The special technological innovations we saw at CES this year

After a two-year hiatus, CES is back with a bang. The world’s biggest tech companies descended on Las Vegas once, and they brought some amazing goods with them. Among other things we saw “Flying” electric boatA Huge wireless TV (more on that below) and yes, a A pee sensor for your toilet At home (certainly on the bottom)

This year’s show marks the return of the full physical CES. It is thought to have brought in more than 100,000 people and more than 2,200 companies have spoken to what they expect to be the next big thing. This year — and for the first time since 2020 — CNET editors walked the floor to see new products and services on display.

We have already collected. Must-see CES highlightsof Very futuristic technology, The strangest gizmos and gadgets and the Things you can buy in 2023. Below is our list of the best of CES 2023.

Before we dive into our Best of CES 2023 list, here are the criteria we used. We’ve tried to keep the number of winners of our Best of Show award to between five and seven. Everyone on this list meets at least one of the following criteria.

• The product involves a concept or idea that has never been seen before.
• The product tries to solve the main problem of the consumer.
• A product is a redesigned or modified take on an existing product that sets a new bar in performance or quality.

Finally, to avoid giving awards to products that may never see the light of day, we gave more weight to those with at least a calendar year release window or timeline, as opposed to products with no planned release date or products that are more tentative.

LG’s 97-inch wireless OLED TV puts all the others to shame.

of LG M3 Series 97-inch wireless OLED TV It’s a behemoth that doesn’t exceed standard high-end TV features. This beast of a television combines amazing imaging technology with its massive size to make it one of the most exciting TVs in recent memory. But what really takes it over the top is that it’s completely wireless.

Yep, no more messing around with a bunch of wires behind your entertainment center to make it look like they’re not even there. On this TV, they’re not.

LG says the 97-inch should come out in 2023, along with 83- and 77-inch versions. Don’t expect it to be cheap though. The cable LG 97-inch TV costs $25,000, while the 77-inch OLED is only $2,900. Just to set expectations.

Ings U-Scan reads your equivalent.

Have you ever thought you could get health information at home just by going number one? Soon you can do it with Innings U-scan The pee sensor. The device is placed in front of your toilet. When you pee — and it’s best to sit down when you do to get an accurate sample — it collects your urine, analyzes it, and sends the results to your phone via Wi-Fi.

What kind of results can you ask for? For starters, you can monitor your ketone and vitamin C levels daily and test the pH of your urine, which can indicate overall kidney health. Use a separate cartridge, and women can use it to track their menstrual cycle.

We’ve seen home urine tests that require you to do it manually to get test results, but the U-Scan is designed to be a seamless experience. Just do your business and move on. The fact that you can do this test every day without really thinking about it and have the results sent to you immediately is what makes U-Scan so special.

The HTC Vive XR Elite isn’t just another VR headset we’ve seen.

of HTC Vive XR Elite It’s the latest version of HTC’s VR/AR headset, and depending on your time with it, it could be the best Vive yet when it releases in late February for $1,099.

Yes, we’ve seen VR headsets before, so what makes this one so special? The main factor in this list is the size. HTC VR has shrunk the headset down to the size of regular glasses, and weighs less than half. Quest Pro VR headset.

If you normally wear glasses, you don’t need to wear them when using this. Adjustable dials, or diopters, can change the lens prescription in an instant, meaning the user doesn’t need to wear glasses. If it works as expected, that’s a very useful feature. As someone who wears glasses, but has soured on VR over the past few years, the combination of the XR Elite’s small, lightweight chassis and glasses-free requirement makes VR a more attractive prospect to me.

I’m not looking to buy a VR headset, but the technology here looks unique, so let’s hope it catches on.

The BMW i Vision D has a must-see head-up display.

Yes, the BMW i Vision D It’s a concept car, so my initial reaction was to take every feature with a grain of salt, but BMW has confirmed that the coolest and most important feature, the head-up display, is coming to production cars by 2025.

Instead of a traditional dashboard screen, the Dee instead uses the entire windshield as a HUD. It’s an AR display that uses the full width of the windshield and includes five levels of immersion. Step 1 gives you the essentials – speedometer, some navigation information and so on. It will display the information from steps 2 to 4 on the screen and finally cover the route navigation information.

Level 5 features a completely virtual environment and is not intended for driving. Or rather, it’s not intended when you’re driving and instead it’s intended when a car is driving you. This is one of those that works best in motion, so check out the BMW i Vision Dee video to see it in action.

The concept car also has an e-color coating on the chassis that can change color based on your own needs, and during BMW’s press conference the presenters pretended that they could have a conversation with you, like your KITT, but BMW. He admits to using the latter actor to show what he wants to do in the future. Again, only the HUD is confirmed to be coming to cars in the future, so it was a very important thing to pay attention to.

The Samsung S95C 77-inch QD-OLED TV gives LG some competition

of Samsung S95C It is the company’s first 77-inch TV using QD-OLED technology. It improves on last year’s model with better reflective technology and brighter images. The color in particular seemed to impress our TV expert David Katzmeier. However, the screen finish is slightly grayer than the LG, which washes out the image a bit.

Still, the key reason it’s on this list, beyond the high quality, is that LG is giving its money a run for its money in the high-end 77-inch TV market, which could eventually bring prices down across the board. Great news for anyone who wants to buy a big and impressive high-end TV sometime in the future.

The Schneider Smart Home system maximizes your energy savings

Schneider Smart Home System In the year It’s not something I think about owning until I move into a new, bigger house in 2020. Let’s just say, I’ll grow at least a few more gray hairs when a new bill arrives. The system allows users to save money. Prevent energy vampires like TVs and chargers from drawing power when we don’t need it by scheduling breakers, switches, and switches to monitor when certain outlets draw power.

For EV users, schedule your vehicle to charge only when it’s charging, when rates are low, or only charge using solar panels if possible.

As home electricity prices continue to rise – where I live they have – and with more devices in our home that need charging, such detailed control, without having to unplug multiple items every time you leave the house or while on vacation, is welcome medicine indeed.

Dolby Atmos in-car sound, fully released in Maybach

Dolby Atmos is a sound technology – think surround sound 2.0 – that tries to fully immerse you in whatever you’re listening to. Atmos has been around in movie theaters and home theaters for a while, but the deluxe Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is one of the following. The first cars to use it.

So how good is it? The experience is hard to explain, but I’ll let CNET editor Bridget Carey do her best. She says, “I felt like the music was floating in space around me—I couldn’t tell where the speakers were; it just made an audible sound. Right in front of me.”

Watch the video to get a better idea of ​​what Bridget experienced inside the $185,000 Maybach. For those who don’t have that kind of money, Dolby says we could see Atmos used in affordable cars. The team is working on adapting the technology to the traditional six-speaker, but there’s no word on exactly when.

CES 2023 is back with potentially useful technologies. Some new, some improvements, but at least try to solve a known consumer issue. There were many more that almost filled the list. These are the only real viewers. Be sure to check out the rest of CNET’s CES coverage for everything else.