Wheels down. I just landed in Las Vegas for my 8th consumer electronics show, better known as CES. For me, and roughly 170,000 of us tech folks, it’s the most exciting technology show of the year. It’s where I get to see the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos that will trend and matter in 2020, as well as oddball products that will make some noise, but probably be forgotten by the time the conference wraps up.

CES 2020 will give us a glimpse into the future of smart home innovation, from MicroLED TVs to personal transport systems to facial recognition, a privacy-related panel, 5G everywhere and even non-tech companies like Impossible Foods are all readying announcements this year too, in a nod to how CES has grown beyond its tech roots.

Here’s what the tech industry is buzzing about and what I am excited to see at CES 2020.

Smart Home

2020 will be the year our homes are filled with more than just smart speakers. According to industry stats, installing smart home tech can increase the final closing price of a home by 3% to 5%. Trends on the rise include smart screen command centers, smart faucets, smart-enabling devices for your basic devices and energy efficiency expansion. 

Smart homes are now fully IoT-ready, inclusive of everything from voice control functionality to fully efficient rooms and sustainable smart appliances. You can speak to your virtual assistant or tap your phone to start your shower and select the water temperature. And now you can command your kitchen faucet to fill your coffee pot ( or in my case my son’s bottle) with a precise amount of water at the exact temperature I want. This year, Moen is changing the way people experience water in their homes. Can we call it connected water?

Moen will be showcasing the U by Moen™ Smart Faucet to help automate tasks in the kitchen. Read: life hack. The U by Moen Smart Faucet uses an intuitive voice-activation technology, to dispense water as small as one tablespoon and as large as 15 gallons at a specific temperature.

Moen will unveil a whole-home smart water ecosystem which is voice-activated, app-based technology, now all connected through the Moen app.To make life even easier for us (hello busy moms and entrepreneurs) there are four ways to control the faucet: voice activation, a hands-free wave sensor, a smartphone app and the handle. Using voice control, you can ask Amazon or Google voice assistants to remotely start and stop the flow of water, activate personalized presets and perform specific tasks, like measurements. The best part? It doesn’t matter if the faucet handle position is up or down.

Through the app, you can create an unlimited number of personalized presets, like “Baby Bottle” or “Coffee Maker,” to set the temperature and flow amount.

What I love? Moen is making forward strides to reduce water waste, educate the public about conservation, and tighten up their vast manufacturing facilities.

I will be partnering with Moen and taking over their Instagram, be on the lookout for that!

Facial Recognition

Facial recognition is going to be everywhere at CES this year and the electronics show will be piloting the use of facial recognition to speed attendees through badge pickup. For those not yet comfortable with Face ID, there will also be the regular queue. Thanks to the fact that facial recognition has become very cheap for companies to put into products, it's appearing in places we haven't seen before. This year, we're going to see tons of home security devices that will recognize the faces of your family and friends and flag strangers when they appear in your home.

We're also going to see it appearing in health care devices. Black & Decker has a robot called Pria, which dispenses pills when it recognizes your face. Think of it as a kind of an automated drug dealer. Creepy, but whatever it takes to remind my dad to take his meds on time. 

One of the keynotes this year is from Delta, the airline. They are going to talk about how at the Atlanta airport, you can use your face as your boarding pass. Imagine, you can check in and board with your face. Asking for a friend: Would you pick convenience over privacy?

Flyings cars and transporters 

Every year, smart car technology becomes more of a deciding factor for consumers. From safety features to voice technology, the options get more compelling. At CES, Hyundai Motor plans to unveil its concept “Personal Air Vehicle.” READ: flying car. Maybe the future isn’t as far off as you might think.

Segway will be showcasing the new S-Pod "personal transporter"  that aims to enhance the way people get around at malls, theme parks and airports, especially for those folks with mobility challenges. In other words, you'll soon be able to scoot around town—at 24 mph—without even having to stand up.

Humongous TVs

CES wouldn’t be CES without the latest in TV tech.

So now that you’ve purchased a sweet, large-screen 4K television-- it’s already time to toss it. This year we’re expecting to see a more 8K models, as well as TVs and other displays. LG has already teased a rollable OLED model that retracts into the ceiling between viewing sessions.

This year’s most exciting TV trend is MicroLED. It’s similar to the more mature OLED technology, where each pixel on a TV acts as its own own light source, instead of relying on a dedicated backlight

5G Wireless Technology

Fun fact: 5G could cover up to 65% of the world’s population in 2025. 

5G was a hot topic for the past three years at CES and last year, US carriers were just months away from launching their networks across the country. Now that the infrastructure is (slowly) here, CES 2020, then, will be an opportunity for tech makers to demonstrate that 5G will be an actual thing this year. 

Some of these announcements will demonstrate how the latest advancements in 5G’s speed, reliability and efficiency will drive innovation and enable industries like entertainment, digital health and smart cities. For example, Dell’s 5G-ready Latitude laptop. MediaTek, for example, plans to roll out a premium 5G chipset for phones at CES, and Qualcomm will likely speak more about the announcements it made at its annual Hawaii summit back in December. 

Other notables

Samsung will be unveiling some kind of “artificial human” called NEON that the company insists is much more than a step up from Samsung’s virtual assistant Bixby. The site does include a helpful countdown clock which confirms the big reveal.

Also be on the lookout for some creative takes on the foldable phones,  laptop/tablet hybrid space.