CHARLOTTE, NC — CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, kicks off Tuesday, January 7th in Las Vegas, and I’ll be there to cover all the action! It’s the world’s biggest tech showcase, where companies and inventors unveil their latest creations. Some will change the world, but most will end up in the tech graveyard. This marks my 12th year of covering CES from the show floor. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you’ll run across a booth of an independent inventor with “the next big thing.” This year, expect to see a lot of AI integrated into new products. Some may become holiday hits, but history tells us that most will fade into obscurity. Remember those laundry-folding robots from 7 years ago? They promised to wash, dry, and fold your clothes, but ended up folding their own companies instead. Self-rolling suitcases, flying cars, and mind-controlled video games also failed to take off. CES has seen its fair share of flops. Remember 3D televisions? They were supposed to revolutionize home entertainment, but a lack of content doomed them. Coffee table computers, eye-tracking controls, and smart mirrors that critiqued your outfits also failed to find a market. Back in the 1980s, Sony unveiled the BetaMax video recorders and players. It had lots of promise but lost the share of the market to VCR and eventually faded to black. Some products are simply head scratching. The Rocking Bed simulated sleeping on a cruise ship but its website no longer takes orders. The BeddrSleep device was a sensor you place on your forehead to detect sleep disorders. Its website is now a landing page for something other than the device. The WeltBelt was a fitness tracker built into a handsome dress belt for men. Any market share it hoped for was lost to Fitbit, Apple, and Google who figured people would rather wear their fitness tracker around their wrist. In 2017 a Drone Airport was unveiled in the desert near Las Vegas. The idea was that there would be drone airports all over the world where products would ship and be delivered. One of my favorite consumer technology products was unveiled at CES in 2020 in the form of a high-tech home security system. The Sunflower used a drone and sensors to detect and investigate any movements around the property. The drone would fly to where the sensors detected movements and send live video back to the homeowners phone, and even call police. The last time I checked, SunflowerLabs partnered with a few security companies but the exact system is not in mass production. The Elio car was unveiled at one of my first trips to CES. The small gas-powered one-seater boasted 84mpg with a $7,500 price tag. It was supposed to transform the morning commute. It has yet to go into production. But many products unveiled at CES become huge hits. 4K televisions, streaming players, foldable smartphone screens, drones, smart home devices, and others either launched by their own brands or their technology was bought by major tech companies. Amidst all the failures, there are a few products that show promise. One that I’m rooting for is the MirraViz, a dual-projector system that allows two people to watch different content on the same screen simultaneously. It’s expensive and niche, but it’s a glimpse into the future of personalized viewing experiences. After 12 years of attending CES, I’ve learned that most products fail. But that doesn’t dampen the excitement of seeing what inventors have dreamed up. I’ll be there all week, bringing you the latest from CES – the good, the bad, and the downright weird. Stay tuned to find out which tech dreams take flight and which ones flop!