The 13 best ideas, products and services of CES 2025 | The DeanBeat

The CES 2025 tech trade show is finally over in Las Vegas, after a grueling six days for me and crowds that numbered 141,000.

As one of 6,000 journalists at the show, I walked around a lot to find the coolest tech. At or ahead of CES 2025, I recorded dozens of press events, interviews, and sessions. My conclusion? The robots are coming. And I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords. OK, maybe just a few of them.

This year, I walked 46.79 miles, or 105,433 steps, over 5.5 days. Last year, I walked 46.78 miles, or 105,407 steps, over six days compared with 38.81 miles (or 87,447 steps) in 2023. My feet hurt but I managed to avoid the conference crud — and COVID.

I wrote 65 stories (67 last year) ahead of and during CES and I moderated one panel on AI and gaming. I have a lot more stories to write based on interviews I did at the show. This story is about the coolest tech I saw in Las Vegas. If you had some FOMO from not going to the show, maybe this list of 13 items will help you feel better.

As I said going into the show, I felt like this was an magical year for new technology, triggered by the gift of generative AI. That was so apparent in the opening keynote about AI by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, though he acknowledged in a Q&A that he might have communicated the big picture message better.

Now it’s time to analyze and make some sense of this. I hope you like these ideas, whether they are concepts or finished products. Here’s my list from last year at CES 2024, CES 2023 and the year before at CES 2022. This is the first time in a while I was able to get a selfie with Huang.

This year featured nearly 4,500 exhibitors, up from 4,300 exhibitors in 2024 and 3,000 exhibitors in 2023, and 4,000 (in-person) in 2020. Instead of rolling around my roller bag, I heeded the no roller bag warning and wore a backpack. Feeling a bit stiff from that. Here are the things that caught my eye. In some cases, like smart mirrors, I realize there are many players coming to the market, but these are the ones I saw up close.

This was a significant announcement that was fairly difficult to grasp. In his opening keynote speech, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the Cosmos world foundation model platform to accelerate physical AI development. This means it will be far easier to create robots for the real world with smarter AI based on synthetic data. That data, generated by running simulations and learning from video, teaches the robot about the physical world in a way that just can’t be done in real-life testing.

The platform includes state-of-the-art generative world foundation models, advanced tokenizers, guardrails and an accelerated video processing pipeline built to advance the development of physical AI systems such as autonomous vehicles (AVs) and robots.

Physical AI models are costly to develop, and require vast amounts of real-world data and testing. Cosmos world foundation models, or WFMs, (trained on 20 million hours of video) offer developers an easy way to generate massive amounts of photoreal, physics-based synthetic data to train and evaluate their existing models. Developers can also build custom models by fine-tuning Cosmos WFMs.

Cosmos models will be available under an open model license to accelerate the work of the robotics and AV community. Developers can preview the first models on the Nvidia API catalog, or download the family of models and fine-tuning framework from the Nvidia NGCTM catalog or Hugging Face. Companies like Agility Robotics are benefiting from such models in training their robots.

With robots coming faster and smarter, we’ll have to prepare society for the onset of what this will mean. Many fear robots will replace human workers, while companies say they’re addressing chronic shortages in the most difficult physical jobs.

Nvidia ate its own dogfood when it came to artificial intelligence. Nvidia took the wraps of DLSS 4, which uses AI to predict the next pixel that needs to be drawn and then preemptively renders the pixel based on that prediction. This is possible in part because the AI TOPS (a measure of AI performance) will be up to 4,000.

The DLSS 4 now can generate multiple frames at once thanks to advanced AI technology. That makes for much better frame rates.

Nvidia showed that one scene could be rendered at 27 frames per second with the DLSS turned off, with a 71 millisecond PC latency. DLSS 2 can do that scene with its super resolution tech at 71 FPS and PC latency of 34 milliseconds. DLSS 3.5 can do the scene at 140 FPS and 33 milliseconds. But DLSS 4 comes in at a whopping 247 FPS and 34 milliseconds. DLSS 4 is more than eight times better performance than systems that aren’t using AI for the predictive processing. Do we need frame rates like this? Maybe not. But game developers will figure out how to make use of this technology.

DLSS 4’s Multi Frame Generation can boost frame rates by using AI to generate up to three frames per rendered frame. It works in unison with the suite of DLSS technologies to increase performance by up to 8x over traditional rendering, while maintaining responsiveness with Nvidia Reflex technology.

DLSS 4 also introduces the graphics industry’s first real-time application of the transformer model architecture. Transformer-based DLSS Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution models use 2x more parameters and 4x more compute to provide greater stability, reduced ghosting, higher details and enhanced anti-aliasing in game scenes. DLSS 4 will be supported on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs in over 75 games and applications the day of launch.

Onscreen has been providing caregivers and seniors with an AI-based companion called Joy to help family members take care of older adults. Now it’s bringing its Joy AI companion app to Android tablets and iPads.

The company knows caregivers are outnumbered by those who need care in this country. I felt the reality of that as I and a team of caregivers took care of my mother before she died from dementia this year. And so it gave me a little hope to see Onscreen working on TV-based technology for AI companions for older adults last year. Now the company has a new way to reach seniors.

Onscreen Joy is an AI companion that reduces social isolation, supports aging in place, and enhances quality of life for older folks. It introduced the products at CES 2025, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas this week where it will be evident that tech companies are targeting seniors now.

Of course, we can say that it’s always better for the elderly to have human support for their caregiving. But the reality is there just aren’t enough caregivers. And there’s a loneliness epidemic that is making the onset of dementia with the elderly worse.

The new Onscreen Joy tablet app, is designed to enhance communication, companionship, and care for older adults. Unveiled at CES 2025, this new offering expands Onscreen’s mission to address social isolation and make care more accessible for seniors and their families.

Building on the success and learnings of its TV-based Moment senior care platform, the Onscreen Joy app eliminates the requirement for a new hardware device, and brings Onscreen’s most important senior care features of the platform to Android tablets and iPads. It’s like Roku for seniors.

This new app enables families to set up a senior care hub using devices they already own, often older generation devices that collect dust once the upgrade cycle comes around. By lowering the barriers to entry and leveraging existing hardware, Onscreen Joy enables more seniors and families to benefit from Onscreen’s broader caregiving platform. Again, there were many such AgeTech products at the show and this is representative of just one of the innovations.

Soliddd’s SolidddVision smartglasses debuted as the first true vision correction for people living with vision loss due to macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration is an eye disease that makes it hard for people to see what’s in front of them. While their peripheral vision is intact, the central vision is significantly impaired. Macular degeneration primarily impacts the macula, the central part of the retina responsible for sharp, detailed vision. This makes it hard to see fine details, read, recognize faces, or do things that require clear sight.

Soliddd’s scientifically formulated and user-tested virtual reality smartglasses are lightweight and feel like normal eyeglasses. SolidddVision provides the first true vision correction—and, indeed, sight restoration for those living with vision loss due to macular degeneration.

The smartglasses use Soliddd’s unique and proprietary lens arrays, which resemble a fly’s eye, to project multiple separate images to the areas of the retina that are not damaged. This allows the brain to naturally construct stereopsis (the making of a 3D image in the brain) and a single full-field image with good acuity that feels like normal, in-focus sight.

They work by using two forward-facing video cameras to capture the world. The glasses have two inward-facing video cameras simultaneously map the inside of the eye for accurate automatic universal fit and gaze tracking. Then software instantly processes incoming video with gaze tracking input and proper angle of view adjustment for stereo vision, correction for chromatic and spherical aberration, and other
issues, and sends over 100 distinct views to two inward-facing displays behind SolidddVision lenses. And then the viewer’s brain then automatically brings together the separate images to construct a single, full-field 3D, sharply focused image for each eye.

Soliddd has know-how in 3D technology, portfolio of 15 U.S. and additional foreign patents (plus more pending) and proprietary optics and software including computer vision AI technology. The New York company has raised $1.5 million in funding to date from investors including Beresford Ventures, Peaksjah OU, Global Capital Group, JMB Macro and angels Trout Moser, Derek Myers (Neoti) and others. The company has worked on this for 15 years and it has 12 employees.

This debuted in beta form at the show. Clinical trials and market introduction are expected in 2025.

Smart mirrors were in abundance at CES. At CES Unveiled, I tried out the FaceHeart CardioMirror. .I typed in my name, age, height and weight. It took a minute or so to analyze my body and then it started showing various vital signs. It calculated my heart rate (76 beats per minute), blood oxygen saturation level (98%), blood pressure (112/67) and repetition rate (24 bpm).

It can do this analysis with a camera that takes note of my skin color. By detecting subtle changes in my face color, it can understand my blood flow and use that to calculate vitals. From there, it game me more analytical information. It showed my risk of heart failure, AFib risk, shock index, cardiovascular BMI, and cardiovascular age. The mirror gave me a stress index, heart rate visibility, and then an overall assessment of my health. To sum it up, the smart mirror showed scores on activity, sleep, equilibrium, metabolish, health and relaxaction.

This kind of technology could become abundant over time. Withings, a big company in digital health that started with smart scales, showed off Omnia, a concept for a digital health mirror too.

Withings promises an unprecedented, interactive 360-degree view of your vital indicators. Omnia is intended not just a product—it’s supposed to be a transformative experience that reimagines digital health possibilities. It turns health monitoring into an integrated, interactive, and AI-powered daily experience, leveraging Withings’ technologies to deliver actionable insights and a holistic view of health.

Omnia, currently in development, is poised to leverage AI to aggregate, analyze, and interpret key indicators such as heart health, nutrition trends, body composition, lung function, activity tracking and sleep quality. 

Omnia features a sleek, mirrored interface equipped with voice commands, a 3D body model, and a connected base brimming with advanced health sensors. It conducts daily in-depth health scans by seamlessly integrating data from Withings’ extensive ecosystem of hyper-connected devices—including smartwatches, scales, blood pressure monitors, sleep trackers, and even mattress and bathroom sensors—alongside weight, heart health, and metabolic health scans from its base.

For the first time, users will be able to access all these insights in one place via the Omnia interactive mirror. Not only does it present data at a glance, but it also informs and educates users, empowering them to take meaningful control of their health journey.

Paired with an empathetic AI Vocal Companion, Omnia will change health management into an engaging, immersive experience. The companion offers real-time feedback, answers questions, and provides motivation, making the user’s journey to better health as supportive as it is informative.

Early identification of irregular trends in blood pressure, heart rate, or sleep patterns can prompt timely medical intervention, potentially preventing more serious conditions. Similarly, precise tracking of nutrition and body composition helps users refine their habits for long-term health benefits. This kind of macro view of health from a big player in digital health has me excited for the future.

Nex Playground is a game console that debuted last year in the motion-sensing category. Nex detects your body motion so you can control games without a controller. And I played Fruit Ninja in a demo of the platform at CES 2025.

That means you can slice and chop with you hands and see the movements slicing through falling fruit in the Fruit Ninja game. There was a bit of latency I had to get used to and I was told to move my hands faster for the motion-sensing to work properly. But CEO David Lee, who did a proper demo of multiple games for me, noted that the system is meant to be highly accessible. It’s targeting kids who are three years old to eight years old — a group that Nintendo once dominated but has now lost to smartphones.

Just as Nintendo is undercutting Sony and Xbox with its cheaper Switch hybrid console, Nex hopes to undercut Nintendo on pricing, said Nex president Tom Kang.

Nex sells for just $199 and a subscription of $89 a year ($7 a month) gets you access to all the games on the platform. And if rumors of the Switch 2 are correct, Nintendo is moving upstream with a handheld gaming device that supports high-end games. That means the kids and families might opt for something like Nex, which is now in thousands of stores, instead.

In 2024, Nex sold about 140,000 units after launching on Amazon in May. That’s not much of a threat to Nintendo. But Kang said the device will be in 5,000 stores in 2025.

Kang was formerly vice president of immersive commerce at Walmart, and he decided to join San Jose, California-based Nex, which is headed by Lee, last year. Nex’s aim is to help families reconnect with the joy of movement through fun, social, and interactive content that’s accessible to all ages.

You can get five games with the system at the outset. And the system can provide all 34 games for subscribers. Lee said the company plans to release 20 games annually.

Up to four people can play together, and about half of all sessions are multiplayer. The fare includes arcade games, sports games, fitness games, and education.

Nvidia’s Project Digits puts AI supercomputers in the hands of more scientists

Nvidia unveiled Nvidia Project DIGITS, a personal AI supercomputer that provides AI researchers, data scientists and students worldwide with access to the power of the Nvidia Grace Blackwell platform. In a Q&A with the press, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said it widens the reach of AI tech to more scientists in part because it will sell for just $3,000 when it hits the market in May.

“DIGITS (Deep Learning GPU Intelligence Training System) is a platform for data scientists, machine learning engineers,” Huang said. “Today they’re using their PCs and workstations to do that. For most people’s PCs, to do machine learning and data science, to run PyTorch and whatever it is, it’s not optimal. We now have this little device that you sit on your desk. It’s wireless. The way you talk to it is the way you talk to the cloud. It’s like your own private AI cloud.”

Project Digits features the new Nvidia GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, offering a petaflop of AI computing performance for prototyping, fine-tuning and running large AI models.

With Project Digits, users can develop and run inference on models using their own desktop system, then seamlessly deploy the models on accelerated cloud or data center infrastructure. It is based on a “super secret chip called GB110, the smallest Blackwell we can make,” Huang said.

GB10 features an Nvidia Blackwell GPU with latest-generation CUDA cores and fifth-generation Tensor Cores, connected via NVLink-C2C chip-to-chip interconnect to a high-performance Nvidia Grace CPU, which includes 20 power-efficient cores built with the Arm architecture. MediaTek, a market leader in Arm-based SoC designs, collaborated on the design of GB10, contributing to its best-in-class power efficiency, performance and connectivity.

The GB10 Superchip enables Project Digits to deliver powerful performance using only a standard electrical outlet. Each Project Digits features 128GB of unified, coherent memory and up to 4TB of NVMe storage. With the supercomputer, developers can run up to 200-billion-parameter large language models. In addition, using Nvidia ConnectX networking, two Project Digits AI supercomputers can be linked to run up to 405-billion-parameter models.

This means it’s going to be easier than ever for even the smallest developers to create prototype and build AI applications.

OK, let’s acknowledge that the “hormometer” name doesn’t sound great. But it’s going to make your smartphone even smarter. Now you will be able to analyze your saliva and do a real-time hormone test.

Eli Health, a pioneer in hormone monitoring technology, is launching the Hormometer, starting with cortisol and progesterone tests. Eli Health said that it has been working on it for five years and has 12 patent-pending innovations.

It’s the first solution to transform any smartphone into a portable, real-time hormone analyzer using saliva. This groundbreaking solution redefines hormone tracking by offering real-time and actionable health insights directly through saliva, empowering users to monitor and optimize wellness on the go.

Just as the glucometer transformed diabetes care, the Hormometer ushers in a new era of hormone health. Compact, non-invasive, and accessible, it provides immediate, actionable insights into critical hormones, beginning with cortisol (for detecting diseases) and progesterone (for measuring whether a woman is menstruating and has any pregnancy risks).

The FDA-registered system combines cutting-edge bioassay technology and microfluidics with advanced AI computer-vision analysis, delivering lab-grade precision and insights anytime, anywhere. It revolutionizes hormone monitoring by making it as simple as brushing teeth and as affordable as a cup of coffee.

Hormones produced by endocrine glands are vital chemical messengers that regulate nearly every aspect of health, including stress, sleep, mood, energy, reproduction, and overall health and longevity.

Imbalances in hormones can have wide-ranging effects, contributing to issues such as chronic stress, fatigue, male and female infertility, weakened immunity, weight fluctuations, disrupted sleep, poor heart and bone health, and accelerated aging.

Traditionally, hormone levels are measured through lab tests of blood, saliva, or urine, but these methods are costly and time-intensive, often taking weeks for results. In contrast, existing at-home hormone tests, while more convenient, primarily rely on somewhat messy urine tests and are predominantly focused on women’s fertility, offering no insights into broader hormonal health for all genders. These tests typically offer limited insights, with many providing binary results (e.g., confirming the presence of a hormone) without ongoing monitoring and insights.

While the correlation between hormone concentrations in blood and saliva has been recognized for years, Eli Health is the first to develop a portable and instant saliva-based solution with unparalleled precision across multiple hormones. This innovation is the result of five years of rigorous research and development, supported by a $9 million investment.

The Hormometer combines an innovative one-step process cartridge, advanced microfluidics, and a self-contained ultra-sensitive bioassay, paired with powerful software that transforms any smartphone into a sophisticated chemical analyzer thanks to computer-vision algorithms. This breakthrough delivers precise, convenient hormone monitoring in just three easy steps:

The elegantly designed cartridge, slim as a finger, is used like a thermometer, placed in the mouth, and held for 60 seconds. At its tip, a collection pad made from proprietary materials efficiently captures the saliva sample and releases it onto the bioassay. The bioassay detects specific hormones by binding them to capturing reagents, producing visible test lines within 20 minutes.

Offering up to a million times greater sensitivity than most at-home market products, the Hormometer sets a new standard for precision in hormone monitoring. The Eli app transforms smartphones into powerful biofluid scanners. Harnessing the phone’s camera, the app precisely analyzes the test’s alignment, color intensity, and patterns to extract detailed and accurate hormone data with advanced AI algorithms. What once took days to process in a laboratory with trained personnel is now accomplished in seconds, providing anyone with instant, lab-quality insights at their fingertips.

The Eli Health app provides personalized trends and actionable recommendations for managing various hormones and their related health functions, including stress management, sleep optimization, athletic performance, fertility, and more. The company is creating the first longitudinal data set of its kind, enabling unparalleled insights and progress in precision medicine.

Eli Health’s platform begins with two key hormones—cortisol and progesterone—chosen for their critical roles in overall health. Cortisol, the “stress hormone,” has an influence on most bodily functions and regulates the body’s stress response, cognitive and physical performance, metabolism, immune function, and much more. Monitoring cortisol helps users understand how stressors impact their health, guiding them to adopt better routines. The Eli Cortisol Test, the world’s first instant test for this hormone, delivers 97% accuracy compared to FDA-approved traditional lab gold standard tests in third-party testing.

Progesterone, essential for reproductive and overall health, influences menstrual cycles, fertility, perimenopause, and endocrine conditions. Eli’s progesterone test provides precise insights into hormonal balance, helping users optimize their health and manage hormonal changes. With 94% agreement to the FDA-approved traditional lab test in third-party testing, it offers unmatched everyday accuracy.With testosterone and estradiol already in development, Eli Health remains dedicated to expanding its hormone health platform to many other biomarkers, advancing wellness through cutting-edge precision.

Launching January 2025 in the U.S. and Canada. Subscription plans start at $8/test for a 12-month commitment, with other flexible options available.

German Bionic, a Berlin-based pioneer in robotic exoskeleton technology, unveiled its Apogee Ultra exoskeleton to help workers with hard physical jobs.

The company said the Apogee Ultra is the world’s most powerful series-production exoskeleton. Unveiled at CES 2025, such exoskeletons that you lift things or bear heavy weights have been a common sight at the show over the years.

Available today and designed to empower workers across logistics, manufacturing, construction, bagging handling, and healthcare industries, Apogee Ultra sets new benchmarks in strength, adaptability, and worker safety, meeting the demands of various high-intensity tasks and enhancing productivity, the company said.

It helps deliver safer, healthier, and more inclusive workplace environments while addressing critical social and demographic challenges – such as labor shortages and an aging workforce.

With dynamic lifting support of up to 80 pounds / 36kg, it makes physically demanding tasks feel effortless, making a 70-pound lift feel as little as just 8.8 to 11 pounds for the lower back. Additionally, it offers active walking support – making 10 miles feel like eight – and provides vital relief for bent-over tasks, enhancing comfort and productivity in intensive roles.

Driven by vast amounts of high-quality, relevant data collected from thousands of users over countless hours of real-world applications, Apogee Ultra boasts intuitive, AI-driven features that adapt to individual users’ physiology and tasks, ensuring optimized performance and comfort during everyday work, the company said.

Enhancements include the remarkably powerful Ultra Mode, smoother transitions between support modes, and greater sensitivity to respond to even the smallest movements.

There were a lot of solutions for AI-based language translation at CES 2025. I tried out one from MeetKai, a startup with AI and immersive technology, and Think AR, which calls the device the AiLens Ultra.

This marks MeetKai’s first foray into hardware, and it’s based on an AI OS dubbed Unified Wearables Intelligence (UWI)—an AI OS embedded in next-gen wearables. This enables the wearable to recognize what someone is saying to you and then translate it live to the screen of your glasses. In real time, the glasses were able to translate a spoken language to English.

It weighs just 37 grams, putting it at the high end of weight for ordinary glasses. It lasts for about four hours of battery life in terms of recording and playback. It has a 5MP camera and could use an eSIM for a cellular connection, said MeetKai CEO James Kaplan in an interview with GamesBeat.

And it will cost perhaps $400. Meetkai is focusing on the airline industry for flight attendants and maintenance crews as its first target market among enterprises.

One of the products using MeetKai’s software is the Think AR AiLens Ultra, smart glasses. The AI responds to voice commands and does image analysis, live translation, navigation, app connections, integrated lens display, and integrated front-facing 5MP camera.

Doublepoint’s WowMouse uses your Apple Watch gestures to control your Mac devices

Doublepoint Technologies, the pioneering startup known for its wrist-based gesture detection technology, is back at CES 2025 with the release of its WowMouse app for Apple Watch which you can use to control your Mac devices with gestures.

Doublepoint also has a strategic collaboration with Bosch Sensortec.

The app and offers key updates to its gesture-recognition algorithm. It basically allows you to control your connected devices or your smartwatch itself through gestures that the sensors in the watch can recognize.

It’s kind of a magical technology and it highlights Doublepoint’s mission of shaping the future of wearables and consumer electronics.

WowMouse for Apple Watch: Expanding gesture control to new platforms

Following up on its gesture controls for Android watches, Doublepoint unveiled its WowMouse app for Apple Watch users, transforming the smart watches into intuitive, gesture-enabled controllers. It’s a another way to control things.

With this kind of tech, you can flick your wrist and make something happen faster. For instance, Ohto Pentikäinen, CEO of Doublepoint, told me that you could eventually do something like flick your wrist and get a device like an Alexa to activate, without having to speak words like “Hey Alexa.” And if you’re exercising in your home and you’re far from your computer, you could flick your wrist and activate a yoga video while exercising.

Initially, the app will support connectivity between Apple Watches and Mac devices. Doublepoint plans to expand connectivity in the near future to include control of any Bluetooth-enabled device.

To foster innovation, the companion ecosystem for WowMouse will be open-sourced, allowing developers to explore new possibilities and build on the foundational elements created by Doublepoint. 

You can download WowMouse for Apple Watch at Doublepoint on the Apple App Store. And you can download the original WowMouse for Android at Doublepoint on the Google Play Store.

Reelables showed off a new way to track shipped packages using inexpensive paper-based electronics that are printed on one side of a shipping label.

The tech uses paper-based electronics that have been around for a while — I wrote about them when Xerox partnered with Thinfilm in 2015 to make printed circuits on thin materials. But almost a decade later, the cost for this kind of infrastructure has come down so that Reelables can embed 5G and GPS tracking electronics, along with a coated zinc battery, in a shipping label.

Tracking packages today is possible, but you have to trust in the shipping company to do it correctly for you, and often you only get to know what city it’s in. With this, you’ll be able to tell where it is anywhere there is a 5G cellular connection. That means if it reaches its destination, you’ll know and have peace of mind that what you sent to somebody really got there.

If your package goes off course or is stolen by someone, you’ll be able to figure that out as well and report the theft. This might not lead to you getting the package back. But it might give you more confidence in the whole shipping system.

Brian Krejcarek, founder of Reelables, said in a message to GamesBeat that these smart labels look like ordinary UPS or FedEx labels, but connect to cellular networks to live track packages and cargo with real GPS location data, independent of the shipping carriers. They don’t rely upon cumbersome and error-prone barcode scanning by delivery drivers or warehouse workers, he said.

“This is a game-changer because this new category of smart labels doesn’t require the installation of expensive RFID readers or infrastructure,” Krejcarek said. “The range of typical passive RFID labels is only 10-15 feet or less. The range of Reelables active beaconing labels is similar to a mobile phone, connecting to cell towers miles away. Or, in the case of Reelables Bluetooth labels, the range of several hundred feet.  That means they’re capable of doing an inventory audit of an entire warehouse every ten seconds.”

He said GPS tracking devices have been around for awhile, but for the first time, the form factor of an actual label and cost enables mass deployments to track almost everything, not just high value goods. The label is less than 0.5 millimeters thick and printable in off-the-shelf barcode printers. That means no new workflows or training is required. Simply print, stick, and ship as companies already do today, Krejcarek said.

Reelables has developed the technology and manufacturing capability in-house to make these active smart labels like tape, with airplane-safe, coated zinc batteries at mass scale, and are in production today. As opposed to lithium battery based devices, Reelables labels are airplane safe, non-dangerous goods and uniquely classified by the US Customs and Border control as packaging materials, he said.  

No return logistics are required. As shown in a study by Westrock and Western Michigan University’s, Paper Pilot Plant, the labels are disposable in ordinary waste streams on corrugated paper and don’t require e-waste processing, Krejcarek said.

Only now does the widespread 5G Internet of Things cellular infrastructure exist (such as NB-IoT from AT&T and Vodafone) along with the thin-film printed electronics technology that enables this printability, recyclability, and soon, sub $10 price point, including the label, connectivity, and tracking service, Krejcarek said.

Reelables doesn’t use Thinfilm or the United Kingdom’s Pragmatic, as it doesn’t need the flexibility as the chips it uses are so small. Reelables figured out instead how to use mainstream silicon-based wafer die for the RF chipsets, bonding directly to the substrate with an epoxy, on fully reel-to-reel process with no soldering.

Lenovo Legion unveiled another lineup of next-generation gaming devices, including the Lenovo Legion Go S. It can run Windows, but it also has a version that uses the SteamOS. In fact, it is the first officially licensed third-party handheld powered by SteamOS, which Valve uses to run the Steam Deck.

The Legion Go S (8”, 1) is powered by AMD processors, with console-like gaming and seamless PC-to-handheld transitions. Lenovo also showed a prototype with a bigger screen. The device uses the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go processor, or it can be configured with AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor. It has an eight-inch WUXGA Lenovo PureSight display.

It has Legion TrueStrike controllers and adjustable trigger switches. Legion Go S also has a screen protector option with durable 9H glass that protects the handheld device without compromising touch sensitivity.

Nintendo is expect to announce its Switch 2 gaming hybrid soon and this kind of device is going to provide some real competition for Windows and SteamOS fans.