Hasta La Ideas

If you want a taste of what tech to expect in the new year, there’s no better place to be at than CES. The problem, however, is that CES is massive, and is spread across three large venues. Covering any ground at CES is a major task, which is why events like CES Unveiled are perfect grounds for exploring everything new that the tech world has to offer. CES Unveiled is much smaller than the main event, and gets held usually a day earlier. This is where tech brands and winners of CES awards come to showcase their stuff in a smaller venue before the big show.

We attended CES Unveiled 2025 and while the show was filled with a lot of interesting (and some slightly stale) tech, three things stood out. AI could be found practically in every single corner of Unveiled; Robots are becoming more useful and more prevalent thank to AI; Smart Glasses are also picking up speed thanks to LLMs and AI; and finally, it seems like ages ago that I saw a TV at CES Unveiled because projectors are becoming more and more popular.

AI is Everywhere

SkyTed.io Headset

We’re definitely in an AI bubble because you’ll find AI features everywhere. Sure, AI translators and image recognition is a pretty good way to use AI – but we’re now seeing AI built into products that probably didn’t need it to begin with. LLMs are becoming increasingly popular as a trend as well as a feature, being found in all products from earbuds to massive robots. It’s difficult to tell whether the AI bubble will burst any time soon, but here’s something worth thinking about – AI is expensive, and companies will probably either A. Pass that expense onto the consumer, or B. Absorb the expense and make up the losses by harvesting data. However, there are areas where AI’s actually pretty impressive, like SkyTed’s headset, which uses a very powerful dual-direction microphone and AI noise-reduction to let you effectively whisper in a crowded room and have your voice seamlessly heard clearly on the other side.

Robots aren’t going anywhere

Enchanted Tools Robot

I have a theory. I’ve attended CES in both Vegas as well as CES Asia in Shanghai, and the main difference between them is the presence of robots. Americans are traditionally very hostile to robots because of pop culture demonizing them, like with Terminator, Transformers, etc. The east, on the other hand, has always seen robots as fun companions or superheroes, and it’s taken decades for the two cultures to come to a consensus – That robots are useful. Potentially scary, but useful. CES Unveiled had its fair share of robots – some utilitarian, some cute. These robots have been around for ages, but they’re now powered by AI that helps them be more human by interacting with natural language as well as contextual memory.

Meta may have revived the Smart Glass trend

Mustard Smart Glasses

In all honesty, wearing the Meta Ray-Bans 2 to CES was an absolute godsend… but wearing it around exhibitors exhibiting similar glasses was a unique experience. Most people recognized that my specs had cameras in them, but what was truly interesting was to see such ubiquitous tech around. Smart glasses became more and more popular this CES, with specs like heads-up displays, XR displays, and even AI-enabled world-scanning. Google launched the Google Glass back in 2013, and it’s safe to say that it’s taken nearly 12 years for the technology to truly become something ready for mass acceptance. Smart glasses are here, an they’re thinner and more powerful than ever before.

This Year’s Hot Take: Projectors > Televisions

Aurzen Tri-Fold Projector

Projectors are now at a point where they’re cheap, which honestly was the last frontier that they needed to conquer in their war with televisions. TVs have been the home entertainment standard for too long and I totally think it’s time they were replaced with projectors. Even a budget projector can cast a screen hundreds of inches wide, turning your entire wall into a display. Projectors are smaller than TVs too, which means you can carry them around from one room to another, or even to a backyard or your friend’s house. We saw some pretty cool projectors including an ultra-short throw one from JMGO, and a palm-sized tri-fold one from Aurzen. My favorite, however, was a projector that could project make-up onto your face in real-time, allowing you to quickly cycle through looks.

CES officially begins on January 7th 2025, and we’re going to bring you the latest tech news from the ground. If you want to attend CES 2025, here’s how you can. Or follow Yanko Design’s CES coverage for more information.

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