Better Offline CES 2026: Part Nine (Friday)
Jan 10, 2026
In this engaging discussion, Kyle Chouinard, a local reporter for the Las Vegas Sun, reveals how CES impacts Vegas tourism and the city's efforts to cultivate a tech sector. Garrison Davis, a journalist from It Could Happen Here, dives into the pitfalls of AI hype in product design. Robert Evans from Behind the Bastards shares thoughts on CES's emptiness despite flashy innovations. The trio exchanges humorous anecdotes about bizarre gadgets while addressing serious concerns like AI's influence on jobs and healthcare.
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Episode notes
CES Feels Hollow And Repetitive
- CES felt smaller and more hollow this year, with fewer genuinely new consumer gadgets.
- The show reused themes (AI, metaverse) as glue rather than showcasing real hardware progress.
Returning Journalist Sees Less Novelty
- Kyle describes returning to CES and noticing it felt similar to the prior year but with less novelty.
- He contrasted last year's excitement at seeing new concentrated tech with this year's echoing, diminished impact.
Make Devices Easy To Feed Content
- Design consumer devices with easy, direct file transfer and local controls, not cloud-only friction.
- Prioritize simple UX like drag-and-drop imports to avoid promising beautiful hardware with unusable backends.
