Chips, tricks, and bizarre gimmicks from this year’s CES • The Register

Kettle The annual Consumer Electronics Show was held this week in Las Vegas – and for us the extravaganza felt a bit subdued for a change.

Could it be manufacturers have run out of ideas? Some recognition that buyers have run out of disposable income? Trump’s tariff plans, which may drastically raise the cost of importing into America hardware from China and elsewhere, being a bit of a downer? Is that the theme for this year in tech?

Perhaps. Chip vendors and laptop slingers were surfing the AI wave the best they could, as expected, and there was the usual grab bag of wacky and tacky ideas.

To review the aftermath of CES 2025 for the first Kettle episode of the year, we pulled together editor-in-chief Chris Williams, Register scribes Brandon Vigliarolo and Tobias Mann, and your humble vulture as host, and you can hear our informal catch-up chat below.

The Kettle is also available via RSS and MP3, Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Let us know your favorite CES memories and finds in the comments below. ®