There was a lot going on at CES 2023 – our video shows what was important.
transcript of the video
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Since the CeBIT no longer exists, the CES in Las Vegas is by far the most important technology fair for me. CES 2023 is over and in this video I’ll show you what the most relevant topics, products and hypes were this year. Instead of just business stuff, you can really see concrete future technology at CES; So in addition to real products, there were also crazy prototypes and yes, flying cars again this year. I wasn’t there myself this time, but a lot of my colleagues were, yes, enjoy your meal. That’s why there are also critical assessments and as little marketing hot air as possible here in the video. Stay tuned.
Dear hackers, dear Internet surfers, welcome to…
Keyword science fiction gadgets at the CES: Something like that can be really exciting, but of course the longing for future technology can also be misused as advertising. If you are clever, thousands of media around the world will report on your great invention – which will never come out, but was only designed for CES.
One of the best examples was the toilet paper roll robot from a toilet paper manufacturer two years ago – everyone reported about it, although it was already crystal clear back then that it was a pure marketing stunt and that the thing would never come out as a product. But it was just so nice.
The situation is very similar with one of the most popular gadgets at CES 2023: the BMW i Vision Dee concept car with an e-ink body. The part can really change color at any time, there are 240 e-ink modules that can be controlled individually and can take on 32 colors. Definitely worked as an eye catcher, the media all reported. But, my car expert colleague Sven Hansen is absolutely certain: the car will never be available for sale in this form. Not only for technical or cost reasons, but also because of the road traffic regulations. However, it is conceivable that BMW will use the color change panels at certain points in production models, for example in the headlights. And the really quite impressive head-up display of the car, which you can toggle in five levels between “I see my entire environment” to “I almost only see computer graphics” – that will probably be installed at least something like that in really buyable cars .
Why am I talking about cars here, even though it’s about a tech fair? Yeah, that’s the thing – in cars, the car part is becoming less and less important and the tech part is becoming more important. You could even say: The car radio is more important than the engine. And so it happened that Sony not only announced at the CES this year that the delivery problems with the Playstation 5, which had been going on for over two years, should come to an end with immediate effect – they also announced a car. So at the same stand: TV, game console, car, all sorts of tech. In any case, the Sony car should be called Afeela and come onto the market in 2026, which is being developed together with Honda. And of course has a lot of entertainment stuff in the interior. Yes, and according to Sony, 45 sensors are installed, so of course it’s also about autonomous driving – I’m curious to see how autonomous “autonomous” 2026 will be, i.e. whether I’ll be able to watch YouTube videos on the road in the future.
The fact that cars may not necessarily be the solution to all traffic problems is shown by the Vegas Loop, which was built by Elon Musk’s company the Boring Company (huhu, pun!, “boring” and “boring”, hahaha, no). This is a tunnel through which individual cars – of course Teslas can drive – but sometimes only in one direction; so a Tesla fits right through. Which is quite problematic in case of glitches or worse things.
My colleague Ulrike Kuhlmann tried out the tunnel, and her conclusion is a bit more positive than the headline suggests here: Yes, the walk across the exhibition center took only a few minutes instead of 20 minutes on foot in the Tesla tunnel. But: The whole operation is extremely labour-intensive, because there are a number of passenger controllers working in the stations, and also because there has to be a driver for four passengers in each Tesla. Despite the rather simple traffic routing (straight through the tunnel), the Teslas cannot drive autonomously because the sensors start to skid in the transition between the tube and the stop. Uh, yeah, ok, great ad. But wait a minute, couldn’t this be done MUCH more efficiently anyway? With vehicles that fit more than four people? Yes, that’s planned for the future, let’s see. By the way: Since almost all the big hotels in Vegas are only about a quarter of an hour by bike from the exhibition center, a bike would actually be a good solution to traffic jams. Eight years ago I tried it out in a very dramatic way – there is also a video of it, I linked it below. And yes, even in 2023 the situation is still the same: No cycling in Vegas.
But this year there were at least bicycles to see at the fair itself. I found the Aik cargo bike from the Swedish company Cake very interesting. Well, that’s just a real battleship, which can also pull a fat trailer. The biggest special feature: you can hang up to three batteries in the frame, each one should have a range of 120 kilometers, i.e. a total of 360 kilometers. From May, the part should be available from 6500 euros. Expensive but cheaper than a truck.
So, now really enough with the mobility topic, now really gadgets. I found one extremely impressive and it actually comes from a German company in Augsburg. Namely the exoskeleton from German Bionic. The part is called Apogee and, according to the manufacturer, offers up to 30 kg of support when lifting and also helps when walking. So this is made for people whose everyday work consists mainly of lifting and walking around.
I also have to mention the new vacuum cleaner robot Roborock S8, because I made a long-term test video about the predecessor S7 MaxV. Where the S7 was still moldy, the S8 Ultra now has an integrated dryer. In addition, there are now two suction rollers instead of one – the S8 should be able to achieve up to 6000 Pascal suction power. The part will be on the market from March, without a suction and waste water station, i.e. without a hair dryer, it costs 699 euros, with the large station including a water tank and hair dryer it is 1499 euros.
The smart home standard Matter was omnipresent at CES. It was designed by Apple, Google, Samsung and hundreds of other smart home companies to finally end the confusion with all the smart home standards. Matter is supposed to be the over standard that always works safe with all things. My colleague Nico Jurran looked for Matter products throughout the fair and was quite disappointed in the end: Because even though everyone talked about Matter, apart from Eve practically nobody showed how their own devices are controlled by devices from other manufacturers or vice versa. In other words, what Matter is all about.
I found the intelligent lifebuoy from Usafe, a Portuguese company, very cool. The part has its own drive, so it swims to a person in distress. On the ship it is stored on an induction charger, so the battery is always full in an emergency.
Also pretty crazy: The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i notebook with two displays on top of each other or side by side, you can also fold it that way. The displays are OLEDs, each with a resolution of 2880 x 1800. The Yoga Book 9i will be available from June and will cost from 2700 euros.
Yes, and somehow you can’t do a CES 2023 recap without mentioning the Withings U-Scan. It’s a gadget that you put in your own toilet and then analyzes the urine. The part can not only distinguish water from urine, but also the latter from different people. You have to put in cartridges that then provide values for three months. To start with, there is a cartridge that monitors the menstrual cycle in women – and shows ovulation, for example. And a cartridge that carries out a detailed metabolic analysis. The starter kit with one cartridge will cost 500 euros and will be launched in the second quarter of this year. I can already guarantee you that we will test this here at 3003. And then I still have a little time to think about how we can film this without violating YouTube guidelines. OPEN EYES. I apologize for the images I just created in your minds. Bye.
c’t 3003 is c’t’s YouTube channel. The videos on c’t 3003 are independent content and independent of the articles in c’t magazin. Editor Jan-Keno Janssen and video producers Şahin Erengil and Pascal Schewe publish a video every week.
(jkj)
