Las Vegas in January, right? The very thought. A million folks all shuffling around, looking for the next shiny thing, pretending they’re not just there for the free mini hot dogs and the chance to say they saw something “first.” Been covering these tech circuses for more than twenty years, seen enough blinking lights and polished sales pitches to last a lifetime. And CES 2023? It was something else. A whole lot of fuss, a good bit of sizzle, and some bits that just made me scratch my head, wondering if we’d all gone collectively mad.
I remember standing there, near one of those colossal screens, probably LG’s, showing some ridiculously vibrant desert landscape that nobody’s ever actually seen, and thinking, “Is this it? Is this what we came for?” The noise, a constant thrum of chatter and demo sounds, it just hits you. Hard. You feel it in your teeth. And the air, a weird mix of stale casino smoke and something metallic, like burnt circuitry. I always wondered what that smell really was. Nobody ever tells you.
People talk about “the future” at CES. I always tell them, the future mostly looks like more of the same, just a bit thinner, a bit brighter, and costing twice as much. But every now and then, something pokes through the noise. Something makes you stop, makes you lean in. Not always the big, flashy stuff, mind you. Sometimes it’s a quiet corner, a small company, showing something that just… works. Something practical. And that’s rare in a place built on dreams and marketing budgets.
So, for all the buzz about geekzilla ces 2023, what sticks with me? It’s the little stuff, maybe. Or the grand pronouncements that felt a bit hollow. My memory isn’t what it once was, ask anyone, but I’ve got enough notes scribbled on cocktail napkins to piece together a picture.
Samsung
They had their usual stadium-sized presence, didn’t they? All their big TVs, naturally. QD-OLED, Mini-LED, all the acronyms you could shake a stick at. Looked good, sure. Brighter. Deeper blacks. But it’s a TV. We’ve had those for a while now. They showed off some smart home stuff, things to control your fridge from your phone, and honestly, who needs that? I still can’t get my regular coffee maker to brew right half the time. What really caught my eye, though, was their Bespoke Home line. Not the appliance itself, but the idea. Customizable panels. Making your fridge look like a piece of art, or blending in with your kitchen cabinets. That’s a shift. People want things that fit their lives, not just sit there looking like a cold steel box. A bit of personality in the kitchen, that’s something. But you walk out of there and wonder, will anyone really change their fridge door panels every season? Probably not. Maybe once. And then they’ll forget about it. Still, the thought was there.
Are CES announcements just for hype?
Yeah, mostly. A lot of it is. companies go there to get ink, to get a blurb in some online tech rag. To get investors excited. You see a prototype, all gleaming, under perfect lights, and they tell you it’s going to change everything. Then you wait a year, maybe two, and it either never materializes or it shows up in a stripped-down, boring version. Or it costs a fortune. It’s a show, a production. Always has been.
Mercedes-Benz
Automotive companies, they’re practically taking over CES, aren’t they? Used to be just a handful, now it feels like every car manufacturer on the planet wants a piece. Mercedes-Benz, they brought out their Vision EQXX concept car. Sleek, for sure. But the big talk was its claimed range. Over 600 miles on a charge, they said. That’s something to chew on. If that’s real, if they can actually mass produce something like that, then maybe, just maybe, electric cars start making sense for more than just folks who only drive to the grocery store. But it’s a concept. A concept. You know how many concepts I’ve seen? Thousands. And most of them never see the light of day. They also yammered on about more screens inside the car. Every car becoming a rolling cinema. I just want the thing to get me from point A to point B without blowing a tire or costing me an arm and a leg in gas, or now, in battery replacement. The average person, do they really need a giant display to watch Netflix while stuck in traffic? They ought to be watching the road.
Did anything at geekzilla ces 2023 surprise you?
I was surprised by the sheer number of companies pushing “metaverse” stuff. After all the hoopla that had kind of settled down, it was still everywhere. VR headsets, haptic suits, digital fashion. It felt like they were trying to breathe new life into a balloon that was rapidly deflating. Also, the quiet push for sustainability, that surprised me a bit. Not in a big, grandstanding way, but small things. Companies using recycled plastics, talking about power consumption. It was buried under all the flash, but it was there. And that’s a good sign, I guess.
Razer
Gaming stuff, always a staple. Razer, they had their usual flashy setup. They showed off Project Sophia. A gaming desk. But not just any desk. It had a modular design, so you could swap out components, monitors, add-ons. Customization for days. And it had haptic feedback built right into the surface. So your desk vibrates when a bomb goes off in the game. That’s… interesting. For some. I remember thinking, “Where do I put my coffee mug?” It’s always about the little things. And what about dust? And spills? A desk that costs more than my first car, probably. They also had their new Blade laptops. Faster chips, better screens. All the stuff you expect. It’s iterative. Not a giant leap. But for the serious gamer, it’s always about chasing that extra frame per second, isn’t it? I watched some kid playing some shooter game, his eyes glued to the screen. He probably didn’t even notice the hundreds of people walking by. That’s dedication, or maybe just obsession.
Abbott
Healthcare at CES. Who’d have thought it, twenty years ago? But it’s a thing now. Abbott, a medical tech company, they were there. Showed off their Lingo system. It’s a bio-wearable, sort of. Helps you track things like glucose, ketones, lactate. Not for diabetics, mind you, but for everyday folks looking to optimize their health. They say. You stick it on your arm, and it sends data to your phone. Like a super advanced fitness tracker for your insides. I guess it’s good if you’re into that sort of thing. All these numbers, all this data about yourself. Sometimes I think we track too much. What did we do before we knew exactly how many steps we took, or how much sleep we got down to the minute? We just lived. We woke up, we walked, we slept. Maybe it’s progress. Maybe it’s just more anxiety. For someone who believes knowledge is power, this sounds good. For someone who just wants to enjoy a sandwich without thinking about blood sugar spikes, maybe not so much.
Is CES still relevant?
You bet it is. For better or worse. It’s where a lot of deals get done. It’s where companies gauge reaction to their ideas. It’s where the tech press, bless their hearts, goes to get their content for the first quarter. And for a lot of people, it’s their first real look at what’s coming down the pipe. It’s a messy, chaotic, often pointless spectacle, but it’s still the biggest game in town when it comes to consumer electronics. It’s a massive undertaking. Just the logistics of getting all those booths set up, all those products shipped in. It’s mind-boggling, really.
LG Display
You can’t talk about screens without talking about LG. They always bring some wild concepts. CES 2023 was no different. They had their transparent OLED panels. Seriously, you could see right through them. Imagine a TV that just… disappears when it’s off. Or a display in a store window that shows ads but lets you see the products behind it. That’s neat. Practical applications? Not sure how many folks need a see-through TV in their living room just yet. But it shows what’s possible. They also had bendable screens, ones that curl up and down. Or screens that vibrate to create sound, so the display itself is the speaker. No more separate soundbars, maybe. It’s like science fiction, except it’s real, sitting there in front of you. But then you remember the price tag. And the durability. And suddenly it’s not quite so appealing. My old tube TV from the 90s still works, somehow. Probably outlive us all.
What’s the biggest takeaway from geekzilla ces 2023?
That the line between industries is blurring. Cars are computers on wheels. Health is becoming data-driven. Your fridge is talking to your phone, and your TV is trying to be a window. Everything’s connected, or trying to be. And it’s all still a bit clunky. The promise is always smoother than the reality. But it’s heading that way. The push for seamless connection, that’s the big one. It’s the underlying current beneath all the specific gadgets. And privacy? That’s a whole other can of worms. Nobody wants to talk about that much at a show like CES. But it’s always in the back of my mind. Is all this convenience worth what we give up? Don’t ask me to answer that one. I just write about what I see.
Will any of this stuff be affordable?
Not at first. Never is. The bleeding edge always costs an arm and a leg. Then, slowly, over years, sometimes a decade, the prices come down. The tech gets refined. It gets cheaper to make. And then it trickles down to the masses. That’s the cycle. So that transparent TV? Give it five, ten years. Maybe then it’ll be in your neighbor’s house. Or maybe it won’t. Some of this stuff, it just stays in the prototype graveyard. Plenty of dead ends out there. A lot of good ideas simply fade away. Timing, money, consumer interest. A whole lot of things need to line up. And they often don’t. That’s the reality of it.
I left Vegas that year, after geekzilla ces 2023, feeling the usual mix of wonder and cynicism. Saw some things that made me nod, some that made me chuckle, and plenty that just made me tired. The future, it’s not some grand, singular vision presented on a stage. It’s messy. It’s piecemeal. And it’s probably a bit slower than anyone selling you a gadget wants you to believe. But it keeps coming, regardless. And I’ll probably be back next year, coffee in hand, ready for another round of blinking lights and big promises. Because, well, it’s what I do. And deep down, I’m still curious. Even if I don’t like to admit it.
