked the idea of Google Glass but never got to try it, the Halliday Smart Glasses just might be for you. Instead of AR though, these smart glasses use a near-eye display module to show you all sorts of useful information on the fly. From translation to notifications with instant replies and even real-time navigation, the Halliday Smart Glasses offer a more practical approach to smart glasses that you'll actually be able to buy. Every gadget seems to have an AI aspect to it these days but the proactive AI on these smart glasses almost feels like cheating at life. You can even have their built-in AI analyze the conversation you're currently having so that you can factcheck the person speaking to you. If one wearable wasn't enough, Halliday is also making a smart ring that lets you interact with its glasses and their menus without having to touch the controls on the side of their frame. The Halliday Smart Glasses will cost $489 when they launch this year. There were plenty of robots everywhere we turned at CES this year and then there was Tombot's Jennie. This robot dog stole our hearts immediately which makes sense as her behavior is based on that of a 12-week old labrador puppy and the company that created her had help from Jim Henson's Creature Shop to do so. Despite its cuteness, this robot dog isn't meant to replace our real furry pals anytime soon. Instead, Jennie was designed to be the perfect emotional support companion for the elderly as they can't take care of a live dog, not to mention the safety hazards of them doing so. Tombot's robot dog responds to voice commands, knows where and how she's being touched or petted and even wags her tail like a real dog. There's also a companion app to tweak her settings as well as to give this robot dog its own unique name. Imagine if your suitcase could suddenly transform into a multi-monitor workstation in seconds. That's the idea behind the Base Case which we got to check out in person at CES this year. Available in black or white, when opened up, this suitcase contains dual 24-inch displays and extendable 10-inch legs so that you can use your laptop underneath them. The monitors themselves have a 75Hz refresh rate, offer up to 350 nits of brightness and the whole setup weighs just 20 pounds. Base Case works with Windows and Mac with plenty of ports to connect your laptop including HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, Ethernet and even USB-A for your peripherals. In addition to the black and white versions we saw at CES, other color options are in the works too including yellow, pink and more. While pricing hasn't been announced for Base Case yet, this mobile workstation on wheels likely won't come cheap. Have you ever wanted to pick up playing guitar or become your own one-man band? If so, the LiberLive C1 could certainly scratch that itch. This smart stringless guitar is also foldable and at just 3.9 pounds, you can bring it with you to practice anywhere you go. At CES, our own Jason England rocked out by playing Radiohead's Creep to a small audience. For people starting out with their first instrument, the C1 is a great educational tool to get you playing guitar with each fret button playing a chord and the LED indicators on the neck indicating tempo and key. But where it gets weird -- in the best way possible -- is when you take things up a notch and stop thinking about this as just a guitar, but a digital music instrument. The MicroDAW sampling synthesis technology and ability to layer multiple custom instruments gives you huge creative versatility. Plus the on-board speaker system has plenty of bass and audio clarity to turn you into a one-man band party! Do you ever wish your robot vacuum could stop and pick up small obstacles in its way? Then the Roborock Saros Z70 might be just what you're looking for. Many robot vacuums now use AI to detect objects on the floor to avoid them, but this robot vacuum has a trick up its sleeve: an extendable arm with a claw at the end. This way, those socks lying on your floor won't get in the way of having a clean house. The Saros Z70 is the first of what will likely be a new breed of robot vacuums that are even more capable. However, there are some limitations to what its arm can pick up. With a maximum weight limit of 10.5 ounces (300 grams), it won't be able to pick up most shoes but it will probably be able to move a pair of flip flops out of the way. Expected to launch later this year in late spring or early summer, pricing hasn't been announced for the Saros Z70 yet but we wouldn't be surprised if it costs north of $1,000. If a neural wristband isn't your style, we also got to try a pair of brain-reading earbuds at CES. Unlike traditional earbuds though, the Naqi Neural Earbuds aren't for playing music. Instead they translate brain waves and micro-gestures like clenching your jaw or quickly moving your eyes from side to side into actions. In the demo we tried, we were able to turn a smart light across the room on or off by clenching our teeth and even change its color with a quick sideways glance. While we tried a wired pair of wired Naqi Neural Earbuds during our demo, the final version will be wireless. Likewise, Naqi Logix, the company behind them, also brought a new single earbud design we got to check out. While earbuds that let you control things using your mind might be a bit weird for most people, they do have a lot of potential in the accessibility space. Pricing for the Naqi Neural Earbuds or the single earbud version hasn't been announced yet but if they work as promised, they could be worth it, even with a high price tag. A gaming chair wrapped in RGB lights isn't that strange I'll admit but one with built-heating and cooling certainly is. That's exactly what Razer showed off at CES this year with its latest concept chair, Project Arielle. Building on the design of the Razer Fujin Pro, this chair has an integrated bladeless fan on the back that warms up the air around you by 35.6°F (2°C) or cools it down by up to 86°F (30°C). Since the chair Project Arielle is based on has an all-mesh design, the fan pushes out hot or cold air to keep you more comfortable while gaming. Both the temperature mode and fan speed are controlled by a touch-enabled controller on the side of the chair. Since this is a concept chair after all, it might never come to market. However, Razer's haptic feedback pad for your gaming chair was shown off at last year's CES and later became a real product, so there's hope if you want a gaming chair that can heat you up or cool you off. Have you ever watched a horror movie so good that it felt like the monster was coming right out of the screen at you? With Samsung's new Stretchable MicroLED display, it actually could. Even the small 6-inch screen version of this we saw at CES seriously impressed us but we're not quite sure if there are that many practical uses for this new display tech. In the demo we saw, a shark slowly swam towards us but when he got right up to the screen, it stretched out as if the deadly animal was coming through. To top this off, Samsung added a glass breaking animation with water spilling out at the very end to simulate a shark breaking through its enclosure at an aquarium. While you won't find this tech in your new TV anytime soon, we could see it being popular at museums, amusement parks and other places where an interactive display could utilize it. AI was in most of the products we saw at CES this year including this new concept car from LG. By using a combination of sensors, cameras and AI, the LG Vision AI Mobility Concept is able to keep tabs on your health and stress as well as provide you with a driving report that comes with a score. All of this cool or creepy tech is housed in a very high-tech looking yet not functional ride. The demo we saw at LG's booth had the car's cockpit with a screen in front of it simulating a drive through the mountains with the ocean in the background. As we started driving, the steering wheel began tracking our heart rate to see if we were stressed while the cameras mapped our posture to tell if we were distracted. At the end of our ride, we got a driving report along with an AI report and a health report. Insurance companies would love for something like this to become a reality instead of just a concept.

CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products you don't want to miss

The biggest week in tech is here: the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). ZDNET is on the ground in Las Vegas and also keeping a virtual eye on the products and concepts that debuted on the show all week long. Also: The best CES 2025 products you can buy right now So far, we've seen announcements from big names like Samsung, Abbott, and Dell, as well as new and innovative brands with cool concepts. Here's the tech gear that has impressed us the most as we approach the final days of the Las Vegas convention. TVs are always big at CES, and this year, the common thread among new TV models seems to be AI integrations. For example, Samsung's new lineup of TVs takes advantage of AI upscaling to make older content look better through HDR Remastering, which enhances standard dynamic range content to high dynamic range levels. LG's AI-powered TV technology includes features like AI-powered recommendations with voice recognition, an AI chatbot and AI search, and an LG AI Concierge that tracks your preferences alongside search history to provide contextual insights based on what's playing on your screen. Also: Every Samsung TV announced at CES 2025 Plus, Google is improving its TV experience by incorporating its Gemini AI into Google Assistant to converse with your Google TV and ask more complex questions. TCL unveiled its QM6K, which brings the company's Mini LED technology to its entry-level QLED TV at an aggressive price. This TV sports the kind of brightness, contrast, and color depth you'd typically find in a much more premium model from the big TV vendors. Also: TCL won the opening of CES 2025 with a great new TV you can actually pre-order But TCL is offering it starting at $999 for the 65-inch QM6K and you can even pre-order it today, a first at CES. But when you pre-order, TCL will also send you a Q75H 5.1.2 soundbar for free (an $899 retail value). TCL is also offering the 75-inch QM6K and the 85-inch models for sale this week. Not one but two over-the-counter glucose monitors debuted at CES on Tuesday to make glucose monitoring affordable and accessible for both diabetics and the general public. The one from Dexcom is targeted for those with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin (though people without diabetes can also use it) and attaches to your arm, tracking glucose levels 24/7. It also lasts up to 30 days and is connected to an app on your phone that delivers your readings. It's compatible with Android and iOS. Also: The best wearable tech we've seen at CES On the other hand, the Lingo device from Abbott is for anyone looking for more insight into their general health and wellness by tracking glucose spikes. It uses personalized data to offer suggestions and coaching on eating habits, stressors, and exercise through a companion app. It's limited to the iPhone. In what might be one of the best mobile accessories we've seen at CES so far, the Swippitt charges your smartphone in just two seconds. You simply insert your phone (with the compatible battery phone case on it) into the Hub, and your case battery gets swapped out for another fully charged 3,500mAh battery that should last you a full charge. Also: CES 2025: These 9 best mobile accessories have impressed us the most There are a total of five batteries inside the machine, so multiple people can use it back-to-back, and it works with a companion app that allows you to check your battery's percentages and control what percentage you want it to be charged to. You can also make reservations so that not every spare battery is taking before you urgently need one. In what's arguably the fastest-growing wearables category, smart ring maker Circular made a huge announcement at CES. Alongside new heart health monitoring like Atrial Fibrillation detection included within the ECG capability and improved sensors, smart ring buyers can now figure out their ring size without the need for a physical kit -- something no other smart ring brand has done so far. You can try on the Circular 2 via Digital Ring Sizing, which uses a smartphone's camera to determine a user's ring size. Also: One of my favorite smart rings is getting an 18K gold upgrade You know how you have to pick up clothes, toys, or other obstacles from your floor before running a robot vacuum? Well, Roborock has a solution: a robot vacuum with a mechanical arm that grabs small obstacles while it cleans. Also: This new robot mower looks to replace your traditional grass cutter The Roborock Saros Z70's mechanical arm uses OmniGrip technology to remove obstacles under 8 oz while it mops and vacuums your floors. The flagship model is set to debut during the first half of 2025, and we can't wait to try it out in our homes. Move over foldable phones--now there is a rollable laptop. We were impressed by Lenovo's 14-inch laptop with a "rollable" display that extends upwards over 16 inches. The expandable display is triggered by hitting a button on the keyboard, but it also responds by holding your palm out in front of the device, and then raising or lowering it will activate the display. Also: Intel's next-gen Core Ultra chips could set a new high standard for mobile computing in 2025 When we demoed this laptop in person, we were able to fit two browser windows of equal size on top of one another--making it comparable to working with an external monitor. CES is the place where unprecedented innovations make their entrance, and this year we're seeing the world's first 500W charger. Ugreen's Nexode 500W charger has six USB ports -- five USB-C and one USB-A port. There's one USB-C port that supports up to 240W, while the other four each offer up to 100W, and the USB-A has a maximum output of 20W. Also: What's better than a power bank doubling as a hotspot? Its low price Ugreen says this charger is "powerful enough even for large, power-hungry devices like e-bikes." You may know Movano Health for its Evie Ring, which launched last year, but today at CES, the company announced EvieAI, which is a wellness assistant located in the Evie app that users can consult for health information. What's unique about this AI tool is that it is trained on articles published in over 100,000 medical journals to improve the accuracy and complexity of responses. Also: I traveled 70,000+ miles last year for work - here's what's in my bag Movano says the wellness assistant can answer questions concerning symptoms, diseases, or procedures. Anyone with an Evie Ring can try out EvieAI in the app right now. Most smart glasses on the market today have the smart display built into the lens, but Halliday debuted smart glasses at CES with an "invisible display," that is, the display is integrated into the frame. What the company calls the world's smallest optical module provides wearers with a field of view similar to that of a 3.5-inch screen. You have to look up to see the display, which we actually found quite comfortable when we demoed these glasses in person. Also: CES 2025: The 7 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and loved And, of course, the glasses are suited with AI tech features, such as real-time translations in more than 40 languages, a teleprompter text, turn-by-turn navigations, and more. Smart home devices are about to get even smarter thanks to a few key collaborations we've seen at CES. First off, Ring and Kidde are pairing up to launch a new collection of smart smoke and combination detectors featuring Ring technology. When the alarms detect harmful levels of smoke or carbon monoxide (CO), you'll receive a notification through the Ring app. Also: The best smart home tech of CES 2025 In addition, Home Depot is throwing its hat in the ring of smart home tech with its new Hubspace devices, which will debut later this year. These new devices include a Remote Switch to control on/off functionality and brightness control for lights, as well as two Vissani AC units with smart climate control and customizable schedules and modes. TCL debuted two new devices that caught our eye and benefit your eyes. The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is a smartphone with Nxtpaper 3.0 display technology, which blocks blue light to promote visual comfort and reduce eye strain. And, of course, there's AI involved: the Smart Eye Comfort Mode and the Personalized Eye Comfort Mode adaptively configure the display's colors, brightness, and contrast levels based on the user's preference. The QM6K Mini LED TV is packed with features like precise dimming and brightness controls, a redesigned backlighting system to reduce the halo effect of images on screen, a new color optimization algorithm, and enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, which we are excited to test out. Monday seems to be the day dedicated to laptops, as we've so far seen announcements from HP, Dell, and Acer. HP's Elitebook series got an AI boost, and Dell nixed its XPS namesake to rebrand its entire portfolio into the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. These Dell models will, of course, feature AI capabilities alongside Wi-Fi 7 support and snappy performance. Also: These new Wi-Fi 7 adapters will keep your old laptop future-proof for years to come Meanwhile, Acer's lineup of devices is super versatile, thanks to their lightweight form factors and OLED displays. And gamers will appreciate MSI's CES announcement, which includes more than ten 18-inch laptops with new AMD processors and special edition designs. There have been a few smart lock announcements at CES this year, but we think the Ultraloq Bolt Mission smart lock is the most groundbreaking. Not only does it use ultra-bandwidth (UWB) technology to unlock your door hands-free as you approach it, but UWB also allows for precision tracking of approved devices that is highly accurate and more secure. Also: Do you need a smart doggy door? I wasn't convinced until I saw this at CES The lock also supports NFC devices--right now, just Androids, but the company plans to support Apple Home Key as well. Eclipsa Audio is Samsung and Google's answer to Dolby Atmos. One big difference in this new 3D audio format compared to Dolby Atmos is that it doesn't have licensing fees; it will be a free and open-source audio format. So far, the format is available only on Samsung's 2025 lineup of Crystal UHD to Neo QLED 8K TVs and its 2025 lineup of soundbars, but we're excited to hear it in person nonetheless.

Plenty of Copilot PCs But Where Were the EVs? The Top Takeaways From CES 2025

PCMag was on the ground in Las Vegas this week scouring the CES floor for the latest tech and newest gear. While there's been plenty of news, a handful of surprises, and plenty of delightful gimmicks, a few themes have emerged that paint a picture as the tech industry kicks off 2025. It looks like AI is here to stay, for instance, and so are smart laptops and much more. Here are some of the takeaways from CES that may define the rest of the year. AI In Everything AI continues to be one of the hottest categories at CES. It was only last year that AI first burst into the consumer tech scene. Online chatbots have been widely available since 2023, and at CES 2024, we saw some of the first standalone AI hardware products like the Rabbit r1 pocket companion. Since then, some of the largest tech companies (Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft) have deployed AI across their products in the form of improved personal assistants, built-in chatbots, and email-writing features. As evidenced by the announcements from CES 2025, AI is working its way even deeper into the tech products we may buy. AI is coming for your car. Honda showed off its 0 Series EVs, a sedan and an SUV slated for production in 2026. These electric vehicles will feature a new AI chip that will play a role in powering Level 3 self-driving. AI is coming for your TV, too. Both LG and Samsung have agreed to bring Microsoft's Copilot to their TVs, where it will help create personalized content recommendations. LG and Samsung claim adding the chatbot to their TVs will allow "users to efficiently find and organize complex information using contextual cues." Samsung isn't stopping there. The company showed off Vision AI, which it will use to port the AI features of your Galaxy smartphone to your TV. You'll get features like Click to Search and Live Translate, in addition to expanded smart home hub support and content recommendations. Let's not forget your refrigerator. Samsung says Vision AI will find a home in its high-end smart fridges. Qualcomm, too, has a vision for AI, but one that differs from LG and Samsung. The company hopes to use edge AI to handle more processing locally rather than in the cloud, which it says is faster and more secure. This will involve a chip made by Qualcomm and will appear in TVs and refrigerators first. AI voice assistants are also headed to your favorite fitness gear. Withings showed off a prototype AI-powered smart mirror called Omnia. It includes sensors that can gather data about your weight and metabolism and work with companion smart devices like smartwatches and smart rings to provide a more complete picture of your health. It can then make fitness recommendations and even share the data with your healthcare provider. Looking ahead, Nvidia unveiled Cosmos, an AI platform intended for cars and robots. Cosmos banks on the idea of adding training data to the models that support cars and robots. The expanded data may be able to help cars and robots make the decisions they'll need to be capable of making in the years ahead. Smart PCs Take Over If there was anything in big numbers at CES this year, it was fresh laptops, desktops, and more from PC makers -- all chock full of the latest CPUs and GPUs to herald the full arrival of the AI PC. Acer, Alienware, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, and others showed off a wide variety of machines for work and play. Lenovo made a huge splash at CES, starting with a big update to its Yoga devices. The Yoga 9i Slim is the company's top twisting laptop and you can be sure it's a Copilot+ PC with all of Windows 11's AU tools. The Yoga Book 9i is more affordable and drops Copilot. Lenovo also had a new ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition, the ThinkCentre Neo 500q with a Snapdragon chip, as well as the screen-stretching ThinkBook Plus Gen 6, with a rollable display. While it may not run Windows, Lenovo was sure to bring its gaming gear, including the Legion Go gaming handheld with SteamOS. Acer went all-in on Copilot. Its two new Copilot+ PC laptops include the Swift Go 16 AI and Swift Go 14 AI. Acer says the AMD chipset inside will allow the two Swift machines to run more AI tasks locally rather than in the cloud and will still push through all-day battery life. Razer is clearly gunning for Apple with its Razer Blade 16, which is significantly thinner than last year's model. It is banking on the AMD Ryzen AI to power Copilot. HP showed off two new Omen gaming machines, as well as a gaming desktop. By our count, at least half of the machines announced at CES support Copilot and are ready to bring AI to more people across a broader array of form factors and price points. PCs are prepped for the future. Budget phone maker TCL was one of the only companies to announce new devices. It gave us the 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G and the K32. The former is the more significant of the two, as it uses a Nxtpaper screen and can switch into Max Ink Mode, which allows for up to seven days of reading on the phone. Samsung avoided making mobile news in Las Vegas, but it still has stuff in the works. Ahead of the show, it debuted their ultra-affordable Galaxy A16 5G. More importantly, it plans to announce its flagship Galaxy S25 at a Galaxy Unpacked event on Jan. 22. Apple is always a CES no-show, but somewhat surprisingly, Google had little mobile-related news to share. We did get a couple of tablets, but nothing like the firehose of years past. TCL announced the Nxtpaper 11 Plus, an Android tablet that will be the first to use its Nxtpaper 4.0 tech. The latest iteration of Nxtpaper is notable for its adoption of AI to handle certain tasks. Lenovo debuted a trio of tablets, however, and they don't look half bad. The Yoga Tab Plus boasts a huge 12.7-inch screen, the Legion Tab is compact and focuses on gaming, while the Idea Tab Pro is an affordable model for the masses. Though CES was a bust for exciting mobile products, we expect to see more at Mobile World Congress later this year. Car Makers Hit the Brakes There was a period of several years during which CES threatened to become a car show. That's definitely not the case here in 2025. The bulk of carmakers -- including Ford, GM, Kia, Mercedes, and Volvo -- skipped the show. That's not to say there wasn't car-related tech news on hand, but it was limited to just a few companies. Most significantly, Honda showed off its prototype 0 Series EVs. The 0 Series Saloon and 0 Series SUV are an important step for Honda. Its current EV, the Prologue, may be selling well, but it's based on a shared battery platform with GM. The 0 Series EVs will be among the first from Honda to use its own battery platform. Moreover, the EVs will include heavy-duty processing powers for AI and Level 3 self-driving. The vehicles look futuristic, and prototypes often change significantly ahead of production, but Honda indicated that when the cars arrive in 2026, they will look largely like what we saw in Las Vegas. BMW was also on-site and previewed its dashboard of the future. Its Panoramic Drive UI, slated to appear in BMW's future Neue Klasse platform, strongly mimics what we're used to seeing on our smartphones. The UI includes three separate displays with a main display, a windshield-spanning info screen, and a heads-up display for the most critical details. Users will be able to customize the system to suit their needs and access BMW's Intelligent Personal Assistant. With little else to report, it's clear that carmakers are busy working behind the scenes on their next-generation tech, which isn't quite ready for the public to see. Smart Glasses Begin to Grow Up Smart glasses had a moment at CES. The nascent product category has moved forward in fits and starts over the last several years, but tech companies showed up with new wearables in force. Captify showed off a novel product: Smart glasses that can generate closed captions and display them on-screen for you to read during a live conversation. These specs are intended for those who are hard of hearing. Dual beamforming microphones pick up the speech of the person standing directly in front of you and tamp down the background din. Your connected phone does the heavy lifting to transcribe the text, but the glasses have a tiny projector that displays the text in green text in front of your eye. Captify's glasses can also translate speech between 40 different languages. The Xreal One Pro smart glasses are meant to expand your workspace. You connect them to your laptop, and the glasses use a spatial computing chip to project your workspace on the lenses with a 120Hz refresh rate. Halliday's smart glasses are powered by AI and work in a way similar to Meta's Ray-Bans. The display shows text-based information such as messaging, notifications, and translations. Rokid has its own Ray-Ban wannabee with a pair of glasses that include a 12MP camera for first-person photo and video capture. The Rokid's include a head-up feature with real-time mapping and testing, and an AI assistant is there to help. These and other ideas from smart glass makers suggest a sharp future. Up Next... With CES 2025 winding down, there's plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. We'll have new phones from Samsung on Jan. 22, new gear from Leica on Jan. 14, and Microsoft has teased a major Surface business announcement for Jan. 30. And that's just the first month of 2025!

CES 2025: The 10 most impressive products we've seen so far

The biggest week in tech is here: the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). ZDNET is on the ground in Las Vegas and also keeping a virtual eye on the products and concepts that debuted on the show's first day. Also: CES 2025: What to expect and how to watch So far, we've seen announcements from big names like Samsung, LG, and HP, as well as new and innovative brands with cool concepts. Here's the tech gear that has impressed us the most. TVs are always big at CES, and this year, the common thread among new TV models seems to be AI integrations. For example, Samsung's new lineup of TVs takes advantage of AI upscaling to make older content look better through HDR Remastering, which enhances standard dynamic range content to high dynamic range levels. LG's AI-powered TV technology includes features like AI-powered recommendations with voice recognition, an AI chatbot and AI search, and an LG AI Concierge that tracks your preferences alongside search history to provide contextual insights based on what's playing on your screen. Also: Every Samsung TV announced at CES 2025 Plus, Google is improving its TV experience by incorporating its Gemini AI assistant to converse with your Google TV without needing to say "Hey Google," and the ability to ask more complex questions. Eclipsa Audio is Samsung and Google's answer to Dolby Atmos. One big difference in this new 3D audio format compared to Dolby Atmos is that it doesn't have licensing fees; it will be a free and open-source audio format. So far, the format is available only on Samsung's 2025 lineup of Crystal UHD to Neo QLED 8K TVs and its 2025 lineup of soundbars, but we're excited to hear it in person nonetheless. Smart home devices are about to get even smarter thanks to a few key collaborations we've seen at CES. First off, Ring and Kiddie are pairing up to launch a new collection of smart smoke and combination detectors featuring Ring technology. When the alarms detect harmful levels of smoke or carbon monoxide (CO), you'll receive a notification through the Ring app. Also: Ecobee just launched a surprisingly affordable smart thermostat at CES 2025 In addition, Home Depot is throwing its hat in the ring of smart home tech with its new Hubspace devices, which will debut later this year. These new devices include a Remote Switch to control on/off functionality and brightness control for lights, as well as two Vissani AC units with smart climate control and customizable schedules and modes. In what's arguably the fastest-growing wearables category, smart ring maker Circular made a huge announcement at CES. Alongside new heart health monitoring like Atrial Fibrillation detection included within the ECG capability and improved sensors, smart ring buyers can now figure out their ring size without the need for a physical kit -- something no other smart ring brand has done so far. You can try on the Circular 2 via Digital Ring Sizing, which uses a smartphone's camera to determine a user's ring size. Also: One of my favorite smart rings is getting an 18K gold upgrade TCL debuted two new devices that caught our eye and benefit your eyes. The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is a smartphone with Nxtpaper 3.0 display technology, which blocks blue light to promote visual comfort and reduce eye strain. And, of course, there's AI involved: the Smart Eye Comfort Mode and the Personalized Eye Comfort Mode adaptively configure the display's colors, brightness, and contrast levels based on the user's preference. The QM6K mini LED TV is packed with features like precise dimming and brightness controls, a redesigned backlighting system to reduce the halo effect of images on screen, a new color optimization algorithm, and enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, which we are excited to test out. Monday seems to be the day dedicated to laptops, as we've so far seen announcements from HP, Dell, and Acer. HP's Elitebook series got an AI boost, and Dell nixed its XPS namesake to rebrand its entire portfolio into the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. These Dell models will, of course, feature AI capabilities alongside Wi-Fi 7 support and snappy performance. Also: Qualcomm set to bring fast Snapdragon X performance to mid-range laptops with new chipset Meanwhile, Acer's lineup of devices is super versatile, thanks to their lightweight form factors and OLED displays. Finally, we were impressed by Lenovo's 14-inch laptop with a "rollable" display that extends upwards over 16 inches. The expandable display is triggered by hitting a button on the keyboard, but it also responds by holding your palm out in front of the device, and then raising or lowering it will activate the display. Imagine approaching your front door, and it automatically unlocks without you having to do anything. That's exactly what Schlage debuted at CES Monday in the Sense Pro lock. The lock uses Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio signals and a paired device, such as a smartphone, to calculate speed, trajectory, and motion, unlocking the door as you reach for the handle. Also: Do you need a smart doggy door? I wasn't convinced until I saw this at CES The lock also supports Matter-over-Thread, meaning it can securely connect to your smart home network of devices. You know how you have to pick up clothes, toys, or other obstacles from your floor before running a robot vacuum? Well, Roborock has a solution: a robot vacuum with a mechanical arm that grabs small obstacles while it cleans. Also: This new robot mower looks to replace your traditional grass cutter The Roborock Saros Z70's mechanical arm uses OmniGrip technology to remove obstacles under 8 oz while it mops and vacuums your floors. The flagship model is set to debut during the first half of 2025, and we can't wait to try it out in our homes. Gamers will appreciate MSI's CES announcement, which includes more than ten 18-inch laptops with new AMD processors and special edition designs. For example, the 18-inch Titan HX AI has a chassis inscribed with shimmering old Norse runes, while the back features an illustration of dragon eyes. Also: Razer just announced its latest Blade 16 gaming laptop, and it's even thinner than before Other laptops in the lineup include dual fan setups, Wi-Fi 7 bandwidths, up to 240Hz displays, and up to 96GB of memory, to name a few of the standout features. TCL unveiled its QM6K, which brings the company's Mini LED technology to its entry-level QLED TV at an aggressive price. This TV sports the kind of brightness, contrast, and color depth you'd typically find in a much more premium model from the big TV vendors. Also: TCL won the opening of CES 2025 with a great new TV you can actually pre-order But TCL is offering it starting at $799 for the 65-inch QM6K and you can even pre-order it today, a first at CES. You may have to put it in your shopping cart to see the price drop from the retail price of $999 down to $799. But when you pre-order, TCL will also send you a Q75H 5.1.2 soundbar for free (an $899 retail value). TCL is also offering the 75-inch QM6K for $999 and the 85-inch for $1,499.

CES 2025: The 13 most impressive products so far

The biggest week in tech is here: the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). ZDNET is on the ground in Las Vegas and also keeping a virtual eye on the products and concepts that debuted on the show's first day. Also: The best CES 2025 products you can buy right now So far, we've seen announcements from big names like Samsung, Abbott, and Dell, as well as new and innovative brands with cool concepts. Here's the tech gear that has impressed us the most. TVs are always big at CES, and this year, the common thread among new TV models seems to be AI integrations. For example, Samsung's new lineup of TVs takes advantage of AI upscaling to make older content look better through HDR Remastering, which enhances standard dynamic range content to high dynamic range levels. LG's AI-powered TV technology includes features like AI-powered recommendations with voice recognition, an AI chatbot and AI search, and an LG AI Concierge that tracks your preferences alongside search history to provide contextual insights based on what's playing on your screen. Also: Every Samsung TV announced at CES 2025 Plus, Google is improving its TV experience by incorporating its Gemini AI into Google Assistant to converse with your Google TV and ask more complex questions. TCL unveiled its QM6K, which brings the company's Mini LED technology to its entry-level QLED TV at an aggressive price. This TV sports the kind of brightness, contrast, and color depth you'd typically find in a much more premium model from the big TV vendors. Also: TCL won the opening of CES 2025 with a great new TV you can actually pre-order But TCL is offering it starting at $999 for the 65-inch QM6K and you can even pre-order it today, a first at CES. But when you pre-order, TCL will also send you a Q75H 5.1.2 soundbar for free (an $899 retail value). TCL is also offering the 75-inch QM6K and the 85-inch models for sale this week. Not one but two over-the-counter glucose monitors debuted at CES on Tuesday to make glucose monitoring affordable and accessible for both diabetics and the general public. The one from Dexcom is targeted for those with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin (though people without diabetes can also use it) and attaches to your arm, tracking glucose levels 24/7. It also lasts up to 30 days and is connected to an app on your phone that delivers your readings. It's compatible with Android and iOS. Also: This AI mirror could track your weight, blood pressure, sleep, and more On the other hand, the Lingo device from Abbott is for anyone looking for more insight into their general health and wellness by tracking glucose spikes. It uses personalized data to offer suggestions and coaching on eating habits, stressors, and exercise through a companion app. It's limited to the iPhone. In what might be one of the best mobile accessories we've seen at CES so far, the Swippitt charges your smartphone in just two seconds. You simply insert your phone (with the compatible battery phone case on it) into the Hub, and your case battery gets swapped out for another fully charged 3,500mAh battery that should last you a full charge. Also: Anker debuts first wall charger with a display and new TSA-certified power bank There are a total of five batteries inside the machine, so multiple people can use it back-to-back, and it works with a companion app that allows you to check your battery's percentages and control what percentage you want it to be charged to. You can also make reservations so that not every spare battery is taking before you urgently need one. In what's arguably the fastest-growing wearables category, smart ring maker Circular made a huge announcement at CES. Alongside new heart health monitoring like Atrial Fibrillation detection included within the ECG capability and improved sensors, smart ring buyers can now figure out their ring size without the need for a physical kit -- something no other smart ring brand has done so far. You can try on the Circular 2 via Digital Ring Sizing, which uses a smartphone's camera to determine a user's ring size. Also: One of my favorite smart rings is getting an 18K gold upgrade You know how you have to pick up clothes, toys, or other obstacles from your floor before running a robot vacuum? Well, Roborock has a solution: a robot vacuum with a mechanical arm that grabs small obstacles while it cleans. Also: This new robot mower looks to replace your traditional grass cutter The Roborock Saros Z70's mechanical arm uses OmniGrip technology to remove obstacles under 8 oz while it mops and vacuums your floors. The flagship model is set to debut during the first half of 2025, and we can't wait to try it out in our homes. Move over foldable phones--now there is a rollable laptop. We were impressed by Lenovo's 14-inch laptop with a "rollable" display that extends upwards over 16 inches. The expandable display is triggered by hitting a button on the keyboard, but it also responds by holding your palm out in front of the device, and then raising or lowering it will activate the display. Also: Intel's next-gen Core Ultra chips could set a new high standard for mobile computing in 2025 When we demoed this laptop in person, we were able to fit two browser windows of equal size on top of one another--making it comparable to working with an external monitor. CES is the place where unprecedented innovations make their entrance, and this year we're seeing the world's first 500W charger. Ugreen's Nexode 500W charger has six USB ports -- five USB-C and one USB-A port. There's one USB-C port that supports up to 240W, while the other four each offer up to 100W, and the USB-A has a maximum output of 20W. Also: Satechi's new MagSafe accessories charge all your mobile devices on the go Ugreen says this charger is "powerful enough even for large, power-hungry devices like e-bikes." Smart home devices are about to get even smarter thanks to a few key collaborations we've seen at CES. First off, Ring and Kidde are pairing up to launch a new collection of smart smoke and combination detectors featuring Ring technology. When the alarms detect harmful levels of smoke or carbon monoxide (CO), you'll receive a notification through the Ring app. Also: Ecobee just launched a surprisingly affordable smart thermostat at CES 2025 In addition, Home Depot is throwing its hat in the ring of smart home tech with its new Hubspace devices, which will debut later this year. These new devices include a Remote Switch to control on/off functionality and brightness control for lights, as well as two Vissani AC units with smart climate control and customizable schedules and modes. TCL debuted two new devices that caught our eye and benefit your eyes. The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is a smartphone with Nxtpaper 3.0 display technology, which blocks blue light to promote visual comfort and reduce eye strain. And, of course, there's AI involved: the Smart Eye Comfort Mode and the Personalized Eye Comfort Mode adaptively configure the display's colors, brightness, and contrast levels based on the user's preference. The QM6K Mini LED TV is packed with features like precise dimming and brightness controls, a redesigned backlighting system to reduce the halo effect of images on screen, a new color optimization algorithm, and enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, which we are excited to test out. Monday seems to be the day dedicated to laptops, as we've so far seen announcements from HP, Dell, and Acer. HP's Elitebook series got an AI boost, and Dell nixed its XPS namesake to rebrand its entire portfolio into the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. These Dell models will, of course, feature AI capabilities alongside Wi-Fi 7 support and snappy performance. Also: Qualcomm set to bring fast Snapdragon X performance to mid-range laptops with new chipset Meanwhile, Acer's lineup of devices is super versatile, thanks to their lightweight form factors and OLED displays. And gamers will appreciate MSI's CES announcement, which includes more than ten 18-inch laptops with new AMD processors and special edition designs. Imagine approaching your front door, and it automatically unlocks without you having to do anything. That's exactly what Schlage debuted at CES Monday in the Sense Pro lock. The lock uses Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio signals and a paired device, such as a smartphone, to calculate speed, trajectory, and motion, unlocking the door as you reach for the handle. Also: Do you need a smart doggy door? I wasn't convinced until I saw this at CES The lock also supports Matter-over-Thread, meaning it can securely connect to your smart home network of devices. Eclipsa Audio is Samsung and Google's answer to Dolby Atmos. One big difference in this new 3D audio format compared to Dolby Atmos is that it doesn't have licensing fees; it will be a free and open-source audio format. So far, the format is available only on Samsung's 2025 lineup of Crystal UHD to Neo QLED 8K TVs and its 2025 lineup of soundbars, but we're excited to hear it in person nonetheless.

The Best Products We Saw at CES 2025

CES 2025 presented us with big innovations, outrageous concepts, and impressive solutions to everyday problems. This year, the CNET Group -- made up of sibling sites CNET, ZDNET, PCMag, Mashable and Lifehacker -- teamed up with the CTA as the official media partner of the Best of CES Awards. Staff experts and editors weighed in, and from those discussions, we've chosen the top products and services at CES and awarded them with the official distinction of Best of CES. To be eligible for this award, the product or service needs to be an exhibitor at CES 2025, and meet one of the following criteria: CES 2025 was packed with AI tech, but Nvidia Cosmos wins in our book, since it might be what the next big things in AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicles are powered by. Cosmos takes 3D models of spaces in the real world, and, through generative AI, turns them into photo-realistic videos to train robots and self-driving cars. It solves a big problem with AI training data: Traditionally, robots require a huge amount of training data to continuously improve. Cosmos, however, can generate that training data with AI, continuously feeding the training sets for new products. Cosmos will likely run best on Nvidia chips, but the company wants to open-source the code and put it on Github. Honda's futuristic 0 Series SUV and Sedan are nearly here. The company plans to release these vehicles in North America by 2026, and will be made on Honda's new battery platform in Ohio. If you pick one up, you should expect to be able to charge up your car in 10 to 15 minutes. 0 Series runs Honda's ASIMO OS on a new AI chip, with the end goal of powering Level 3 self-driving. The 0 Series we saw at CES should be pretty close to what Honda releases, unlike some of the other prototype designs shown off. We don't know how much it will cost, but we're excited about where Honda is going with its EV program. The Asus Zenbook A14's 2.2-pound design makes it obviously portable, but Asus manages to add a 30 hour-long battery life and some extra features to the package. The Ceraluminum chassis is durable (from the aluminum) and scratch-resistant (from the ceramic), not to mention 100% recyclable. The laptop ships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip, which makes it a Copilot+ PC. You can expect AI features like summarization, text generation, photo editing, and using natural language to search for media. This Zenbook comes with both USB-C and HDMI 2.1, as well as fun tap-and-slide controls for volume, brightness, and track selection. The OLED display impressed our team, and the whole package seems fairly priced at $1,099 (X Elite), or $899 for the X Plus (coming in March). The LG G5 was the TV that impressed us most at this year's CES, and is the front-runner for the highest quality TV of 2025. Its OLED display is 40% brighter for 2025, with better contrast in bright lighting when compared to the G4 -- one of our favorites of 2024. The remote is improved, while the TV keeps the gallery design that makes it look nearly bezel-less. You might be temped by the M5 wireless TV, as it has the same quality display, but that wireless tech makes it much more expensive. The Roborock Saros Z70 is a vacuum-mop hybrid, but it can do a lot more than that. Thanks to a new mechanical arm, the bot can pick up and put away socks off the floor. Plus, it's no prototype: The Saros Z70 will be available to consumers in April. Its vacuum has 22,000 Pa of suction power, which makes it among the most powerful robovacs out there. That won't come cheap: This model costs about $2,000. But our hope is it starts a trend where we see less expensive models hit the market. Have you ever seen a battery made out of paper before? Flint brought one it made to CES -- a more sustainable, scalable, and affordable alternative to lithium-ion batteries. It all comes down to cellulose, which lets ions transfer between the node and cathode of the battery. Better yet, the battery can be sized down to just about whatever size you need, such as a coin battery or the strap of a smartwatch. When you're finished with them, they don't end up in a landfill: They decompose in six weeks. Like many PC handheld consoles, the Lenovo Legion Go S runs Windows 11. But what makes this model stand out is the other operating system it is compatible with: Valve's SteamOS. That makes it the only non-Valve portable to run this OS, making it a true Steam Deck competitor. It sadly doesn't have the detachable controllers of the Legion Go, and has a smaller lower-res display, but it has a lot else going for it: two USB-4 port on top of the console, Hall Effect joysticks to prevent drifting, and an interior that better supports upgrading the storage. This will be the least expensive Legion Go device when it launches in May, at $600. Ozlo's Sleepbuds impressed us by not only offering comfortable earbuds for sleeping, but ones that can potentially enhance the quality of your sleep as well. The Sleepbuds are designed to be flush with your ear, which means you can sleep on your side without feeling them pressing into you. The design also prevents them from falling out of your ear. In addition, the Sleepbuds have a number of slumber-specific perks, including biometric sensors in the earbuds that can track your sleep, sensors in the case that can identify potential sleep interruptions in your room, an in-ear alarm that won't wake up a sleeping partner, and 10-hour battery life, so you won't wake up to a dead battery notification. You can even play sound directly from the Sleepbuds without connecting to another Bluetooth device, which means you don't have to look at your phone before going to bed. They earn an official Best of CES award this year for wellness tech. If you have a brand new smartphone -- say, an iPhone 16 or Google Pixel 9 -- you may have access to satellite communications, which lets you contact emergency services and other contacts when there's no cellular signal available. For most of us, however, these features don't exist on our phones, and if reception goes down, we're out of luck. HMD's new OffGrid accessory aims to fix this: With a $200 dongle, you can send texts and contact emergency services on any iPhone or Android device. However, you'll also need to subscribe to the monthly service, which runs $80 per year. The Ultraloq Bolt Mission is the first smart lock on the market that supports ultra-wideband technology. With that, the lock can sense within inches when you're approaching the door, whether you're approaching from inside or outside your home, and can unlock without you having to touch the lock at all. If that fails for whatever reason, it has NFC for tap-to-unlock, a keypad, and a traditional key. It's protected by 128-bit AES data encryption, IP65 weather resistance, BHMA Level 1-certified durability, and it supports wifi, Matter, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung SmartThings. Plus, you only need to worry about changing the battery once a year. The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon generated quite a bit of attention at CES this year. The idea is this: The spoon sends an electric current to your tongue to create the illusion that your food tastes saltier. In theory, it's a great concept, and could enable people who need to cut down on their sodium levels to enjoy food as they wish to. However, our team experienced mixed results with the spoon. Hopefully by the time it's available in the United States, things will be more consistent. While plenty of tech this year impressed us, the overall winner had to be Nvidia Cosmos. Cosmos is actively solving a problem with how robots can continue improving, and we expect it to power the next big things in tech. Nvidia is already partnering with Toyota to build next-generation self-driving cars, showing that the industry sees the potential here as well.

CES 2025: The 22 most impressive products you don't want to miss

The biggest week in tech is here: the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). ZDNET is on the ground in Las Vegas and also keeping a virtual eye on the products and concepts that debuted at the show all week long. Also: The Best of CES 2025 awards are in, as selected by ZDNET and the rest of CNET Group So far this week, we've seen announcements from big names like Samsung, Abbott, and Dell, as well as new and innovative brands with cool concepts. Here's the tech gear that has impressed us the most as we approach the final days of the Las Vegas convention. Most smart glasses on the market today have the smart display built into the lens, but Halliday debuted smart glasses at CES with an "invisible display," that is, the display is integrated into the frame. What the company calls the world's smallest optical module provides wearers with a field of view similar to that of a 3.5-inch screen. You have to look up to see the display, which we actually found quite comfortable when we demoed these glasses in person. Also: CES 2025: The 7 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and loved And, of course, the glasses are suited with AI tech features, such as real-time translations in more than 40 languages, a teleprompter text, turn-by-turn navigations, and more. TCL unveiled its QM6K, which brings the company's Mini LED technology to its entry-level QLED TV at an aggressive price. This TV sports the kind of brightness, contrast, and color depth you'd typically find in a much more premium model from the big TV vendors. Also: TCL won the opening of CES 2025 with a great new TV you can actually pre-order But TCL is offering it starting at $999 for the 65-inch QM6K and you can even pre-order it today, a first at CES. But when you pre-order, TCL will also send you a Q75H 5.1.2 soundbar for free (an $899 retail value). TCL is also offering the 75-inch QM6K and the 85-inch models for sale this week. While you may not think about wearing headphones while you're sleeping, these Ozlo Sleepbuds could change your mind, and they happen to be the official pick for the Best of CES in Wellness. Not only are they super comfortable (even for side sleepers), but in our hands-on testing, they did a fantastic job at blocking out outdoor noises. Also: Audio-Technica is turning the tables with new earbuds offering 65 hours of playback In addition, the accompanying app provides 10 different sleep sounds (or masking sounds) you can sort through, an earbud alarm can wake you up from your slumber, and a sleep timer shuts the buds down after a certain amount of time to save battery. In what might be one of the best mobile accessories we've seen at CES so far, the Swippitt charges your smartphone in just two seconds. You simply insert your phone (with the compatible battery phone case on it) into the Hub, and your case battery gets swapped out for another fully charged 3,500mAh battery that should last you a full charge. Also: CES 2025: These 9 best mobile accessories have impressed us the most There are a total of five batteries inside the machine, so multiple people can use it back-to-back, and it works with a companion app that allows you to check your battery's percentages and control what percentage you want it to be charged to. You can also make reservations so that not every spare battery is taking before you urgently need one. TVs are always big at CES, and this year, the common thread among new TV models seems to be AI integrations. For example, Samsung's new lineup of TVs takes advantage of AI upscaling to make older content look better through HDR Remastering, which enhances standard dynamic range content to high dynamic range levels. LG's AI-powered TV technology includes features like AI-powered recommendations with voice recognition, an AI chatbot and AI search, and an LG AI Concierge that tracks your preferences alongside search history to provide contextual insights based on what's playing on your screen. Also: Every Samsung TV announced at CES 2025 Plus, Google is improving its TV experience by incorporating its Gemini AI into Google Assistant to converse with your Google TV and ask more complex questions. You know how you have to pick up clothes, toys, or other obstacles from your floor before running a robot vacuum? Well, Roborock has a solution: a robot vacuum with a mechanical arm that grabs small obstacles while it cleans. Also: This new robot mower looks to replace your traditional grass cutter The Roborock Saros Z70's mechanical arm uses OmniGrip technology to remove obstacles under 8 oz while it mops and vacuums your floors. The flagship model is set to debut during the first half of 2025, and we can't wait to try it out in our homes. Move over foldable phones--now there is a rollable laptop. We were impressed by Lenovo's 14-inch laptop with a "rollable" display that extends upwards over 16 inches. The expandable display is triggered by hitting a button on the keyboard, but it also responds by holding your palm out in front of the device, and then raising or lowering it will activate the display. Also: The best CES 2025 products you can buy right now When we demoed this laptop in person, we were able to fit two browser windows of equal size on top of one another--making it comparable to working with an external monitor. While just a concept for now, we couldn't get enough of Samsung's Micro LED stretchable screen. The Las Vegas Sphere and a great white shark literally pushed out of the 7x5-inch screen, creating a 3D effect like never before. Also: The best TVs of CES 2025 Aside from just being a really cool concept, we could see this type of technology aiding in accessibility features or applying to infotainment systems in cars. The Nuance Audio hearing glasses have six microphones scattered across the frames to capture sound, with speakers sitting above the ear to directly amplify the audio. When we demoed these, we noticed the microphones have two modes to either help you focus on a person speaking or you can amplify all the noises around you -- depending on what you want to hear. Also: CES 2025: The 7 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and loved You can adjust the volume levels and noise-tracking in a companion app, and they even have an eight-hour battery life. Nvidia's Project Digits PC promises to be a a Linux-powered desktop for AI developers. With the starting price of $3,000, it's not for the average user, but it has impressive specs like an ARM-based Grace CPU featuring 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725 cores (20 cores total), 128GB of memory, and AI models of up to 200B parameters -- that's data center-level performance in one single desktop. Also: The best laptops of CES 2025 Looking to curb your sodium intake in 2025? The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon allows for the taste of salt without the extra calories. It essentially sends electricity from the spoon to your tongue to give you the sensation of saltiness instead of adding actual salt to your dish. We didn't get to try this one out ourselves (because hygiene), but when we talked to CES goers who had used the spoon, they said it did actually work in adding a salt flavor. CES is the place where unprecedented innovations make their entrance, and this year we're seeing the world's first 500W charger. Ugreen's Nexode 500W charger has six USB ports -- five USB-C and one USB-A port. There's one USB-C port that supports up to 240W, while the other four each offer up to 100W, and the USB-A has a maximum output of 20W. Also: What's better than a power bank doubling as a hotspot? Its low price Ugreen says this charger is "powerful enough even for large, power-hungry devices like e-bikes." You may know Movano Health for its Evie Ring, which launched last year, but today at CES, the company announced EvieAI, which is a wellness assistant located in the Evie app that users can consult for health information. What's unique about this AI tool is that it is trained on articles published in over 100,000 medical journals to improve the accuracy and complexity of responses. Also: I traveled 70,000+ miles last year for work - here's what's in my bag Movano says the wellness assistant can answer questions concerning symptoms, diseases, or procedures. Anyone with an Evie Ring can try out EvieAI in the app right now. Smart home devices are about to get even smarter thanks to a few key collaborations we've seen at CES. First off, Ring and Kidde are pairing up to launch a new collection of smart smoke and combination detectors featuring Ring technology. When the alarms detect harmful levels of smoke or carbon monoxide (CO), you'll receive a notification through the Ring app. Also: The best smart home tech of CES 2025 In addition, Home Depot is throwing its hat in the ring of smart home tech with its new Hubspace devices, which will debut later this year. These new devices include a Remote Switch to control on/off functionality and brightness control for lights, as well as two Vissani AC units with smart climate control and customizable schedules and modes. While smart rings are usually reserved for tracking health data, this innovative smart ring we stumbled upon at CES lets you control things by pointing at them. The Lotus system consists of a ring with a button and switch covers, and when the button is pressed, the switch is turned on as you point at the object (compatible devices include lights, fans, AC units, or TVs). While the Bebird EarSight Flow might look like the average pair of over-ear headphones, but it's actually an advanced ear cleaner. It uses small pods and spouts of water to shoot water into your ears to clean them gently. The spout includes a camera, and users can download the companion app to watch the EarSight Flow clean their ears in real time. Using an intelligent warming system, the headphones can even dry your ears. Also: The best audio gear of CES 2025 TCL debuted two new devices that caught our eye and benefit your eyes. The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is a smartphone with Nxtpaper 3.0 display technology, which blocks blue light to promote visual comfort and reduce eye strain. And, of course, there's AI involved: the Smart Eye Comfort Mode and the Personalized Eye Comfort Mode adaptively configure the display's colors, brightness, and contrast levels based on the user's preference. The QM6K Mini LED TV is packed with features like precise dimming and brightness controls, a redesigned backlighting system to reduce the halo effect of images on screen, a new color optimization algorithm, and enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, which we are excited to test out. Monday seems to be the day dedicated to laptops, as we've so far seen announcements from HP, Dell, and Acer. HP's Elitebook series got an AI boost, and Dell nixed its XPS namesake to rebrand its entire portfolio into the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. These Dell models will, of course, feature AI capabilities alongside Wi-Fi 7 support and snappy performance. Also: These new Wi-Fi 7 adapters will keep your old laptop future-proof for years to come Meanwhile, Acer's lineup of devices is super versatile, thanks to their lightweight form factors and OLED displays. And gamers will appreciate MSI's CES announcement, which includes more than ten 18-inch laptops with new AMD processors and special edition designs. There have been a few smart lock announcements at CES this year, but we think the Ultraloq Bolt Mission smart lock is the most groundbreaking. Not only does it use ultra-bandwidth (UWB) technology to unlock your door hands-free as you approach it, but UWB also allows for precision tracking of approved devices that is highly accurate and more secure. Also: Do you need a smart doggy door? I wasn't convinced until I saw this at CES The lock also supports NFC devices--right now, just Androids, but the company plans to support Apple Home Key as well. In what's arguably the fastest-growing wearables category, smart ring maker Circular made a huge announcement at CES. Alongside new heart health monitoring like Atrial Fibrillation detection included within the ECG capability and improved sensors, smart ring buyers can now figure out their ring size without the need for a physical kit -- something no other smart ring brand has done so far. You can try on the Circular 2 via Digital Ring Sizing, which uses a smartphone's camera to determine a user's ring size. Also: One of my favorite smart rings is getting an 18K gold upgrade Not one but two over-the-counter glucose monitors debuted at CES on Tuesday to make glucose monitoring affordable and accessible for both diabetics and the general public. The one from Dexcom is targeted for those with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin (though people without diabetes can also use it) and attaches to your arm, tracking glucose levels 24/7. It also lasts up to 30 days and is connected to an app on your phone that delivers your readings. It's compatible with Android and iOS. Also: The best wearable tech we've seen at CES On the other hand, the Lingo device from Abbott is for anyone looking for more insight into their general health and wellness by tracking glucose spikes. It uses personalized data to offer suggestions and coaching on eating habits, stressors, and exercise through a companion app. It's limited to the iPhone. Eclipsa Audio is Samsung and Google's answer to Dolby Atmos. One big difference in this new 3D audio format compared to Dolby Atmos is that it doesn't have licensing fees; it will be a free and open-source audio format. So far, the format is available only on Samsung's 2025 lineup of Crystal UHD to Neo QLED 8K TVs and its 2025 lineup of soundbars, but we're excited to hear it in person nonetheless.

CES 2025 day 1: the 11 best gadgets we've seen, from Samsung's new flagship OLED TV to the Garmin Instinct 3

CES 2025 doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow (January 7), but with the world's biggest tech show now open to the media there's already been a wave of big announcements - and we've rounded up the best so far below. Whether you're calling today 'day zero' or 'day one' of CES 2025, the most important thing is that we're already seeing some major announcements that'll shape the tech world this year. As always, TVs are a major theme of the show, with both Samsung and LG duking it out with their flagship OLED TV lineups. But we've also seen some exciting arrivals in the world of wearables, with the Garmin Instinct 3 breaking cover and some intriguing new eyewear called the Halliday Smart Glasses. Naturally, there's some weirder stuff on show too, from robot vacuums with retractible arms to strange, furry robots that may well haunt our nightmares. For a first look at some of the most intriguing tech we've found so far, read on for all of our highlights from day one (or day zero) of CES 2024. Smart glasses that don't look like smart glasses are going to be one of the big trends of CES 2025 - and the most intriguing ones we've tried so far are Halliday's attempt at "proactive AI eyewear". You can't tell by looking at these classic-looking spectacles, but the Hallidays pack in a lot of tech - most notably, a tiny Digi Window microdisplay. To the wearer's eye, that screen looks like a 3.5-inch monochrome display, and it means the glasses can act like an all-knowing AI sidekick. For example, Halliday's AI agent can (with your permission, of course) listen to conversations and answer questions during meetings, or do live translation when you're traveling. There's also turn-by-turn navigation, a teleprompter mode and voice control on board - with the smart glasses due to land in the first few months of 2025. The biggest sports watch news of CES 2025 may have already landed in the form of Garmin's new Instinct 3, which looks like being ideal for extreme adventurers. The Instinct series are Garmin's range of super-tough sports watches and this third model has a new AMOLED display. That screen will apparently give you up to 24 days of battery life, which should last you for most trips - including those where you get hopelessly lost. With solar charging and an enormous list of health-monitoring features, including advanced sleep monitoring, the Instinct 3 is highly tempting new timepiece for outdoorsy types - and you can order one from January 10. We named the Samsung S95D as our 'TV of the year' in 2024 and the tech giant has just announced its successor at CES 2025 - with some impressive new Glare Free 2.0 tech. The Samsung S95F has lots of AI-powered features including Upscaling Pro, but the one we've been most impressed with in person is its ability to overcome screen reflections from lamps and other light sources. Previously, this mode came with a slightly annoying side effect, namely blacks that looked more like dark gray when viewed in bright rooms. But Glare Free 2.0 on the S95F appears to have fixed that, and the mode is also coming to Samsung's flagship 8K and 4K mini-LED TVs for 2025, too. If you recently rediscovered your old iPod in a drawer and wistfully longed for the simple charms of portable audio players, the new FiiO JM21 could be for you. Not only is his pocketable, hi-res audio player a fine-looking musical sidekick, it's also impressively priced at $149 / £139 (around AU$277), considering its specs. You get 32GB of internal storage (expandable to 2TB via microSD card) and it has a 4.7-inch display. Because it's aimed at audiophiles who'd rather stick hot pins in their ears than listen to 16-bit files, you can also use it as a DAC with Mac or Windows computers, with support for sampling rates up to 384kHz/32-bit. Ah, that's better. If you've decided that 2025 is going to be the year you finally get a smart ring, the new Circular Ring 2 could be a contender for your shortlist. While rivals like the Oura Ring 4 and Samsung Galaxy Ring beat the original model in our guide to the best smart rings, the Circular Ring 2 brings two intriguing new features. Firstly, it uses an app to calculate your ring size, which should spell an end for those clunky plastic sizing kits. In another first, the smart ring also has an Atrial Fibrillation detection algorithm that's been approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The Circular Ring 2 will launch in a crowdfunding campaign later this month, with the price expected to be $380 (around £300 / AU$600) and shipping tipped to start in March. Robot vacuums have learned a number of new tricks over the years, but the Roborock Saros Z70 has our favorite one for a while - a robo-arm that can tidy your space before it commences cleaning. We got a preview of its OmniGrip 1.0 arm, which hides beneath a mysterious hatch, and branded it "absolutely mesmerizing". Your cat needn't worry, because you can specify the objects that the S70 can clear away with its arm and pincer. Once you've decided those, it'll pick them up and move them to a new location (with a disappointed sigh, we like to think). You'll be able to buy Roborock's helpful robo-vac sometime before the end of June, with pricing yet to be announced. Buying a MagSafe power bank for your iPhone is a perfectly sensible investment, but if you want one that does more than just top up your juice, then the Stage PowerGrip could be for you. This charming little accessory packs both a 10,000mAh battery (enough to charge an iPhone at least one-and-a-half times) and also gives you a much better grip for taking landscape photos, which you can do with its built-in shutter button. With the ability to act as a stand for holding your iPhone in landscape or portrait orientation, the PowerGrip could be one of our favorite accessories from CES 2025. It's landing in May for an undisclosed price. Yes, it's January, which means our thoughts are reluctantly turning towards ways we can restore our pre-Christmas fitness. We could just go running, but that's not quite as exciting as shelling out for Amp, a smart strength machine that genuinely looks like it could be the next Peloton. A highly adjustable cable machine with a camera and a companion app, the Amp attached to a wall in your house and adapts workouts in real-time - for example, becoming more resistant as you reach the peak of your movement, like resistance bands. With workouts, challenges and leaderboards to tap your competitive side, we're looking forward (in some ways) to being put through our paces by the Amp Fitness machine. It's available for pre-order now for $1,795 (or round £1,450 / AU$2,900). Not everyone has small, neat lawns that are easy for the average lawnbot to get around. If you have a big yard that's packed with obstacles and slopes, you may be relieved to see the arrival of the Lymow One. Launching at CES 2025 following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Lymow looks a bit like a gardening-mad ED-209, only it's far more adaptable on tricky terrain. It can apparently cover up to five times as much lawn as rival models (up to 1.73 acres each day), while clearing two-inch high obstacles and making light work or 45-degree inclines. The Lymow One is expected to be delivered to gardens from April for $2,999 (around £2,400 / AU$4,800). At last year's CES 2024 show, we saw XGIMI cleverly hide a projector in a ceiling light - and this year LG has taken the baton and launched a 3-in-1 combo of a projector, standing lamp and speaker. The LG PF600U's pole design means it can serve as your light source and Bluetooth speaker, but it has decent projector chops too. It can manage 1080p Full HD resolution images with 300 ANSI lumens of brightness, and can project from 30 to 120 inches. If you want to use it with streaming services, there's also LG's built-in webOS interface to help with that. We don't yet have pricing or a release date, but we're looking forward to auditioning it at CES 2025. Okay, we haven't actually seen the Withings Omnia smart mirror in-person at CES 2025, because it's currently just a concept. But we wanted to include it here anyway as it's a compelling vision of where health tech is going. Because this smart, AI-powered mirror is connected to other Withings gadgets, it promises to give you a full health assessment (as well as showing you how haggard you look in the mornings). In theory, the Omnia should be able to give you feedback on almost anything to do with your heart health, and will display stats on-screen alongside feedback from an AI assistant. There's no price or release date yet, but given Withings' track record we're hopeful that it'll become reality in the not-too-distant future. No CES is complete without a strange, furry robot - and CES 2025 has duly obliged with the Yukai Engineering Mirumi, which we've called the "strangest thing" we've ever seen at the tech show. This "mascot robot" attaches to your bag and, for some reason, "spontaneously turns its head to steal a glance at a nearby person". For something so innocent-looking, it has a surprising amount of tech inside, including sensors to notice people and a motorized head. Why would you want it? We're still not quite sure, but we're expecting one to be clinging to our luggage as we try to leave Las Vegas at the end of the show.

8 mind-blowing gadgets at CES 2025 I need in my life

Every CES is a glimpse into the future of technology. Well, for us tech writers and reviewers, it's also a lot of walking around, leaning over throngs of people to take a glimpse of a laptop, and frantically taking photos of gadgets. But this year's CES really made all our collective efforts here at Mashable worthwhile, as it delivered tons of stuff that really does feel like the future. Yes, that includes robotic vacuums with robotic arms. The list that follows is not a "best of" nor is it complete. It's just a list of the stuff revealed at CES 2025 that made me go: WANT. And, reader, there were quite a few of those this year. We knew about this one beforehand and we knew it'd be a hit, but what we didn't know that there would be two of them. The Roborock Saros Z70 is a robotic vacuum cleaner that has a protruding robotic arm that can remove items such as socks from your floor. I'm not sure how useful this will be in everyday use, but it's cooler than any other robotic vacuum cleaner I've seen so far. But wait, there's more. Dreame, a company which also makes robotic vacuum, brought a robot vacuum with a protruding robotic appendage of its own to CES 2025. It's just in prototype stage at the moment, so it'll probably hit the market a little later than Roborock Saros Z70, which should become available in April 2025. I don't exactly need this desk-sized supercomputer from Nvidia. I don't build or test artificial intelligence apps. But it is every computer nerd's dream: An extremely powerful computer (think Nvidia GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, 128GB of memory, and up to 4TB of storage) that you can actually afford, put on your desk, and hide behind a book (you won't do that, but you could). Being able to run large language models up to 200-billion-parameters (roughly the size of ChatGPT 3.5), the Nvidia Digits might singlehandedly revolutionize the development of AI apps when it hits the market in May, and it will do it at a starting price of $3,000. You didn't know you needed a solar beach umbrella, did you? But now you know, and yes, you definitely do need it. Sure, you can cool your drinks in other, less cool ways. You could even buy Anker's electric cooler without the solar umbrella, as it has a battery big enough to last you 52 hours. But the umbrella is what will make you, by far, the coolest geek on the beach. (We're joking, there is no such title as "coolest geek on the beach.") If you do opt for the Anker Solix Solar Beach Umbrella, you'll get up to 100W of power for your electric beverage cooler and other gadgets, as well as protection from the rain and the sun. It doesn't get any better than this. The worst-kept secret ahead of CES 2025 was Nvidia launching new, RTX 50-series graphics cards, and sure enough, the company obliged. The star of the show is the GeForce RTX 5090, a card that should offer double the performance of its predecessor, the mighty RTX 4090. The details are a little murkier than we'd like, as some of this performance boost is due to Nvidia's DLSS 4 tech, which boosts fps with the help of AI, which is not supported by every game out there. Still, a new king is in town, and it will let you play even the most demanding games around for the eye-watering price of $1,999. If that sounds like a lot (it is), you could go for the more affordable, $999 RTX 5080, the $799 5070 Ti, or the RTX 5070, which retails for $549. You won't get the flagship performance, but these should all outperform the 40-series cards, and that's a pretty big deal if you're into gaming. Imagine this: You're sitting down in a cafe, ordering an espresso. You whip out a laptop, open it up...and then the screen gets taller. And taller. And taller, until it unrolls to the size of 16.7 inches and a resolution of 2,000 x 2,350. You are now the king of this cafe. Even the typically disinterested barista is ogling your mighty laptop. Geeky wet dreams aside, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 is one practical machine. It's pretty much a normal laptop, but it gives you a decent chunk of additional screen real-estate thanks to its rollable OLED display, and I can't think of a reason why you'd say no to that. OK, there's one reason: This thing will cost $3,499 when it hits the market in June. OK, that's a pretty big reason. Damn you, money, and the fact that you don't rain. Segway, the company once known for the two-wheeled transporters that gave way to e-scooters and e-bikes in the late 2010s, brought a bunch of new personal electric vehicles to CES 2025. The one that caught my eye, however, was the Segway Xyber. It's a sort of a hybrid between a race bike and an rugged e-bicycle, and even though it can go from 0 to 20 mph in just 2.7 seconds, it still has pedals if you want to keep using your own power. The massive, 2,880Wh battery provides 112 miles of range, meaning you can take this one pretty much anywhere. Yes, it's the first 32-inch, 6K monitor with Thunderbolt 5 support, meaning it should pair well with M4 Pro MacBook Pros and Mac mini. And yes, we don't really know all of the specs, including its refresh rate. Or price. Or availability date. (We do know it has a Nano IPS Black panel with a wide color gamut covering 99.5% of Adobe RGB and 98% of DCI-P3, but that's about it). But just look at the thing. It has nearly no bezels. It's just a beautiful, 6K display on a stand, and the stand is of equally minimalistic design. It would be perfect for my MacBook Pro. In fact, don't tell me the price, LG. Please. Just let me enjoy this moment. Honda's new 0 Series electric car prototypes aren't entirely new; the company first debuted them last January, during CES 2024. Now, we've seen the next iteration of the Honda 0 Saloon and the Honda 0 SUV, and they look even better than before. If there ever were cars that screamed "the future, but as it was imagined in the 1980ies", these prototypes are it. Let's just hope the actual mass market versions don't stray too far from this design when they go on sale in 2026, first in the U.S., and then in Japan and Europe. Wait, you want specs? Sorry about that: Honda didn't really share much. They'll be powered by Honda's ASIMO OS, and should come with Level 3 autonomous driving. We don't know anything about the powertrain or the battery. But they look great, and that'll do for now.

The best of CES 2025

These are the best tech products of CES 2025, according to on-site experts and editors from CNET Group. Credit: CNET Group We've stomped the showroom floors. We've scrutinized the booths. We've trekked up and down the Las Vegas Strip for hands-on demos. Hundreds of thousands of collective steps and many cups of coffee later, we're ready to pick the standouts from the biggest show in tech. As it does every year, CES 2025 has brought big innovations, outrageous concepts and impressive solutions to everyday problems. This time, the CNET Group -- made up of sibling sites CNET, ZDNET, PCMag, Mashable and Lifehacker -- teamed up with the CTA as the official media partner of the Best of CES Awards. After consulting our staff experts and editors, we've named the top products and services at CES and awarded them with the official distinction of Best of CES. To be eligible, a product or service must be an exhibitor at CES 2025 and meet at least one of the following criteria: Nominees were submitted by CNET Group's editorial staff, with finalists voted on by a panel of editors in attendance at CES 2025. Without any further ado, here are our Best of CES 2025 winners: Cosmos feels like the AI platform that will be fueling CES for years to come -- "the ChatGPT moment for robotics," as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it. Trained on 20 million hours of video, Cosmos turns digital models of roads, factories, homes, and other IRL spaces into simulations using generative AI, automating the training data needed to help robots better understand the physical world. With less of a reliance on real-world testing, this will streamline the process of developing the robots and autonomous cars of the future. Cosmos will probably run the best on Nvidia's own chips, but props to the company for planning to democratize the code and make it available in open source on Github. Runner-up in the category is Gemini for Google TV. Honda's flashy and futuristic new electric vehicles, the Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV, will be available in North America by 2026. They're set for production on the company's new battery platform in Ohio -- hypothetically qualifying for the $7,500 federal tax credit, if it hangs around -- and their thin battery will supposedly be able to juice up in 10 to 15 minutes. They'll run on a new AI chip and Honda's fresh ASIMO OS after launch, which means they'll be Level 3 self-driving vehicles that can temporarily take full control over driving. The prototypes we saw on the ground in Las Vegas were just prototypes, but Honda said its ultimate designs will be very similar. Keep an eye out for pricing specifics. Runner-up in the category is the BMW Panoramic iDrive with Operating System X. The 14-inch Asus Zenbook A14 is effectively an Asus Zenbook Air, combining a feathery form factor with a long battery life. At just 2.18 pounds, it's the thinnest and lightest Copilot+ PC ever made. Its chassis is made from a magnesium aluminum alloy the company calls "Ceraluminum," which is highly durable, scratch resistant, and completely recyclable. It's available in two Qualcomm Snapdragon X series configurations in two modern neutral finishes, which both sport nice-to-haves like an OLED display and tap-and-slide touchpad controls. As for that battery life: The Zenbook A14 is rated at up to 32 hours of video playback per charge, which beats the longest-lasting laptop we've ever tested by about nine hours. A Snapdragon X Elite model will be available on Jan. 13 for $1,099.99, and an $899.99 Snapdragon X variant is coming this March. Runner-up in the category is the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. LG's latest G-series OLED TV is easily the best-looking TV we saw at CES this year. Its picture quality is incredible: LG says it's 40 percent brighter and offers better contrast in bright lighting compared to its predecessor, the G4, which was a stunning TV in its own right. LG improved its AI remote, too, but retained its sleek gallery design for an almost all-picture look. The company also launched a new M5 wireless TV, which has the same image quality as the G5, but it will be a lot more expensive because of that cord-free connection technology -- which most buyers don't need. Pricing and a release date are still TBA. Runner-up in the category is the Hisense 116UX. Finally, a robot that can pick up after us. This vacuum-mop hybrid can sense, snatch, and put away your stray socks using its mechanical arm, marking an industry shift from object avoidance technology to object removal technology. Unlike so many grabby robots we've seen at CES over the years, this one is real, successful and actually coming to market, with a release slated for April 2025. At 22,000 Pa of suction, the Saros Z70 will be more powerful than almost any other modern robovac. It'll also be more expensive: Roborock teased a price point around the $2,000 mark, making it undoubtedly a high-end luxury appliance. But we expect it to pave the way for a new (eventually cheaper) generation of robot vacuums that offer do-everything-for-me cleaning. Runner-up in the category is the BioLite Complete. A battery made out of... paper? Singaporean startup Flint says it has created a more sustainable, affordable, and scalable alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries. The magic ingredient is cellulose, which acts as a natural medium for ion transfer between the node and cathode. They're fully flexible and can be shrunk down to the size of a coin battery or embedded in a smartwatch strap. Plus, they decompose in a mere six weeks once they're done being used. Flint recently secured $2 million in seed funding to run a pilot project this year, putting us one step closer to a dream of sparing the Earth from the mining and drilling for finite lithium. The Lenovo Legion Go S stands out because of its its operating system, and because of that operating system's implications for the entire gaming handheld category. While it'll be available with Windows 11, Lenovo will also offer a model with Valve's SteamOS, making it the only non-Valve-built portable to officially run SteamOS. That's big news for anyone looking for a Steam Deck alternative. The Legion Go S lacks the detachable controllers in last year's standard Legion Go, and it has a smaller, lower-resolution screen. But its two top-side USB 4 ports and Hall Effect joysticks (which should never drift) are welcome -- as is its expected lower price point. The Go S will start shipping in May 2025, starting at $599.99. Designed by ex-Bose engineers, Ozlo Sleepbuds aren't just comfortable earbuds for sleeping -- they can actually help you get a better night's sleep. They fit flush with your ear, which means you can sleep on your side without feeling them pressing into you. This also prevents them from falling out of your ear. Sleep-enhancing perks include biometric sensors in the earbuds that can track your sleep, sensors in the case that can identify potential sleep interruptions in your room, and an in-ear alarm that won't wake up a sleeping partner. They have a 10-hour battery life, too -- no more waking up to a dead battery notification. You can even play sound directly from the Sleepbuds without connecting to another Bluetooth device, which means you won't even have to look at your phone before going to bed. So convenient. They're available now for $299. Runner-up in the category is the YoctoMat. The vast majority of phones are essentially useless without a cell signal. That's where HMD's new OffGrid accessory comes in. The $199.99 dongle lets any Android phone or iPhone send text messages and contact emergency services sans signal by connecting to Viasat and Skylo's network of satellites. A few recent phones like the iPhone 16 and Google Pixel 9 come equipped with satellite connectivity, but most consumers only upgrade their phones when their current device breaks or needs replacing, so this accessory gives older phones the ability to constantly stay connected -- which could be life-saving in some cases. To use OffGrid, you'll have to subscribe to HMD's monthly service, which starts at $79.99 per year. Runner-up in the category is the TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper. This is the most impressive and secure smart lock we've ever seen. It's also the first smart lock to come to market with ultra-wideband technology, giving it the capability to sense your location (within inches) and the spatial awareness to know if you're inside or outside your door. It's truly hands-free unlocking, similar to key fobs on cars. As backups, it also offers NFC for tap-to-unlock entry, a keypad, and a traditional key mechanism. It includes 128-bit AES data encryption, IP65 weather resistance, and BHMA Level 1-certified durability. It supports WiFi, Matter, Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. Perhaps best of all, though, it has a battery life of up to one year. Runner-up in the category is the Lockly Prestige Duet Series. There was no dearth of surprising technological applications at CES 2025, but the booth that got everyone's attention was hands-down the Kirin Electric Salt Spoon. This rather large spoon sends an electric current to your tongue to make your food taste saltier. The idea is noble: Get food to taste better without adding unnecessary sodium to your diet. The solution is downright unexpected. We only detected a slight difference in our taste test, but from what we heard from others who tried the demo, results varied. This one is already available for sale... in Japan. It costs 19,800 yen (with tax), or about $125. Only another Nvidia product could overshadow the new Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics cards at CES 2025. The Cosmos platform harnesses AI to remove one of the biggest pain points in the process of developing new robotics, which is the need for tons of real-world data and testing. By doing so, it will change the way technology is able to solve problems and help future generations. (Stay tuned to see how it plays out for Toyota: The world's biggest car manufacturer will be using it to build its next-gen self-driving vehicles.) Simply put, Cosmos is monumental.

CES 2025 day 3: the 11 best gadgets we've seen, from Lenovo's rollable laptop to Panasonic's new flagship OLED TV

We've already seen a wealth of gadgets and news coming out of CES 2025, but the pace isn't slowing down for the third day of the big tech expo - and we're still committed to bringing you the best and coolest picks from the show (and there are an awful lot of product launches to sift through). You can look back on our CES 2025 day 1 and CES 2025 day 2 round-ups for all the major gadgets and gizmos unveiled so far, and on day 3 we're continuing the theme. Below you'll find crazy digital E ink posters, laptops with rolling screens, AI systems for your automobile, and much more besides. The usual CES caveats apply: a lot of these products are still at the concept or early development stage, so you might not be able to get your hands on them straight away. However, they all point towards an exciting 2025 for anyone interested in technology. So sit back and let us guide you through the 11 finest things we've seen on this third day of CES 2025... Forget foldable phones - what about rollable laptop displays? That's the era we're officially in now, thanks to the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable from Lenovo. From a single button press, the screen can expand from the regular 14 inches up to an impressive 16.7 inches when you need some extra vertical space to work with. This is a very decent laptop aside from the main party trick, too: you get an Intel Core Ultra 200V processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of SSD storage, so you're going to be able to get some serious computing done on it. The laptop will apparently be on sale this year, though we're still waiting on a price... The PocketBook InkPoster is exactly the sort of gadget CES is about: a sleek, innovative, desirable bit of tech that's on the expensive side but is going to impress everyone who sees it. It's a premium digital art display, enabling you to continually change around the artwork being shown on your walls. As the panel uses E Ink technology, the energy demands are far lower than they would be with a standard screen - and it makes the art look more traditional and authentic as well. Three different sizes will be available across the course of the year, though you may have to do some saving up to be able to afford one - prices start at an eye-watering $599 (around £485 / AU$970), going up into four figures. If you're looking for some impossibly cute bookshelf speakers that won't break the bank, then the new Kanto UKIs could be for you. We haven't managed to listen to them yet at CES 2025, but if the UKI speakers sound half as good as the company's excellent Ren powered speakers then we'll be very big fans indeed. While you can't buy them just yet (the only ones at CES are prototypes), they'll launch in the second half of 2025 for only $199 / £199 (around AU$319.99). On paper, that's a serious bargain - and you get a choice from dashing black, white, cobalt and sage colors too. We've seen a lot of coffee machines at TechRadar, but the KaraPod has still managed to catch our eye: its unique selling point is the way it works as a dehumidifier as well as a coffee maker, using the condensed water it gathers for your beverages. A neat eco-friendly idea? Or just a little bit on the weird side? According to the team behind the KaraPod, this is all perfectly safe - though your coffee might taste rather different. There's certainly some appeal in a coffee machine that never needs its water tank refilling, and the device won't cost you over the odds either - it's going to be available direct from Karawater soon. The Nvidia RTX 5090 is now official (see yesterday's CES news), which means laptops with the GPU fitted inside can be unveiled - such as the Razer Blade 16, for example. This is an absolute beast of a gaming laptop, featuring the aforementioned graphics as well as the high-end AMD AI 9 HX 370 CPU. This being a Razer laptop, we're expecting impeccable build quality, and the Blade 16 also comes with a high-resolution 240Hz OLED display as well as a new vapor chamber cooling system. We're still waiting to find out how much it costs, but it should be out and available to buy before the end of March. Nanoleaf is again taking on the Philips Ambilight system with a smart light that changes color and flows with whatever's being displayed on your TV. Say hello to the Nanoleaf 4D V2, which combines a tiny camera (for looking at your TV screen) with a bendy light strip that fits around the back of your large display. From what we've seen of the product at CES 2025, it should be easier to fit than most other systems of its type, as there are no fiddly adhesive brackets to deal with - the strip simply attaches directly to the rear of your TV. It's coming later this year, and we're hoping it's a similar price to the original Nanoleaf 4D. Asus has treated us to a host of new laptops at CES 2025, and the ROG Strix Scar models are particular highlights: the 16-inch and 18-inch laptops bring with them next-gen Intel and Nvidia parts (up to an RTX 5090 for the graphics), while also boasting up to 64GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage space on board. Add in 2.5K mini-LED screens (with 3ms response times and 240Hz refresh rates), plus tooless upgrades for the SSD if you ever need it, and it's a truly impressive package - and no doubt an expensive one, when the prices are made official. These laptops will cope with absolutely anything and then some. We're all for AI when it adds features that are genuinely useful, and that's the case with the new Swann Xtreem4K, one of several new home security tech products introduced by Swann at CES 2025. The security camera has an AI assistant on board, that can ward off intruders or welcome guests on your behalf. The idea is that the device is smart enough to recognize whether detected people are friends and foes, and respond accordingly, even if you're not around. The impressive-looking camera works wirelessly, offers three months between battery charges, and gives you a full color 4K video feed day and night. BMW has used the opportunity of CES 2025 to introduce its next-gen iDrive system for 2025 - and there's a lot of screen here. The new full-width head-up display stretches from pillar to pillar in front of the driver, displaying just about every piece of information you could want to know while out on the road. Its full title is the BMW Panoramic iDrive, and it's going to be appearing first in the Neue Klasse X electric SUV (and all BMW cars going forward). BMW has also upgraded the operating system underpinning its in-car offering, and there are going to be plenty of customization options to play around with when you get behind the wheel. On the downside, fans of physical buttons may be less impressed. TVs are always a big part of the story at any CES, and this year's event is no different. One of this year's highlights is the new Z95B OLED from Panasonic, which features a next-gen display stack and cooling system to offer a noticeable improvement over the Panasonic Z95A OLED (which was already fantastic). One of the benefits of having the TechRadar team on the show floor in Las Vegas is that we can get in-person previews of the hottest tech launching in 2025 - and based on our early experiences of the Z95B, this is going to set a new standard for OLED TV tech, whenever Panasonic decides to make it available for sale. Honda is making itself known at CES 2025 too, showing off a bold line-up of new electric vehicles that include the Series 0 SUV and Saloon. These motors bring with them some dramatic curves, as well as tweaked designs for the headlights and new paint jobs compared with what we've seen from previous prototypes. These cars are based around Honda's new "Thin, Light, and Wise" philosophy, which it promises will result in EVs that are lighter and more elegant than the ones we have now. Unfortunately, it'll be while before we can drive these automobiles for ourselves, because they're slated for a full launch in 2026.

CES 2025: The 25 best products that impressed us the most

During the biggest week in tech, we saw CES announcements from giants like Samsung, Google, Nvidia, Asus, Lenovo, LG, and Dell, as well as new and innovative brands with cool concepts. Here's the stuff that impressed us the most, both in terms of products we think could be worth buying and technologies that will impact the future. Also: We have named the 12 winners for the official Best of CES 2025 awards Most smart glasses on the market today have the smart display built into the lens, but Halliday debuted smart glasses at CES with an "invisible display," that is, the display is integrated into the frame. What the company calls the world's smallest optical module provides wearers with a field of view similar to that of a 3.5-inch screen. You have to look up to see the display, which we actually found quite comfortable when we demoed these glasses in person. Also: CES 2025: The 8 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and loved And, of course, the glasses are suited with AI tech features, such as real-time translations in more than 40 languages, a teleprompter text, turn-by-turn navigations, and more. TCL unveiled its QM6K, which brings the company's Mini LED technology to its entry-level QLED TV at an aggressive price. This TV sports the kind of brightness, contrast, and color depth you'd typically find in a much more premium model from the big TV vendors. Also: TCL won the opening of CES 2025 with a great new TV you can actually pre-order But TCL is offering it starting at $999 for the 65-inch QM6K and you can even pre-order it today, a first at CES. But when you pre-order, TCL will also send you a Q75H 5.1.2 soundbar for free (an $899 retail value). TCL is also offering the 75-inch QM6K and the 85-inch models for sale this week. While you may not think about wearing headphones while you're sleeping, these Ozlo Sleepbuds could change your mind, and they happen to be the official pick for the Best of CES in Wellness. Not only are they super comfortable (even for side sleepers), but in our hands-on testing, they did a fantastic job at blocking out outdoor noises. Also: Audio-Technica is turning the tables with new earbuds offering 65 hours of playback In addition, the accompanying app provides 10 different sleep sounds (or masking sounds) you can sort through, an earbud alarm can wake you up from your slumber, and a sleep timer shuts the buds down after a certain amount of time to save battery. Last year's LG G4 OLED TV had the most impressive picture quality of any TV tested. With its incredible contrast and outstanding color depth, it was simply a joy to watch any and all content on it -- especially because it included a big step up in picture processing that allowed it to compete with Sony in enhancing older, lower-quality content. The one drawback was that it simply didn't match the brightness of the various LED TVs and so it wasn't as good in really bright rooms -- even though LG's MLA technology has enhanced the brightness in recent years. Also: Two flagship LG OLED TVs released at CES 2025: Specs, best new features, and more LG surprised everyone at CES with the new G5 OLED TV that it claims is 40% brighter than last year's TV and the early results look very impressive. LG says that it has moved away from MLA and used a completely new technology to deliver this higher level of brightness. We suspect that this could be similar to the "Tandem OLED" technology that Apple used in its impressive M4 iPad Pro. Hopefully, we be able to confirm that in the coming months. While LG was making it's OLED TVs brighter to compete with Mini LED TVs, Hisense unveiled its own new technology to make its Mini LED TVs have higher contrast and more vibrant colors to compete with OLED. The new Hisense 116-inch TriChroma LED TV claims to display the widest color gamut ever achieved in a Mini LED display by using mini red, green, and blue optical lenses in its backlight rather than just blasting more white light as most backlights do. Nevertheless, Hisense claims this TV can do 10,000 nits of brightness, so it is still among the industry leaders in that category. It's likely to be super expensive in this first iteration, but it will be interesting to see if this technology can bring advanced picture quality to less expensive TV models in the years ahead. In what might be one of the best mobile accessories we've seen at CES so far, the Swippitt charges your smartphone in just two seconds. You simply insert your phone (with the compatible battery phone case on it) into the Hub, and your case battery gets swapped out for another fully charged 3,500mAh battery that should last you a full charge. Also: CES 2025: These 9 best mobile accessories have impressed us the most There are a total of five batteries inside the machine, so multiple people can use it back-to-back, and it works with a companion app that allows you to check your battery's percentages and control what percentage you want it to be charged to. You can also make reservations so that not every spare battery is taking before you urgently need one. TVs are always big at CES, and this year, the common thread among new TV models seems to be AI integrations. For example, Samsung's new lineup of TVs takes advantage of AI upscaling to make older content look better through HDR Remastering, which enhances standard dynamic range content to high dynamic range levels. LG's AI-powered TV technology includes features like AI-powered recommendations with voice recognition, an AI chatbot and AI search, and an LG AI Concierge that tracks your preferences alongside search history to provide contextual insights based on what's playing on your screen. Also: Every Samsung TV announced at CES 2025 Plus, Google is improving its TV experience by incorporating its Gemini AI into Google Assistant to converse with your Google TV and ask more complex questions. You know how you have to pick up clothes, toys, or other obstacles from your floor before running a robot vacuum? Well, Roborock has a solution: a robot vacuum with a mechanical arm that grabs small obstacles while it cleans. Also: This new robot mower looks to replace your traditional grass cutter The Roborock Saros Z70's mechanical arm uses OmniGrip technology to remove obstacles under 8 oz while it mops and vacuums your floors. The flagship model is set to debut during the first half of 2025, and we can't wait to try it out in our homes. Move over foldable phones--now there is a rollable laptop. We were impressed by Lenovo's 14-inch laptop with a "rollable" display that extends upwards over 16 inches. The expandable display is triggered by hitting a button on the keyboard, but it also responds by holding your palm out in front of the device, and then raising or lowering it will activate the display. Also: The best CES 2025 products you can buy right now When we demoed this laptop in person, we were able to fit two browser windows of equal size on top of one another--making it comparable to working with an external monitor. This exoskeleton is meant to assist hikers who need that extra push to get to the top of a mountain. It has one horsepower of output to offer subtle assistance to make your gait a bit easier on quads and hips. In addition, an AI-based motor engine performs thousands of predictive calculations per second and builds spatial models to become attuned to your walking preferences over time. And 65W fast charging means it can go from 0% to 100% in just over an hour. While just a concept for now, we couldn't get enough of Samsung's Micro LED stretchable screen. The Las Vegas Sphere and a great white shark literally pushed out of the 7x5-inch screen, creating a 3D effect like never before. Also: The best TVs of CES 2025 Aside from just being a really cool concept, we could see this type of technology aiding in accessibility features or applying to infotainment systems in cars. The Nuance Audio hearing glasses have six microphones scattered across the frames to capture sound, with speakers sitting above the ear to directly amplify the audio. When we demoed these, we noticed the microphones have two modes to either help you focus on a person speaking or you can amplify all the noises around you -- depending on what you want to hear. Also: CES 2025: The 7 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and loved You can adjust the volume levels and noise-tracking in a companion app, and they even have an eight-hour battery life. Nvidia's Project Digits PC promises to be a a Linux-powered desktop for AI developers. With the starting price of $3,000, it's not for the average user, but it has impressive specs like an ARM-based Grace CPU featuring 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725 cores (20 cores total), 128GB of memory, and AI models of up to 200B parameters -- that's data center-level performance in one single desktop. Also: The best laptops of CES 2025 Looking to curb your sodium intake in 2025? The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon allows for the taste of salt without the extra calories. It essentially sends electricity from the spoon to your tongue to give you the sensation of saltiness instead of adding actual salt to your dish. We didn't get to try this one out ourselves (because hygiene), but when we talked to CES goers who had used the spoon, they said it did actually work in adding a salt flavor. CES is the place where unprecedented innovations make their entrance, and this year we're seeing the world's first 500W charger. Ugreen's Nexode 500W charger has six USB ports -- five USB-C and one USB-A port. There's one USB-C port that supports up to 240W, while the other four each offer up to 100W, and the USB-A has a maximum output of 20W. Also: What's better than a power bank doubling as a hotspot? Its low price Ugreen says this charger is "powerful enough even for large, power-hungry devices like e-bikes." You may know Movano Health for its Evie Ring, which launched last year, but today at CES, the company announced EvieAI, which is a wellness assistant located in the Evie app that users can consult for health information. What's unique about this AI tool is that it is trained on articles published in over 100,000 medical journals to improve the accuracy and complexity of responses. Also: I traveled 70,000+ miles last year for work - here's what's in my bag Movano says the wellness assistant can answer questions concerning symptoms, diseases, or procedures. Anyone with an Evie Ring can try out EvieAI in the app right now. Smart home devices are about to get even smarter thanks to a few key collaborations we've seen at CES. First off, Ring and Kidde are pairing up to launch a new collection of smart smoke and combination detectors featuring Ring technology. When the alarms detect harmful levels of smoke or carbon monoxide (CO), you'll receive a notification through the Ring app. Also: The best smart home tech of CES 2025 In addition, Home Depot is throwing its hat in the ring of smart home tech with its new Hubspace devices, which will debut later this year. These new devices include a Remote Switch to control on/off functionality and brightness control for lights, as well as two Vissani AC units with smart climate control and customizable schedules and modes. While smart rings are usually reserved for tracking health data, this innovative smart ring we stumbled upon at CES lets you control things by pointing at them. The Lotus system consists of a ring with a button and switch covers, and when the button is pressed, the switch is turned on as you point at the object (compatible devices include lights, fans, AC units, or TVs). While the Bebird EarSight Flow might look like the average pair of over-ear headphones, but it's actually an advanced ear cleaner. It uses small pods and spouts of water to shoot water into your ears to clean them gently. The spout includes a camera, and users can download the companion app to watch the EarSight Flow clean their ears in real time. Using an intelligent warming system, the headphones can even dry your ears. Also: The best audio gear of CES 2025 TCL debuted two new devices that caught our eye and benefit your eyes. The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is a smartphone with Nxtpaper 3.0 display technology, which blocks blue light to promote visual comfort and reduce eye strain. And, of course, there's AI involved: the Smart Eye Comfort Mode and the Personalized Eye Comfort Mode adaptively configure the display's colors, brightness, and contrast levels based on the user's preference. The QM6K Mini LED TV is packed with features like precise dimming and brightness controls, a redesigned backlighting system to reduce the halo effect of images on screen, a new color optimization algorithm, and enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, which we are excited to test out. Monday seems to be the day dedicated to laptops, as we've so far seen announcements from HP, Dell, and Acer. HP's Elitebook series got an AI boost, and Dell nixed its XPS namesake to rebrand its entire portfolio into the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. These Dell models will, of course, feature AI capabilities alongside Wi-Fi 7 support and snappy performance. Also: These new Wi-Fi 7 adapters will keep your old laptop future-proof for years to come Meanwhile, Acer's lineup of devices is super versatile, thanks to their lightweight form factors and OLED displays. And gamers will appreciate MSI's CES announcement, which includes more than ten 18-inch laptops with new AMD processors and special edition designs. There have been a few smart lock announcements at CES this year, but we think the Ultraloq Bolt Mission smart lock is the most groundbreaking. Not only does it use ultra-bandwidth (UWB) technology to unlock your door hands-free as you approach it, but UWB also allows for precision tracking of approved devices that is highly accurate and more secure. Also: Do you need a smart doggy door? I wasn't convinced until I saw this at CES The lock also supports NFC devices--right now, just Androids, but the company plans to support Apple Home Key as well. In what's arguably the fastest-growing wearables category, smart ring maker Circular made a huge announcement at CES. Alongside new heart health monitoring like Atrial Fibrillation detection included within the ECG capability and improved sensors, smart ring buyers can now figure out their ring size without the need for a physical kit -- something no other smart ring brand has done so far. You can try on the Circular 2 via Digital Ring Sizing, which uses a smartphone's camera to determine a user's ring size. Also: One of my favorite smart rings is getting an 18K gold upgrade Not one but two over-the-counter glucose monitors debuted at CES on Tuesday to make glucose monitoring affordable and accessible for both diabetics and the general public. The one from Dexcom is targeted for those with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin (though people without diabetes can also use it) and attaches to your arm, tracking glucose levels 24/7. It also lasts up to 30 days and is connected to an app on your phone that delivers your readings. It's compatible with Android and iOS. Also: The best wearable tech we've seen at CES On the other hand, the Lingo device from Abbott is for anyone looking for more insight into their general health and wellness by tracking glucose spikes. It uses personalized data to offer suggestions and coaching on eating habits, stressors, and exercise through a companion app. It's limited to the iPhone. Eclipsa Audio is Samsung and Google's answer to Dolby Atmos. One big difference in this new 3D audio format compared to Dolby Atmos is that it doesn't have licensing fees; it will be a free and open-source audio format. So far, the format is available only on Samsung's 2025 lineup of Crystal UHD to Neo QLED 8K TVs and its 2025 lineup of soundbars, but we're excited to hear it in person nonetheless.

These Are the Official 2025 Best of CES Winners, Awarded by CNET Group

The biggest names in tech are gathered in Las Vegas this week to show off their new products and entice the world with solutions to some of our biggest problems -- and we get to choose the winners. CES 2025 has brought big innovations, outrageous concepts and impressive solutions to issues including sustainability, privacy, security and wellness. To find the very best among them, the CNET Group -- made up of sibling sites CNET, ZDNET, PCMag, Mashable and Lifehacker -- teamed up with the CTA as the official media partner of the Best of CES Awards. Based entirely on the input of our staff experts and editors, we've named the top products and services at CES and awarded them with the distinction of Best of CES. To be eligible, a product or service must be an exhibitor at CES 2025 and meet at least one of the following criteria: Nominees were submitted by CNET Group's editorial staff, with finalists voted on by a panel of editors in attendance at CES 2025. Here are the winners. This could be the AI platform that enables innovators at CES for years to come. Cosmos is what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called "the world's first world foundation model," a previously missing link that will allow robots and autonomous vehicles to become much more capable. The problem it solves is that robots need a vast amount of training data needed to make them more useful. Cosmos can simulate that data with AI, taking digital models of roads, factories, homes and other physical spaces and transforming them into simulations that innovators can use to create the robots of tomorrow. Cosmos will likely run a lot faster on Nvidia chips. Nevertheless, we have to give Nvidia credit for its intention to open-source the Cosmos code and make it available on Github, as Huang announced in his keynote. Runner-up: Gemini for Google TV Straight out of a science-fiction movie, Honda's futuristic-looking electric vehicles are slated to reach North America by 2026 and will be manufactured on Honda's new battery platform in Ohio. The company claims the cars' thin battery will be able to charge rapidly in as little as 10 to 15 minutes. The 0 Series will be powered by a new artificial intelligence chip and the Asimo OS to deliver Level 3 self-driving (capable of taking full control and operating during select parts of a journey) after launch. Despite the prototype nature of the cars on hand in Las Vegas, Honda says the final designs will be close to what it showed. Pricing and other details are still to be determined, but this marks an exciting step forward for Honda and its EV program. Runner-up: BMW Panoramic iDrive with Operating System X The Asus Zenbook A14 blends a long-lasting battery and some unexpected features in a portable design. Its light-but-rigid Ceraluminum chassis has the durability of aluminum with the scratch-resistance of ceramic and is 100% recyclable. A Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor gives it Copilot Plus PC powers like AI summarization and text generation, intuitive photo editing and the ability to search your media with natural language. A rich collection of ports (including USB-C and HDMI 2.1) and wireless connections are complemented by cool touches like tap-and-slide touchpad controls for volume, brightness and track selection. Its OLED display looks gorgeous, its battery promises more than 30 hours of use and the whole thing weighs less than 2.2 pounds, making it the thinnest and lightest Copilot Plus PC yet. The X Elite model we saw launches next week for $1,099, with a Snapdragon X Plus model coming in March for $899. Runner-up: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable Of all the TVs we've seen this year at CES, the LG G5 looks the best -- literally. OLED technology powers the highest-quality screens on the market, and our experts agree this LG is the front-runner for best TV picture quality in 2025. LG says it's 40% brighter and has better contrast in bright lighting compared to its predecessor the G4, which was one of the best TVs of 2024. LG improved the remote and kept the sleek gallery design for an almost all-picture look. The company's M5 wireless TV has the same image quality but will be a lot more expensive because it uses wireless connection technology that most buyers don't need. Runner-up: Hisense 116UX Finally, a robot that can pick up after us. This vacuum-mop hybrid can sense, pick up and put away your stray socks using its mechanical arm, marking an industry shift from object avoidance technology to object removal technology. Unlike so many grabby robots we've seen at CES over the years, this one is real, successful and actually coming to market, with a release slated for April this year. We spent hours watching it work in a live demonstration. At 22,000 Pa of suction, the Saros Z70 will be more powerful than almost any other modern robovac. It'll also be more expensive: Roborock teased a price around the $2,000 mark, making it undoubtedly a high-end luxury appliance. But we expect it to pave the way for a new (eventually cheaper) generation of robot vacuums that offer do-everything-for-me cleaning, and that's exciting to think about. Welcome back, Rosey from The Jetsons. Runner-up: BioLite Complete A battery made out of... paper? Singaporean startup Flint claims it has created a more sustainable, affordable and scalable solution to traditional lithium-ion batteries. The key component is cellulose, which acts as a natural medium for ion transfer between the node and cathode. They're fully flexible and can be shrunk down to the size of a coin battery or embedded in a smartwatch strap. And when they're done being used, they decompose in six weeks. In early January, Flint secured $2 million in seed funding to run a pilot project this year, one step closer to a dream of sparing the Earth from the mining and drilling for finite lithium. The Lenovo Legion Go S stands out among current and upcoming gaming handhelds for its operating system and what it could mean for the entire category. While it'll be available with Windows 11, Lenovo will also offer a version with Valve's SteamOS, making it the only non-Valve-built portable to officially run SteamOS. That's big news for anyone looking for a Steam Deck alternative. The Legion Go S lacks the larger Legion Go's detachable controllers and has a smaller, lower-resolution screen, but it has a few helpful design tweaks like two USB 4 ports on the top, Hall Effect joysticks and an interior with more workspace for upgrading the storage. The Go S will also be the cheapest Legion Go device when it ships in May, starting at just $600. Ozlo Sleepbuds aren't just comfortable earbuds for sleeping -- they can actually help you get a better night's sleep. They're designed to be flush with your ear, which means you can sleep on your side without feeling them pressing into you. That also prevents them from falling out of your ear. Sleep-enhancing perks include biometric sensors in the earbuds that can track your sleep, sensors in the case that can identify potential sleep interruptions in your room, an in-ear alarm that won't wake up a sleeping partner and a 10-hour battery life, so you won't wake up to a dead battery notification. You can even play sound directly from the Sleepbuds, without connecting to another Bluetooth device, which means you won't even have to look at your phone before going to bed. Runner-up: YoctoMat The vast majority of phones are essentially useless without a cell signal. That's where HMD's new OffGrid accessory comes in. The $200 dongle lets any Android phone or iPhone send text messages and contact emergency services by connecting to satellite networks. A few recent phones like the iPhone 16 and Google Pixel 9 come equipped with satellite connectivity, but most consumers only upgrade their phones when their current device breaks or needs replacing, so this accessory gives older phones the ability to constantly stay connected -- which could be life-saving in some cases. The catch is that you'll have to subscribe to HMD's monthly service, which starts at $80 a year. Runner-up: TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper The Ultraloq Bolt Mission is the most impressive and secure smart lock we've seen to date. It's also the first smart lock to come to market to support ultrawideband technology, giving it the capability to sense your location within inches as well as the spatial awareness to know if you're inside or outside your door. It's truly hands-free unlocking, similar to keyfobs on cars. As backups, it also offers NFC for tap-to-unlock entry, and it has a keypad and a traditional key mechanism as well. It includes 128-bit AES data encryption, IP65 weather resistance and BHMA Level 1-certified durability. It supports Wi-Fi, Matter, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung SmartThings. Perhaps best of all, it has a battery life of up to one year. Runner-up: Lockly Prestige Duet Series There was no dearth of surprising technological applications at CES 2025, but the booth that got everyone's attention was hands-down the Kirin Electric Salt Spoon. This rather large spoon sends an electric current to your tongue to make your food taste saltier. The idea is noble: Get food to taste better without adding unnecessary sodium to your diet. The solution is downright unexpected. In our taste test, we were able to detect a slight difference, but from what we heard from others who tried the demo, the results varied. This one is already available for sale -- in Japan. It should come to North America this year. This choice was clear: Nvidia Cosmos demonstrates the biggest and boldest ambition we've seen at CES 2025 for how technology could help people and communities in the years ahead. While Nvidia is known for its computer chips, Cosmos is a software platform that taps generative AI to fill the biggest gap keeping robots from becoming more useful. As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says, "In order to train a robot, you need a lot of data," and that's what Cosmos promises to create. There are already signs of its future influence: Huang announced a partnership with Toyota, the world's biggest car manufacturer, that will use the program's advances to build next-gen self-driving cars. We're excited to see which companies -- large and small -- will be next to take the leap, using Cosmos to solve big problems and create new products that weren't possible until now.

CES 2025: The weirdest tech products and claims from this year's event | TechCrunch

CES 2025 is in full swing. While the conference features reveals from tech powerhouses like Nvidia, Samsung, and Toyota, there are also some very strange product concepts and announcements circulating on the show floor. We've compiled the weirdest, silliest, and most eyebrow-raising products from CES 2025. A new adorable gadget from Yukai Engineering is the Nékojita FuFu, a tiny robotic cat that can be mounted to a mug or bowl and will blow air in human-like intervals to help cool off your coffee or soup. The company says the product was born after a team leader wanted an easier way to cool down freshly cooked baby food "because doing so often left him feeling breathless and dizzy." Why add more salt to your meal when a $127 spoon could simulate the taste of sodium for you? Japanese company Kirin Holdings showed off an electronic spoon that makes your food taste saltier. The company says its spoon uses a weak electric current to concentrate sodium ion molecules in your food, adding a stronger umami and salt flavor to low-sodium foods. Handheld consoles are great for gaming on the go, but Acer's latest product is really pushing the limits of what is considered portable. The Nitro Blaze 11 is undeniably massive: With a 10.95-inch display, it's not only the size of an 11-inch iPad Air, it also weighs as much as two iPad Airs stacked on top of each other. You might need to get your wrist strength up before giving it a try! A few years ago, Lenovo teased its concept for a laptop that has a screen that can expand into a much larger one. At this year's CES, what was just a concept has turned into the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. The device's 14-inch OLED display can unfurl itself and expand into a 16.7-inch panel with the press of a button or gesture controls, effectively adding a lot more screen space without any other monitors or accessories. And you can watch our friends at Engadget getting up close and personal with the Gen 6 Rollable below. Spicerr is another odd food tech gadget from this year's CES. The device fashions itself to be a sort of Keurig machine for spices, with individual capsules that you can rotate through while its AI detects how much you will need based on the recipe you're using and dispenses it for you. If you want to add a little more than what it recommends, there's also a "freeform" function that gives you a bit more control. Bird-watching tech is nothing new to CES. Longtime attendees may remember Bird Buddy's smart bird feeder or Swarovski's $4,799 AI-powered bird-watching binoculars. The latest bird innovation comes from Birdfy: a smart birdbath. The Bath Pro uses AI to detect when birds are using it and takes a photo -- but there's a monthly subscription fee if you want it to identify species. How much is too much for a jolt of caffeine? Meticulous showed off this smart espresso machine, which the company claims is the first of its kind with a robotic lever. The machine features 10 digital sensors that monitor water temperature, pressure, flow rate, and the weight of the liquid in the cup and can make real-time adjustments like a barista. The preorder price for the machine is a whopping $1,350, plus another $250 if you want its milk steamer. From Humane's Ai Pin to Friend, it's been a weird time for AI wearables. Joining them is Based Hardware's Omi, a wearable that can answer your questions, summarize your conversations, create to-do lists, and help schedule meetings. The device is constantly listening and running your conversations through GPT-4o, and it also can remember the context about a user to be more personalized. Omi can be worn as a necklace, but the company is pushing for folks to attach it to one's temple with medical tape for a real sci-fi experience. Based Hardware claims it can use a "brain interface" to understand when you're talking to it, though we only saw a brief in-person demo; that's a claim for further testing when it's released. Smart glasses are the buzziest AI form factor of late, and wearables startup Halliday is jumping on the hype, but with a slightly different approach. Rather than projecting a screen onto the lens, this pair of smart glasses projects a 3.5-inch round display right into your eyeballs. The glasses offer real-time language translation for 40 languages and can display phone notifications, a cheat sheet with notes, and navigational directions. If there's one thing that signals life in the future, it's the concept of a flying car. Xpeng Aero HT unveiled the Land Aircraft Carrier, its "modular flying car," that's part van, part eVTOL. It's essentially an electric minivan with a small folding eVTOL vehicle tucked in the back that can be rolled out and launched into flight. Xpeng's vice chairman and president, Brian Gu, said the Land Aircraft Carrier has received its type certification, but if this all sounds a bit far-fetched to you, you're certainly not alone. Swippitt wants to make sure your phone battery never runs out again. With a design reminiscent of a stylish toaster, the charging hub works by quickly swapping out external battery packs that fit into a custom phone case, and aims to give 50-90% extra charge instantly. It'll cost you, though: it starts at $450 with a $120 add-on for the phone case. What if a cat tower could also help keep the air in your apartment clean? That's LG's aim with the AeroCatTower, a stylish cat tower that doubles as an air purifier. It can also monitor your cat's weight and sleep, and you can even change the flow of the purifier while your cat is perched on it so they aren't disturbed by the noise. Razer showed off its concept for a gaming chair that can heat and cool your seat like a fancy car seat. The system features a self-regulating heater that's capable of reaching up to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as a "bladeless fan system" that circulates cool air through the mesh backing so you can stay comfortable while you're grinding Fortnite. While not a product reveal, I would be remiss to not mention one of the silliest keynote moments of the conference. To illustrate BMW's Panoramic iDrive, the company pretended to shrink the entire audience as if the keynote took place inside a BMW. Thanks to that, we now have this wonderful photo of comedy legend Tim Meadows looking very small next to a giant coffee cup. As our own Brian Heater writes, we've already reached the point in CES where it's hard to tell a real product from an elaborate prank. In Case of Death is a grim bundle designed to be a dead man's switch for your digital life. It includes an 11-inch iPad case, a smart ring, an app, and a self-destructing 11-inch iPad Pro -- which bricks in the case of the user's death. According to the company, the "death protections" include features that can erase your search history, Rickroll your loved ones for eternity, and send out one final social media post to your followers. While not technically a CES 2025 reveal, the "resurrected" Enron made an announcement for a fake at-home nuclear reactor on Monday to transparently piggyback off of the attention paid to the spree of tech industry announcements. Called the "Enron Egg," the latest hoax involved a very CES-style keynote video championing the egg's ability to power a home for 10 years straight and revolutionize the "power," "independence," and "freedom" industries. Sure! Yukai Engineering also debuted Mirumi, its latest charming robot that mounts to a purse and moves its head like a curious baby as it observes its surroundings. The company says Mirumi was designed to "re-create people's joyful experiences" when interacting with a baby as it expresses itself through inquisitiveness, bashfulness, and comfort.

Stuff's Best of CES Awards 2025: the tech that stole the show | Stuff

Let's dive into the tech that's set to define the year. Here are our CES Award winners for 2025 Another CES is wrapping up in Las Vegas, and what a show it's been. From robots that can pick up your socks, to TVs that'll make your retinas sing, this year's innovations have left us excited about the direction that consumer tech is heading. Our dedicated (not to mention, jetlagged) team has been everywhere - from the cavernous main halls to tucked-away demo rooms - seeking out the products that don't just iterate, but innovate. With that said, let's dive into the tech that's set to define this year. These are our CES Awards 2025... Sunglasses at the ready - LG's latest crop of OLEDs shine brighter than any previous-gen set. The G5 isn't just an incremental update - it's a complete reimagining of what OLED can do. The secret sauce is stepping away from the tried-and-tested MLA tech and instead using a ground-breaking four-stack panel technology that delivers a whopping 40 per cent brightness boost over last year's G4. And we're talking full-screen brightness here, not just those flashy HDR highlights. But raw luminance is just the beginning. LG's new Alpha 11 Gen 2 processor brings AI upscaling, along with 11.1.2 surround sound. For PC gaming enthusiasts, the bump to a 165Hz refresh rate (up from 144Hz) will also be very tempting indeed. Available in sizes from a desk-friendly 48in all the way up to a room-dominating 97in, the G5 sets a new benchmark for what we expect from our TVs in 2025. The Steam Deck started a revolution in portable PC gaming, but Lenovo's Legion Go S is about to write the next chapter. As the first third-party device blessed with official SteamOS support, it's a genuine challenger to Valve's crown. The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip inside isn't messing around, with its eight cores humming along at 3.3GHz, with 32GB of RAM thrown in for good measure. The 8in display is sharper than Valve's offering too, with 1920×1200 pixels on offer, with a slick 120Hz refresh rate to boot. At 740g it's carrying a little more heft than the Steam Deck OLED, but the slightly beefier 55.5Whr battery makes up for it. The Tour One M3's headline feature is its ingenious Smart Tx transmitter - a touchscreen wonder that brings wireless audio to places it's never gone before. Want to watch movies on your flight's entertainment system? Done. Need lag-free gaming audio? Sorted. The transmitter isn't just about connectivity either -- its crisp display lets you fine-tune your listening experience without reaching for your phone. Under the hood, you'll find newly developed 40mm Mica Dome drivers with ANC and spatial audio both present and accounted for. With up to 70 hours of battery life per charge, this is shaping up to be the ultimate pair of cans for serial jetsetters. This skinny laptop proves you don't need to compromise on performance to stay portable. At under a kilo, Asus has kept the weight to a minimum by crafting the entire chassis out of their Ceraluminum material. The alloy is based on magnesium, with a soft touch outer finish that felt wonderfully high-end under our fingers and a screen hinge that opens with one finger. What's really impressive is the claimed 32-hour battery life, courtesy of Qualcomm's incredibly efficient Snapdragon X silicon. The 14in OLED panel is a visual delight, while twin USB4 ports, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm combo jack mean you won't need to reach for a dongle quite as quickly as you might with other ultraportables. Garmin just threw down the gauntlet in the rugged smartwatch arena, with the reveal of the ultra-rugged Instinct 3. While its AMOLED display that's visible in even the harshest sunlight is a welcome feature, it's really all about the the metal-reinforced bezel and overall build -- this thing is built to military standards and can handle 100-meter deep dives without breaking a sweat. Ad for battery life? How does "potentially infinite" sound? The solar models can theoretically run forever under optimal conditions, while even the standard version will outlast your longest adventures. Available in both 45mm and 50mm sizes, including some eye-catching tropical-inspired colours, it's proof that tough doesn't have to mean ugly. Remember when robot vacuums just bumped around your house like drunk penguins? Those days are long gone. Enter Roborock's Saros Z70, which is here to show us what the future of cleaning really looks like. Its rather impressive party trick is a clever OmniGrip Mechanical Arm - a five-axis marvel that can unfurl itself and actually pick up the socks your teenager left on the floor. And we're not just talking about lightweight fabrics; this mechanical helper can lift objects up to 300g, making it a genuine helping hand around the house. Despite packing all this tech, the Z70 maintains an impressively low 8cm profile, meaning it'll still glide under your sofa with ease. The robotic arm elegantly folds away when not needed, and you've got complete control over what it picks up and where it puts things - no more finding your missing sock in the kitchen. With customizable no-go zones and a child safety lock, it's as thoughtful as it is innovative. We're not sure what your cat will make of it, mind. HP's most powerful gaming laptop to date packs the latest Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU and Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, but it's the innovative features that really set it apart. Take the dust-busting fan system -- it periodically reverses direction to blow out accumulated debris, potentially adding years to your laptop's life. Clever stuff. The 240Hz OLED display is a treat for the eyes, and the AI optimisation is a clever touch too - the Omen AI app actively tweaks system settings based on your specific hardware configuration, squeezing out every last frame of performance. Add in the built-in wireless receiver for your peripherals (goodbye, dongle clutter) and up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, and you've got a portable powerhouse that promises to serve you well for years to come. When Technics takes tech from its $1200/£1100 wired in-ears and brings it to a more accessible price point, you know something special is brewing. The EAH-AZ100's magnetic fluid driver tech has us very impressed indeed, delivering an impressively well-rounded sound for a single driver setup. Not every issue from the AZ80 has been addressed, but the most important ones have - battery life and limited custom EQ options have both been ticked. At 10 per cent smaller than before, with redesigned ear tips that ramp up the comfort levels even further, these are shaping up to be serious contenders in the premium wireless earbud space. Just when we thought robot vacuums had peaked, Dreame comes along and gives their latest flagship legs. Yes, you read that right - the X50 Ultra can literally step over obstacles up to 6cm high. What will they think of next? A whopping 20,000Pa of suction power provides formidable dust-busting performance, and its quiet enough not to disturb your Netflix sessions.At 8.9cm tall when the DToF sensor is retracted, it'll still sneak under most furniture as well, for an added dash of practicality. Yaber's compact powerhouse can conjure up a massive 100in image from just 24.8cm away, making it perfect for those of us who don't have mansion-sized living rooms. Its 1000 ANSI lumens of brightness means you won't need to completely black out your room for a great picture, while the built-in 15W JBL speakers take care of the audio front the nicely. NovaGlow tech also ensures uniform brightness across the entire image, and at £1130, it's bringing premium projection tech to a more reasonable price point. Acer's gaming flagship has finally embraced OLED, and what an entrance it's made. The 16-inch, 2560×1600 panel doesn't just look gorgeous - its 240Hz refresh rate means it plays beautifully too. Pair that with Nvidia's latest RTX 5090 graphics card and Intel's Core Ultra 9 processor, and you've got a laptop that'll handle anything you throw at it, from competitive esports to demanding creative work. The dual Thunderbolt 5 ports are a glimpse into the future of connectivity, while Acer's 5th Gen AeroBlade fans and liquid metal thermal solution keep everything running cool under pressure. You can spec this beast with up to 64GB of RAM and 4TB of storage, though your wallet might need a lie-down afterwards. Available from June, it's set to redefine what we expect from a gaming laptop. While some concepts never make it past the show floor, others offer such compelling glimpses of the future that we can't help but get excited. This year, two innovations particularly caught our eye: Gaming chairs are rarely revolutionary, but Razer's latest concept had us hot and cold - literally. This temperature-controlling gaming throne combines heating and cooling elements, promising to keep you at the perfect temperature while gaming. While it's still just a concept, the engineering behind it is sound enough that we might actually see it hit the market. This isn't your average bathroom mirror - it's a complete health station that could revolutionise how we monitor our daily wellbeing. By combining visual analysis with environmental sensors, it promises to track everything from posture to skin health, while offering personalised wellness recommendations. While it's currently in concept form, Withings' track record suggests this could become a reality sooner rather than later.

The best of CES 2025

Presenting our 12 finalists, plus the winner of our best in show award. CES 2025 is coming to a close, and team Engadget is ready to leave Las Vegas. Our reporters and editors have scoured endless carpeted convention halls, braved lines of chain smokers and fielded thousands of emails a day to find the best and most credible products at the show. As expected, the vast majority of things we saw this CES had an AI component, with a noticeable uptick in AR glasses, hearing aid earbuds, solar-powered tech, emotional support robots and robot vacuums. Apparently people really like robovacs that can pick up socks. Our team was encouraged to see more growth in tech built to improve the lives of those with disabilities and mobility issues, too. Our list of CES 2025 winners covers a variety of categories, ranging from typical areas like home entertainment, transportation and smart home to theme-based topics like sustainability and accessibility. After our team shortlisted nominees and voted on the best for various categories, we then conducted another round of voting to decide on the best product of the show. That said, here's the full list of our picks for the Best of CES 2025. The ASUS Zenbook A14 feels impossibly light, weighing between 2.2 and 2.4 pounds, and it has a gorgeous 14-inch OLED screen and a decent array of ports (USB-C, USB-A and HDMI)! What else ccould you want in a MacBook Air competitor? After years of basically copying Apple's MacBooks, ASUS proves it can out-innovate Apple without resorting to gimmicks like dual screens or flashy lights. The Zenbook A14 is simply a tiny laptop that feels great in your hands, thanks in large part to ASUS's unique Ceraluminum case material. ASUS claims it can last up to 32 hours while playing video, well above the 18 hours Apple estimates for the MacBook Air. It may seem odd that the least flashy laptop of CES 2025 is one of our favorites, but sometimes pure practicality is undeniable. -- Devindra Hardawar, Senior reporter, reviews We're always looking for brand new, never-seen-before stuff at CES, but sometimes it's the clever reinterpretation of existing tech that catches our attention. That's the case with Backup by Biolite. It's essentially a cross between a universal power supply (UPS) and a whole-home backup battery, but improves on both. The thin, 40-pound 1.5 kWh battery lives between a wall outlet and your fridge (or any other plug-in device) and keeps those things running in the event of a power outage. It doesn't require professional installation, just a user-installed wall mount, and it's thin enough to hide behind your fridge or tuck under a counter. Though if it were on display, the matte-silver finish wouldn't spoil any aesthetic. The Backup Complete includes two units that supply up to 3 kWh, which is enough to power a fridge, microwave, lights, as well as refill phones and a laptop. The 3 kWh capacity and the fact that it's an installed battery currently qualifies it for a 30 percent federal tax credit, which would bring the cost down to $2,100 for the Complete. The single-unit Backup Core packs 1.5 kWh and goes for $2,000. Both are available for pre-order now and should ship this summer. -- Amy Skorheim, Reporter, buying advice Jackery is already an established name in domestic solar generator systems, and its latest product fills a wavy gap in its product lineup. Jackery's XBC curved solar roof shingles mimic some of the most common house styles in the country, and they come in terracotta or obsidian colorways for optimum HOA appeasement. These are the first curved solar tiles to hit the United States market and they deliver a cell conversion efficiency of more than 25 percent. They can withstand extreme weather conditions, including temperatures between -40 degrees F and 185 degrees F, and they're designed in line with traditional roofing installation practices, featuring a modular setup that allows for flexible maintenance. Jackery's new wavy solar tiles connect with the company's existing solar generation and storage products, making them an accessible and attractive option for whole-home sustainability. -- Jessica Conditt, Senior reporter The plight of the modern handheld-PC gamer is trying to decide which OS to use. There are a ton of Windows 11-based devices that offer unparalleled compatibility and strong graphics support. But all that comes on a platform that isn't optimized for smaller gadgets with attached controllers. Alternatively, SteamOS offers a much more cohesive experience with a better UI and less performance overhead. The problem is that Valve's operating system was basically only available on a single device -- the Steam Deck. That changes now with the Lenovo Legion Go S, which will be available in two flavors: a Windows version and for the first time on any handheld not made by Valve, a model powered by SteamOS. Aside from the choice of platforms and different colored shells, we appreciate that the two variants feature almost identical specs including an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor, up to 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and a decently large 55.5Whr battery. Its 8-inch touchscreen looks great too, as it offers a 120Hz refresh rate with support for VRR, 500 nits of brightness and a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. And with prices starting at $600 (or $500 for the SteamOS model), it's rather affordable too. Perhaps the biggest downside is that while the Windows model will be out later this month, we're going to have to wait until May for the one powered by SteamOS. But with the latter sort of finally making good on the nearly decade-old promise of Valve's Steam Machines, holding out for a few extra months doesn't seem so long. -- Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter, reviews LG's Best of CES crown is safe for another year. The company is consistently at the top of the best TVs we see each year in Las Vegas, and it frequently comes out the winner. For this year's OLED evo M5, the company managed to further improve its most premium displays, adding the latest α (Alpha) 11 AI processor Gen2 to improve the look of lower-resolution content and power advanced features. For gamers, there's a 165Hz refresh rate, alongside both NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD FreeSync Premium certifications. This should smooth things out and keep lag to a minimum. The company's new Brightness Booster Ultimate can achieve levels that are three times brighter than "conventional OLED" models, according to the company. Plus, the feature contributes to a UL Solutions' "Perfect Black" and "Perfect Color" verification on the M5. It's truly stunning picture quality. Lastly, LG's Zero Connect Box that's been available on the M-series for a while now is finally available on screens below 77 inches. This device allows you to connect all of your consoles and streaming gear without running multiple HDMI cables to the TV. LG now says it doesn't need line-of-sight clearance either, and that it can be hidden in a wooden cabinet near the M5. -- Billy Steele, Senior reporter, reviews Gadgets made for relaxation shouldn't be complicated. Moonbuddy has one purpose -- to make guided breathwork accessible and appealing to children -- and it nails the execution with no unnecessary frills. The company behind it first made a similar stress relief device for adults, and Moonbuddy simplifies that experience and puts it into a cuter package. Moonbuddy is an egg-shaped device with a soft area that expands and contracts in set rhythms, so kids can follow along and sync up their own breathing. It fits into an animal themed sleeve, so it looks like a toy. There are four different breathing modes, each lasting a few minutes and designed to promote a state of calmness. The whole thing is tactile and screen-free, which is especially good considering many parents may want to incorporate it into the nighttime routine. And as much as I love the little animal outfits as a person who gravitates toward cute things, I also like that if your kid gets to that stage where they reject everything babyish, they can take the sleeve off and keep using it in its more nondescript form. -- Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend editor The MCON by OhSnap basically transforms any smartphone into a modern Xperia Play, complete with modern conveniences like Hall effect analog sticks, silent buttons, flip-out grips, and a full bumper and trigger layout. It's a mobile gamepad that can slide into your pocket without the sticks or handles getting caught on anything, and it works with pretty much every smartphone on the market today. The MCON uses MagSafe to snap onto the back of any recent iPhone and it comes with an adapter for Android devices to join in on the fun. It even works with the Galaxy Z Fold, and its creator, Josh King, is working on a solution for the Z Flip, too. The mockup that King brought to CES 2025 felt lightweight yet solid and comfortable to hold, and the phone-snapping action was supremely satisfying. After gaining a bit of viral fame with his idea, King partnered with established MagSafe accessory manufacturer OhSnap to push the MCON into full production, and it's due to hit the market in August for $150. -- Jessica Conditt, Senior reporter Robot vacuums got a bunch of new -- and sometimes strange -- powers at CES 2025. But none made a bigger impression than Roborock's Saros Z70, which comes with a mechanical arm that can pick up socks, lift cords and grab other objects. The OmniGrip arm can pick up objects up to 300 grams (a little more than half a pound) in order to clean under them or deposit them in the location of your choice. Functionality of the arm is controlled via Roborock's app and is extremely customizable so you can program it to pick up loose trash and cat toys, but lift up cords to clean underneath. When we saw it in action at CES, it deftly picked up socks and placed them in a basket. But Roborock promises it can do much more. The vacuum will automatically recognize 108 different objects -- yes, like seemingly every other gadget we saw at CES, it uses AI -- but you can also teach it to detect up to 50 additional items so it will know how to handle obstacles it's most likely to encounter in your home. Surprisingly, the Saros Z70 wasn't the only robot vacuum with an arm we saw at CES, but it will be the first that you can actually buy. -- Karissa Bell, Senior reporter Technics' new Magnetic Fluid drivers have garnered a lot of headlines this week, but all you really need to know about the EAH-AZ100 earbuds is that the sound quality is massively improved. Powered by those new components, there's more clarity, detail and bass, all of which are upgrades from the already impressive AZ80. Technics revised its earbud shape for the AZ100 in the name of comfort and fit, while also making the buds smaller and lighter. Features like touch controls, multipoint connectivity for three devices, spatial Dolby Atmos audio and LDAC support are here as well. And unlike most of what we see at CES, these new earbuds are already available to purchase. -- Billy Steele, Senior reporter, reviews Since the pandemic, e-bikes, not electric cars, have been at the forefront of the EV revolution, and it's easy to see why: Electric bikes are a lot more affordable than their four-wheeled counterparts. Plus, here at Engadget, we're all for devices that promote healthier living, and for many, getting an e-bike can be transformational. So when Urtopia showed up at CES 2025 with a concept e-bike that features a novel motor design, I was excited. As my colleague Daniel Cooper notes in his writeup, e-bike motors have traditionally come in two form factors, each with their own set of considerations. The custom-designed Quark DMI.2 mid-drive motor Urtopia showed off alongside its Titanium Zero e-bike offers a third path. It's not as powerful as traditional mid-drive motors, but it still features more power output than even the best hub motors. Best of all, the motor is small enough to fit inside a bottom bracket and weighs just 2.6 pounds. Urtopia hasn't said when it will start manufacturing the Titanium Zero, but it's easy to see a scenario where the design of the Quark DMI.2 inspires other bike makers and pushes the industry forward. -- Igor Bonifacic, Senior reporter Of all the products at CES 2025 that had AI stuffed into them, WeWalk's Smart Cane 2 stood out. The smart cane for people with visual impairments got an update this year that not only adds AI, but also addresses the original's shortcomings. It brings more advanced sensors, and best of all, still works as a conventional folding cane when these technological features aren't engaged. The Smart Cane 2 can detect obstacles and offer turn-by-turn navigation, and it has a ChatGPT-powered assistant that can provide answers to questions while someone is walking, without the need to reach for a smartphone. WeWalk also refined the actual cane by making its handle slimmer, replacing the original's touchpad with tactile buttons and shaving a bit of weight off. Sure, you might not be able to trust ChatGPT to give you correct answers to every question imaginable yet, but at least in this implementation, the product isn't likely to harm users even if the AI fails. Plus, it has useful hardware, including time-of-flight and motion sensors to improve navigation, speakers to provide answers and feedback, as well as a flashlight to make the visually impaired more noticeable at night. And again, if the battery dies, you can still use this as a traditional, albeit pricier, cane. -- Cherlynn Low, Deputy editor, reviews One of the most memorable robots at CES this year was the one that arguably does the least. We found ourselves powerless against the heart-melting charm of Mirumi, a tiny, fluffy robot made by Yukai Engineering that literally just stares at people and looks around like a baby discovering the outside world. It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but even better than that, it has long posable arms that allow it to hang onto objects. So if you put it on your bag strap, it will stare down everyone you encounter, and maybe become a little shy when they return the attention. Mirumi has no purpose other than to spread joy, and I love it for that. Yukai previously brought us the weird Qoobo pillow (the one with the tail) and the cat that nibbles your finger, and this is another case in which it did not miss with one of its odd creations. -- Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend editor At CES this year, AI was unsurprisingly everywhere, often in places it didn't really seem like it needed to be. But the WeWalk Smart Cane 2, a high-tech version of the mobility cane for people who are blind, struck me as an application where it could actually be really helpful. With a new voice assistant that's powered by GPT, users can speak directly to the cane to get detailed navigation guidance and on-demand information, like public transportation options and menu items. The smart cane is also packed with sensors that allow it to alert the users of upcoming obstacles. It does this with haptic feedback in the handle and by calling out a verbal warning. WeWalk co-founder Kursat Ceylan, who is blind, gave a demonstration of the cane in the chaotic environment of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and it was impressive. The voice assistant responded quickly and accurately to his prompts, and the obstacle detection alert was loud enough to be heard over the buzz of the CES crowd. It can also pair with headphones or earbuds via Bluetooth. Since the cane can handle things like turn-by-turn navigation, users don't have to worry about also holding a smartphone while they're trying to get around. The smart cane takes an existing tool that people are already familiar with and enhances it. Importantly, it also seems like the company heard the feedback of users who had the first version of the cane and improved the design to better meet their needs. It has a slimmer handle than the first model and tactile buttons, and weighs about the same as a traditional white cane. -- Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend editor

11 incredible technologies we've seen at CES 2025 so far -- from a holographic windshield display to a fridge that can cook

From unusual haptic tech to stunning displays, these are the best technologies we've seen so far at CES. CES 2025 is in full swing and hundreds of innovators, engineers and manufacturers have descended on Las Vegas to showcase cutting-edge and exciting technologies, from pieces that are set for commercial release to those that are more experimental in nature. There are plenty of new technologies on show, with a significant number leaning on artificial intelligence (AI) -- although there are plenty other technologies worth highlighting. Live Science is on the ground and we've selected a handful of innovations that have caught our eye so far. Drivers of future electric vehicles (EVs) could be using a holographic display that spans the breadth of their windshield. Developed alongside the optics company Zeiss, Hyundai Mobis' new windshield display is a first-of-its-kind innovation that projects key information, such as navigation and safety alerts, in a panoramic and immersive way. Mass production of this technology will begin in 2027, representatives said. Titan is a company that builds advanced haptic motors (or small devices that generate vibrations in things that you hold) for smartphones and gaming devices -- but its latest innovation is a relaxation device designed to be worn around the neck. "TITAN Ono" is a pendant that taps into "high definition" haptics to send vibrations through your chest based on a handful of pre-configured modes that may help entertain or calm you. You might, for example, want to feel the sensation of a cat purring, or a heart beating. The device can also be connected to Bluetooth headphones and deliver haptic sensations that accurately mimic the way your chest cavity resonates when you listen to booming live music. Winner of a CES 2025 Innovation Award, Woongjin ThinkBig's Booxtory is an AI-powered reading device that uses technology to outsource the effort of parents reading to their kidss. You can place a book down in front of the device and the onboard camera uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to take in the words -- with an in-house generative AI system reading out the words through a connected speaker. Its plethora of features includes switching between different preset voices, or even training the AI with a sample of your own voice. Scientists from Japan have developed a new type of haptics technology called "SoftMRF" that can replicate specific textured feelings, like pushing your hands into the sand. Rather than using motors, the engineers add a small amount of oil into an actuator -- a device that converts energy into mechanical motion -- before running a current through it. The viscosity of the recreated oil changes with the magnetic field, which allows them to precisely control the level of resistance and the specific sensation you feel when you, for example, push a trigger on a joystick. Toshiba has showcased a handful of ways that AI can transform the viewing experience at home. The highlight is an in-built software for your TV that detects different types of audio coming through -- such as commentary and crowd noise during a sports game -- and allows you to isolate one particular track at the push of a button. In another example, demonstrators isolated the voice of a reporter during a news segment -- and then pushed a button to dampen the reporter's voice and broadcast just the sounds of traffic. The technology is still in development with no fixed release date. InkPoster is the world's first low-power and high-resolution display that lets you upload and display full-color pieces of artwork on your walls using e-paper technology. The battery life lasts for up to a year on a single charge. The largest model has a 31.5-inch (80 centimeter) 2,560 x 1,440-pixel rectangular display -- all featured in an aluminum frame with a matte finish. Each one is also Wi-Fi compatible and only needs a power supply when new images are being uploaded. HMD OffGrid is ideal for anybody who's regularly on the move. This device can be linked with your smartphone to enable you to tap into satellite internet networks so you can carry on receiving and sending messages to friends and family while also beaming up regular location updates -- especially in areas that have no internet or cellular signal whatsoever. The Skyted 320 is a headset unlike any other -- not only does the microphone isolate your voice, but the device itself creates an invisible sound bubble around you that makes sure nobody 2 feet (0.6 meters) away from you can hear your voice. The technology relies on lowering the sound threshold at which your voice can be picked up by the microphones, representatives said. The minimum voice level activation is 40 decibels, whereas most devices need you to speak at a volume of at least 90 dB -- the microphones will also isolate your voice and dampen any background noise for the person you're speaking with. Figo is a refrigerator that fits on your countertops that can coos and store food until it is ready to be prepared with sous-vide cooking -- a method of cooking that involves sealing food in a bag and submerging it in water heated to the precise temperatures required. This device lets people effortlessly schedule meals that they prepped a couple of days previously. The idea is to promote better food consumption habits, according to EatFigo representatives. Lenovo has debuted a 2-in-1 laptop with a new rollable display, making it the first machine of its kind ever launched. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable offers a second display above the standard 14-inch (35.5 cm) screen, extending the screen's real estate to 16.7 inches (42.4 cm). You can activate the additional screen space either by tapping a dedicated key or by making hand gestures to the camera. This form factor sets it apart from 360-degree 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrids or even foldable devices. First debuting at CES 2024, LG's wireless and transparent 4K OLED TV, dubbed "Signature OLED T" is now commercially available -- if you have at least $60,000 to spend. The "true wireless" technology that LG has given this device is amisnomer, given there are two standard power cables with the set-up that powers the display itself and a companion box. You can plug in any cabling, like HDMI, into the companion box, and set this anywhere in your home up to 30 feet (9 meters) away -- ideally with a clear line of sight. The box then transmits the data to the panel itself via Wi-Fi.

Digital Trends' Best of CES 2025 Awards

CES 2025 Read and watch our complete CES coverage here Updated less than 1 minute ago Table of Contents Table of Contents Computing Audio/Video Mobile Gaming Cars Smart home Las Vegas is overrun. Every billboard in town is shouting about AI, hotel bar tops now sport a sea of laptops, and after hours The Strip is elbow to elbow with engineers toting yard-long beers. That means CES, the year's biggest tech bacchanalia, has come to town, and Digital Trends editors have spent the last four days frolicking among next year's crop of incredible TVs, computers, tablets, and EVs. We're in heaven. With 4,500 exhibitors, there's no way for any one person to see it all, but our team of editors has done its best to explore every backwater and annex of the Las Vegas Convention Center. We're confident we've dug up the best of the best for our Best of CES 2025 awards. From monitors to smart gardens, desktop speakers to a really killer Steam Deck competitor, there's something for everyone to get excited about here. Computing Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i Wacky things have been done in the name of reducing bezels over the years. Ugly notches. Nosecams. Hidden or detachable cameras. Perhaps the worst solution is removing the webcam entirely. The latest version of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i, though, attempts an audacious technological leap to create an invisible webcam that can completely disappear from sight. The solution is an incredible feat. When the camera is engaged, the OLED display turns off a small circle of pixels to allow the 32-megapixel camera located behind the screen to shoot through the panel and generate an image on the other side. Toss in a sprinkle of AI, and you have a half-decent camera feed for video calls. Is it a bit over-engineered? Maybe. But when you're not bothering with your camera and you get to enjoy a bountiful sea of screen unencumbered by bezels and webcams, I don't think you'll mind. - Luke Larsen Asus PG27AQNR Pulsar gaming monitor In the era of refresh rates above 500Hz, you'd think that the motion clarity issue for competitive gamers have been solved, but Asus' PG27AQNR proves otherwise. It's 360Hz and 1440p, but that's not what's special about it. The monitor is among the first to debut Nvidia's G-Sync Pulsar tech. It's a big deal if you're into competitive games. Essentially, Pulsar enables dynamic backlight strobing in a display, blanking out the image between refreshes based on what's actually happening in your game. The result? You see a static image on each refresh, locking the target that you're tracking into place for motion clarity that even the best OLED gaming monitors can't match. Although Pulsar isn't angled toward every PC gamer, it's a massive step forward for competitive gamers, and Asus is putting that on full display with the PG27AQNR. - Jacob Roach Samsung Odyssey 3D You have every right in the world to be skeptical of a 3D gaming monitor. I know I was. But I'm telling you -- as someone who's tried out multiple generations of this technology over the years, the Samsung Odyssey 3D gaming monitor finally nails it. The demo of The First Berserker I played feels like a huge advancement over the prototype technology we saw last year. Having your head in the "sweet spot" is no longer a factor, getting the full 3D effect in a much wider range of viewing angles and distances. Yes, there's still a lot of work to be done to bring developers on board in time for release, or perhaps develop a 2D-to-3D conversion that actually works in games. But the technology itself? It's ready for showtime. Once gamers get a chance to see it for themselves, I have a feeling they won't want to go back to the boring world of two dimensions. - Luke Larsen Asus Zenbook A14 A can of soup. A small pineapple. A pair of heavy socks. Google says those are a few household items that weigh about as much as the Asus Zenbook A14. At just 2.18 pounds, it's the lightest laptop in recent memory -- at least for a device that doesn't completely sacrifice a major feature along the way. After all, when it comes to laptops, no one wants to sacrifice features, durability, ports, or functionality for lightness. The Zenbook A14 proves you can have the best of both worlds. When I picked this laptop up for the first time, I couldn't believe how light it felt in my hand. The entire laptop is made from Asus' "high-tech ceramic" material -- otherwise known as Ceraluminum -- which provides its unique texture and its incredible lightness. All that, as is common with Asus, starts at under $1,000. That's a winning combination, and it just might make for the ultimate laptop to travel with. - Luke Larsen Audio/Video Hisense 116UX TriChroma LED TV The Hisense 116UX does mini-LED in a new way. Instead of blue or white LED backlights shining through a color filter, the TriChroma LED TV uses tens of thousands of RGB Local Dimming optical lenses that each contain individual red, green, and blue LEDs. The lenses are then controlled in clusters, with dimming done at both the cluster and lens levels. The individual RGB LEDs -- without a color filter -- allow the 116UX to achieve, according to Hisense, 97% of the BT.2020 color space. The RGB clusters are also more efficient, reducing power consumption. We're continuing to learn the intricacies about how the technology works, but it's an obvious dynamic change to LED TV technology. - John Higgins Panasonic Z95B OLED TV It was great to see Panasonic return to the U.S. market in 2024, and CES 2025 has shown that it's back in earnest. While it has three new TVs for 2025, the flagship Z95B OLED caught our eye the most thanks to its incredible boost in brightness over last year's Z95A. Panasonic revealed that it's using Primary RGB Tandem Panel technology -- a new four-layer panel structure consisting of red, green, and blue (actually two blue) layers that allows for a better separation and purity of color and higher brightness, all without MLA (Micro Lens Array) technology. In addition, Panasonic engineers designed the ThermalFlow cooling system, inspired by aerodynamic race car design, to improve heat dissipation. It's a step forward in OLED panel design that we've been speculating about, and Panasonic has delivered it and shown us what it's all about. - John Higgins TCL QM7K Mini-LED TV There's a lot of amazing TV tech at CES 2025, and the TCL QM7K definitely has its share. TCL has developed multiple improvements in its backlight technology, and the 2025 series of QM televisions (the QM7K included) are a part of the Precise Dimming Series. With a new chip, lens structure, decrease in the optical distance -- from the backlight to the diffuser plate -- and some processing improvements to virtually eliminate lag from input signal to backlight response, all aspects of the backlight performance on the QM7K looks to be improved over last year's QM7. Best of all, though, is that, unlike some of the other flashy TV tech on display, the QM7K will be a TV that fits within most people's budgets. Even with all of the improvements, the QM7K is expected to be comparable in price to last year's model (which started at $1,100) and we should see it sometime around midyear. - John Higgins Technics EAH-AZ100 If we were to give this award a sub-category, it might be "most improved wireless earbuds." That's because the Technics EAH-AZ100 are packed with improvements over their predecessors, the EAH-AZ80. Smaller, lighter, better ANC, better call quality, and way better battery life -- all are strong reasons to recognize these new buds. They've even got spatial audio with head tracking and Auracast compatibility via Bluetooth LE Audio -- two features the AZ80 lacked. But the kicker is their sound. For the AZ100, Technics adapted its innovative Magnetic Fluid driver technology from its $1,100 wired IEMs, which gives the AZ100 ultra-low distortion and excellent sound quality. Taken together, these changes make the Technics EAH-AZ100 the best wireless earbuds of CES 2025. - Simon Cohen Onkyo GX-30ARC On the surface, Onkyo's $299 powered desktop GX-30ARC speakers look like, well, speakers. But this is a case of good things coming in small packages. Onkyo's decades of amplification heritage shines through in these speakers -- they're bi-amped, which means each driver gets a discrete source of power -- and we suspect that's a big reason for their powerful sound, which impresses with both its clarity and low-end authority. They're also loaded with input options, including USB-C, Bluetooth (with LE Audio and Auracast), optical, stereo RCA (with selectable line-in and phono settings), and an HDMI-ARC port, which gives the GX-30ARC part of its name. Add to this package a magnetically attached grille, your choice of two colors, an included set of angled woodgrain stands, and a remote, and you've got a compelling set of powered speakers whether you're a creator or just an avid listener. - Simon Cohen Mobile Belkin Stage PowerGrip Belkin is always a strong force at CES, but at CES 2025, it announced one of its most unique iPhone accessories to date: the Stage PowerGrip. What exactly is the Stage PowerGrip? Well, it's a lot of things. Imagine a 10,000mAh battery pack that attaches to your iPhone via MagSafe. And it has an integrated USB-C cable to charge other devices. And it acts as a stand to prop up your phone on a table. And it has a camera grip. And it has a camera shutter button. And it comes in some really lovely colors. That's the Belkin Stage PowerGrip. It's really exciting to see this level of creativity from Belkin, and I hope we see even more of it in the years to come. - Joe Maring Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 The Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 isn't an Android tablet I expected to see again in 2025. Virtually every manufacturer seemed to have given up on compact Android tablets with flagship-level specs, but that's precisely what you get with the new Legion Tab. The iPad mini monopolizes the compact tablet market. Google's Nexus 7 tablets used to be excellent alternatives, but we haven't had a new model since 2013 -- and it didn't seem like anyone had any interest in throwing their hat in the tiny-tablet ring. But Lenovo has, and the Legion Tab Gen 3 looks like a legitimately great revitalization of the niche. - Joe Maring Amazfit Active 2 Smartwatches are everywhere in 2025. As such, standing out in the crowd is a big ask. But I think the Amazfit Active 2 has what it takes to do that. Take one look at the Active 2's spec sheet or feature list, and it's got just about everything you could ask for -- including activity and sleep tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, automatic workout detection, and more. What's impressive is you get all of that with up to 10 days of battery life, a high-quality AMOLED display, and a compact body. What's even more impressive is that the watch starts at just $100. The value proposition here is one of the best I've seen in a while, and my early impressions of the Amazfit Active 2 are really promising. It feels unreal that a smartwatch of this quality exists at this price, but somehow, Amazfit pulled it off. - Joe Maring Anker 165W Power Bank Once you've seen one power bank, you've seen them all -- right? That's what I thought until Anker announced its new 165W Power Bank. Unlike most power banks, which give you about a 10,000mAh battery capacity and call it a day, Anker's latest one crams in a massive 25,000mAh capacity, plus a few additional features that are equally ridiculous and practical. One of those features is integrated USB-C cables. The Anker Power Bank has two of them, meaning if you're traveling with two devices, you can just bring the 165W Power Bank with you and not have to fuss with bringing cables. Is the Anker 165W Power Bank overkill? Maybe. But does it also have the makings of one of the most complete power banks we've ever seen? Absolutely. - Joe Maring Gaming Lenovo Legion Go S On its surface, the Lenovo Legion Go S may look like yet another Steam Deck imitation that's looking to re-create Valve's success. It is that to some degree, but it's a crucial development in the current handheld PC arms race. Rather than trying to outplay Valve by loading its Legion Go variant with extra bells and whistles, Lenovo finally understands that the best way to beat the competition is to join it. And thus, we have our first portable PC not made by Valve to use SteamOS, the streamlined operating system that's helped the Steam Deck maintain its dominance against experimental Windows-based rivals. With the Legion Go S, we finally have a viable alternative to the Steam Deck that still functions like an easy-to-use handheld. Not only that but it's a powerful handheld that's both more comfortable and less expensive than its predecessor. All of that creates a perfect recipe for success. - Giovanni Colantonio MSI Forge GK600 TKL Wireless How many more ways can you innovate a gaming keyboard in 2025? MSI's Forge GK600 TKL Wireless proves that there's still plenty of room to perfect something that's been done to death. This is a mechanical keyboard with a hot-swappable printed circuit board that comes with some solid KTT HiFi linear switches. It comes loaded with impressive features, from its dual connectivity to its 4,000mAh battery. That might all sound a little par for the course, but what's especially impressive is the price tag. All of this only costs $80, which is unheard of for a gaming keyboard as feature rich as this. While there's a premium trade-off or two to accomplish that, like an all-plastic design, the GK600 TKL puts fierce rivals like ROG Azoth (a former Digital Trends Best of CES pick) to shame. Expect it to become the mechanical gaming keyboard to own. - Giovanni Colantonio Cars Honda 0 Series Saloon We'd be tempted to give this futuristic EV a nod on its Blade Runner looks alone, but Honda packed it with so much tech that we don't have to. Thanks to an army of sensors and some heavy-duty silicon from Renesas, the Saloon should be capable of level three autonomy when it launches in 2026 -- that's the true "eyes off" driving experience Tesla still can't deliver. Unlike a lot of the questionable AI uses we've seen at CES 2025, the Saloon will employ it to learn from human drivers and process changing environments on the fly, hence the need for all that computing power. Honda has even resurrected its beloved Asimo robot as the namesake for the Saloon's Alexa-style Asimo OS. Just forgive the cringey marketing. "It comforts me when I'm sad," says a doe-eyed driver, "with Saloon I can always be myself." Stick to the chauffeuring, Asimo. - Nick Mokey BMW Panoramic iDrive For years, we've watched center console screens grow bigger and bigger, but with the Panoramic iDrive system, BMW moves away from bragging rights on screen size and focuses on practicality. The strip of screen nestled at the base of the windshield puts vital information like speed, directions, and charge state right in the driver's eyeline, and it can even be augmented with an optional 3D heads-up display. Haptic buttons on the steering wheel control everything, or you can speak commands that are processed via large language model (LLM). After seeing so much "tech for tech's sake" shoveled into cars, we love how Panoramic iDrive seems squarely focused on drivers, and lets drivers focus on the road. - Nick Mokey Smart home Roborock Saros Z70 Robot vacuums have been around for a long time, and I thought I'd seen basically all they had to offer. The Roborock Saros Z70 proved me wrong. This powerful robot vacuum is more than just a way to clean and mop your floors; it has a built-in, extendable arm that is able to pick up socks, small towels, and even lightweight sandals. It's one step closer to Rosie from The Jetsons. Imagine: a robot vacuum that can clear obstacles from its own path. Combined with an intelligent navigation system, the Saros Z70 (and the other entries in the Saros line) is the kind of innovation the robot vacuum industry has so sorely needed. Roborock wasn't firm with price or a release date, so the cost could be a bit hard to swallow -- but it might just be worth it, if the arm works like I think it will. -- Patrick Hearn Plantaform Smart Garden Smart gardens have always felt like they came straight from science fiction, but the Plantaform takes it to a new level (especially because it uses NASA tech). This pod fully encloses the plant and helps it grow through fogponics, dispensing a fine mist throughout the interior that doesn't overwhelm the crop and allows the roots to more easily access water. The enclosure is one of my favorite aspects of this smart garden. Almost all smart gardens use artificial UV light to accelerate plant growth, but it's incredibly bright. The tinted windows of the Plantaform pod block the majority of that light, making it much more plausible to keep indoors. Other units, like the Gardyn, are bright enough to light entire rooms on their own. The Plantaform doesn't use soil and is fully self-sufficient; once you put the plant in, your only job is to sit back and wait to harvest the crop. At $500, it's a bit expensive, but competitively priced for the market. -- Patrick Hearn Petkit Purobot Ultra Automatic Litter Box A litter box might not seem that flashy, but as the owner of three cats, I appreciate anything that does the cleanup for me. The Purobot Ultra is particularly impressive not only for its cleaning capability but for the 180-degree tracking camera on the front. It can recognize each animal individually and takes a picture of the deposit before it sifts it. A little gross? Sure -- but cats are notorious for hiding health conditions, and this litter box makes it much easier to track your pet's bathroom habits. It also has numerous safety sensors that keep your four-legged friend safe. The Purobot Ultra can connect to other Petkit products, like a water fountain and an automatic feeder, to give you a high-level overview of your cat's behavior. This gadget is a little niche, but any cat owner will instantly see the utility of only emptying the box once every 20 days. -- Patrick Hearn

CES 2025 day 2: the 11 coolest gadgets we've seen, from Samsung's The Frame Pro TV to AI air fryers

CES 2025 is now well underway - and while the grand expo technically starts today (January 7), for those in the media (including the TechRadar team), it's the second day of showcases and announcements. It's been another hectic day of tech news, so we're giving you a round-up of the best bits right here. As with the first day of CES 2025, the gadgets and gizmos on show below will help to define the year in technology. We've got big news from Samsung, Nvidia and LG, as well as new smartwatches, robot vacuums, AI-powered air fryers, and... parasols with batteries attached (perfect for your next beach day). CES is a tech showcase, so you won't be able to buy all of these products right away - but they give us a glimpse of what's coming later in 2025, so you can start saving up now. This isn't the end of the CES 2025 fun either, because we'll have another full round-up of hardware for you to dig into tomorrow... We've always been intrigued by The Frame TV from Samsung - the television that doubles up as an art showcase - and here at CES 2025 the latest model has been unveiled. The Frame Pro adds mini-LED technology and improved HDR to the mix, and the difference between this and the 2024 model is simply stunning. There's an extra vibrancy here and some other tweaks (like improved refresh rate) that make The Frame Pro a better TV, and yet it doesn't lose any of its appeal when the Art Mode is active. We'll need to put the model more fully to the test, but it seems Samsung may have finally hit on the right formula this time around. We've been waiting a long time, but the Nvidia RTX 5000 series GPUs are finally official - including the top-of-the-range RTX 5090. Early impressions: these graphics cards will be living up to the hype, and pack in an enormous amount of power, though you're going have to pay top dollar to get hold of them. The RTX 5090 specifically brings with it 92 billion transistors, next-gen Tensor Cores and Ray Tracing Cores, and more than double the AI processing speed of the RTX 4090 (which was a complete beast). Oh, and there's 32GB of new GDDR7 VRAM too, making this comfortably the most powerful GPU on the planet. If you've ever thought the key feature missing from your robot vacuum was the ability to bring you a sandwich while cleaning your floors, take a look at the new SwitchBot K20+ Pro. It comes with a mounting platform for attachments such as fans, security cameras, and trays for bringing your lunch right to you (perhaps). It's a neat idea, and expands the capabilities of the standard robovac - it makes sense that it could also be taking care of other jobs (such as purifying the indoor air) while keeping everything spick and span. How the device and its accessories are priced will be crucial, and we'll find that out at some point later in 2025. Musician will.i.am is back in the tech game, and has partnered up with LG to bring us the xboom series of speakers. The best of the bunch right now is the LG xboom Stage 301, which is designed like a stage speaker - it has a corner cut off at the bottom, so you can angle it upwards, just like the pro musicians do. What's most important though is the sound, and the 6.5-inch woofer and twin 2.5-inch mid-range drivers do a very impressive job here, based on our testing on the CES 2025 show floor. The speaker works on a stand as well as on the floor, and is designed to be versatile enough to meet a whole range of different needs. You know you're at CES when you're looking at recharging stations paired with objects you wouldn't necessarily associate with gadget charging - and that brings us to the Anker SOLIX parasol, which you can wheel out to the beach to make sure you stay very much on the grid while you're soaking in some rays. Or rather, not soaking in the rays, if you're benefitting from the parasol's cover. The umbrella is waterproof and comes with some clever solar cells on top, so you can use the power of the sun to charge up your phones and tablets. It also pairs rather nicely with other products in the Anker range, including power stations. It's now been well-established that Amazfit is one of the go-to brands if you're looking for a smartwatch that's both feature-packed and affordable, and the new Amazfit Active 2 series continues that trend. The starting price here is a mere $99.99 (about £80 / AU$160), but you get an awful lot of bang for your buck. The watch series boasts stainless steel frames, 10 days of battery life, offline maps support, and 160 sports mode options. There are multiple strap and AMOLED display options, and you also get the AI Zepp Flow assistant on board, ready and waiting to help you with fitness insights, watch settings, messaging, and more. Ecobee isn't missing out on the CES 2025 fun, and it has a new Smart Thermostat Essential to show off in Las Vegas. Not only does it learn the heating and cooling speeds for your home and bring with it a full color touchscreen, it's also half the price of the 4th-gen Nest Learning Thermostat Google unveiled last year. It'll set you back $129.99 (about £100 / AU$200) when it goes on sale in March. All the standard features are included, such as customizable schedules and remote control, and it'll work with Ecobee's SmartSensors too, if you have them installed. We haven't had chance to test it yet, but the early signs are very promising. We're often a little disappointed by AI tricks that don't really live up to the hype, but we like the idea of the Dreo ChefMaker 2 air fryer: it uses artificial intelligence to convert standard oven recipes taken from websites or cookbooks, into actual programs the machine can use, with revised temperatures and timings. Now until we try it out, we don't know how well this works - but given how good the original Dreo ChefMaker was, we're hopeful. If you don't want to rely on AI, there are also 100 pre-programmed recipes available to get you started, and the device looks to offer the usual Dreo build quality and cooking prowess. We've only seen a fleeting mention of the TCL Playcube at CES 2025 so far, but we're very interested in learning more. The portable projector is battery powered so it can go just about anywhere you like, and it features a 'magic cube' design that means you can easily angle the projected image in any direction. And... that's just about all we know - TCL hasn't offered any information in the way of pricing or a release date. The previous TCL A1 projector was affordably priced and came with Google TV software on board, so we're expecting the same from the Playcube. Stay tuned to TechRadar for future updates on this. The HMD OffGrid brings satellite messaging to any smartphone, so you don't need the latest iPhone to keep in touch with people without any Wi-Fi or cellular coverage. It works like a mobile hotspot that can also reach satellites, and it comes with support for connecting to 24/7 search and rescue services too. All of this comes at a cost, specifically $199 / £169 upfront with a $14.99 / £14.99 monthly subscription fee - but for some of you outdoor adventurers, that will be well worth it. HMD hasn't confirmed the exact phones this is going to work with, but we should hear more later in the month, when the device goes on sale. Sometimes the best gadgets are the simplest gadgets, and the Flic Duo is a case in point from CES 2025: at first glance, it looks like a simple wall switch, but its two buttons can be programmed in all kinds of different ways, and as well as accepting button pushes, you can also control connected devices using swipes. So, for example, you could change the brightness of smart lights or move a smart blind up and down by moving your finger across one of the buttons. As well as using it on the wall, you can easily pull it off and use it as you wander around your home, making it a versatile and convenient controller for your smart devices. You might also like

CES 2025 day 1 -- 9 new gadgets you need to see

CES 2025 may not officially start until tomorrow, Tuesday January 7, but that doesn't change the fact that there have already been a bunch of big reveals at the show. The weekend saw plenty of announcements from the likes of LG, Samsung, Circular, Halliday and more. But considering we still have the rest of the week to go, this is probably just the tip of the CES iceberg. Today's the day that journalists gain access to CES too, so we can expect a bunch more news to come out of Las Vegas over the next 24 hours. But while there will no doubt be countless exciting new products and reveals to mull over, that's all news for another day. For the time being, here are the top 9 CES gadgets you need to know about so far. The era of smart glasses is here, but the Halliday smart glasses are a little different to the ones we've seen so far. Thanks to its "DigiWindow" technology, these glasses can beam information into your field of vision without a lens. That means you get the equivalent of a 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right corner of your field of view. Apparently it will even worm outdoors in bright sunlight, which is especially useful in Vegas -- even in winter. The glasses themselves can be controlled by swiping the built-in controller, or by using Halliday's smart ring as a virtual trackpad. Features on board the glasses include real-time translation, and what's being referred to as "ProActive AI". This feature analyzes your conversations and can either answer questions you've been asked, or offer insights into the discussion. That includes fact-checking, plus there's a teleprompter mode. Like any good AI, it's able to "can answer complex questions, summarize key discussion points and generate summarized meeting notes". The downside is that these glasses will cost $489 when they go on sale. Which is an awful lot to spend, even on smart glasses. MicroLED is one of those things we've heard great things about, but never seems to be particularly attainable for consumers. But Hisense wants to try and change this with its 136MX MicroLED TV, a screen it says has been developed specifically for ordinary consumers. This is a 136-inch TV powered by Hisense's Hi-View AI Engine X, which uses AI algorithms to reproduce pictures on a frame-by-frame basis. Other notable features include 120Hz variable refresh rates, automatic low-latency mode, and FreeSync Premium Pro for extra gaming prowess. It does run on Hisense's VIDAA smart TV platform, which I'm less enthusiastic about -- I don't have the best experience with bespoke smart TV software. But that wouldn't stop me trying to find a way to fit this gargantuan TV in my house if I had the chance (or the money). Pricing is still unknown, but don't expect it to be cheap. The name is a bit of a mouthful, but once you consider what the K20+ Pro is supposed to do, it kind of makes sense. This is a modular robot companion for the home, with the ability to hook up to different accessories that let it handle different household tasks. Pricing and availability still hasn't been confirmed, but it does sound like a pretty neat idea. Especially the modular nature means you shouldn't have to buy all these accessories in one go. At its most basic level the K20+ Pro is a robot vacuum, with LiDAR and laser-based navigation. The vacuum can then be expanded with a tilting 2K/3K security camera, air purifier, fan, and even a telescopic pole that can hold a smartphone or tablet. There's even a table attachment that can carry up to 8kg of weight, letting you send stuff to other people in the house. Better still, you can attach multiple accessories at once, turning the robot into a multi-purpose mobile companion. Sadly we don't know when the K20+ Pro will be released, or what sort of specs to expect from its different accessories. It's a very cool concept though, and it's certainly something to watch out for going forward. Smart Rings are a pretty hot commodity right now, and Circular has just revealed its second generation model at CES -- complete with features we haven't seen from rivals like Oura or Samsung. Specifically the Circular Ring 2 offers ECG monitoring and FDA-approved AFib detection. Those features are readily available on smartwatches, but if you want to closely watch your heart health with something more discreet, Circular has you covered. Other upgrades include IP68 water and dust resistance, up from IPX8, and 8 days of battery life with 24/7 health and sleep monitoring. Much better than its predecessor's 2 day lifespan. Circular's companion app will also offer Digital Ring Sizing to help you find the right size, without having to use bulky ring-sizing bands first. Circular Ring 2 will arrive via crowdfunding in Spring 2025 with prices starting at $380. Circular also confirmed that there won't be any subscriptions involved, and this will be compatible with Android and iOS. Color options include gold, silver, black and rose gold. I saw the LG Stanby ME Go TV back at IFA in 2023, and was absolutely baffled by the idea. This was a portable 27-inch TV that came in its own suitcase, complete with a 3-hour battery life -- which isn't a whole lot. Well a brand new version just debuted at CES 2025, and it looks a lot less goofy this time around. The main benefit is that the LG Stanby ME 2 is now detachable, letting you pull it out of the stand for better positioning. There's also a bit more choice for accessorizing, letting you ditch the suitcase in favor of a folio screen or carrying-strap. I'm still a little skeptical about all this idea, even if the Stanby Me 2 has a bunch of benefits compared to smartphones and tablets. It's an actual TV experience that offers 1440p resolution, and lets you plug other devices into it via USB or HDMI. But it also only offers 4 hours of battery life, limiting its usefulness away from the safety of a power socket. Still, it's an interesting idea, and considering LG makes some of the best TVs you can buy, I can see this appealing to a bunch of folks who want to get that TV experience regardless of where they are. I know a few people that have ditched the TV screen in favor of a projector, for various different reasons. If you're thinking about joining them, then CES will have plenty of opportunities to check out new projectors -- including Hisense's L9Q. Compatible with screens between 100 and 150-inches, this is a way to get a much bigger screen for a more reasonable price than the equivalent TVs would command. The L9Q is a 4K laser projector that offers up to 5,000 lumens of brightness and covers an incredible 110% of the BT.2020 color space. Plus it offers 6.2.2 surround sound, and offers support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X. It also looks pretty swanky too. Sadly there's no word on pricing or availability yet. I still remember the days when people tried to argue that 30fps was perfectly acceptable. Those fools have mostly disappeared at this point, but I imagine some of them may pop up again to lambast Samsung's new Odyssey OLED G6 gaming monitor -- which offers an absurd 500Hz refresh rate at QHD resolution. Is there any content that can make use of a 500Hz screen? I don't know, but I'm intrigued by this. It's not the first 500Hz monitor to be unveiled, but Samsung claims that it is the first to offer that insane refresh rate at QHD resolution. The 27-inch panel also offers a 0.03ms response time, support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync, alongside VES DisplayHDR True Black 400 and OLED Glare Free. So pretty much every scrap of advanced monitor tech currently available. Sadly the only things we don't know are how much this screen will cost, and when it will be available to purchase. Because I imagine there are more than a few people that would want to check this out for themselves. Here's something I never knew I needed, a robot vacuum with a telescopic arm, which can be used to pick up obstacles -- including socks and shoes. That's right, the RoboRock Saros Z70 promises to do even more cleaning for you, saving you the hassle of clearing the floors before releasing the robot for the daily clean. The arm is limited to 10.5 ounces (300 grams) of weight, so you will have to tidy away some of the larger obstacles. But anything small can be picked up and moved to specific locations, like laundry baskets. Apparently the Z70 will have built-in object recognition to aid this. That'll start with socks and shoes, but apparently future software updates will enable it to recognize even more stuff. I'm hoping it can move wires out of the way, because my current robot vacuum seems hell-bent on chewing up as many phone chargers and power cables as it can. The Roborock Saros Z70 is set to launch in May or June of this year, but pricing still hasn't been announced. LG's ultra-lightweight LG Gram series is back at CES 2025, with 4 new models set to be released later this year. But in an age where ultra-thin and ultra-light doesn't quite cut it (all 4 new models are bigger and heavier than a Macbook Air M3), LG needs to offer a little more. Enter AI, because that's just as big as ever. Not only is the 16-inch LG Gram Pro set to be LG's first Copilot Plus capable PC, LG's also launching its new "hybrid AI" called gram AI. This AI uses a mix of on-device and cloud-based AI processing -- powered by LG's EXAONE LLM locally and OpenAI's GPT-4o in the cloud. The idea being that the Ai will be available regardless of your network connection, and will be able to evolve and adapt its processing needs based on the user's needs. The 4 models going on sale are the 16-inch LG Gram Pro 2-in-1, a pair of LG Gram Pro machines with 17-inch and 16-inch displays, plus a 15.6-inch LG Gram Book. You can check out the full specs of those machines right here.

CES 2025 Day 4 -- 7 incredible new gadgets you can't miss

CES 2025 is winding down, but there's still a lot of cool stuff still to see CES 2025 may be winding down, but the show isn't over yet. Despite all the incredible news and product reveals from the first 3 days of the show, there are still some incredible new things to check out. Some of them were worthy of a place on our Best of CES 2025 awards page, but they're all too cool to be allowed to go unnoticed. We're talking a mix of weird and wonderful gadgets combined with stuff that could prove genuinely useful in your everyday lives. Oh, and a flying car concept that probably shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the average driver -- myself included. Other entries on today's list include smart glasses, an AI-powered anti-snoring pillow, an absurd 10-port USB charging hub, and so much more. Here are the 7 best new gadgets from CES Day 4. And when you're done, be sure to check out our round-ups of the best gadgets at CES day 1, day 2 and day 3. The Xreal One AR glasses are an incredible pair of specs, and now the more premium Xreal One Pro AR glasses have debuted at CES 2025. Honestly, it's unlike anything Tom's Guide Managing Editor Jason England has ever seen before. Benefits to the Pro model include more advanced display tech, with 0.55-inch micro-OLED display in front of your face and a more inconspicuous frame that isn't quite as bulky. On top of that Xreal has added a 12MP camera and the X1 chip - which should help enable spatial computing-style gestures at some point in the future. There's also Bose audio and a premium construction that makes this one of the true MVPs of the smart glasses world. They will cost $599 though, and while not Apple Vision Pro money it's still a lot to have to pay Nothing quite wrecks the peace of a bedroom quite like a partner who snores -- especially if they're particularly loud. There are a bunch of ways to try and tackle the problem, but CES 2025 has a pretty novel solution. The AI Motion Pillow is what the name suggests, a pillow that uses AI to try and reposition a sleeper's head and open their airways to put an end to snoring. It's controlled by the AI Motion System, a white box that records a user's sleep time and snoring. The more you use the pillow, the more the system will be able to recognize when you're snoring. Once that happens it will inflate air bags within the pillow to gently alter their head position. The downside? This is available now, but the AI Motion pillow will cost $699. However the company is offering a limited time post-CES discount that drops it to $399. That's still a lot to pay, but it might be a small price to pay for your partner to be able to get to sleep. There are a bunch of great mobile game controllers out there right now, but that doesn't mean we can't have more. Enter the MCON, a sliding controller that is a stark reminder of Sony's PSP Go - and the days when the PlayStation giant actually cared about handhelds. The controller actually uses a magnetic puck, similar to MagSage, to snap onto an Android or iPhone to transform it into a gaming machine. Phones without their own magnets, which is most of them, will be able to connect with the included MagSafe adapter. There's no physical connection either, with MCON connecting to your phone via Bluetooth - but still managing to offer low-latency gaming. This is a Kickstarter product, though, which comes with all the usual risks of crowdfunding. But the Super Early Bird pledge should net you a controller for $99. Early Bird increases that to $119, while the standard price is $129. Wi-Fi is amazing, but it's hardly the most stable signal. Mesh networks can fix a lot of the signal problems inside your home - but what about outside? Getting those signals outside the confines of your walls isn't easy, and that's where TP-Link's Deco Outdoor mesh Wi-Fi system comes in. And with Wi-Fi speeds to boot. Deco BE25-Outdoor and Deco BE65-Outdoor are both compatible with TP-Link's existing mesh systems, and even have the ability to draw power over ethernet. The idea is that these nodes live outside and are IP65 rated to handle the elements. Once connected to your network the BE!25 adds an extra 2,600 square feet of coverage while the BE!65 ups that to 3,000. They're Wi-Fi 7 too, which means better speeds and lower latency. Pricing and availability haven't been confirmed yet, but if you're tired of not being able to connect to your home network outside then they may be worth checking out. Working on the go isn't ideal, especially if you're a fan of having multiple screens like me. Portable monitors can offer some support, but they're often pretty small. Thankfully the Base Case could be exactly what you need. This mobile workstation is essentially a suitcase with two 24-inch monitors inside -- alongside extra ports and pass-through charging abilities. This setup works with Windows and macOS, and all you need to do is plug in to get going. Those ports include HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, Ethernet and USB-A, while telescopic legs add 10-inches of height. The downside is that it does weigh 10lbs/4.5kg, and it may get tiresome lugging it around after a while. Base Case is set to launch on Indiegogo next month. We've been promised the dream of flying cars for years and many a tech show has been host to weird and wonderful designs. CES 2025 saw the Land Aircraft Carrier on show, showing off a Cybertruck-looking design that houses an eVTOL Air Module in the back. Think of it as a giant drone, capable of housing two people while it flies. According to Xpeng, the company behind the machine, this will be the first mass-produced modular "flying car" and 3,000 intent orders have already been received. Not that many people can afford the $300,00 price tag, nor is this really built for the daily commute. It's an alternative to using a drone to look around, letting you go up to those heights in person. If you have a lot of gadgets that need charging, you'll know the pain of trying to find enough USB ports to plug them all into. Plugable PS-10CC is a USB-C hub with a whopping 10 ports. Priority access is given to the left-hand port, but all those ports can share up to 100W of power at any given time. That makes it the perfect place to recharge laptops, phones and whatever other gizmos you may have. The sleek metal design is also pretty attractive, and wouldn't look out of place on any desk or table. The PS-10CC is available to pre-order now, for the reasonable price of $100.

5 CES products you can purchase or preorder right now

CES 2025 Read and watch our complete CES coverage here Updated less than 2 minutes ago Table of Contents Table of Contents Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i (pricing starts at $1,760) Technics EAH-AZ100 TWS Earbuds ($300) Xreal One Pro AI Glasses ($600) LeafyPod Planter ($197) Loona PetBot ($500) Digital Trends has reporter feet on the carpeted showroom floors at CES 2025, and there's never a dull moment. Every few minutes there's a brand-new tech product to write about or an exciting upgrade to cover. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait with bated breath for a majority of these devices and technologies to be released later in the year, with some items potentially not landing on store shelves until 2026. If you're like us, waiting for some of these gadgets to drop official release dates is like expecting a far-away Christmas morning, which is why we're pleased to inform you that there are a ton of CES 2025 products you can already call your own, or at least preorder. Right now, our roundup includes five CES 2025 products, but we'll be updating this list over the next few days to include even more ready-for-your-money tech showcased at the annual expo! Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i (pricing starts at $1,760) Lenovo is able to wave a "first" flag high, thanks to the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i's camera under-display (CUD) screen. Take one look at this 14-inch laptop, and you'll realize there's zero bump out at the top of the display, which is where you'd normally find a laptop cam. Instead, the lens is integrated into the WUXGA panel and only becomes active when you decide to take a video call, snap a photo, etc. This also means that when the camera isn't in use, you'll have a 98% active area ratio to work with. Talk about pixel-friendly real estate! As far as specifications go, you'll have two CPU options for the Yoga Slim 9i: an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (16GB MOP) or an Ultra 7 258V (32GB MOP). Both options support Integrated Intel ARC Graphics. You'll also get up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Port connections are limited to two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps), and the portable PC supports Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Right now, you'll be able to preorder the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i through the manufacturer, with prices starting at $1,760. Order today to get the PC between January 28 and January 30. Want even more great laptop options from this award-winning brand? We have an entire list of Lenovo laptop deals for you to look through! Technics EAH-AZ100 TWS Earbuds ($300) Wireless ANC earbuds may not be the most exciting CES category to shine a light on, but we'd be remiss not to include the Technics EAH-AZ100 TWS Earbuds on this list. Priced like the premium in-ears that they are, for $300 these Technic buds are hi-res-ready. Featuring 10mm magnetic fluid drivers and an adaptive ANC system, the AZ100 buds deliver a brilliant soundstage packed with high and low-end detail with minimal distortion to speak of. Pop these bad boys in, fire up your favorite playlist, and disappear for a while. Running on Bluetooth 5.4, the AZ100 are compatible with SBC, AAC, LC3, and LDAC codecs. We're glad to see an adaptive ANC system running the show, too. This means the earbuds do all the hard work of deciding what ambient noise gets eliminated. We're also big fans of Technics' Voice Focus AI technology, which helps to cut down on ambient sounds during phone calls, too. Other noteworthy features include Dolby Atmos support, Dolby Head Tracking support, Bluetooth Multipoint for pairing up to three devices, and up to 10 hours of battery life with ANC enabled. Right now, you'll only be able to order the $300 Technics EAH-AZ100 TWS Earbuds directly through Technics, though we expect the TWS buds to be available at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy as the year goes on. Xreal One Pro AI Glasses ($600) AR-powered glasses have been one of the more interesting tech items to receive fanfare over the last several years, but not all of us can afford to splurge on an Apple Vision Pro! Fortunately, there are brands like Xreal to bridge the gap between Apple's $3,500 headset and something a bit more entry-level. The device we're alluding to is the all-new Xreal One Pro, which boasts another CES "world's first": the first AR glasses equipped with a self-developed spatial computing chip. Compared to the Xreal One that came before it, the One Pro bumps the FOV up to 57 degrees from 50, increases peak brightness from 600 nits to 700, and runs on the latest version of Xreal's Optic Engine 4.0. Xreal claims the One Pro sports a lighter and thinner front frame, too. And with expanded IPD capabilities, you'll have the choice of 57-66mm or 66-75mm, so you can say goodbye to cut-off edges and image ghosting. Today, you'll be able to preorder the Xreal One Pro for $600 through the manufacturer, with shipping beginning sometime in March 2025. LeafyPod Planter ($197) Who says that growing a potted plant shouldn't be informed by AI? We arrived at CES 2025 expecting to see further-refined AI tools built into the latest and greatest TVs, laptops, and earbuds, but one thing we definitely weren't expecting is an AI-powered smart planter. Enter the LeafyPod Planter, an automated, web-connected introduction to the world of green thumbs. Users simply download the LeafyPod app, select the plant they'll be growing from LeafyPod's massive collection, then pot the plant and fill the water reservoir up. Doing so automatically puts the AI tech in motion, which analyzes how effectively your plant reacts to the soil and water it's been provided. You'll be up and running in five minutes or less, and the planter has enough battery life to remain powered for six months. At this time, you can preorder the LeafyPod Planter for only $148, though the $197 MSRP is the full price. Preorder Now Loona PetBot ($500) Remember when robotic pets became mainstream enough to buy at Toys R' Us and other toy stores? We're harkening back to the early aughts, but when one fast-forwards to 2025, it's nice to discover these metallic pets weren't just a fad. Our happy find comes in the form of the Loona PetBot, an AI-powered smart pet designed to bring smiles to the whole family, particularly the kiddos! Once connected to Wi-Fi, this robotic pup harnesses the learning prowess of ChatGPT, along with 3D-ToF, RGB, an accelerometer, and gyroscope sensors to navigate around your home. With games like bullfighting and follow the leader programmed into the bot, you and yours can spend hours interacting with this adorable assemblage of screen-meets-wheels. And the more everyone interacts with the pup, the more Loona is able to learn about the daily routines and habits of the family! The Loona PetBot is priced at $500 and can be ordered directly through Loona's site. Buy Now

Best of CES 2025: The top 25 new gadgets

CES 2025 is the show where AI morphed from an incessant buzzword to something more practical and personal. Smart glasses are starting to predict when you need help and can answer questions or fact check things for you on the fly. GPUs are now filling in so many frames and using a neural net to render incredible detail for truly next generation graphics. And robot vacuums are now smart enough to see obstacles in front of them and pick them up while they clean. These are just some of the innovations on display here in Las Vegas, where a team of Tom's Guide's writers and editors met with dozens of established companies and startups to find the best of CES 2025. And there's plenty of exciting hardware breakthroughs, too, including a rollable laptop whose display grows on command and a mini-LED TV that gives OLED a run for its money. After going hands-on with lots and lots of new tech, here's the top 25 gadgets of CES. Nvidia stole the show at this year's CES. Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs bring mindblowing graphics performance upgrades alongside breakthrough AI capabilities. It all starts with the hardware itself, and oh boy did the team cook up some true monsters here. With 92 billion transistors and the ability to run up to 3,352 trillion AI operations per second (TOPS), this Blackwell architecture is simply bonkers. Pair that with an up to 8x performance increase with Nvidia's DLSS 4 frame generation, neural nets driving accurate shaders and faces, and even assist in bringing game characters to life with autonomous personalities (thanks to the next-gen Nvidia ACE), gaming will never be the same again. -- Jason England The Samsung Frame was already a great-looking TV, but for something to win our best design category at a show like CES, form can't compromise function. For the Samsung Frame Pro, the company beefed up its most popular lifestyle TV with two key upgrades: a NeoQLED display and new Wireless One Connect Box. While the improved display should make content look brighter and better (a longtime shortcoming of The Frame otherwhite), the cable-free doubles down on what makes art TVs so attractive: aesthetics. With more competitors hitting the scene, Samsung used the Frame Pro to remind us who's boss when it comes to the best design in TVs. -- Kate Kozuch See the Samsung Frame Pro in action on YouTube. In engineering the G5 OLED, it was bold of LG to set aside the display technology that had made the G4 and G3 such impressive OLED TVs. But I suppose it's easy to be bold when the technology replacing it is this good. The G5 appears to be even brighter and more colorful than its predecessor, and it achieves this feat without relying on the MLA-enhanced OLED. The new design is a four-stack OLED panel with an impressive 165Hz refresh rate, and while I could go on about its elegant design and thorough list of A/V- and gaming-related enhancements, the best thing I can say about the G5 is that it pained me to walk away from it. -- Michael Desjardin See the LG G5 OLED in action on YouTube. This larger-than-life, 116-inch TriChroma Mini-LED TV from Hisense is a marvel of engineering for several reasons, but the debut of Hisense's RGB Local Dimming Technology was one of the more surprising highlights of my week. Its new take on Mini-LED backlighting harnesses lenses that react to incredibly small red-, green- and blue-colored LEDs. This allows for higher brightness, better color control, and according to Hisense, the best color of any LED TV on the market. It's only available in this extra-large size, but we might be looking at this version of Mini-LEDs for years to come. -- Michael Desjardin In recent years, TCL has been quite successful at balancing performance and affordability. In that way, the QM6K QD Mini-LED is a quintessential TCL TV. Thanks to its impressive quantum dot-enhanced Mini-LED backlighting, a respectable slate of gaming features and a wide array of size options, the QM6K is poised to be one of the most popular TVs of the year. The two largest sizes come with a swanky matte finish designed to reduce glare. -- Michael Desjardin See the TCL QM6K on YouTube. You're about to be able to do a lot more with your Google TV. Over the next year, Google will be incorporating Gemini AI into its smart TV platform, so you'll be able to use natural language queries not just to ask for things to watch, but to get help with your kids' homework, plan vacations, get the latest news and weather, control your smart home devices, and pretty much anything else you can do with its AI. At the end of 2025, TCL and Hisense are going to release new Google TVs with a microphone and camera built in, so that your TV will automatically turn on when you approach, and deliver customized information based on your preferences. When we tested Gemini AI on Google TV, we were definitely intrigued by the possibilities. It should really help to spread its use beyond your phone and computer. -- Mike Prospero See Gemini on Google TV in action on YouTube. The new BMW Panoramic iDrive system combines an ultrawide display and AI with a level of personalization I haven't seen before. You decide which widgets you want to populate the head-up display with, whether it's the weather, Spotify or air quality index. But the 3D head-up display is the real game-changer here, as you'll be able to see upcoming turn info put right on top of your real-world view. Plus, the steering wheel is smart enough to light up the buttons that makes the most sense at just the right time, such as answering an incoming call. Panoramic iDrive has a built-in AI assistant, too, which you can use for navigation or changing modes on the fly. And the system is coming to all new BMWs by the end of 2025. -- Mark Spoonauer See BMW Panoramic iDrive in action on TikTok. Windows on Arm has been on a charge, but so far it's just been Snapdragon chips put into more traditional laptop frames. That's what makes the insanely lightweight Asus Zenbook A14 extra special -- the next step in the Copilot+ PC journey. At less than 2.2 pounds, while remaining unmistakably premium to the touch thanks to the ceraluminum finish, this is sleek and luxurious. But none of the technological prowess is ignored to make this work, as the keyboard and touchpad are both large and tactile; there's Wi-Fi 7 under the hood; and that OLED display is gorgeous. Make no mistake. This is the MacBook Air's worst nightmare and is in the hunt for best laptop overall. -- Jason England Did you ever wish you could grow your laptop's screen on command? Portable displays sort of do this, but the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 takes a very novel approach. With the push of a button, the world's first rollable laptop's OLED display extends from 14 inches to 16.7 inches. This comes in super handy when you're reading longer documents and especially when you want to run two apps on top of each other. You also get a ton of AI features built in, the latest Intel Core Ultra processor and Wi-Fi 7 networking. This is the ultimate multitasking laptop with the ultimate price to match at $3,499. -- Mark Spoonauer See the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 in action on YouTube. Dell has rebranded its entire laptop and desktop lineup for 2025. However, you'll still get the same quality PCs. Such is the case with the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1, which is one of the finest convertible laptops we've seen at CES 2025. Its design is roughly the same as the Inspiron 16 2-in-1 (the Inspiron line is now Plus), but it now has down-firing speakers, a number pad and a left-centered touchpad. The 16-inch 1200p ISP display is quite nice, though you can upgrade to a mini LED option. Spec-wise, you can get up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V CPU, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. If you're looking for a great 2-in-1 laptop that's less than $1,000, the Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 is a solid choice. -- Tony Polanco The Lenovo Legion Go S is the gaming handheld I've been waiting for. Why? Because it's the first third-party handheld that runs on SteamOS -- the same operating system that has made the Steam Deck one of the best handheld gaming consoles. But if you're a fan of Windows 11, you can opt for a model with Microsoft's OS. Beyond that, the Legion Go S features a unibody design that ditches the detachable controllers of the Legion Go. That, along with the overall smaller size, makes this an easier machine to travel with. The new D-Pad and trigger locks are also fantastic for fighting games and first-person shooters (respectively). Starting at $599 for the Windows 11 version and $499 for the SteamOS version, the Lenovo Legion Go S could be the gaming handheld to beat in 2025. -- Tony Polanco See the Legion Go S in action on YouTube. Gaming laptops and especially larger 16-inch ones are known for being big and bulky, which is why this year's Razer Blade 16 was such a surprise. Not only did Razer make it almost a third smaller than its predecessor but it's also the company's thinnest gaming laptop yet. The Razer Blade 16 (2025) can be outfitted with up to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor as well as a Nvidia RTX 5090 laptop GPU for both excellent gaming and AI performance. It also features a new keyboard with even more key travel (1.5mm vs 1mm) for a more comfortable typing experience. The new Razer Blade 16 may be an iteration on an existing model but Razer made enough changes to its design and under the hood that this almost feels like a brand new laptop. -- - Anthony Spadafora At its core, the SwitchBot K20+ Pro is perhaps the smallest robot vacuum we've ever seen. But what makes it really interesting is everything it can do besides cleaning your floors. That's because the K20+ Pro can be connected with a number of different accessories to make it much more than just a robot vacuum. There's an attachment that turns it into a mobile air purifier, another that makes it a roving security camera, one with a stand to hold a tablet or phone at eye level and yet another with a portable fan. The K20+ Pro can even support objects weighing up to 17.6 pounds, so it can be used to deliver packages and other things around the house to someone who can't otherwise move around on their own. Plus, SwitchBot is opening its platform to allow third-party developers to create their own accessories. It's a robot vacuum first, but it's so much more than that. -- Mike Prospero This is one of the most attractive -- and functional -- smart locks we've ever seen. Rather than the traditional brick-shaped design of most smart locks, the Lockly Styla is housed in a long bar that simply looks stunning. And, packed inside of it are half a dozen ways to unlock your door: There's a 2K security camera at the top; a doorbell button; a keypad with numbers that change position to deter thieves; an RFID reader; and a fingerprint reader placed surreptitiously on the inside of the handle, so that your index finger naturally touches it when you grab the handle. Oh yes, and there's a traditional key lock, too. The Styla won't come cheap. At $699, it's one of the priciest smart locks around, but it will really make a statement on your front door. -- Mike Prospero Most robot vacuums can detect things like socks and shoes in their path and navigate around them, but what if your robot vacuum could actually pick them up? That's just what the Roborock Saros Z70 can do. It has a claw mounted on the end of a robotic arm, and when it sees your dirty laundry or something else in its way, it can reach out and grab it, and move it to where it belongs. In addition, this robot vacuum can also mop your floors, and has a dirty water bin in its dock to keep its mop heads clean. But let's face it: A robotic arm built into the vacuum is pretty cool. Does this give you license to leave your clothes strewn all over your bedroom floor? No, but it'll help keep things tidy when you forget. -- Mike Prospero See the Roborock Saros Z70 in action on TikTok. AR glasses have been caught in a bit of a loop -- trying to figure out how to best hide those giant prism lenses and figure out what the steps are to get to a spatial computing future in a pair of specs. The first Xreal One glasses went down the same prismed route, but Xreal One Pro just hit CES 2025 and they tackle this in two key ways that makes them easily the best AR glasses I've tried. First, there is a flatter, smaller prism behind the lenses that means these are the most inconspicuous I've worn, while still offering the widest field of view. And second, you can attach a separate camera module to the nose bridge for 12MP pictures and videos, with gesture control coming later this year. Xreal is setting its sights on the future here. -- Jason England When it comes to bang for the buck, the latest Amazfit smartwatch makes a strong case for being on your wrist in 2025. The Amazfit Active 2 starts at $99 but offers specs and features ordinarily reserved for smartwatches three times its cost. These include support for offline maps with turn-by-turn directions, impressive health-tracking tech with digestible and actionable insights, a responsive and immersive AMOLED touchscreen with 2,000 nit max brightness -- the same as the Apple Watch 10 -- and a slender, attractive case design that wears comfortably and looks cool. For $30 more, the Amazfit Active 2 premium boasts an upgraded brushed strainless steel case and a scratch-resistant sapphire glass screen. Preorders are open now. -- Dan Bracaglia Few things irk me more than complicated barriers to entry. Oura and Samsung make two of the best smart rings, but both strongly recommend prospective users take their proprietary sizing kits, $9.99 a pop, for a spin before committing to a ring size. The new Circular Ring 2 is the first major smart ring model with a fully digital sizing process that takes minutes and can be accomplished anywhere, even under harsh underground tradeshow floor lighting. The Circular Ring 2 is also one of the first finger-based wearables with an onboard ECG sensor and FDA-approved AFib detection. Subscription-free, unlike Oura, and more affordable than the Galaxy Ring, Circular has love for both Apple and Android users. This all adds up to the smart ring I'm most excited to test out in 2025. -- Dan Bracaglia See the Circular Ring 2 in action on YouTube. Skin health is no joke -- but it's also no breeze to manage long-term with the onslaught of questionable skincare product recommendations we all see on social media. Luckily, L'Oréal's Cell BioPrint system might have the solution people like me have been waiting for. Using microfluidic technology that analyzes specific skin proteins for biometric markers, the BioPrint system can diagnose your skin's current state as well as predict issues you might have in the future. It then creates a plan of ingredients and products that your skin is likely to respond well to, promoting actionable changes backed by science. There are all sorts of gadgets and scanners out there that claim to help with skincare, but L'Oreal seems to have the authority and approach to make the Cell BioPrint a legitimate innovation in the beauty tech market. -- Kate Kozuch See the L'Oreal Cell BioPrint System in action on YouTube. I don't know if it was the release of the Wicked movie or everyone suddenly discovering how cathartic it is to scream Taylor Swift lyrics with your friends, but at-home karaoke is having a big moment. So far, high-caliber party speakers with karaoke modes have been pricey, while cheaper options make compromises on sound quality. The Soundcore Rave 3S strikes the perfect balance of features and value, coming in at $349 which is very enticing for a booming 200W speaker. With that, you also get a pair of karaoke mics and a dedicated singalong setting that uses AI to filter out voices from any track so that you're always the star. Integrated lighting, a carrying handle, and 12 hours of battery keep the party going. (Don't worry guys, I promise you're all invited to my next karaoke night.) -- Kate Kozuch The LiberLive C1 may look like a fancier Guitar Hero controller on first glance, and in some ways you'd be right. It's a smart stringless guitar that you can use to play to your heart's content. But it's so much more than that too -- turning into a full-on digital instrument of the future with an impressive built-in speaker system, a Micro DAW chip to support any instrument sounds you can throw at it, bass and percussion additions with the tap of a button, and even support for more complex guitar playing techniques like harmonic tapping. For beginners and pros alike, this is a fascinating axe. -- Jason England If there's one phone accessory to look out for this year, it's Ohsnap's MCON. This device turns your iPhone or Android into a nifty gaming controller in a snap -- reminiscent of the PSP Go or other slide-out devices of yesteryear. Sure, we've seen the Backbone One and Scuf Nomad become welcome mobile accessories for on-the-go gamers, but the MCON takes portability and design to the next level. Using a simple MagSafe puck (don't fret, there's a MagSafe adapter for phones or cases without compatibility), you can attach any smartphone with ease and enjoy a comfortable grip and precise, punchy controls. And I mean any phone; using a foldable such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold with the MCON is a visual treat, as it shows off just how far mobile gaming has come. Its slide-out function is very satisfying, and its pocketable design even comes with fold-out grips for easier handling when playing games like Call of Duty: Mobile. It's currently on Kickstarter, with the aim to be released around August 2025.. -- Darragh Murphy The HP Omen 32x isn't just a gaming monitor as it packs Google TV. When you're not playing games, you can fire up Google TV and unwind with your favorite TV shows. No matter what's on the screen, everything looks gorgeous thanks to the sharp 4K resolution and smooth 144Hz refresh rate. It can even stream directly from four platforms, such as YouTube if you want to show off your gameplay to others. You can do Android casting right from your phone, and even bring up apps like DeX Mode in case you want to get some work done. At $749, it's a relatively affordable gaming monitor that can serve multiple purposes. Because of that, it's the best gaming monitor of CES 2025. -- Tony Polanco Watch the HP Omen 32x on YouTube. The TP-Link Deco BE65-Outdoor not only provides super-fast Wi-Fi 7 speeds but it lets you bring your mesh network outside. This IP-65-rated tri-band mesh node can be added to any of TP-Link's mesh Wi-Fi systems to extend your home network by 3,000 square feet. It also supports up to 200 devices and is both weatherproof and dustproof to withstand the elements. If your home is wired for Ethernet, you can power and add the Deco BE65-Outdoor to your network using a single cable. With a combined top speed of 11 gigabits per second and access to the much faster 6 GHz band, you can download or stream just about anything out in your backyard. If you want to take your Wi-Fi outside without any dead zones, this could be the perfect upgrade to your existing mesh network. -- - Anthony Spadafora I never seem to have enough USB-C ports to plug in the countless smartwatches, smart rings, fitness trackers and tech accessories I'm constantly testing and enjoying. Fortunately, Plugable is all about elegant -- elongated -- solutions to everyday problems. Enter the Plugable PS-10CC. This ten-port USB-C charger is under $100 and packed with smarts. The left-most port gets priority, with additional power trickling down as available. Once fully charged up, the next-in-line port is placed in the spotlight, making charging up your MacBook, Fujifilm camera, Bose headphones, Garmin smartwatch, Anker powerpack and Amazfit smart ring all at once a one-and-done ordeal. For successfully making life supremely easier for technology geeks like myself -- without forcing me to bust my piggybank to bits -- Plugable's latest release is fully deserving of recognition this CES. -- Dan Bracaglia

Best of CES 2025: 16 products that have us pumped

From hardcore hardware to welcome mainstream advances to cool tech innovations for the home, CES 2025 delivered the good stuff. You never know what you're going to get with CES. Of course, we knew we'd hear a lot about AI -- check -- and that there'd be announcements of new CPUs and GPUs -- also check. But you just never know how the all the pomp and hoo-ha of this annual mega tech event is going to pay off in the real-world, for regular consumers. Does the average PC user have something to be excited about now that the veil has come off of this year's product launches? If the PCWorld staff is any indication, the answer is yes! We found plenty of cool products, innovations, and advances at this year's show that are currently available or promise exciting things ahead. Our picks don't stop at PC hardware, either. What's CES without an array of goods for the tech-loving lifestyle? We note a few of our favorite home-tech products, too. I've never witnessed a PC product as hotly anticipated as the GeForce RTX 5090, unveiled by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during this year's CES flagship keynote. And this monstrous graphics card lived up to the hype, at least on paper. The RTX 4090 is still the fastest GPU on the planet and the RTX 5090 blows it out of the water in all key areas. It has an astounding 21,760 CUDA cores -- 33 percent more than the 4090, and more than three times as many as the new RTX 5070. Nvidia graced the card with an ample 32GB of memory (the most ever for a GeForce GPU) and a humongous 512-but memory bus, a high-octane combo for no-compromises 4K gaming and AI workloads alike. And Nvidia's overhauled DLSS 4 will tap dedicated AI cores to send performance soaring even higher in supported games. If gamers even get a chance to buy it -- even at $1,999, the RTX 5090 will be a screaming deal for AI researchers with all that memory. Everyone is going to want one. -Brad Chacos I'm not usually one for gaming laptops, but the newly resurrected Area-51 machine from Alienware might be the one that converts me. Not only is it filled to the brim with the latest and greatest hardware, but the Liquid Teal finish gives the chassis a unique iridescent sheen and it's to die for. I love the departure from the cliched gamer look (i.e., black exterior with hot red accents), as unnecessarily flashy designs make me wince. I much prefer understated beauty. The underside of the laptop also has a clear window, which allows you to see all of the hardware inside -- this is a nice touch. This laptop doesn't shove its gamer identity down your throat. Instead, it stands tall in a quiet yet confident manner. -Ashleigh Biancuzzo Valve opening SteamOS up for other PC makers is a deeply exciting development for the industry, and as the very first SteamOS-powered handheld beyond the Steam Deck, Lenovo's Legion Go S would've earned its spot here for that alone. But I'm buzzing about more than the software on this. A big part of why the Steam Deck rocks is because it's so affordable. Most of its competitors try to carve out niches with premium hardware and features -- at much higher prices. But Lenovo partnered with AMD for an exclusive license to a more affordable version of AMD's new game-changing Ryzen Z2 chip, appropriately dubbed "Ryzen Z2 Go." By using older CPU and GPU cores, Lenovo is able to offer the entry-level Legion Go S for just $499 -- giving gamers on a budget a much-needed Steam Deck alternative. -Brad Chacos Lenovo announced that it's bringing Snapdragon to mini desktop PCs. Now you can finally enjoy Copilot Plus with your desktop. While both the IdeaCentre Mini x and the ThinkCentre neo 50q are set for the upgrades, it's the Mini x model that has me most excited. With the option for either Snapdragon X or Snapdragon X Plus chips, up to 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, you can totally trick this thing out if you want. It also comes with Wi-Fi 7 connectivity and an incredible five total USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, plus an HDMI, DisplayPort, and ethernet port. I'm not quite sure what engineering wizardry they were able to conjure up over there at Lenovo, but whatever it is, it has me excited to get a new mini desktop PC this year. -Sam Singleton I'm a mini PC convert. Late last year, I ditched a massive desktop for a mini PC running an Intel "Tiger Lake" Core i7. But now I wish I had waited a few more months to purchase the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini x instead. The Intel mini PC runs unbearably loud at anything but the most modest power settings, whereas the IdeaCentre Mini x, complete with a super-efficient Snapdragon X processor, should run much quieter, just like its laptop counterparts. But even more importantly, I now want a desktop with an NPU for AI workloads. During a one-hour demo with Qualcomm, they showed off a bunch of content-creation apps that directly hook into Snapdragon NPUs. My mind started conjuring how the IdeaCentre Mini x could be a gateway into a whole new world of useful AI - starting with video and image editing (which I already do) but also running on-device LLMs. Bottom line: I'm not sure how I'll be using hardware-supported AI in 2025, because this whole AI thing is just taking off. But I know I want the option to do so, and having that hardware in a powerful, compact mini PC is just what I'm looking for. -Jon Phillips When it comes to the best of CES, my vote is for the 2025 Asus ROG XG Mobile eGPU and its awesome power and versatility. As if it wasn't enough that it harnesses the power of up to Nvidia's top-tier RTX 5090 chip with up to 150W power, the external GPU also supports Thunderbolt 5 connectivity for exceptionally high bandwidth. That means it benefits from Thunderbolt 5's up-to-80Gbps bidirectional data transfer speeds. Asus claims the eGPU can hit at least 64Gbps, which surpasses USB 4 and rivals OCuLink. I'm also chuffed by XG Mobile's other port offerings, which include HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1, 5Gbps Ethernet, and an SD card reader. It also sports better cooling than last year's model and its design weighs just 2.2 pounds. -Dominic Bayley AMD's Ryzen AI Max, previously codenamed Strix Halo, has been causing a furor in the PC leaks community for months now, and it's easy to see why: It has a lot in common with AMD's vaunted Threadripper chips. Threadripper debuted as a wild "jam this thing with all the cutting-edge tech we can" enthusiast project and Ryzen AI Max lives up to that legacy. Strix Halo pairs abundant Zen 5 cores and AMD's powerful 50 TOPS NPU with more integrated Radeon CPU cores than any chip ever seen before, with support for up to 128GB of unified memory and 96GB just for the GPU. Wild! That insane GPU + 128GB memory configuration will make this an absolute beast for AI workloads, which demand gobs of memory and fast graphics performance. "This is something very, very special," said Rahul Tikoo, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's client computing business, in a recorded briefing for reporters - and he's absolutely right. Ryzen AI Max mostly targets laptops, but the most interesting launch partner instead crams this monster chip inside of a desktop mini PC. HP's Z2 Mini G1a comes with loads of ports, the flagship 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395, 128GB of memory, and up to 4TB of SSD storage (you can add another 4TB yourself via an empty M.2 slot) -- literally the maxed-out version of AMD Ryzen AI Max. AI professionals and students are going to go nuts for this wonderfully weird machine. -Brad Chacos The Asus Zenbook A14 is the company's first laptop to use its unique ceraluminum finish, which bonds a ceramic exterior to an aluminum interior, across a laptop's entire chassis (instead of just the display lid). It's also built from magnesium-aluminum alloy, a common and lightweight material. The result is a slim, portable laptop with a look and feel unlike anything else on the market. Picking up the machine reminded me of handling a premium notebook or a slim hardcover book. The Zenbook A14 weighs about 2.1 pounds and measures about six-tenths of an inch thick, with a claimed battery life of 32 hours (!!) thanks to the Snapdragon X chip inside. The Zenbook A14 is my favorite laptop of all of CES 2025. It's attractive, portable and, perhaps best of all, affordable at a starting price of $899. -- Matt Smith Brad has already highlighted the Legion Go S, Lenovo's portable sequel that uses an official build of SteamOS right from Valve. And that's exciting on its own as a consumer product. But I'm more interested in SteamOS itself. While these are early days, I think it's entirely possible that SteamOS could become a successful gaming-focused platform all on its own...which would spell big trouble for Microsoft. Windows 11 isn't exactly winning people over, and they might be ready to look for an alternative at last. Imagine the very real possibility of a gaming laptop running the Linux-based SteamOS, sold directly to consumers. Wild. -Michael Crider These days, I care less about how powerful my tech is and more about how comfortable I am while using what I have. It sucks to freeze in my chair while I'm trying to game in the winter, and it's equally miserable in the summer with sweaty back stuck to my chair. Comfort is performance, if you ask me. And that's why the Project Arielle gaming chair speaks to me. It has a built-in bladeless fan system for cool airflow when it's hot and an integrated heater for warmth when it's cold, and it's all conveniently managed via a control panel on the chair. Say goodbye to personal ACs and space heaters. Will Project Arielle ever go mainstream? Eh, probably not. But I'm quite smitten with the concept -- assuming Razer keeps the price reasonable. -Joel Lee There are so many solutions for adding extra screen space for working on the road, from extra displays to foldables and more. Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is a special machine, hiding what is essentially a second virtual monitor behind the screen, which can be unrolled when needed. That seems to be extremely handy as well as structurally sound, at least based on my limited hands-on time. As a guy who totes external displays or even extra notebooks to serve as extra screens, this ThinkBook is one to watch. -Mark Hachman As a certified Android fan, I lament that Android tablets have long been unable (and often even unwilling) to compete with the iPad Mini. A small, high-quality tablet is a nut that Google and its partners just can't crack. That's why I'm happy to see the Legion Tab Gen 3, an 8.8-inch Android "gaming" tablet. A smaller tablet makes sense for gaming (unlike Acer's crazy 11-inch Steam Deck-style handheld), and that focus means a more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, roomy 12GB of RAM, and an upgraded screen and cooling system. Shame about the outdated Android 14 OS (don't hold out for timely updates from Lenovo, either), but at least someone is giving this form factor a shot. -Michael Crider I love tons of monitors around me, enabling multitasking work and feeding me tons of information and video all the time. That might not be great for my mental health, to be honest...but I'm still excited to double down on it. Corsair has a newer take on its dedicated desktop widget touchscreen with the 14.5-inch Xeneon Edge. This is essentially a mini-monitor, complete with USB-C and HDMI support. But if you want something a little less functional and more flashy, Govee has animated pixel displays that can live on your wall or desktop. The Gaming Pixel Light (which looks kind of like an upgraded Light Bright toy) can also double as an animated clock, weather widget, or sports ticker. -Michael Crider Give your favorite four-legged friend the freedom to come and go as they choose while keeping your home safe with the Pawport Smart Pet Door, a retrofit-style device that slides in front of an existing pet door. With help from an included Bluetooth tag, the steel-and-aluminum Smart Pet Door ($499) senses when your pet approaches, opening its doors automatically, while a sensitivity gauge keeps the doors from accidentally closing on your furry friend. You can also control the door remotely with the Pawport app, while pet "curfews" can keep your pet inside during designated hours. -Ben Patterson I love pinball. PCWorld does not cover pinball tables. That's not usually a problem. This year, it is. Stern's latest table is rad. You do not play pinball; you pick a character and then level that character up as you play pinball, amassing treasure and loot and exploring dungeons and then eventually fighting beholders and gelatinous cubes and an animatronic dragon voiced by Michael Dorn. There are ramps, hidden trap doors, the works. Nerd bliss, all for $7,000. I played for a half hour and didn't want to stop. Stern even offered to send us one to try out. If you see a video on our YouTube channel, you'll know my dreams have been answered. -Mark Hachman With its first ever smart lamp, LIFX drew inspiration from an early product: its own SuperColor Ceiling light, an eye-catching, multi-zone fixture that won our Editors' Choice award last year. Packing in 26 discretely addressable color zones, the Luna Lamp can be mounted on a wall or placed on a flat surface, like a countertop or a bedside table. The Matter-enabled Luna Lamp also boasts a quartet of programmable buttons that can control either the lamp's own settings or other nearby Matter devices -- even without an internet connection, thanks to Matter's device-to-device binding functionality. It'll be available in February for $69.99. -Ben Patterson Not everyone has the outdoor space for a garden, and even those who do might be limited by poor weather conditions during parts of the year. The Plantaform Smart Indoor Garden offers a cool and convenient alternative for growing produce at home, while also making for a captivating indoor showpiece! A combination of fog and plant nutrients, cleverly dubbed "fogponics," feeds up to 15 plants at a time in the windowed chamber. An accompanying app helps you monitor your plants' progress, reminds you to fill water reservoirs, lets you change the lighting schedule, and notifies you when it's time to harvest. The windows are all removable for easy access to your bounty. Sure, at $500, plus $29.99 for Plantaform's various plant pod packs, it's not exactly the money-saving proposition you might associate with growing your own food. But you can't beat the prospect of having a fresh-produce garden year round, requiring minimal work, that also looks so futuristically awesome, can you? -Katherine Stevenson