CES 2023: Tech Trends and Gadgets to Expect

Tech News Briefing Podcast | WSJ

I Watch the video and respond to the questions below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMhD0Y8-SF0&t=9s

1. Why is the CES event so highly anticipated this year?

2. What product concepts were special at the previous CES? What announcements stood
out?
3. Why have some of the great gizmos introduced at the CES failed to reach the end
users?
4. What challenges are mentioned by analysts?
5. What tech trends are predicted this year?
6. What products are still in demand in economically uncertain times?

II Match the phrases

1. give sb a. changes to devices

2. file for b. bankruptcy
3. to push out c. hubs
4. to secure d. a rundown on sth
5. economically e. enough funding
6. glitzy f. the product
7. incremental g. uncertain times
8. competitive h. edge
9. manufacturing i. show
10. technologies / gadgets j. catered to sb / geared toward sb

III Read the article ‘All the Cool, Crazy and Cute Tech We Found in Las Vegas’ by
Shara Tibken, Cordilia James and Dalvin Brown and decide which three of these
gadgets would be a good idea to invest in? Share your ideas with the classmates.

Source: CES 2023: All the Cool, Crazy and Cute Tech We Found in Las Vegas - WSJ

LAS VEGAS—A head-worn smell generator. Cameras mounted on hummingbird

feeders. A plane mask that covers your mouth for quiet phone calls at 30,000 feet. The
annual tech confab in Las Vegas is back. 
While CES isn’t at full strength just yet and some economic worries caused companies
to highlight more pragmatic product ideas, the event looked a little more like usual this
year.
We saw hundreds of gadgets. Some were unproven and many could go sideways, but
here’s what intrigued, delighted and puzzled us most in Vegas. Just remember, while
you’ll be able to buy some of them in coming months or years, these aren’t
recommendations.

Laptop-Charging Stationary Bike Desk

Getting in a workout while you’re working is nice. Being able to charge your laptop using
your own movement is even better. As you hop on Acer’s eKinekt BD 3 and start pedaling,
the bike desk converts the energy and delivers it to your devices through USB ports. One hour
of constant cycling at 60 revolutions a minute can generate 75 watts of power, Acer says—
fully charging an iPhone 14 could take as little as 1.5 hours. Better get pedaling! Good thing
the desk also features a beverage holder. It goes on sale in June in North America for $999. 

Face Mask for Quiet Calls

The European Commission recently said passengers can use 5G on planes in Europe, even for
midair phone calls. (That’s not happening in the U.S.—yet.) While it might make everyone
else invest in noise-canceling headphones, more thoughtful talkers might look into Skyted.
Created by an Airbus alum and backed by the plane maker, this privacy mask uses aerospace
materials and techniques to absorb 80% of voice vibrations. This means you can place a
phone call—or trash talk opponents in an online videogame—without bugging fellow
passengers, office mates or domestic partners. The high-tech mouth muffler, which starts at
$400, is set to launch on Kickstarter in March.

Computer Screens That Fold and Stretch

We’ve seen screens that fold and screens that slide out to get bigger. At CES, Samsung ‘s
display division showed a prototype tablet with a screen that does both. The Flex Hybrid has a
foldable 10.5-inch display you can extend to 12.4 inches with a tug. This division of the
electronics giant—which supplies components for its own devices and those of its competitors
—also showed off other prototypes: a phone that folds inward and outward with 360 degrees
of motion, and a tablet with a 13- to 14-inch screen that slides out from both sides to become
17.3 inches. Some variations could appear in consumer products in the not-too-distant future,
the company says.
Home Urinalysis Scanner

This might look like a massive AirTag, but it’s designed to track something even more
personal than your luggage. French health-tech company Withings designed U-Scan to hang
inside your toilet bowl and analyze your urine. When you pee, the hockey puck-shaped
device’s thermal sensor automatically turns it on, and it collects enough of a sample for a test,
using replaceable cartridges. It reads biomarkers to report on your hydration, nutrition,
metabolism and more. It isn’t supposed to confuse you with a partner or roommate, either.
The company says a built-in low-energy radar sensor tracks each user’s unique “stream
signature.” The company hopes to sell the device in Europe later this year for about $530, and
eventually bring it to the U.S.

Flying Car Copter

Aska’s A5 drives like a car, flies like a plane and takes off like a helicopter. The SUV-sized
electric four-seater—with a flight range of 250 miles and a top speed of 150 miles an hour—is
designed to take you on short hops without you having to switch vehicles. You wouldn’t even
need a runaway, just a helipad or similarly compact space. The Silicon Valley-based,
privately funded company hopes by 2026 to have a ride-share service option that would let
pilots pick up customers from their homes and fly them to their destinations for $1 a mile.
Customers can preorder the A5’s initial limited edition for $789,000.
Kitchen Stand Mixer With Scale and Smarts

Need an extra hand in the kitchen that won’t lick the batter when you aren’t looking? GE
Profile’s Smart Mixer includes a built-in scale that weighs ingredients directly in the mixing
bowl so you can ditch those measuring cups. The device’s Smart HQ app lets you use your
Alexa or Google Home devices to verbally instruct the mixer to set a timer, adjust mixing
speed, stop mixing or zero the scale. You can also use the Auto Sense feature for guided
recipes in the app: The tech monitors changes in texture and automatically shuts off to avoid
overmixing mishaps. The mixer starts at $999 and begins shipping this month.

Digital-Handwriting Ballpoint Pen

The Nuwa smart ballpoint pen converts your notes and doodles into digital text—no wires or
special paper required. As you write, three cameras and an infrared light track your pen
strokes. Sync the pen to your smartphone and you’ll find everything you wrote in the Nuwa
Pen App, where you can name and organize your notes. When the pen runs dry, just replace
the ink with any standard D1 ink cartridge from an office-supply store. When the battery dies,
you can recharge it in 15 minutes with its portable charging case.

Fitness-Tracking Watch Band

This is for people who love their classic watch (say, a Rolex?) but want to keep up with all the
latest fitness-tracking tech. French startup Baracoda developed BHeart, a wristband that fits
standard watches and tracks activity levels, body heat, steps and sleep quality. It doesn’t have
its own display, so you need an app to use it. The best part is that, like many classic self-
winding watches, the band powers itself via motion—as well as body heat and environmental
light, collected through solar panels. The company hopes to start selling it for $100 in April.
Self-Driving Lawn Mower

A lawn-mowing robot has long been one of the great promises of the digital age. But the ones
on the market for the past decade or so have mostly created more work than they took away.
Worx, which has been in the business a while, showed off the Landroid Vision. It’s packed
with cameras and autonomous-vehicle AI so it can tell the difference between grass and other
surfaces. You don’t even have to set up boundary wires or antennas to keep it from running
off. It’s “drop and mow,” as the company says. During a demo in Las Vegas, it easily steered
clear of a (plush) hedgehog lying on the turf. It starts at $2,399 and goes on sale in April. 

Camera-Equipped Hummingbird Feeder

People selfies are so yesterday. But bird selfies—“birdies”?! Sign us up. Bird Buddy began
shipping its original $199 camera-equipped bird feeder in September, and is one-upping itself
at CES with a model designed for the zippiest of feathered friends, the hummingbird. An AI-
equipped motion sensor detects when a bird has arrived, and a camera captures images and
videos. The system analyzes the images to determine the bird’s species. The company hasn’t
said when the hummingbird feeder will ship.

Ultra-Light Mixed-Reality Headset

Wearing a heavy VR headset can be straining, so HTC prioritizes lighter-weight designs.

Its new Vive XR Elite headset weighs just over half a pound. Even with the added battery
pack on the head strap, it’s lighter than the new Meta Quest Pro. Pass-through video and hand
tracking let users interact with objects that appear to be in their real world, without a need for
controllers. Think playing games with animated characters that run on the furniture in your
home, or a virtual piano lesson with real-time overlays. Preorders for the $1,099 headset
began on Jan. 5, and shipments should begin in late February.
Virtual Smell Machine

Vermont-based startup OVR Technology created a wearable that produces scents to match the
views from smartphones, tablets or computers. The Ion 3 wraps around the back of your head
and rests low on your left cheek, mixing from eight essences to project on-the-fly smells
toward your nose. When you’re gazing at a beach scene, you can inhale the sea air. When
you’re touring exotic locales from your office chair, you can actually smell the flowers.
We’ve tried it, and it really works. You can design your own scents, combining essences
ranging from earthy and woody to citrus and sweet.
High-Tech Baby Car Seat

Sweat, tears, messy hair. Signs of a parent who just wrestled a wild animal—or just installed a
car seat? With its app-guided installation and a smart base that notifies you when it’s installed
correctly, the Babyark car seat aims to address key parental pain points. It also notifies you if
a child is unbuckled or left unattended in the seat. In the event of a crash, it uses energy-
absorption technology to slow the seat’s forward momentum. What doesn’t it do? Self clean
all the dried peanut butter and crushed Goldfish. For the price, maybe it should: The seat, due
out this summer, will cost $1,190. 

Glossary:
 kick off
 give sb a rundown on sth
 kickstarter
 file for bankruptcy
 to secure enough funding
 to push out the product
 economically uncertain times
 glitzy show
 full of Pie in the Sky
 come to fruition
 incremental changes to devices
 assortment of gadgets
 competitive edge
 manufacturing hubs
 technologies catered to sb
 gadgets geared toward sb
Further viewing:

ABC News’ Phil Lipof spoke with CNET editor-at-large Brian Cooley about the latest health, auto,
and home technologies featured at the annual convention in Las Vegas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd0Egg0lCQ8