Every January, CES takes over Las Vegas. The giant trade show is a global bazaar where the best and worst tech products for the coming year are trotted out for the press, retailers and resellers, and other attendees. The products on display are things you can wear, ride, listen to, stare at, climb inside, hold in your hand, and even put in your mouth. CES is also a car show, with most of the major automakers displaying their prototypes and concepts alongside their production vehicles.
Here on this page, we’ll be keeping a running report of everything we find interesting, from new driver assistance tech to bio-scanning devices to the latest smart home innovations.
Live coverage kicks off each day around 8 am Las Vegas time—that’s 11 am on the East Coast, 4 pm in the UK—and will pause at the end of each day. We’ll be here all week, so check back often.
Lutron’s Smart Shades Are Now a Little More Affordable
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Lutron sits at the high end of the smart home ecosystem, with pricey but effective smart lighting and shades. But take a gander at our Best Smart Shades guide and you’ll see it’s a thriving category with options as low as $70. Lutron’s new entry into the budget market is the Caseta Smart Shades—$399 roller curtains that work nearly as well as the $1,000 Serena smart shades it currently sells.
I’ve had a pair of Serena shades in my home for more than a year and they’re incredibly quiet, and in my limited time demoing the Caseta shades, they hardly make much noise when they roll up and down—slightly audible if it’s a quiet room, but not so if the TV’s on. You can schedule them to open and close at specific times and control them via the company’s Pico remote or an app.
Unlike the higher-end shades that can last for four to five years if not longer, these use fewer D batteries and will only last two years, and there’s no plug-in option. Generally, you have fewer options in the type of shade you want with Caseta—Honeycomb or Roller, white or gray, light filtering or blackout fabric (though the latter comes with a slight upcharge). They stay affixed to your window frame via four screws.
The $399 model covers windows up to 48 inches wide and 80 inches high (you have to input your window measurements when ordering), though larger sizes are available at a slightly higher cost. The whole system works with Lutron’s existing Caseta system, so if you already have Lutron’s hub and have several connected smart lights and switches, setup will be even simpler. It also supports Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and other platforms, though the company did not say whether it plans to add Matter support for universal connectivity in the future (Lutron is a part of the alliance developing Matter).
The Caseta smart shades are available for order now through Lutron’s Caseta website and will start shipping in February. They have a 5-year warranty.
Samsung’s Frame Pro TV Blends Artistry and Performance
The Frame Pro hangs in the foreground. This new version of Samsung’s digital art frame has improved technology that makes it look better in TV mode.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Samsung’s Frame TV has been a bona fide hit for years. The mountable television provides a matte-like screen with a customizable bezel that displays fine art when it’s not showing TV stuff. The problem has always been that the TV part of the frame is sub-par compared to today’s high-performance rivals.
The new Frame Pro finally fixes this, adding Samsung’s mini LED backlighting tech with local dimming for a viewing experience that does justice to its beautiful design.
As part of a growing trend this year, the TV also gets Samsung’s new Wireless One Connect box, letting you connect all your inputs wirelessly so the TV transforms into a work of art even more seamlessly than before. In my short time with the TV at Samsung’s press preview, the picture impressed me. It provided striking brightness that almost looked surreal in its more dynamic picture mode. Using a more subtle mode should tamp things down a bit, pleasing art lovers and videophiles alike. Now we just need to find out how much it’s going to cost when it arrives. —Ryan Waniata
Photograph: Tristan deBrauwere
Be sure to check out our photo gallery of the coolest things we’ve seen so far here at CES 2025.
Electrocute Yourself Into Tasting Salt
Kirin’s spoon in action.
Photograph: Tristan deBrauwere
If you’re currently on a low sodium diet and under-salting everything, then you’ve probably given some serious thought to how you can make your food taste like something other than bland goo.
Kirin’s Electric Salt Spoon creates a mild electric current through your entire body to activate sodium ion molecules in your food. Hold your finger against the metal strip on the handle of the spoon and let your food rest against the metal strip in the bowl of the spoon. When your tongue touches that liquid, all the sodium ion molecules come rejoice and do a happy molecule dance party on your tongue, enhancing its flavor without you having to add more salt. People were going bonkers over this at CES Unveiled, the press preview event on Sunday night. It’s currently only on sale in Japan and retails for around $130 USD. —Adrienne So
