Gadgets and innovation and the technology that is driving all this wrapped up in – you guessed it – artificial intelligence.
The AI theme was evident with almost every innovation and gadget, and truth be told, if you don’t mention AI in your daily conversation, you are simply not relevant or cool!
Jokes aside, artificial intelligence is the invisible technology that is transforming everything around us at a blistering pace unlike anything I’ve experienced in the three decades I’ve spent covering technology. What is achievable is quite extraordinary, incredibly intimidating, and yet so awe-inspiring.
If there is one thing you have to do in 2025, it is to start getting a deeper understanding of AI, how it works, what it is capable of, and how to use the AI tools in your business to unlock tremendous value and knowledge. These AI tools will change your life. Check these out: Perplexity, Claude, ChatGPT of course, and if you’re feeling creative, look at Synthesia and Midjourney.
CES is about amazing innovation and features gadgets that are far ahead of their time, some of which may never see the light of day, but it allows us a glimpse of what is possible and how new devices will be used in our day-to-day lives.
Here are some of my favourites from CES 2025…
#DotDot
Share or even sell your unused data
I’m not sure about you, but at the end of every billing cycle whatever data I haven’t used on my mobile device is lost.
What if you could trade those excess GBs anonymously?
The French start-up #DotDot won an innovation award at CES for its tiny pocket-sized Wi-Fi hub. How it works is very simple. Sellers called #doters use this #dotdot device to trade their excess data with #dotees. They simply connect to the nearby device and purchase the quantity they need without needing a subscription.
That’s the theory but I am not entirely sure of the legalities of something like this in South Africa. You’re probably saying, “I’ve paid for that data and I should be able to dispose of it as I wish!”
It’s such a simple idea that could come in very handy.
Beyond 01
World's first camera-based wearable sensing device
Imagine attaching a tiny sensor weighing just 22 grams to the shoelaces of your running shoe that will track your running. This is what the Beyond 01 sensor does. It captures 8 000 data points per second. It is water resistant and works during the day or at night. It creates a digital twin, which basically is a virtual replica of the device on your shoes. This works in real time to analyse data and even predict outcomes.
As you can imagine, if you are dealing with 8 000 data points, you need that computing power in the cloud.
The information is then used in conjunction with a virtual coach and AI algorithms to help you run better.
It tracks muscle loads to understand how you are using that explosive power to run and then helps you optimise that energy to run better. It provides data analysis on how your joints are being impacted every time your foot lands on a surface. This data is critical in establishing if you are wearing the correct shoe, and it can also predict injuries if you do not correct the mistake you are making.
It is estimated that half of the word’s running population, which is roughly 600 million runners, get injured every year. Now imagine if technology could assist those runners run better and stay injury free. Amazing technology!
Samsung The Frame Pro
When art gets a tech upgrade
Samsung has introduced TVs that look like a picture frame. In a subtle way, these change images based on your art taste. When Samsung introduced this new category back in 2017, I was sceptical. But this category has shown impressive growth and the TVs have got better and thinner to the point that you actually think it’s a piece of art in a frame.
At CES 2025 Samsung launched The Frame Pro. The Frame Pro features mini LED technology, making it brighter, with a jump in contrast and black levels that are more accurate. The processor has also been upgraded and the connect box and cables can now be completely concealed. You can customise the frame border and it looks impressive in a room or even in a boardroom. It is a sophisticated piece of technology and when you choose the right art pieces to display, it adds a touch a class to any room.
Halliday AI Smart Glasses
Stylish and discreet tech in your field of vision
An interesting category that has been growing over the years is smart glasses, especially with the success of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
This year at CES, many companies launched impressive products that included features such as built-in hearing aids, mirroring your phone screen, and featuring on-screen displays together with an AI spatial computer.
The Halliday AI Smart Glasses stole the show this year. They are being called the world's first proactive AI glasses with invisible display. That is quite a mouthful, but what does it mean?
Quite simply, they are incredibly discreet and look like normal glasses, yet they are packed with technology to make your life easier. Just take the fact that we constantly look at our phones to get information. On average, people check their phones 200 times a day. What if you could have that information embedded into glasses by just looking into the lenses?
Another cool feature is that you can use them for real-time language translation, or there are notes that you can view, you can see your phone notifications – and even use navigation. The proactive AI is a feature that, when enabled, helps you if you are having a conversation with someone and need additional information about a topic – all this can be fed to you in real time. There is also a ring that you can wear on your index finger that acts like a navigation tool similar to a mouse.
Gallery
