I’m eating cold, fizzy blue shaved ice, savoring the cold, surprisingly sweet, sugar-free raspberry blue, wondering, as I often do at CES, “How did I get here?”
CES 2026 started last night, and for the uninitiated who are quick to tell me I got the dates wrong, I’m referring to the flurry of product launches and carnival atmosphere that begins two days before the big showrooms open. The event, known as CES Unveiled, serves as the official media kickoff event and our first chance to take the temperature of the world’s largest tech event.
Fake ski and sharp edges
Perhaps emboldened by the saccharine, I found myself “skiing” on the cement floor adjacent to the largely carpeted CES Unveiled ballroom.
Skwheel’s Peak and Peak S are best described as giant, electric inline skates that are designed to recreate the feeling of skiing, but on virtually any surface (other than snow). Company representatives explained how they initially created the Peak boots as a way to keep people “skiing” in the off-season, but quickly discovered that people really enjoyed the feeling of skiing on roads, hills, and parks.
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So, yes, against my better judgment, I put them on, grabbed the remote control that allowed me to control speed and braking, and took off…maybe going three miles an hour, and doing my best to lean into imaginary slaloms. The Peak S can travel up to 20 mph and distances up to 37 miles, but I couldn’t afford to spill and ruin the rest of my CES.
It’s a fun take on mobility, but if you plan to spend between $990 and $1,490 for a Peak or Peak S, you better get serious about skiing on hard surfaces.
With my adrenaline cooking and my mouth still slightly blue from the slush, I walked over to take a look at the C-200 Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife. It’s 300 dollars of emotion that vibrates silently and cuts.
I liked the look of the rechargeable blade, but I was a little disappointed when I tried to use it to cut a tomato. It seems that even a knife with a piezoelectric crystal that vibrates at 30,000 times per second needs some finesse if it is to be used correctly.
An allergy laboratory at home.
Nearby, I saw a group of French-speaking technologists explaining their hand-sized device, Allergen Alert, which can crush food, squeeze it, then analyze it for allergens like milk and gluten, and display the results in a connected iPhone app.
It could be the first consumer device that could bring this type of testing to the home, but it won’t be cheap: $200 to start and then $25 for six bags, in which the food is ground up, then tested, then thrown away. But hey, peace of mind is priceless.
As for AI, it was showcased in Nosh, a $2,000 robotic cooking device that has 500 recipes on board, mixes ingredients and then uses AI and a camera to observe the food in real time and assess how the food preparation is going.
Unfortunately, they weren’t allowed to cook in the ballroom, so Nosh did what was necessary, but no one was eating his Asian cuisine.
Any way the wind blows
There were other interesting discoveries, such as the man who created GeoWind, a geodesic-type wind turbine that he insisted is much more efficient and stronger than a standard turbine. I loved his passion.
Then there was the Ascentiz team, who swooped on me as my own personal clique and quickly strapped me into their robotic walking assist device, which starts at $1,500.
I strutted around for a few minutes, waiting for the “Aha!” at which point I felt like I no longer needed to move my own legs, the robot could do it for me, but it never came (to be fair, it’s an “assistive” device, not a substitute for walking). Instead, I felt some tugging as I clumsily tried not to fall on my face and look even more ridiculous.
Finally, I got into Bodyfriend’s $20,000 robotic massage chair, which pulled on my arms and legs while aggressively massaging my back and butt.
At least I left the night feeling stretched and relaxed, and perhaps ready for the rest of CES 2026.
TechRadar will cover this year’s edition extensively CESand will bring you all the important announcements as they happen. Go to our CES 2026 Live News page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything we’ve seen.
You can also ask us a question about the show on our CES 2026 Live Q&A and we will do our best to answer it.
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