Slot machines in Las Vegas are at the moment occupied by techies because they are in town attending CES 2024, the annual consumer appliance show where cutting-edge technology gets showcased, even though most of it will never make it to the market. But who doesn’t like new toys?! Here are some of the coolest things unveiled at this year’s show.

Look ma, I can see through

Move over HD, 4K and 3D, we want LG’s transparent TV. LG’s Signature OLED T is a 77-inch OLED display that’s viewable in transparent and opaque modes. While viewing art, videos or data (like weather), you can see through the display to the rest of the room. When turned off, there’s no TV. Don’t ask: “Why would I want this?” Say: “Neighbour’s envy.” There is a thin contrast screen, which when raised, makes the TV function like any regular one. Even if the TV does away with the immersiveness of the traditional TV, it’s a technology worth having in the living room. It’s another story that even if we have the most expensive TV before us we will still be streaming movies on a tiny mobile phone screen. LG wants to ship the TV this year but a strict timeframe is missing.

Samsung Flex In & Out Flip

Heart-to-heart moments

Heart-rate monitors are especially helpful for athletes training for a race or for anyone who wants to monitor the heart for health reasons. The problem with chest heart-rate monitor among women is simple — do they put it below the sports bra and risk scraping or underneath, which is not the ideal position. Garmin has announced HRM-Fit heart rate monitor for women at CES 2024.

The clip-on design helps attach to the best of sports bras, making it more comfortable to wear on the move, besides being accurate at capturing training data. It can be used during activities like running, indoor and outdoor cycling, strength training, HIIT and more. Besides exercising, if you are wearing the heart-rate monitor, it will be able to capture steps, calories burned, intensity minutes and all-day heart rate.

Garmin HRM-Fit

Vinyl for the enthusiastic millennial

Victrola Stream Sapphire turntable can stream records to just about anything. It can easily slip into your shopping cart. The turntable has a bespoke walnut veneer plinth. That’s cool. It has Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge. That too is cool. And then there is support for 24-bit / 48kHz lossless FLAC audio. But the level of coolness increases when you consider its Roon and Universal Plug and Play protocol (UPnP) integration that allows you to stream music to compatible devices such as Bluetooth speakers, soundbars, and even your smartphone or laptop, thanks to the presence of 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac connectivity. Roon integrates with systems like Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast, so you can connect the turntable’s audio to an Apple HomePod or any Chomecast-compatible speaker.

Ooh, handy!

Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro With DockKit

Valve and AMD brought handheld PC gaming to the masses with the Linux-based Steam Deck and last year Asus and Lenovo joined in with Windows-based ROG Ally Extreme and Legion Go, respectively. There is space for MSI Claw A1M. It’s a game console with a 7-inch touch-enabled IPS LCD display with a 1920x1080 resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and up to 500 nits typical brightness, which is similar to what Asus ROG Ally offers. The Claw A1M console runs on Intel’s latest Core Ultra 155H Meteor Lake system-on-chip with six high-performance cores, eight energy-efficient cores, two low-power cones, and a built-in Arc GPU with eight Xe tiles.

Keyboard baby!

Clicks Creator Keyboard

BlackBerry vibes are back as Clicks Technology has come up with a keyboard that attaches to the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. And it’s being delivered to India. Clicks Creator Keyboard is compact and attaches to the phone. There is no separate battery, so it connects via Lightning port or USB-C, depending on the iPhone model. It reportedly has little effect on the phone’s overall battery life. That’s not all… the battery on the phone can be charged even when the case is in place.

Pulling rabbits out of the hat

Rabbit R1

As exciting as the AI Pin from Humane, CES offered us a peek at the Rabbit R1, which is one of the AI devices coming your way. Instead of pulling out a phone and wasting time, fetch the R1 and order from a food delivery service, book a flight or simply send a message. The Rabbit RI has an operating system that can learn how to use apps on your behalf and is expected to ship in late March.

Milo Communicator

Outdoor Action

The walkie-talkie has been reimagined as a modern voice communicator by Milo. A lot of outdoor sports require shouting, like trekking or mountain climbing. Simply clip the palm-sized Milo device to the outside of your jacket and chat freely. There’s no need to click the right button or find the right frequency. The walkie-talkie-like device enables hands-free, multi-way, group voice conversations for adventurers while on the trails, slopes or water.

Bend over backwards

Samsung is set to flip the market again if its Flex In & Out Flip gets introduced. The display can fold in both directions and completely backward, allowing you to use the phone’s 6.7-inch screen even when the device is shut. When the Flex In & Out Flip is bent backwards, one side of the device is shorter than the other, to avoid covering the camera. It’s still a concept device but that’s how journeys begin.

MSI Claw A1M

Simplicity is key

Here’s a helpful mobile accessory — Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro With DockKit, a MagSafe charger for the iPhone and it doubles as a 360-degree swivelling tripod for your iPhone’s camera. It supports Apple’s Works With DockKit programme and this allows the Stand Pro to pair with the iPhone’s camera via NFC. Once paired, the device will swivel to keep you in the frame when you use the rear or front camera.

Movano Evie Ring

Fitness rings the future

Plenty of fitness rings have been showcased and Movano’s Evie Ring is a women-first wearable though it can be worn by anyone. Its SpO2 sensors for blood oxygen showed a 2 per cent margin of error (compared to the FDA guidelines of 3.5 per cent) and pulse readings are delivered with medical-grade accuracy. The custom AI engine in the app tracks data about the mood, activity level and menstrual health of the user.