5 BEST Things I Saw in Vegas at CES 2024

OrCam Hear's noise cancellation can discern and isolate between specific individual voices at a crowded event like a trade show, allowing the wearer to focus on one person's speech while muting background voices and show floor noise

“When I put them on, it tuned out all of the noise from the show floor and I could only hear the voice of the person giving me the demo. There were three people at the booth talking to me, but I could only hear the one. With a couple of taps on the phone app, I could then hear two of the three of them. Then all three of them … but the rest of the show floor was still muted out. Their noise-canceling is able to discern between specific voices!”

When combined with Ambient Photonics solar cells and a supercapacitor, consumer devices like remote controls, wireless keyboards, mice, trackpads, and IoT motion sensors would never need battery replacement because they would never actually have a battery

“That same devices, when combined with Ambient Photonics solar cells and a supercapacitor, would never need to have a battery replaced … because they'd never actually have a battery.”

OrCam Hear is a hearing loss assistance device that looks like ordinary earbuds but uses sophisticated technology for targeted noise cancellation via a companion smartphone app

“I personally demoed the OrCam Hear, which is a device to help people with varying levels of hearing loss. It looks like an ordinary pair of earbuds, but there's some wildly sophisticated technology at play here. There's a companion smartphone app that lets you activate and deactivate targeted noise cancellation.”

Hyundai is expanding their HTWO brand from just fuel cells to their entire hydrogen value chain including production and use, and demonstrated waste-to-hydrogen technology that can convert sewer sludge into clean hydrogen

“Hyundai discussed how they're expanding their HTWO brand from just fuel cells to their entire hydrogen value chain (production to use). From their waste to hydrogen technology where they can take literal sewer sludge and turn it into clean hydrogen.”

Matt Ferrell has long believed that hydrogen should not be written off across the board because it does have some genuinely compelling use cases, but corporations at CES 2024 were championing use cases for hydrogen that he considers kind of dead

“I've long thought that we shouldn't write off hydrogen across the board because it does have some really compelling use cases, but they were championing the use cases that I thought were kind of … well … dead.”

Balcony solar is a trend where couples of solar panels are hung over apartment balconies, tied into a small battery pack and plugged into a home outlet to provide instant apartment power backup, and is currently only taking hold in parts of Europe like Germany rather than in the US

“It's often referred to as balcony solar — which is appropriate, seeing as it's literally just hanging a couple of panels over the edge of your balcony. Tie those panels into a small battery pack and plug into a home outlet and you've got instant apartment power backup.”

At CES 2024, every major company was discussing their sustainability plans and goals, and many were actually describing their progress based on goals laid out over the past year or two rather than providing only lip service

“I was also pleasantly surprised to see every company talking about their sustainability plans and goals. More importantly, many were actually discussing their progress based on the goals they've laid out over the past year or two. I was happy to see that it's not just lip service, as we got descriptions of follow-through.”

Devices with Ambient Photonics solar cells would use fewer materials, be longer-lasting, and more robust compared to devices that require periodic battery replacement

“That means gadgets that use fewer materials but are longer-lasting and more robust, all without having to replace batteries.”

Shelly's energy tracking devices can help identify wasteful power use cases and enable automations like triggering ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) when range hood fan power draw is detected

“In a very tiny and affordable box, you can track basically anything you want. Think dishwashers, washing machines, dehumidifiers … This can help you track down wasteful use cases or trigger automations, like the one I've got set up with my range hood fan.”

Ambient Photonics' dye-sensitized solar cells can capture full spectrum light from compact fluorescent lights, LED lights, and ambient sunlight in a room and convert it to electricity

“It's a new type of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), which is able to capture full spectrum light, so anything from compact fluorescent lights, to LED lights, to ambient sunlight in a room can be converted into electricity.”

Ambient Photonics has developed a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology that achieves 3 to 5 times better power density performance than typical DSSC cells, enabling practical battery-free operation for consumer devices

“What sets their technology apart is the power density they've accomplished: 3 to 5 times better performance than a typical DSSC cell.”

Traditional solar cells linked together in series lose all power output if even one cell is shaded, whereas Ambient Photonics' uniform single cell technology maintains power regardless of partial shading

“The solar cells you usually see on devices like this have to be linked together in series in order to get the voltages and power they need. But if you shade one cell, you knock the entire array down — as I'm sure many of you found out by fiddling with the calculators in school. Unlike those, Ambient Photonics' technology involves one uniform cell that can come in a range of sizes.”

Bosch announced they will be releasing a hydrogen-burning engine for transportation

“Bosch is going to be releasing their hydrogen-burning engine”

Withings' BeamO device is a single-device that can perform ECG heart monitoring, check blood oxygen levels, take temperature, and includes a built-in stethoscope for remote diagnostics of heart and respiratory systems

“Using a single device, you can perform an ECG and monitor your heart, check your blood oxygen levels, and take your temperature. It even has a built-in stethoscope that you can share with your doctor for remote diagnostics for your heart and respiratory system.”

Tesla Powerwall costs approximately $15,000-$20,000 to purchase, whereas EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra starts at $5,799 and Anker SOLIX starts at $3,999, making modular systems significantly more affordable entry points for home energy storage

“With a Tesla Powerwall you're probably starting in that $15,000 - $20,000 range, but with these you're starting at $5,799 for EcoFlow and $3,999 for Anker.”

Ambient Photonics demonstrated a bifacial solar cell integrated into a streaming box remote (like Amazon Fire TV) that can charge effectively whether placed face up or face down

“They showed me a bifacial solar cell integrated into a streaming box remote, like the Amazon Fire TV. No matter how you set this remote down, whether face up or face down, it'll always be able to charge.”

Shelly has released new Gen 3 devices that are approximately the size of a quarter and include both miniaturized relay controls and standalone energy tracking devices for monitoring power consumption of outlets and appliances

“Shelly has a range of new Gen 3 devices that are way small, about the size of a quarter. One is like a miniature version of the relay I'm using on my ERV, but that's not the one that really got my attention. This little guy is an energy tracker and would be extremely easy to add to any outlets or devices around your house.”

Anker's SOLIX line includes the F3800 Portable Power station that starts at 3.84kWh and can scale to 26.9kWh with 6 modules, and multiple stacks can be combined for a total of 53.8kWh of storage

“Anker, who launched some new entries into their SOLIX line, like the Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power station. It's very similar to EcoFlow, but starts at 3.84kWh and can scale up to 26.9kWh with a total of 6 modules. Then you can combine multiple stacks for a total of 53.8kWh of storage.”

90kWh of energy storage from EcoFlow's Delta Pro Ultra could provide backup power for approximately a week for most American homes

“That would last the better part of a week for most American homes. That's just staggering.”

Anker demonstrated the SOLIX Solarbank E1600 with 1.6kWh of storage capacity, which while not large, could be stretched far for apartment applications

“Anker has the SOLIX Solarbank E1600, which has 1.6kWh of storage. It's not a lot, but for an apartment that could get stretched out a long way.”

Modular home energy storage systems from companies like EcoFlow and Anker are highly adaptable to various setups and offer granular scalability, which is the main takeaway from the 2024 home energy storage trend at CES

“The main takeaway is that these systems are very adaptable to a wide variety of setups, and offer some pretty granular scalability.”

Ambient Photonics demonstrated wireless mice with a single large solar cell integrated across the entire surface that was barely visible through the matte texture design

“I saw examples of wireless mice that had a single large solar cell on the entire surface of the mouse. You could barely see the cell through the surface. The matte texture design was nuts.”

EcoFlow's Delta Pro Ultra is a modular and portable power station that can work for RVs or home use, can plug directly into the unit or link into EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2 for monitoring and automatic backup power switchover, uses lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry, and each module has 6kWh storage with a maximum of 90kWh total storage

“EcoFlow has probably the most impressive of the bunch, with their new Delta Pro Ultra power station. It's a modular and portable system that can work for anything from RVs to your house. You can plug directly into the unit or link them into the EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2 for energy monitoring and automatic backup power switchover for your entire house. It uses a lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry, which is what most of the companies were using. Each module has 6kWh storage and you can combine them together for up to 90kWh of storage.”