I’m very tempted to put together a “best innovations” list from the world’s largest tech trade show. I did one last year and I know that’s probably the biggest thing you want to know about my experience here at CES anyway. CNET, Engadget, WIRED, Tom’s Guide and lots of other tech media have already been releasing their picks for the best, most fun products and inventions. This year, I’ve been focusing my efforts on videos and will be releasing lots of the stories over the next few weeks. The people I’ve spoken to have stories that are not just relevant for this week.
But since I know that answer will hardly satisfy you – here are some headline observations from my first few days here that go a bit deeper than what you may see reflected in some of the videos and interviews I’m producing here:
- Today’s innovations are incremental. In our quest to always seek out what’s new and different, sometimes we don’t appreciate the small leaps that happen within technologies from year to year. Last year I saw a plant that was 30 times more effective at cleaning toxins from the air. This year the same team returned with a product that can turn ANY houseplant into a supercharged air purifier with just a few drops.
- Fun is a use case no one wants to admit. There are some products, like waving robots or automated drink mixers that are just plain fun to use. Unfortunately, most creators are afraid of admitting that and try to find more “serious” use cases for their product when there aren’t any. The gamers are the one exception. At least they know their product is meant to create fun.
- AI doesn’t mean what you think it does. For more than a year now, the non-techie usage of the term “AI” has generally come to describe generative AI tools for creating. Here at CES, an AI enabled automated window cleaner isn’t generating anything creative. It’s just getting smarter about how to do it’s one job faster … and using AI to do it.
- Tech is still male dominated, unfortunately. Despite many efforts to bring more female entrepreneurs to tech and encourage their efforts, CES offers a pretty sobering reality check on just how male-dominated tech across all industries really is.
- Marketing matters a LOT in a crowded show. I found it stunning how many booths we passed where there was no short pitch and no visible information about something other than the relatively meaningless company name. And many did not have someone charismatic to share a pitch. Tech will, and always has, died in obscurity without great storytelling to explain it.
