January is typically the most hectic and exciting week of my year thanks to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) aka the super bowl of tech, in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. In years past, the show showcased some very cool and peculiar tech like underwear that blocked cell phone radiation, a waistline-monitoring smart belt, and who can forget, Charmin's 2020 RollBot, a robot that can bring you a spare roll of toilet paper when you run out (strangely foreshadowing the great TP shortage that came just months later). 

This year was a little different thanks to you know what. CES 2021 went all digital, so instead, I poured myself a big cup of coffee and streamed the entire event at my standing desk so that I could bring the best of CES 2021 directly to you. Here are some of the most notable products and trends in tech. 

Smart home 

When I think of smart home tech, I think of appliances and smart tech focused on making home life a bit more convenient and better. 

In the future, your toilet might be able to help with your constipation and other digestive issues. The Toto Wellness Toilet examines your stool to determine whether you're healthy. Its app will then recommend dietary changes to improve your digestion. For now. it's just a concept, but it could hit the consumer market in the next few years. 

Kohler debuted the bathtub of my dreams, designed to take on the kinks, every tense muscle and stressed-out day. The Stillness Bath is a Japanese-style square soaking bath that has elements of a luxury infinity pool. It’s wreathed in hinoki wood, and of course it’s smart, so you can fill it at your preferred temperature, turn on atmospheric lights, or dispense soothing essential oils at a soft command. Fog and water spill over the sides, creating a perfect Insttagrammable moment that will cost a cool $16,000. It won’t be available until October. 

What would CES be with robots? 2021 was Samsung's introduction to Bot Handy. Bot Handy is a robot with a rolling base and a mechanical arm with a precision clamp designed to pick things up. Bot Handy is designed to help with house chores like picking up dirty laundry, throwing out the trash, cleaning your room and even precise enough to handle delicate dishes. Yes please! CES even featured the bot pouring a bottle of wine perfectly into a glass. Don’t worry you glass isn’t going to break because this very impressive bot relies on AI and complex mechanics to adjust the pressure of the clamp when performing different tasks. 

Stashes and secrets! With everything going on, there are some things you just don’t want people to see, from your jewelry, to money, maybe weapons and drugs? Who am I to judge? Que the $549 Trova Home,  a smart storage box that only specific users can unlock via Bluetooth. It can also be bolted to the ground for extra protection. Trova advertises its stashes as “accessible through biometric scanning,” but you have to use your phone's fingerprint scanner. In addition to the Home, Trova also sells smaller to-go sizes that you can use to stash stuff like credit cards .

Well before Covid, I had back aches from my crappy office chair, sprinkle in the last 10 months of sitting on it non-stop, plus the 4 hours of non-stop daily Zoom meetings-- and we can say,  Houston we have a problem. Ergonomics are critical. Sitting for eight, 10, or even 12 hours daily in something that's not supporting you will start to cause neck pain, back pain, other kinds of joint pain. Que Mavix—a recently launched gaming chair brand from the makers of  X-Chair X-HMT, an office chair with built-in heat and massage therapy and ergonomics The entire lineup of Mavix gaming chairs are designed to make long-term gaming and work sessions more comfortable and offer something more aesthetically pleasing. 

Smart kitchen appliances

LG came to CES 2021 with the newest LG refrigerator that can open its doors via voice command, plus a new oven announcement too. The new LG InstaView Range features Air Sous Vide, Air Fry mode and an InstaView panel. The Air Sous Vide mode can cook food in a vacuum-sealed bag at low temperatures for up to 48 hours, so imagine all the yummy food you can make. The LG InstaView Range carries over the knock-to-view technology of LG's refrigerator line. Additionally, it works with LG's ThinQ app for voice-assistant integration and remote monitoring. 

Samsung also debuted its Bespoke line of refrigerators. These colorful fridges allow you to customize your fridge in a multitude of colors and arrangements with the Bespoke's modern design, so they can integrate seamlessly into your home and kitchen aesthetic. I mean we are all about aesthetics here at TechSesh. One other exciting thing to note, the Bespoke freezer's ice maker can switch from standard ice cubes to nugget-style "ice bites" for folks who enjoy drinks with chewable ice. Samsung also announced updates to its Family Hub software. The 6.0 iteration adds a new SmartThings cooking platform and Alexa integration which is huge, because Samsung previously only used  its in-house assistant, Bixby. Things are a changin’ thanks to Alexa’s popularity. 

Ok this might seem unnecessary for some, but for me it’s a vital kitchen accessory I need to get my hands on. It’s called the ColdSnap, a Keurig-Style Ice Cream Machine. Plop in an aluminum pod and 90 seconds later you’ll be indulging in ice cream, frozen beverages and smoothies.

ColdSnap is still in the prototype phase. No detailed pricing is available yet, but it could start at  $1,000, with pods costing $2 to $3 each. This seems like a steal considering the $6 I spend each time I go to the Big Chill. 

The touchless trend and coronavirus killer

Going touchless was a clear trend for CES 2021, with several companies showcasing products that either reduce or remove touch interactions. 

Alarm.com debuted its touchless Video Doorbell designed as a "touch-free" doorbell that rings when motion is detected, rather than when someone rings the bell. Get this, there's even text on the doorbell itself discouraging people from ringing it. I'm skeptical that people would notice that small text and actually not try to ring it, I have a note on my own door telling people not to ring the doorbell when my son is sleeping-- and guess what, people never pay attention. But we'll just have to see for ourselves when we try it out. 

When leaving the house now we check for our phone, wallet, keys and now, Mask! It's no surprise that we saw new mask technology designed to keep us covid free. Enter Razor’s Project Hazel. Project Hazel is an N95 respirator prototype with a special UV charging case to disinfect, a built in microphone and amplifier so people can actually hear you when you speak, and is clear so others can see your mouth while it's on.  

Beauty tech

There is nothing I love more than when my two worlds collide-- I’m big into self care and trying out the latest beauty trends, but also a lover of tech, obviously. While there’s a long-standing gender gap in mainstream tech products *you can’t just slap on pink and sell it to women, CES always comes through with reminders that there are others out in the world who feel the same way I do. 

This year, Yves Saint Laurent featured the Rouge Sur Measure by Perso. This is a beauty device that creates different lipstick shades. Instead of buying several different shades of lipstick, you can just adjust the settings on the device that draws from 3 different tubes of YSL Velvet Cream Matte finish. The app allows you to recreate shades that it sees of Instagram to help you find the shade you are looking for. If you are still unsatisfied you can make adjustments until it's perfect and save the setting. This is available now at $299. 

Dubbed the world's "first smart perfume," the Ninu works with an artificial intelligence-powered app to let you create a personalized fragrance blend with a few clicks. If you get tired of the scent, or want to change it up for a special occasion, you can easily do so in the app. Named after Tapputi and Ninu (the first recorded chemist and her researcher), Ninu is a purse-sized device paired with an AI-guided app. The cylindrical gadget holds three vegan scents housed in recycled glass vials. You can tweak the scents based on mood (I’ve been feeling very lazy recently). But what I mean is like sweeter floral scents for the summer and spicier for the winter months. Like a lot of products announced at CES, the Ninu is currently in the prototype phase. The company expects to start taking pre-orders in March and kick off mass production in the second half of the year.

Screens screens screens

Over the last few years it has been all about foldable screens but this year it was all about the rollable screens by LG and TCL. The rollable screens allow for more real estate on your phone when you need it with an extended OLED screen that unfurls at the user’s request. The advantage of the rollable phone vs the foldable phone is that the former keeps the same shape and relative size of a typical smartphone. The rumor is that LG will be rolling this out by the end of the year. 

Samsung has been teasing us with their Micro LED 4K at CES the last few years but they have not made them available for consumers. It looks like that is finally going to change in 2021 because Samsung is looking to release them by the end of the year in 88”, 99” and 110” sizes. These will be extremely pricey with the 88” estimated to be around $30k. For all of you early adopters out there, start saving.