What stood out to me at CES 2026
Smart rings, at-home urine testing, a wearable that remembers your life and much more!
Hello from the Las Vegas Strip!
This is my busiest week of the year, but it’s always a great one. CES is where I spend days walking the show floor, tracking down new tech, and trying to figure out what’s actually worth paying attention to.
I logged well over 100,000 steps this week doing exactly that. While the giant TVs always grab attention, most people aren’t upgrading a TV every year. So instead of focusing on those, I’m going to run through the gadgets and trends that stood out, so you can get caught up without having to come to Vegas.
I mentioned the steps because I measured them a little differently this year. For the first time, I wore a smart ring instead of my wedding ring. I asked my wife if she’d be okay with that and wore the Samsung Galaxy Ring all week.
I’ve tried wearing a smart ring on my right hand before, but having two rings just doesn’t work for me. Wearing one ring on the hand I’m used to felt natural, and by the end of the week, my opinion on smart rings had changed.
I found the health, sleep, and activity tracking useful, and I now see smart rings as an interesting way to keep tabs on your health 24/7 without wearing a watch all the time.
That said, there’s still one thing I don’t love. When I’m sleeping, I sometimes feel like I’m being measured or evaluated. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I catch myself thinking about what the ring is tracking instead of just going back to sleep.
A quick note if you’re considering one: the Samsung Galaxy Ring only works with Android. Oura works with both Android and iPhone, and so does RingConn, which has been getting good reviews.
While walking the show floor, I was also wearing an Apple Watch, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and the Plaud Recorder. I picked up another AI recording device as well, which I’ll talk about later. I was also carrying both an iPhone and an Android phone.
The Android phone was the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it’s a beast. I used it almost exclusively this week, and it reminded me how much I like Android. The customization is excellent, and many everyday tasks take fewer taps compared to the iPhone.
On the flip side, I still think iPhone video looks slightly better.
One other note: it’s always kind of amazing how, in a sea of more than 100,000 people, you still run into people you know.
I saw several folks who’ve been on my radio show, along with other tech journalists and content creators. And a lot of people came up to me to say they listen to me on the radio, watch me on TV, or both.
Gmail Gets a Big AI Upgrade
Before we get into CES, a quick piece of non-CES news.
Gmail is getting a big AI upgrade. And I know, when you hear “AI,” you might immediately think, “Oh no, what are they changing?” But a lot of this is actually useful.
The biggest change is that Google is making several AI features free that used to be limited to paying customers.
That includes Help Me Write, which uses AI to help draft emails, AI Summaries, which are cards that appear at the top of emails summarizing what’s inside, and Smart Reply, which can nearly write the response for you. All of that is rolling out now at no cost, so keep an eye out for it in your inbox.
For paid subscribers, there’s a new feature called AI Overviews. Think of this as an AI chatbot trained on your entire email history. That might sound a little unsettling, but Google says this stays private and your data isn’t used to train its models.
The practical upside is that you no longer have to search using keywords. You can ask questions the same way you would with a chatbot. For example, “What’s the name of that plumber I used?” Gmail will look through your emails, pull the relevant information, and present it in a simple summary.
I think this is useful for a lot of reasons. It really unlocks the history of your Gmail account. I’ve got nearly 20 years of emails in mine, so it’s kind of fun, and genuinely helpful, to be able to ask questions about older messages.
The other thing Google is testing is an AI-powered inbox. This is a completely different inbox layout and, for now, it’s only available to trusted users. I managed to get access and have been testing it, and it’s pretty impressive.
At any given moment, it organizes your inbox using AI. At the top, you’ll see a suggested to-do list made up of emails that actually need action, things like someone asking a direct question or confirming a date. Below that, it shows what Google calls “topics to catch up on,” grouping emails into categories like events, finances, and purchases. It gives you a quick scan of what matters and makes your inbox feel far more manageable.
Google has been doing a solid job weaving Gemini into its products. It’s still a bit disconnected in places, but it’s clearly making tools we’ve used for years feel faster, smarter, and more useful.
And keep this in mind: if Apple figures out a similar approach on the iPhone, especially across Apple Mail, iCloud Photos, and iCloud Drive, that could be a real game changer for a lot of people. We’re still waiting to see that happen.
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Bee: An AI Memory for Your Life
One of the most interesting meetings I had all week was with a company recently acquired by Amazon called Bee.
I follow the tech world pretty closely, and I honestly wasn’t very familiar with this company before CES. What they’re building is a Fitbit-style wearable that essentially records your entire day.
This is a trend we saw all over CES in different form factors, everything from necklaces to wristbands to credit card-sized recorders and even rings. But Bee stood out.
I’ve been wearing it for a couple of days now, and it’s not just recording and transcribing everything. It’s actually analyzing your life and surfacing insights.
After wearing it for a bit, it starts suggesting to-do items based on things it hears you talk about. You can press a button on the device to capture a note. You get daily memories, the ability to look back at what you did on any given day, and summaries of recent conversations. There’s also an automatically generated to-do list and these little fact cards it creates based on patterns in your life.
It’s an intriguing concept. This idea of a small companion that knows almost everything about you and offers light guidance. Not in a therapeutic way, but more in a practical, help-you-stay-on-track kind of way.
Of course, this raises a lot of privacy questions. Do you need to tell people you’re recording them? And there are probably moments in your life it captures unintentionally that you might not want recorded.
At the end of the day, you’re left with a massive memory bank of your life. And you can chat with it, just like an AI chatbot, except it’s trained only on your personal experiences.
Bee sells for $50. Battery life is up to 14 days, and there’s no subscription fee. It’s one of the most intriguing devices I’ve tested in a long time. I should also mention that if you have an Apple Watch, you can download the Bee app to get some of the same functionality as the wearable. Note that Bee is not available for Android right now.
CES Gadgets That Caught My Eye
WearPhone - Think of this as a portable sound booth for your face. It’s a mask that keeps your voice private when you talk into it. The idea is that you put it on, it has earbuds built in, and you can interact with AI, take a phone call, or work in a cubicle without anyone around you hearing what you’re saying. It definitely looks silly, but this feels like one of those ideas that could actually catch on.
Tombot Jennie - This is a robotic therapy dog designed mainly for comfort. Tombot worked with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to create the look and feel, especially the face, and it’s surprisingly realistic. This isn’t a robot that runs around or does tricks. It’s meant to be a lap dog. It has fur, responds to touch and voice, and is aimed at people with Alzheimer’s or hospital patients who want extra comfort. Price is about $1,500.
Cheerble CatFeeder Match G1 - If you have multiple cats, this is pretty clever. It’s a smart pet feeder that only opens for a specific cat. Yes, this is cat facial recognition. If you have two cats on different diets, they can’t eat each other’s food.
Vivoo - This company is making your toilet smart. You hang a small $99 device over the side of your toilet, kind of like an air freshener. When you go to the bathroom, it analyzes your urine for hydration and sends the data to your phone. They say hydration is a marker for a lot of health-related things. Vivoo also makes at home test strips for health and wellness, so I had to test one. You go on the strip, take a photo with your phone, and it analyzes it for all kinds of health markers.
Plant Petz - This was one of those booths where you stop and think, “What is happening here?” It looked like a scene out of Little Shop of Horrors with plants moving around. But the idea is actually cool. It’s a smart plant pot. You put your plant inside, insert a probe into the soil, and suddenly the plant is smart. It can sense touch, move to your voice or music, and even make sounds when it needs water or care.
Holo Swim 2 Pro - These are augmented reality swim goggles. There’s a small display inside one lens that shows your lap count, heart rate, and other stats while you swim.
Even Realities G2 - Smart glasses were everywhere at CES, with and without displays. I think Even Realities is doing a nice job here. These glasses have a built-in display that can show notifications, directions, and even a teleprompter. They also have a companion smart ring to control what you see. The teleprompter idea is great, but because your head is always moving, the screen moves around too, which isn’t ideal. If they solve that, it could be a killer feature.
Chamelo - These are glasses that let you manually change the tint with the touch of a finger. Think transition lenses, but you control them. They’re high-tech and fun. Some versions also include automatic tinting and built-in music playback.
Amazon Ember TV - I said I wouldn’t focus on TVs, but I did check out the Amazon Ember TV. It has a matte display and shows artwork when not in use, and it actually looks pretty convincing. The price is reasonable, too. An Amazon rep told me they’re moving forward with Ember branding for their TVs, while Fire TV remains the operating system. It’s a little confusing, but now you know.
Clicks Communicator - Clicks is known for snap-on physical keyboards, but now they’ve made an entire BlackBerry-style phone. At first, I thought this was gimmicky, but after going hands-on, I actually think it’s pretty smart. I don’t personally crave a physical keyboard since I mostly use voice-to-text, but if you miss BlackBerry, this is a unique device. It’s $400 on preorder, runs Android, has a physical keyboard, a programmable side button with a notification light, a headphone jack (2.5mm, so you’ll need a dongle), MagSafe, microSD, and a SIM slot. They’re positioning it as a secondary device, which makes sense if you want to separate work and personal life.
Glyde - This is an AI-guided hair clipper. Instead of snap-on guards, it automatically adjusts the cutting length as you move it along your head. I didn’t test it, but as someone who was obsessed with the idea of the Flowbee as a kid, this feels like the AI version of that. Not sure how well it will work in real life, but I sure could have used this during the pandemic.
Fitasy 3D-Printed Sneakers - Startup Fitasy is making custom 3D-printed sneakers. I tried them on and they were super comfortable. You can scan your feet with your phone and get a custom pair made in a few weeks, or buy a pre-printed version faster. I tried my usual size and they fit perfectly. They’re cool, comfortable, and yes, I want them.
Seattle Ultrasonics Chef’s Knife - This is a vibrating chef’s knife that moves about 40,000 times per second to make cutting easier and help food slide off the blade. I tried it on a tomato and a potato. It did feel a bit easier, but it’s expensive right now: $350 for the knife and $150 for the charger. Maybe one day this becomes like a Sonicare toothbrush. Not for everyone, but good to have options.
ChocoPrint Vending Machine - This has been one of the most debated videos on my Instagram. It’s a vending machine that 3D-prints edible chocolate figurines in a few minutes. You pick the design on the screen and watch it print. It’s chocolate plus a show. I can see how this could work well in a candy shop or attraction because it definitely draws a crowd.
Iceplosion - This one isn’t really for me, but I get the appeal. It’s like a K-cup machine, but instead of coffee, it makes a carbonated slushy in under four minutes. The carbonation is the key. Apparently no other home machine does this yet. I can see it being fun for kids’ parties, but realistically, there’s no way kids are waiting five minutes between slushies.
Lollipop Star - Probably the weirdest thing I tested at the show was a lollipop that plays music. There are electronics built into the base of the lollipop, and when you put it in your mouth, it uses bone conduction technology to play music that only you can hear. The music lasts for about 60 minutes. Each lollipop costs around $9, and no, it’s not reusable.
You Can’t See Everything at CES
At this point, you might be thinking, “Rich, didn’t you see the smart Legos?” or “Didn’t you see the 163-inch TV?” or “What about the rollable laptop?”
To understand CES, you have to understand one thing: you can’t see everything.
I did see a lot of other stuff. This isn’t a complete list. These are just some of the things that stood out to me as interesting. There are plenty of concepts, a lot of small iterations on existing products, and a lot of things that will probably never make it to market. There are also a lot of cars. And at the end of the day, this newsletter can only be so long. I’ll likely share more in a future edition.
One thing that really stood out this year was the number of robots. It’s the most robots I’ve ever seen in one place. They’re clearly getting better and smarter, even if the progress feels slow right now.
What’s going to change everything is AI. Once AI is fully built into these robots, it becomes a fundamental shift. Instead of programming every action, robots can start learning by understanding the world around them. And that’s a big deal.
You can watch my CES coverage below
Wrapping Things Up
That’s going to do it for now.
If you emailed me this week, don’t be alarmed. I’ve got a full week’s worth of emails sitting in my inbox right now because CES completely takes over my schedule. I will get to them, just not as quickly as usual.
I’ll be live on the radio Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific. If you have a question, call in at 1-888-RICH-101, or just tune in on KFI AM 640 and listen.
Have a great week.
Rich