February 2023
VOLUME 42, ISSUE 2
The long drought is over. For over a decade, we have consistently made our way over to Las Vegas the first week of January each year to attend the world’s largest consumer electronics expo, CES. Due to the pandemic, however, we have not been able to attend the show in person for the past three years.
Finally, as the calendar flipped to 2023, we packed our bags and headed out to Vegas to witness what we like to call the “Super Bowl for Techies/Nerds.” We can report that CES is back in all its glory. The crowds were back this year and so were the exhibitors (for the most part).
There are so many other gadgets, both useful and outrageous, that we saw during our 48 hours in Vegas. We saw inspiring tech, mind-blowing tech, useful tech and (what shall we call it?) tech that we don’t know how they even thought it up.
In recent years, the health and wellness tech sector has just exploded and this year was no different. There are gadgets to monitor just about everything from your biorhythms and sleep cycles to how well you brush your teeth. But we’ve written lots about those in recent years. We’ll focus instead on some innovations in other areas.
Here are some of the coolest tech trends and gadgets we saw at CES 2023.
We spent all of 2022 asking, “Are you ready for the metaverse?” Apparently, the answer is “yes” from a whole host of companies racing to produce the best hardware to optimize our metaverse experience.
“The fact that hardware developers are seeking to minimize the bulk and obtrusiveness of VR/AR headsets is a positive development for a business-friendly metaverse.”
Each year at CES, there seems to be some product that is ubiquitous as you traverse the expansive exhibit halls. This year was the year of the virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headset. They were everywhere. HTC probably stole the most headlines with its new competitor to Meta’s Meta Quest Pro headset. HTC revealed the VIVE XR Elite, which is a stand-alone headset (not tethered to a device) that can function as a complete VR headset or can be minimized to a more eyeglass-like form, making it a potential solution for AR applications. This dual functionality is indeed interesting since it is widely rumored that Apple is working on an AR glasses concept. It looks like the MetaWars are beginning, and that usually bodes well for consumers.
Not to be outdone, TCL revealed their RayNeo X2 AR glasses that, at first glance, could fool you into thinking they are just regular eyeglasses. TCL touts these lightweight AR glasses as being able to project a wide array of information right in front of your eyes from language translation to travel directions overlaying the landscape directly in front of you. The fact that hardware developers are seeking to minimize the bulk and obtrusiveness of VR/AR headsets is a positive development for a business-friendly metaverse.
A clear overarching theme of most big technology companies at this year’s CES was sustainability. From electric cars, motorcycles and boats to technology that actually seeks to clean the environment, companies worldwide are jumping on the sustainability bandwagon in a big way.
One of our favorite examples is ICOMA’s Tatamel e-bike. A CES 2023 Innovation Award winner, the Tatamel is a curious looking electric “bike” that is sort of a cross between a moped and a scooter. It has a top speed of 25 mph and about a 20-mile range on a full charge, so it can only be used for intra-city or neighborhood transport. But its function as an e-bike is only the starting point. The Tatamel folds down to the size of a briefcase, and its custom panels can be reconfigured to turn this “bike” into a desk or a TV panel. Riding a Tatamel is like riding your own personal Transformer. Very cool indeed.
Over the course of this year, we hope to get our hands on a fair number of these tech innovations, and we will share our experience with these new products. Stay tuned!