While perusing CES’s pantheon of startups at Eureka Park, I came across Anker’s eufyMake E1 UV printer, and boy was it fun. UV printers use UV light to print a special kind of ink directly onto objects. Basically, if you’re interested in running a business on Etsy, this is the contraption for you. The user provides the material, and the printer then etches whatever particular image or pattern onto it that you want. So if you want to make 200 coffee mugs with a picture of your cat on it, I do believe this thing can handle it.
UV printers have been around for quite a long time, but for much of their existence, they’ve been used in industrial settings and have been prohibitively expensive. This device is relatively compact, and Anker says you can preorder it for $2,299. It also seems relatively simple to use. It comes with a software suite, where the user can select from a variety of templates or create their own unique image to print on the surface of their choice. EufyMake has been funding the gadget via Kickstarter and says it has already raised a whopping $46 million.
Electronics giant LG announced a new bot, dubbed CLOid, that it claims will revolutionize household chores. TechCrunch reporter Lucas Ropek checked out CLOid, which LG describes as an AI-powered home robot. According to Ropek, the robot is designed to assist its user with a wide variety of domestic tasks — from folding laundry to making breakfast to patrolling a home for signs of trouble.
Last year, we saw companies announce rings designed to help users take notes. While those are more for personal note-taking, Vocci is showing off a ring this year at the Consumer Electronics Show that is more of a Plaud competitor. The company said the ring can take notes with up to five meters of range and eight hours of continuous recording time. The ring will also ship with a case that will charge it when you are not wearing it, giving it an extra battery boost. While the company hasn’t released the product publicly yet, it aims to open up preorders in the coming weeks and then start shipping after Q1 2026. The ring is expected to cost under $200, according to Vocci.
Morning all! CES 2026 is in its third day, traditionally when many of the high-profile execs have left the event. That doesn’t mean there isn’t action. Eureka Park, where thousands of startups are located, is busy as ever. A quick recap of stuff we saw and wrote about yesterday. I interviewed Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson and Hirschbach Motor Lines president Richard Stocking onstage at CES yesterday, focusing on autonomous vehicle technology and, more specifically, self-driving trucks. Then there was news from Ford about an AI assistant and upgrades to its advanced driver-assistance system, Caterpillar CEO Joe Creed held a keynote and talked about its relationship with Nvidia and plans to use AI, AMC previewed its new show focused on Silicon Valley, Waymo rebranded its Zeekr robotaxi, and Roku founder, chairman, and CEO gave an update on the company’s new streaming channel Howdy.
Backbone founder and CEO Maneet Khaira is at CES showing off his company’s newer device, the Backbone Pro, and talking to partners and developers. The company isn’t yet ready to share its plans, but we can confirm they’re going to be notable. This is going to be a big year for the gaming device maker as it moves toward the next phase of its business beyond selling its mobile controllers.
I stopped by the exhibit for Donut Lab, a startup out of Finland that specializes in electric mobility. The company announced at CES the launch of what it calls the first solid-state battery for vehicle production. Solid-state batteries differ from lithium-ion batteries in that they use solid rather than liquid electrolytes. They are supposed to offer much greater energy density and better safety, and they degrade less than lithium ion batteries. On top of all that, Donut says its battery can fully charge in a lean five minutes. Donut claims that, with the long-range version of its battery, a rider can get up to 600 kilometers on a single charge. The company also says that its battery quashes many of the causes of battery fires, as the SSB remains stable across extreme temperatures and includes no flammable liquid. Donut’s new SSBs will be introduced to Verge’s motorcycles early this year, the companies said this week.
Ford didn’t have a big booth at CES 2026; no U.S. automaker did. But the company did make an announcement. In short: The company is working on an AI assistant that will debut in the company’s smartphone app, before expanding to its vehicles in 2027. Ford also teased a next-generation of its BlueCruise advanced driver-assistance system that is both cheaper to make and more capable — ultimately leading to eyes-off driving in 2028.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an actor-turned-founder, has some sharp words for AI companies. In short, he’s worried that the current business models are leading us down a dark path. Speaking at the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES, Gordon-Levitt said it’s not necessarily so much about the tech itself, but the business incentives driving some of the biggest AI companies. He also stressed that AI companies should not be forgiven for the content theft driven by their models. Gordon-Levitt is directing a movie for Netflix about AI, which he says will be a thriller.
Fox Entertainment CMO Darren Schillace explained how the brand is embracing different streaming platforms to reach more viewers. At the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES, the exec pointed to the example of one of its top new shows, “Doc,” started on broadcast where it reached older viewers but was later added to streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu to find a wider, and arguably younger, audience. The company even formats some shows and puts them on YouTube.
Off the show floor, I finally had a chance to take these two scooters for a spin. They’re made by Brooklyn-based Infinite Machine. The scooters have turned a lot of heads over the past two years thanks to their stark, Cybertruck-ish styling. But while flash usually dominates over substance at CES, these are competent and fun vehicles. Considering CES was kind of a micromobility wasteland this year, I’m pleased this is the pair of scooters I got to test.
Viaim, the maker of wireless AI earbuds for live transcription and noise cancellation, is debuting a new device at CES 2026 designed for the conference room. The AI smart speaker will allow you to change the camera’s view with gestures, transcribe, translate, and more, and it runs on battery power.
Mike O’Donnell, VP of Vizio at Walmart, offered a simple explanation for why the retailer bought the television manufacturer for $2.3 billion in 2024. The executive spoke about the value of ACR data specifically. That’s the Automatic Content Recognition data collected by smart TVs that understands what you’re watching across cable, streaming, and more. He stated that this viewership data can be married with Walmart data that understands what people are buying to create a full funnel attribution solution for the advertising community.