CES 2019: 10 tech toys I’d totally buy

As you might expect, covering the massive Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas each year is a thrill for tech enthusiasts, as you get to kick the tires, so to speak, on gadgets and gear not commercially available for months or, sometimes, years.

But when you’re talking about 4,400 exhibitors, you bet there’s no shortage of ho-hum products, blatant copycats, or ridiculous concepts. An Alexa-powered toilet, anyone?

Still, within the vast convention halls housing CES, there are gems to be mined. When it comes to products I’d actually buy, the following are a few 2019 standouts for me so far. 

LG HomeBrew

Forget the bread-making robot everyone was buzzing about: I’ll take my yeast in beer form, please. LG introduced its homebrew craft beer machine at CES 2019, which uses pods (like a Nespresso or Keurig coffee machine) to make five kinds of beer: pilsner, IPA, pale ale, wheat, and stout. LG says it takes about 17 days to make 1.3 gallons (5 liters) of beer – and that’s for the entire process, from fermentation to carbonation to aging – and unlike other home-based solutions, this is a self-cleaning tabletop machine. Cheers.

Sony Master Series Z9G TV

With sizes up to 98 inches, you need to see this 8K TV to fully grasp its beauty. Sony’s first consumer 8K television delivers four times the resolution of 4K, but until we have 8K native content to consume, these TVs can also upscale 4K content to near 8K resolution. Powered by Picture Processor X1 Ultimate, this mountable television includes full-array local dimming and powerful front-firing speakers. No word yet on price, but will be released sometime in 2019.

Wi-Charge

If you like the idea of wireless charging but not having to put your phone on a dedicated mat, then Wi-Charge may interest you. Available in 2019, your smartphone could just start charging up when it’s on your kitchen counter or perhaps when you’re sipping a cup of joe at Starbucks. A small transmitter that’s in your ceiling or wall uses infrared technology to wirelessly charge up your devices across the room, via an embedded chip or (in the meantime), a fitted case. The company says it’s safe (FDA-approved). One drawback: It requires line-of-sight with the transmitter.

SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD

Calling all photographers, YouTubers, and other content creators on the go: The just-unveiled SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD is a small, rugged (IP55-rated), and superfast solid-state drive available in capacities up to 2 terabytes. Designed for creative professionals on a PC or Mac, this USB device (which supports all connectors) offers enough space for full libraries of high-resolution RAW images or several hours of 4K video, and lets you move massive files quickly (up to 1GB/second) and even pull-off real-time editing directly from the drive itself. Prices will start at $199 for the 500GB version when it debuts this spring.

Arcade1Up: Mortal Kombat

After a successful 2018, Tastemakers, LLC – which sells three-quarter-sized arcade cabinets of classic arcade games for $299 – is showing a new line-up of Arcade1Up cabinets arriving as early as February, and each cabinet includes multiple games: Final Fight (with Capcom’s 1944, Ghosts 'N Goblins, and Strider); Space Invaders (with two versions of Taito’s classic shooter); Golden Tee, with four versions of the Incredible Technologies, Inc. games (coming in June); and Karate Champ (with Data East’s Bad Dudes, Burger Time, and Caveman Ninja) coming in September. Also in September, the one Arcade1Up cabinet I’m most excited for: Mortal Kombat, featuring three games in the coveted fighting game universe.

Dell XPS 13

A CES Innovation Award honoree, the new Dell XPS 13 looks similar to its award-winning predecessors – a 13-inch device crammed into an 11-inch body, and a nearly bezel-less 4K InfinityEdge screen – but this new model adds Dolby Vision support to its screen (along with the option for touch), the latest Quad Core 8th Gen Intel processor, and a new color option (Frost White). Addressing some complaints with the awkward placement of the webcam in previous XPS 13 laptops, Dell has also introduced a new 2.25 mm HD webcam, which is now nestled on the top of the display.

Mookkie

Talk about a clever use of artificial intelligence: Italian tech company Volta has a product called Mookkie, a pet feeder with a camera that recognizes each pet's face and then dispenses the appropriate food to the correct pet. As you can imagine, this could be particularly handy for those (many) households with more than one pet, including dogs and cats, or those animals with specific dietary needs. Scheduled for a September launch for about $189, Mookkie will also send alerts to a pet owner’s phone when the bowl needs refilling.

Matrix PowerWatch 2

I love my smartwatch, but I don’t love charging it up so often. But with such a small battery, maybe we don’t have a choice. We do – if the Matrix PowerWatch 2 works as well as it looks. This second-generation smartwatch uses body heat and solar energy to keep it powered, so you won’t need to charge it up. This durable watch also adds heart rate monitoring to its step counting (in the previous generation), plus GPS location tracking, notifications, 200-meter water resistance, and an always-on reflective color screen. Costing $395, it’s currently an Indiegogo campaign that has exceeded its goal by more than 700 percent.

Foldimate

Folding clothes: a first-world problem, am I right? If you absolutely hate the chore (or are horrible at it), Foldimate (finally) has a functioning version of its laundry-folding robot at CES. It’s essentially a large appliance that lets you feed in a “full load of laundry,” and it can fold about 25 articles of clothing – of various materials and sizes – in under five minutes. Aside from the steep price point when it debuts by year-end (of about $1,000), it also won’t handle all items; so don’t try feeding it things like towels, bedsheets and baby clothes. Still, it worked, and well at that.

Lenovo Smart Tab M10 and P10

At the 2018 CES, Lenovo showed off the first Google-powered smart display, and now it’s flexing its muscle on a pair of Alexa-enabled tablets. Both 10.1-inch Android-powered tablets, the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 and P10 are two of the first (non-Amazon Fire) tablets to feature Amazon’s smart assistant, therefore, you can wake up your personal helper and then ask a question or give a command. This could be handy for students doing homework on the tablet and then asking Alexa to conduct web searches, fact checks or verbally ask for mathematical calculations. The devices also ship with Lenovo’s new Smart Dock, which props up the tabs while charging, plus the dock houses 3-watt speakers and three built-in microphones. The P10 ($300) is thinner, lighter, faster, and has more storage and a bigger (7,000mAh) battery than the $200 Lenovo M10. Both ship in January.

Bonus: ROG Mothership

Is it a laptop? An all-in-one desktop? The answer to both is yes. The Republic of Gamers (ROG) Mothership from ASUS delivers a unique form factor, fusing portability with performance and versatility. You can take it to go, maybe to a computer gaming tournament or LAN party, and then prop open the kickstand (designed to increase airflow from the bottom of the 17-inch screen) and even detach the (RGB backlit) keyboard from the PC, if you like, to position however you like on the desk. As you might expect, it offers a ton of power under the hood, including Intel Core i9 processor, NVIDIA RTX 2080 discrete graphics, and more. It will be out by second quarter, says ASUS, but no price announced.

Follow Marc on Twitter: @marc_saltzman. Email him at www.marcsaltzman.com