Color is the buzziest feature in ereaders right now, but is it necessary? It makes the covers more fun, and readers of comics and graphic novels will appreciate the added hues (though they may be happier with an E Ink tablet for better image detail). Color is just one factor to consider when picking out the best ereader. The lights, screen quality, housing and buttons make a difference too.
Whether you love cooking already or you want to try to cook more at home to spend less money on takeout, there are tons of gadgets that can make your time in the kitchen even more enjoyable.
Having fewer ports makes laptops and tablets lighter and more affordable — but that also cuts down on your connectivity options. If you’ve got a MacBook Air, a slim Chromebook or a tablet you’d like to get more utility out of, a USB-C hub can help. Using just a single port on your device, these multiport adapters will let you hook up screens, tap into Ethernet cables, connect mice and keyboards, and transfer data to drives and memory cards. Most also give you a way to power your device through the hub to maximize port availability.
With the dominance of smart TVs, streaming sticks and boxes may seem redundant — but if your smart set is slow or has a frustrating user interface, a streaming device will let you bypass your TV’s built-in OS and use Google TV, Fire TV, Apple TV or something else instead.
Laptop power banks come in handy if you often travel or work away from your desk. These larger batteries have enough capacity to refill your computer to around 75 percent, giving you many more productive hours. Of course, they can also charge smaller devices like your phone, camera or tablet a few times over. Nearly all portable laptop chargers fall below the 100-watt-hour mark so you can bring them in your carry-on when you fly. Additional features, like built-in cables and digital displays make these battery banks easier to use, too.
Every third booth at CES showed off some new AI product or other. If you wanted to find a robotic lawn mower, throw a rock.
Perhaps you like the idea of controlling your home appliances with your voice, but aren’t super keen on a data center processing recordings of you. Fair enough. The trade-off for most smart home conveniences is relinquishing at least some of your privacy. Today at CES, I saw a line of voice-controlled home appliances from Emerson Smart that adjust power and setting via voice commands. But commands are recognized on the devices themselves, not carried through Wi-Fi and processed elsewhere.
If you’ve ever bought a bag of spinach only to come home and realize you already had a bag of spinach, you may appreciate this fridge.
As power gets more dicey, personal energy generation only gets more appealing. Shine’s compact turbine isn’t going to power your house any time soon (though Rachel Carr, the company’s co-founder told me they have plans in that direction) but it can suck up the energy required to refill a smartphone in as little as 17 minutes. Of course, what it can generate depends on wind speed.
I know IKEA is all about small, efficient spaces, but their meeting room inside the Venetian during the company’s first-ever CES was the same size as my (not large) living room. Plenty of people were as excited as I was to see what the Swedish designers brought with them to the show and the room was thick with humans.