CES is now live in Las Vegas despite the mass exodus of major participants, including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Lenovo, Amazon, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, General Motors and other brands.

This week, attendees and exhibitors started trickling into the electronics bash. While many of the biggest names in tech decided to host virtual presentations or forego CES altogether, some companies kept their in-person appearances, including Samsung, which presented its major keynote speech to kick off the electronic’s show on Tuesday. 

Read more: CES 2022—What it’s like to be here in person

Jan. 7, 2022

2:25 PM ET

Bluetooth brushes could one day save you on insurance

Bluetooth-connected toothbrushes that track how well people brush and recommend improvements via mobile apps have been around a few years. Now they’re getting priced closer to what the masses can afford—and someday could help people save money on dental insurance.

Procter & Gamble Co.’s Oral-B has had its iO series on the market for a few years, at a price of nearly $300 on the high end. But Oral-B was showcasing three new models at CES (virtually) as low as under $100. Rival Colgate-Palmolive Co. is going a step further with Hum, also being showcased virtually at CES. It’s priced at $24.99 at Walmart, likely to move to Amazon soon as well, and similarly aimed at monitoring how people brush.

Connected toothbrushes generate a lot of data. And one of the things Colgate is considering doing with it is sharing – entirely with user permission of course – with insurers, said Brette Ehrenpreis, senior brand manager for oral care new ventures at Colgate. People who brush more regularly or thoroughly could get discounts, similar to people who let car insurers monitor driving habits via mobile devices. 

— Jack Neff

1:30 PM ET

How a robot-maker made the most of CES

Doosan Robotics put on a show at CES and was one of the honored exhibitors that took home innovation prizes for its robots. The South Korea-based electronics, which announced it raised $33.7 million this week, showcased its NINA robotic camera, which the company will bring to market in March, according to Dayoung Kim, the deputy general manager of Doosan Robotics. The exhibit also included a robot-assisted drum solo. 

Kim said that Doosan would like to make deals with companies in the creative industries of advertising and film to show off the potential of its robots. “We are looking for some partners who are experts in entertainment, who can carry our product,” Kim said. “And then, also we are trying to find some new interesting projects we can work on, as a beta test.”

It was a successful week for Doosan, which had trouble getting to the event following a 10-hour flight delay. "We were quite lucky," Kim said. 

— Garett Sloane
 

1:15 PM ET

IBM Watson strikes deal with AWS even though it missed CES

IBM Watson Advertising announced a new data deal with Amazon Web Services Data Exchange to make weather information available to marketers.

IBM Watson was set to unveil the new ad tech partnership as part of this week’s CES, but the company stayed back from attending the Las Vegas show. Amazon also pulled out of CES, along with much of the ad world. The usual flurry of ad tech deal-making that takes place around CES this time of year has been light. On Friday, IBM Watson released information about its new partnership. The deal opens IBM Watson’s Weather Analytics to third-party marketing subscribers through Amazon’s data cloud service.

“This expanded relationship with AWS gives more businesses access to the weather data that can drive consumer behavior and purchasing,” Sheri Bachstein, CEO at The Weather Company and general manager of IBM Watson Advertising, said in the announcement. “We are committed to opening up our insights and technology to a broad set of organizations, and giving more companies access to what we know can be growth- and efficiency-driving data and tech.”

IBM Watson also released some of the data-points it had been hoping to highlight at CES, offering consumer insights around topics like the effects of weather on candy sales. White chocolate sales generally rise in colder months, but IBM Watson predicts surges in the Southwest U.S. when there is a heat index spike. White chocolates sales spike in the Northeast U.S. on muggy nights, IBM Watson’ data showed. IBM has said it will invest $1 billion in the next three years to expand its cloud and data ecosystem.

— Garett Sloane

Jan. 6, 2022

3:30 PM ET

McDonald’s quickly racks up loyalty customers

McDonald’s and Target talked up the power of loyalty programs in building customer relationships—and data—in the new online economy during a CES virtual panel on Thursday.

The fast-food and retail giants joined a discussion hosted by Michael Kassan, chairman and CEO of MediaLink, on how technology is changing the customer experience. Tariq Hassan, McDonald’s U.S. chief marketing and digital customer experience officer, said that the MyMcDonald’s program has more signups than Starbucks. McDonald’s only launched the service last year. Target Circle, a loyalty program around since 2019, allows Target to “develop more relevant and inclusive” experiences for consumers, said Cara Sylvester, Target's executive VP and chief marketing and digital officer.

“We launched our loyalty program not quite six months ago and we already have a user base that’s bigger than Starbucks,” Hassan said. (As of last fall, McDonald's announced it had more than 21 million MyMcDonald's sign-ups, while Starbucks boasted 24.8 million active rewards members in the U.S.)

The discussion was one of the virtual panels produced as part of CES, which had to put more content online after companies like MediaLink decided against sending representatives to Las Vegas. The surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the world led to a number of CES cancellations. Representatives from General Motors, Salesforce and Instacart also joined the panel remotely.

Kevin Mayer, the former TikTok CEO who is now chairman of DAZN Group, spoke with Kassan on Thursday, too. Mayer, who also cofounded Candle Media, talked about his recent investment in Will Smith’s media company.

—Garett Sloane

2:45 PM ET

Stagwell launches a new AR platform

Stagwell debuted its augmented reality platform, ARound, at CES, through an exhibition booth where attendees have been able to demo the technology. ARound was built to help venues and retailers create AR attractions for live events, bringing audiences together, at scale, where they can play, interact, and socialize together.

“Until now, AR has focused on the individual—but ARound recognizes that the best connections come from shared experiences that connect individuals to the world around them,” Josh Beatty, ARound founder and CEO, said in a statement. “Location-based AR is a relatively new and evolving space, and spatial computing represents the next major computing innovation—one that will focus less on the way we receive information and more on the way we connect with what is around us. While devices often cause distraction, ARound enables users to be more present at events, connecting people and places through shared technology.”

— Brian Bonilla

Jan. 5, 2022

3:45 PM ET

Paris Hilton a no-show at NFT panel

Paris Hilton did not attend a panel on Wednesday for which she was scheduled to discuss NFTs. Titled “NFT, WTF?!?!,” the session was also missing Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou. No explanation was given for their absences, though they come amid a slew of in-person cancellations due to the surging omicron variant. As of Monday (Jan. 3), CES was still promoting Hilton’s appearance, for which she was intended to discuss her recent entrance into the crypto space.

Hilton herself, whose Twitter name is currently ParisHilton.eth—a nod to the Ethereum blockchain—tweeted yesterday (Jan. 4) that she would be attending the panel.

The speakers who did show, Lesley Silverman of United Talent Agency and Erick Calderon of generative art platform Art Blocks, discussed the basics of NFTs, including the purpose of blockchain technology, safety on the Web3 internet and how creators earn royalties through smart contracts.

—Asa Hiken

1:05 PM ET

Chrysler to go all-electric by 2028

The future of the Chrysler brand was murky when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with France's PSA Group in 2021 to form Stellantis.

One year later, the vision is much sharper: The product-starved brand plans to debut its first battery-electric model by 2025 and will eliminate internal-combustion engines by 2028.

Stellantis is providing a glimpse of the road ahead with an electric crossover concept called the Chrysler Airflow being revealed Wednesday at CES. The company projects that the tech-laden crossover, which allows passengers to participate in video meetings and serves as an extension of their digital lifestyles, will have 350 to 400 miles of electric range. Read more from Automotive News.

— Vince Bond Jr., Automotive News

12:45 PM ET

Wunderman Thompson creates its own metaverse

Wunderman Thompson is debuting its own bespoke metaverse during a Thursday CES panel led by Emma Chiu, global director of Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. The virtual space was created in partnership with metaverse platform Odyssey to help clients and other brands learn more about the capabilities and consumer trends within the metaverse.

“Inspiration Kiosks” will also be placed throughout the metaverse to give users context about the experience as well as insights from the agency’s recent report on the metaverse. A short video was released prior to the panel that shows aspects of the metaverse including retail shops, virtual killer whales and more.

“Our ‘Into the Metaverse’ report offered a glimpse into how the metaverse is shaping our future, but we’re delighted to bring this to life through our branded experience,” Chiu said in a statement. “Here we can really start to show clients how our virtual and physical realities can converge and explore the elements of the metaverse that will change the way we do business.”

— Brian Bonilla

Jan. 4, 2022

3:45 PM ET

Consumers favor home innovation that is sustainable and purposeful, study finds

As companies unveil and discuss the future of innovation at CES 2022, findings from kitchen and laundry company Whirlpool Corporation suggest that sustainability must be top of mind for home goods marketers in order to court consumers. 

The survey, which interviewed 19,000 respondents across 10 countries, found that 51% of respondents choosing a new home appliance consider energy and water efficiency to be the most important feature. Several respondents desire innovations that use less energy (40% of respondents), have a lower carbon footprint (35%), save time (26%) and money (32%). 

The study also found that consumers are increasingly taking action to reduce their environmental impact, with two-thirds saying they reduce or reuse single-use plastics. Nearly half of the respondents want to increasingly reduce their consumption of single-use plastics and water in 2022.

— Asa Hiken

3:24 PM ET

CES panels removed from schedule after wave of cancellations

A slate of programs at CES were absent from Tuesday's schedule as the tech event continues to be upended by the uptick in coronavirus cases. Read more here. 

— Garett Sloane

10:30 AM ET

Best Buy rebrands ad business—without planned CES activations

To introduce its recently rebranded media business, Best Buy Ads, the electronics retailer had planned a series of activations at CES to introduce the rebranded offering. But given the rise in COVID cases and truncated conference, Best Buy cancelled its plans for the trade show, according to Frank Crowson, chief marketing officer. Now, the chain is plotting out where to show up instead and when to host such activations.

“Obviously you can expect to see us showing up in a lot of places and spaces,” Crowson said, noting a reliance on advertising like social media and business-to-business sites like LinkedIn to spread the word about Best Buy Ads.

The expanded media business, which Best Buy teased out with a new website during Advertising Week last year, was formerly known as Best Buy Media Network, a long-recognized provider of advertising opportunities for brands and one of the earliest pioneers in a trend that has now become mainstream for most retailers. Best Buy will continue to work with long-time partner Criteo.

Best Buy worked with Redscout and Merkle on the rebrand. While the former business also served brands that sell at Best Buy and nonendemic brands that do not, along with agencies, the new offering will “more proactively” serve such customers, the company said. Crowson declined to provide specifics around the number of advertisers Best Buy Media Network served and what the company is envisioning for Best Buy Ads.

While the old business had predominantly focused on on-site media and in-store offerings, the expanded entity will offer a range of ad opportunities across Best Buy and off-site channels.

Crowson also noted new product categories at Best Buy like health and fitness, outdoor living and electric transportation will open the door to more advertisers for the media network.

“So if you think about all the new products, all the new product categories and the ability to offer advertising opportunities to those partners is expanding,” he said.

—Adrianne Pasquarelli

Jan. 3, 2022

3:00 PM ET

Samsung kicks off CES with NFT TVs

Samsung Electronics has been among the companies committed to demonstrating products live at CES, and it already made a splash with an NFT platform for TVs. Samsung opened CES with a series of announcements around its smart TV software, including an integration with NFTs. Samsung said its NFT platform allows consumers to discover, buy and trade NFTs. The non-fungible tokens have been one of the hotter technologies from the past year, giving web 3.0 enthusiasts a way to collect digital artwork. Electronics companies have been coming up with new ways to display these virtual collectibles through smart screens.

— Garett Sloane

2:00 PM ET 

COVID testing swag

Got my first #CES2022 swag pic.twitter.com/rYp4nTWdJM

— Jonathan McKinney (@ucomsgeek) January 3, 2022

CES attendees are reporting that safety precautions are being taken seriously with plenty of masking and organizers distributing personal COVID-19 test kits.

Have to say, so far everyone has been very mask compliant. Happy to see #CES2022

— David is at CES (@polinchock) January 3, 2022

Last month, CES organizers promised to make personal tests available as part of increased precautions. On Monday, the first people on the ground were tweeting about the ramped up measures and showing off their complementary COVID-19 kits. Health tech also happens to be one of the hot themes at the electronics show. Abbott, the maker of the BinaxNOW test, received an innovation honor at this year’s CES.

— Garett Sloane