CES 2025: AI everything, waterless coffee maker, wearable for your face

January 12, 2025

By Kim Komando

Here’s your 10-second CES recap: TVs are bigger and smarter, laptops are faster and lighter, and AI is everywhere. I sifted through the fluff to bring you the best and weirdest of this year’s consumer tech showcase.

The year of the robot: $3 trillion chipmaker Nvidia’s new AI model is called Cosmos. It’s open-source code (meaning anyone can use it) that simulates all the training data it takes to make a robot useful. Imagine detailed digital replications of homes, factories, roads or any other space a bot needs to learn to do its job.

Full battery in 15 minutes: That’s what Honda’s 0 Series concept EV promises. Too bad it looks like a weird sci-fi creation. Honda says its AI chip will handle fully autonomous control. It’ll be huge if someone can nail that; Tesla hasn’t been able to. I don’t see it happening by their 2026 deadline.

Imagine this at a coffee shop: JSAUX’s FlipGo Horizon laptops have a magnetic base that lets you snap on extra monitors — one on each side. Here’s where they lost me: Each monitor weighs 2.4 to 4 pounds. No one is going to lug that around.

Trypanophobia: That’s fear of needles, and if you have it, you’ll like this. FlowBeam’s BoldJet needle-free injection is a painless way to get a shot or give blood without the poke. Also, today I learned there are 16 billion single-use syringes and 16 billion needles thrown away every year. Dang.

Talk to me: VLC has been the go-to video player for Windows for years, since the built-in player stinks. Now it’s getting real-time subtitles in 100 languages powered by AI — no internet connection required.

I never imagined a waterless coffee maker: The $300 Kara Pod turns water in the air (humidity) into drinking water, then brews you up a cup of joe. Cool tech, but is your coffee gross if the air is musty?

Top the charts: Anker’s Soundcore Rave 3S speaker uses AI to remove the vocal tracks from any song so you can karaoke all your favorites instead of settling for “Love Shack” again. It includes wireless mics, too, to enhance your voice and add reverb. For $349, I might finally sound good!

I don’t see myself in this: Omnia is a smart mirror, scale and smartwatch hybrid. Stand on the base, and it’ll take your weight and measure your heart health, then it’ll pull in data from any other tracker you use. The AI assistant gives real-time feedback out loud. Reminds me of Lululemon’s Mirror, which was a total flop.

Closed captions IRL: Xander’s GlassesConnect AR specs use AI to transcribe speech and project the text right in front of you. So cool for someone with severely impacted hearing. The price is the big downside: $4,999.

What’s on your face? The Omi is an $89 mindreading wearable you stick on your face. I’m not kidding. It listens to all your conversations to help you organize action items, like when Bob in accounting asks for that report. Omi’s snooping includes your thoughts, like, “Send Bob the report at 4 p.m.” The battery lasts three days, and, again, it’s always listening.

ICYMI: More TV, smart home and AI finds at CES. I want the AI tub you can fill using just your phone or voice assistant.

Every year, CES reminds me how fun it is to work in tech. Not all of this will pan out, and some will be total hits. All I know for sure is I’ll have your back on how to protect your privacy if any of this gets popular!