2026 is the 20th anniversary of my first CES, and the giant tech show is still my favorite conference of the year. Tech people love to grouse about being dragged to Las Vegas for CES, but honestly, the show has it all:
- Conference programming for the sickos who like that kind of thing
- Lots of people to meet and places to meet them
- A steady stream of news and announcements
- A massive show floor where you can see the cool, the weird, and the never-going-to-ship
And when it all gets to be too much, there are a thousand blackjack tables.
This year’s show was a bit understated by CES standards. Taxi lines were short, and the announcements felt more iterative and road-mappy than “here’s the awesome new thing you can buy this year.” And the show floor itself was tamer, since a lot of the big tech companies set up shop at various hotels instead of building big booths at the convention center.
The biggest crowds I saw were at the Aria, where the advertisers hang out. Every conference eventually becomes an advertising conference, and CES is no different. 15 years ago, I was a big ad agency’s sole attendee. Now, thousands of advertisers and platform reps take over the Aria hotel by day, and Chandelier Bar by night.
The reason for this: The explosion of retail media, which (from the POV of a tech fan and a general crank) seems to be enshittifying every screen, every digital experience, and pretty much every company in the world right now.
As the advertisers pile in, and companies like Nvidia focus more on AI than consumer experiences, it’s getting harder and harder to find the consumer electronics at the Consumer Electronics Show. Which, from the POV of a tech fan, is a real bummer. The tech I did see tended to fall into a couple buckets, which is what happens every year at CES.
XR Glasses
This is the year of XR glasses, with the new Android XR platform powering a nice range of devices on the show floor. XREAL glasses are already shipping and were on display at the show, with models from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster coming soon.
Robotics
So many companies are working on robot butlers and companions. Near-term, the prototypes I saw were more publicity stunts than actual products, and the use cases seemed pretty ill-considered and underwhelming. (“They’ll hover next to your bed and wake you up in the morning, then take 10 minutes to get you a muffin, and remind you to stretch before serving as your personal trainer.”) And even big global tech companies who should know better were hinting that lonely people will loooove their robot butler. Lessons learned from AI chatbots, I guess? Despite my skepticism, the years-long path to robotic companions will involve lots of interesting innovations across lots of categories.
Sometimes even robots need a break from the CES madness
In the non-humanoid robotics world, the vacuums can climb stairs now! Robo-mowers like Segway’s Navimow can go up hills in your yard!
And Wing’s drone delivery continues to get better, as it spreads to new retail partners and new cities. Wing’s Heather Rivera described the future of food delivery as simultaneously “magical and boring”–burritos descending from the sky is pretty magical the first time you see it. Making it predictable and commonplace enough to become boring is itself an exciting mission.
Transportation
The new Waymo and Zoox cars look awesome. Zoox cars were on the road in Las Vegas, but only for very specific pickup points and routes. I appreciate Waymo’s simpler branding approach (versus trying to be “a night club”) and definitely appreciate that it has a bit of a crumple zone in the front.
And there were a couple companies showing off flying drone taxis, though I didn’t get a sense of how close to production they might be.
On a much smaller scale, I love these powered skis from Skwheel, which go up to 40MPH, and fold up so they’re easy to carry.
As always, the best part of the show is the new friends I got to meet, the dinners with partners and clients, and the random run-ins and conversations that make working in this industry so much fun. Here’s a quick conversation at a bar with PRovoke Media’s Diana Marszalek, that sums up a lot of my CES feelings…
We’re already making plans for CES 2027, so if you’re looking to make a splash in Vegas, give us a call.