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CES 2025: What’s coming at this year’s tech show

The big CES 2025 event kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas with over 100,000 attendees. I’ve got the inside scoop on what’s hot this year.

TVs are always big

LG’s hoping to steal the show with its Zero Connect box. No cables — it wirelessly transmits 4K video at 144Hz. Plus, LG will introduce its Dynamic QNED Color Solution system, better HDR and sound optimization, and a Magic Remote, a voice-controlled and gesture-enabled universal remote that doubles as a mouse for your TV. (Smart — the LG remote is horrible now.) They’ll also unveil the UltraGear GX9, a bendable 45-inch monitor with a 5K2K resolution (5120×2160) and a 21:9 aspect ratio.

Samsung’s new 83-inch S95F QD-OLED TV is its largest yet. And Samsung’s The Premiere 8K projector is coming — think HDR support and a stunning 4500 ISO lumens brightness. Too bad there are no 8K shows yet.

Hisense will show off a laser projector, and Panasonic’s back in the TV business here, so they’ll have a few products, too.

Smarter homes

Samsung’s Bespoke $4,999 refrigerators have built-in cameras to monitor your groceries and automatically order replacements through Instacart. Plus, a 32-inch screen on the fridge streams live TV and movies.

New smart ovens use AI to suggest recipes based on what’s in your fridge. You can see the food cooking remotely through your phone. GE’s stand mixer has AI weight sensors that automatically adjust your mixing speed and time based on the consistency of your batter or dough. Cooks should love this!

Kohler’s new AI bath-filling system lets you control the water temperature and fill level using your phone or voice assistant. Just say, “Fill the tub for a relaxing soak,” and it does the rest.

Moen’s system lets you control every faucet, showerhead and irrigation system in your home through an app. It also sends potential leak alerts. I could really use this now, as my pool is leaking. Argh.

Tech meets the road

Honda is debuting its futuristic 0 Series EVs and a joint project with Sony called the Afeela, which is basically a theater on wheels. Imagine watching Netflix while your car drives you home.

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Power up: Ford extended its free at-home EV charger promo through March 31. New 2024 or 2025 Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit vehicles qualify. The catch: If your electrical panel needs an upgrade to support the system, you foot the bill.

1,150% increase

In searches for VPNs after Pornhub was geo-blocked Florida. That was just hours after a new law kicked in requiring porn sites to track users by verifying their age. Friendly reminder: Free VPNs are always shady. I use ExpressVPN. Get four months free with my link.

🚀 Harder, better, faster, stronger: SpaceX is prepping for another Starship rocket test flight, this time loaded with 10 Starlink simulators. They’re dummy models of the V3 satellites, which promise 10 times faster download speeds and 24 times faster uploads than the older gen.

iPhone storage hog: Apple Intelligence is eating up nearly double the storage space it did at launch. In September 2024, it needed 4GB. Four months later, it’s at 7GB. Why the bloat? Updates and code-heavy features like Image Playground, which creates pictures from prompts. Siri’s major AI overhaul will make it worse.

💸 $50K Facebook payout: A Georgia lawyer’s Facebook account got hacked and used to share child porn. Meta deleted the account, along with all his family photos, so he sued. When they missed the deadline to respond, the guy hired a private investigator to track down a Meta bank account. Bam, a judge awarded him $52,325.89. I wonder how many others will follow suit.

👸🏽 A game of thrones: Meghan Markle, the former B-grade actress and, by marriage, the Duchess of Sussex, has a new Netflix show that paints her as entitled, out of touch and unoriginal, as you’d expect. This is strange: Princess Kate is a bona fide beekeeper and shared a heartfelt family beach video post-chemo. In her Netflix show, Meghan’s wearing a beekeeper outfit and recently posted a beach video to Instagram. Coincidence? Doubt it. Looks like she stole the recipes she cooks, too. Such a waste.

I’m on board: In five years, paper boarding passes and airline tickets will be history. Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas says they’ll be replaced by biometrics, like fingerprint scans and facial recognition, along with a phone app. His company, which starts flying this summer, is the first to have digital-only bookings. Other airlines are moving to fully digital boarding passes this year, too.

A bunch of dopes: YouTubers the Nelk Boys got 5 million views on a video they shot in Fiji. They found a remote tribe with very little contact with the outside world, taught villagers how to use vapes and then passed out cigarettes. There’s been no apology because I’m sure they aren’t sorry.

🚨 Check your fridge: Walmart’s Marketside-brand broccoli florets (the 12-ounce bags) are being recalled due to possible listeria contamination. If you’re in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas or Wisconsin, look for lot code BFFG327A6. Return it to get your money back, and wash anything the package came in contact with.

Only nine hours: A new class-action suit claims Siri activates too easily and Apple shared accidental recordings with advertisers. That explains the “I was just talking about that!” ad moments you’ve had. Expect about $20 per Siri-enabled device. I’ll share the claim link once it’s live. For Apple, the $95 million settlement is just nine hours of profit.

Jeff needs the money: Amazon added more commercials to Prime Video. All over the internet, people are saying it’s become unbearable to watch. You can pay $2.99 more to cut the ads … but most of us are already paying $139 a year for Prime. Come on.

Phishing scams are getting amped up: No more copy and paste. Criminals are using AI to scrape up tons of detail and then write in the style of specific people or companies. Corporate execs and employees are getting emails with info only the sender would know, like just how they sound (paywall link) — yet another reason to wipe your info off the web.

Tough love: After Kelly’s 73-year-old mother-in-law lost $150,000 to a scammer over nine months, the family took over, and the MIL is pissed. The family froze her credit, moved into a bigger home so they could live all together and took over her finances. Kelly’s MIL has shown no signs of being mentally incapacitated. What do you think? Let me know when you rate this newsletter at the end.

💍 Introducing the future MrsBeast: Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, proposed to his girlfriend, author Thea Booysen, on Christmas Day. She said yes. They met in her home country of South Africa in 2022. He’s been ready to pop the question for a while, but she told him to wait until she finished her master’s program. Now she’s got a ring and a diploma.

Nothing’s more expensive than a cheap boat: Facebook Marketplace is full of deals, but this one might take the cake. Jason Morrison scored a full-sized Cruisers Yacht for free. It’d been sitting abandoned for 15 years. With mold, engine issues and structural problems, it’s gonna need lots of expensive parts and tons of work before it can set sail. No, thanks!

8 feet in diameter

And 1,100 pounds — that’s the size of a metallic ring that fell from space into a village in Kenya. No one got hurt. Phew. It seems to be a piece of a rocket launch vehicle. Here’s what it looks like. Yikes!

🤖 Everyone thinks it’s the guys who want it more: Futurist Dr. Ian Pearson says nope, women will lead the sex robot craze. Given that human-like bots cost over $15,000, Pearson thinks it’ll be 2050 before people are doing it more with affordable robots than humans. Btw, his past predictions have an 85% accuracy rate. I know what some of you are thinking: “And I don’t need to pick up his dirty underwear!”

Don’t worry, she woke up: Instagram influencer Victoria Rose (aka @woahvicky) faked her own kidnapping. She posted bogus ransom notes to her 3.5 million followers, then called it a prank because she was “bored.” Her followers weren’t laughing, and she wrote them a terrible apology. What a narcissist.