Flying cars, robot lawn mowers (robots of all kinds, actually!), everything to do with AI and lots of smart home gadgetry; that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s on show at CES 2024.
The world’s largest consumer technology show is on now in Las Vegas! CES 2024 features thousands of brands spread across multiple locations including the Las Vegas Convention Centre, and multiple hotels. Running January 8-12 it’s an opportunity for brands to show off their newest products to both journalists and buyers. Many brands choose CES as the moment to unveil their latest developments, or to wow the world’s press with stunning innovations.
CES Day 2 Highlights
You’ve heard of the Las Vegas Sphere—this is it—on a smaller scale and inside CES 2024 .
More of a showpiece than a screen with practical applications, its just one of the new technologies on display here today. That’s the thing about CES… you’ll see plenty of concept ideas and some that seem like more trouble than they’re worth.
Like this cocktail making machine called Barsys. You funnel your booze or mixers into a glowing loop and wait…
The machine comes with a special ‘electromagnetic mixing glass’ which will stir the cocktail as it adds the different ingredients. Then you serve it up.
While the lightshow and the shape is cool, I’m not sure this– plus fiddling with an app to make a cocktail is faster, or easier enough to justify the $475US price. Let me know what you think…
Speaking of skeptical… there was a crowd gathered around this device. It’s not what you’re thinking, you perverts… It’s a hair dryer, of course! Interesting design though.
Pool cleaning robots are a thing!
Speaking of interesting… what’s bubbling up from the depths here? It’s not jaws… it’s an autonomous pool cleaning robot.
I saw so many pool cleaning robots. I didn’t realize this was a thing. They crawl around your pool, and even up the sides to suction dirt, sand and debris into an internal filter basket. These might be less popular in Canada, but I bet here in the southern USA they’re all the rage, so I might have to review one while I’m visiting.
New robot vacuum technology
From a robot vacuum for your pool to new technology in robot vacuums, Narwal had a pretty impressive demo for its new anti tangle technology.
Any fellow long-hairs out there know longer hair can really get wrapped around your robot vac’s brush, but this version features a floating roller that also suctions hair off one end of the roller and into the dustbin. Cool.
Smart lighting & smart home: Govee
I’m a huge fan of smart lighting and the Govee booth didn’t disappoint.
With all their new lights on display, as well as a lot of new smart home appliances too it was great to see everything in action.
The Rope Lights have been improved, making them more flexible, so you can more easily draw with light if you’re artistic that way.
Or you can combine several Govee lights in your TV or media room for a whole-room glow that can match your TV.
There was also cool outdoor light options too. I’ll be hoping to do more Govee reviews later this year since it’s one of my favourite smart home lighting brands.
In-home composting
There’s a tonne of smart home stuff here things you wouldn’t necessarily think you need, like a composter that can take food scraps and turn it into compost.
That all happens in this closed bin, right inside your kitchen. Cool idea I’d love to try out.
CES Day 1 highlights
From transparent TVs, to space-age coffee machines, smart toilets… yup… and robot window cleaners, CES 2024 kicked off with plenty of excitement…
It’s the biggest opportunity in the world to show off the newest and coolest consumer technology and big brands spare no expense trying to dazzle media and product buyers. Plus there’s plenty of YouTube celebrities in the crowd, like iJustine – fangirl moment!
LG transparent TV
If you’ve always hated the way a TV looks in your space; kind of big dark scree, then LG has a new tv –a transparent TV that literally disappears..
LG showed off its transparent TVs on a massive scale, but these are now designed to be used in an average home. With a clear glass screen that can turn to a solid display panel in the blink of an eye, you can place them in front of a wall unit for example, and still see your stuff… until you switch on the TV.
Also at LG the company showed off a concept car, a smart trailer you could pull with the car and a really cool but kinda weird pod coffee maker called Duobo… while it looks like an alien robot spider, LG says this is designed to use multiple Nespresso pods to create custom coffee blends. This seems like it would use more pods than necessary, but if you guys out there are mixing your Nespresso pods wanted at a time and think this would be better, let me know in the comments.
New robots from Ecovacs at CES 2024
Ecovacs showed off its brand new DEEBOT X2 Combo; this unit combines my absolute favourite robot vacuum and mop system the X2, with a stick vacuum concept that’s built right in. Everything empties into the bin so you never have to touch anything. I’ll be hoping to get hands on with this one later this year so share any questions you have in the meantime.
Ecovacs is also about to enter some pretty cool new space with its robot lawnmower. Playfully called the GOAT, this fully automated lawn robot is a beautiful piece of machinery, and if it operates as easily as the company’s robot vacuums, this could be a massive game changer for yardwork.
And not to be outdone the company also shared its automated window cleaning robot—the Winbot W2. With a companion water tank and cleaning system, it sections to your windows to clean them autonomously and also appears to master fleet get into corners.
Ecovacs also announced a roving air purifier that will follow you around the house and keep your air clean.
Over at the Tineco booth, there were three new vacuums and a smart oven. Check out more details in my full article here on the blog.
Smart bird feeders from Birdfy
I was also charmed by these smart bird houses and bird feeders from Birdfy… with cameras to capture your feathered visitors it’s a great way to learn about your environment. The Hummingbird feeder is particularly neat with not one but two cameras at different angles. I’ll be getting hands-on to review this one later this season…
Another cool gadget that caught my eye is these earring headphones from Yvnens. Possibly one of the most beautiful sets of earbuds I’ve ever seen.
This is just the most impressive stuff I saw on day one…
New TVs from Samsung: transparent TV, New Frame TV
Before the show even officially got underway, Samsung already announced some updates to what it calls its lifestyle TV category, which includes a product we’ve written a lot about: The Frame TV. Sadly though, the news seems to be more about software updates, as opposed to hardware improvements.
- The Frame: Already the best-selling lifestyle screen product, The Frame comes with new enhancements to boost the art experience. Now with over 2,500 artworks from world-renowned museums and galleries in the Art Store, users can enjoy an Art Store experience that is even better than before. The Frame’s new art streaming feature gives users a taste of the Art Store’s diverse collection by providing them with free hand-selected artworks monthly. Moreover, the 2024 Frame helps reduce energy costs by up to 10% with the variable refresh rate adjustment available in Art Mode.8
- The Premiere 8K Projector: The Premiere 8K is the world’s first projector offering wireless connectivity. Removing the need for cables, this solution allows consumers to keep their living spaces neat and tidy. The ultra-short throw projector comes packed with smart features — such as picture-off premium home audio, cloud gaming, always-on voice with far-field mic and four multi-view screen splits — to extend usability and provide almost increased use cases. The projector incorporates Samsung’s patented “Sound-on-Screen” technology, integrating the top speaker module and software algorithms for an immersive sound experience.
- The Freestyle 2nd Gen: The second iteration of the portable projector features Smart Edge Blending, which supports seamless merging of projections from two The Freestyle devices to create a large screen for pictures and videos. It allows two devices to project an image as big as 160-inches with a 21:9 screen ratio, with no manual adjustment needed.
Samsung has also announced the new Transparent MICRO LED TV, saying it offers “infinite possibilities with its modular design and…clear, unobstructed pictures for various applications”. The screen, which Samsung claims looks like a piece of transparent glass, that eliminates seams and light reflection. What does this magical TV look like, how close to consumer reality is it, and is it really cool as it seems? We will check it out in the coming days at the show.
Sennheiser announces new headphones
Sennheiser flung out multiple media releases this morning, announcing new headphones and earbuds.
MOMENTUM Sport integrates both a photoplethysmography (PPG) heart rate sensor and a body temperature sensor that can each output critical data to popular fitness apps and devices. It’s no secret that the right playlist can make or break a workout—a high-energy soundtrack can motivate when the finish line feels impossibly far. Now, the power of Sennheiser Sound is optimized for sports and supercharged with real-time biometric feedback for workouts that are far more efficient than a pure-adrenaline approach. As the inner ear is an optimal, dark location with a low degree of light pollution and is one of the most stable areas of the body during physical activity, MOMENTUM Sport can offer consistent biometrics, even at the peak of a workout.
There’s also now a MOMENTUM True Wireless 4. MOMENTUM True Wireless 4 features all-new internals and over a dozen improvements including Snapdragon Sound Technology with Qualcomm aptX Lossless Technology, Auracast, and ultra-low-latency mode, the portable powerhouse series brings uncompromised sound to the high-performance audio enthusiast.
“The Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 Sound Platform and Snapdragon Sound will deliver premium sound experiences for music, calls, and gaming with lossless music streaming, ultra-low latency and robust connectivity,” according to Mike Canevaro, Director of Marketing, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We have a long history of collaboration with the Sennheiser brand, and we are excited to see them integrate our latest Snapdragon Sound technology to help deliver amazing wireless audio on their latest MOMENTUM True Wireless 4.
MOMENTUM True Wireless 4 also boasts up to 7.5 hours of battery—extendable to 30 hours with the charging case—and quick charging capability where you can get up to 1 hour of additional listening from just 8 minutes of charging, and it’s also Qi wireless charging compatible. Sennheiser has also upgraded the earbuds’ long-term battery performance with a battery protection mode that optimizes charging cycles.
Samsung’s Bot Chef kitchen robot; CES 2020.While the show is open to members of the media like us, it is actually closed to the general public, meaning you’ll have to follow news and announcements on your favourite tech websites. Of course we will have the latest updates right here and on video at YouTube.com/ErinLawrenceTV
Watch my video about CES Day 1 Highlights
For consumers and gadget lovers you can expect to hear about the coolest tech and gadgets that have just been released or will be coming later this year.
Without a doubt there’s going to be a lot of Artificial Intelligence at CES 2024. AI is already a buzzword, and brands have been slapping it on every gadget with a chip (in some cases disingenuously, in our opinion). The Consumer Technology Association, the entity that holds CES, expects over 130,000 attendees at the show with over 3,500 different brands or vendors — including companies like Sony, ECOVACS, Samsung, Canon, LG, Lenovo, etc…
You can expect without a doubt to see all manner of new and exciting developments on the Television front. From room-sized TVs to ones that can morph and change and even disappear, plenty of overseas Electronics brands are keen to show off what they can do to make a homes most important Central gadget more useful and more beautiful.
Vehicles tend to be another set of surprises at CES; a couple of years ago I saw a life-size prototype of a flying taxi. Sony also revealed it’s getting into the car business as well… That as far as I know we are yet to see any of their offerings hit the road. Hyundai also likes to share what it has going on in the innovation space plenty of interesting transportation options to come out of the show.
Whichever tech you’re most interested in, let us know and if we should be on the lookout for something for you, post your wish list in the comments.
