CES 2024 is now behind us and while the GAMBIT team is still recovering our “Best Of Show” awards are here for your enjoyment. We managed to see a lot of amazing technology from the weird to the wonderful. We saw things that might actually change our lives for the better and new tech that hopes to be the next big trend.
As always, team GAMBIT loves to focus on the technology and companies that might not be the mainstream as evidenced by us spending most of our time in the trenches at booths smaller than the cubicle I’m writing this from. This list isn’t definitive and we most certainly missed a lot of great tech but we’ve managed to find some really cool things in various categories. With that said, let’s get onto this year’s CES award winners and be sure to check our socials for more!
NWM – ‘BEST IN AUDIO’ Winner
The Japananese featured technology at the Venetian Expo at CES 2024 had some of the most impressive tech on offer and NWM Audio Headphones (a subsidiary of NTT Sonority) was one of the most impressive at the whole show. This Japanese audio company already has a couple of great on-ear headphones that use PSZ technology to produce some amazing sound without blocking the world around you. As someone who hates headphones of all kinds (in-ear buds are painful and over-ear cups press down and cause sweat) these are the first pair of headphones that I actually enjoyed using.
The PSZ technology NWM uses is really impressive and allows the wearer to listen to their music or podcast while not blocking out the rest of the world. These units (NWM MBE001) are fantastic for use in a sports setting or even in an office setting where you still need to hear those around you. They feature almost no sound leakage so those even next to you will find it hard to even know you have music playing. This is the sort of audio technology that I really feel might just be the new standard, especially for those of us who really dislike wearing headphones.
But the real game-changer is that NWM has taken their PSZ technology and implemented them into a set of over-ear headphones that not only sound great but look like nothing else on the market in terms of styling. The headphones feel like you aren’t wearing anything at all as nothing is actually touching your head with a completely open design that uses their PSZ tech to let you hear the world while listening to you music without annoying others. It’s a slick design that will turn heads and being over-ear, NWM has managed to give them that extra bass kick that music lovers will enjoy.
Blacklyte – ‘BEST IN GAMING’ Winner
I hate gaming chairs. They are too large and too stiff for most people, and a lot of the time they are worse on your back than most any normal office chair. Add in the fact that most gaming chairs are now made extremely cheaply and seem to have been designed by a 13-year-old Fortnite player. I was forced to ditch my huge DX Racer chair for a cheap mesh office chair because I downsized my place and because I needed something that respected my back and was breathable.
So, I really never thought that I would ever return to the world of gaming chairs. Then Blacklyte slid into our inbox and asked us to check them out at CES 2024. We are glad we did because the Blacklyte line of gaming chairs are some of the nicest looking and most comfortable chairs that I have ever used. The materials used are super nice without any hint of cheapness that most other chairs, even in the same price range use (none of that pleather here).
Blacklyte’s Athena chair is upholstered in premium CottonFlax microfibre fabric, a material that’s tougher than most chairs while still feeling super nice. There is also a focus on lumbar support and clean styling making the Athena line of chairs a perfect fit for your game room or office. And boy can this thing lean back! But if that wasn’t enough, Blacklyte showed off their upcoming Atlas desk that comes with some awesome features.
The Atlas features RGB panels along the front and corners that you can customize to your favorite games and show things such as your health bar right on your desk. It also comes with a magnetic mat and these ingenious magnetic cord clips to keep your setup nice and clean. And if all that wasn’t cool enough the Atlas comes built-in with a standing system that’s incredibly smooth and makes smart use of space to mounting all sorts of extras. Blacklyte might be a relatively new startup, they are coming in hard with some impressive offerings for 2024.
Wo-We – ‘GROWTH AWARD’ Winner
Wo-We has featured on the site a number of times in 2023 as we jumped into the mini-PC space. Their offerings were small in 2023 with a modest mini-PC product line that focused on affordability and targeted towards those who needed a second PC and those tight on space. They did offer a couple of more gaming-centric machines that offer some impressive power for price, but their small form-factor meant real gaming wasn’t going to be a possibility.
Things are about to change in 2024 as Wo-We announced a new line of mini-PCs that are getting a new custom styling in all metal cases with dual Lan and Display Port support alongside a new media center focused machine with a sleek white and wood-grain design. But the biggest announcements come in the form of a new eGPU and dedicated portable gaming unit that looks to tap into the Steam Deck competitor segment and earning the ‘GROWTH AWARD’ winner.
The new eGPU is due out later this year alongside the new gaming console which really helps to expand the Wo-We range. Wo-We is keeping tight-lipped about the final specs these devices as they are in final stages of development, but the new line should be a huge step in growing the brand and expanding beyond the office focus they have had over the last couple of years. We just hope we can get our hands on a couple of these devices this coming year, especially if the eGPU is using the new RX 7600M chip inside and the portable console has the new Ryzen 7 8840U!
Shift Robotics – ‘LIFESTYLE AWARD’ Winner
The future is motion and the team at Shift Robotics seems to understand this better than anyone. The Shift Moonwalkers are impressive roller skate looking devices that you attach over your shoes and allow you to turn a walk into a run with the included tech. These AI powered devices understand the way you walk and adapt to allow you to move at a near run but stop on a dime. We got hands-on time with the Moonwalkers and after only a couple only a minutes we had it down and were moving around the test area at a good clip.
And this wasn’t some designed track to highlight the Moonwalkers. We were right in the parking lot that was in desperate need of a paving and fixing. No matter the condition we were walking fast and leaving everyone in the dust. After spending nearly 8-hours on our feet we wished we had these during CES and every convention that we go to. It was impressive how Shift managed to make walking fun again, especially after our feet were falling off after so much walking at CES.
We also got a sneak-peak at Shift’s second generation Moonwalkers X that are a lot more stylish, lighter, and use less wheels to get you around. There is some trade off as the new shoes are designed for flat and smooth surfaces unlike the generation one counterparts. But this is intentional as this new generation is designed for factory and warehouse workers who Shift said appreciated the Moonwalkers as they increased productivity while making the work easier and moving around a large warehouse quicker.
Shiftall HaritoraX Wireless R – ‘BEST IN VR’ Award
Panasonic and their featured partners are always good for showing off really interesting things at CES every single year and 2024 was no different. From car technology to the mutalk2, an over-the-mouth facial soundproof microphone that allows a user to speak in VR and on call without bothering those around you, Panasonic and their friends at Shiftall always brings the weird alongside the cool.
This year they featured a poor man that looked to be trapped in a VRChat hellscape that he could not escape from no matter how hard he danced. He was forced to move and speak as a female anime character while we all walked past wishing we could help free him. But when the Panasonic booth people say dance, you are going to dance your little anime heart out.
Thankfully the technology in use, while looking like a dominatrixes wet dream, was pretty cool and allowed for full body VR in a small area without any wires, something that could be huge for those looking to get into avatar streaming on places like Twitch. The Shiftall HaritoraX Wireless R system is small and compact allowing for full-body tracking using next generation sensors that automatically correct errors in real time.
In a lot of ways VR feels like old news considering it launched at CES so many years ago, but I think we are just know seeing its implementation into the everyday thanks to the evolution of the Meta Quest, SteamVR and PSVR systems, among others. And with Hololive streaming taking over Twitch and YouTube, VR is finally seeing those early strides come to market at affordable prices.
LG Transparent OLED TV – ‘BEST NEW TECH’ Winner
There was a lot of buzz about transparent displays at CES this year and a number of companies, both large and small, brought their technology to the show. While some were showing smaller screens with different tech and others showing essentially proof-of-concepts with micro screens, LG was debuting their new 4K line of displays that are just about ready for market and look incredible.
Transparent displays are the sort of technology that work amazing in advertising, but the idea of bringing them home, at least outside of very rich people who love to show off new tech, feels out of reach for a number of reasons. Sure, the cost is going to be high but the real issue is the display itself. When you make something transparent you are going to lose most of is not all the black range, something that you don’t want when watching content like movies and gaming.
LG understands this and so their displays come with a retractable black screen that can raise or lower depending on the content you are watching. If you need the blacks then the screen comes down making for a pretty good 4K viewing experience. But it really shines with dedicated content as LG had demos showing the black screen raising and lowering during a given scene changing the entire look and feel of the performance shown.
I don’t know if transparent TV screens are going to be the future as the feel pretty Blade Runner and require content to be developed for them to really shine. Advertisers are going to love this technology but the home market might be another thing entirely. Will transparent TV sets be the new OLED or will they fall into the realm of 3D and curved home TV sets?
Sharge – ‘BEST IN CHARGING’ Winner
It simply wouldn’t be CES without a ton of companies showing off their new charging devices and fancy battery packs. It’s almost a prerequisite that if you have a booth at CES you have to be showing off some sort of charging gadget. Sharge is no different but what they offered up is very different and unique in the space.
While nearly all other companies have a basic brick design with some cables maybe built-in, Sharge ditches the normal and embraces the fun, a fun that sometimes feels lost when corporate people are the ones designing a product to sell the most units. Sharge offers a number of fun charging options that range from movie licensed tie-ins to their Mac Classic-inspired line of power bricks known as the Retro 67 that feature a screen that shows you how many watts is being used. They also featured a fun charging brick they called the Capsule Gravity that feels very 90s cyberpunk in look and feel.
Instead of simply being a charger the Capsule Gravity has a built-in clock function that imitates your old Sony alarm clock that you kept by your bed as a kid. The device is so neat that it’s become my go-to desk clock! But the gravity function comes into play when you flip the device over and it automatically turns into a stopwatch. Add in other neat functions like a pomodoro timer for work and you have the coolest 5,000mah battery bank around. Is it practical? Surprisingly, yes. Is it weird and a lot of fun? Absolutely!
Barsys – ‘BEST IN HOME’ Award
Home tech always gets pretty interesting at CES. We’ve had grill cleaning robots, weird toothbrushes that do something or other, emotional support robot seals, and lots more. This year there was even a weird Kickstarter backed dryer and a neat all-in-one washer dryer unit from a major company. But the one that stuck out to us most was the Barsys 360 system that perfectly creates you a mixed drink with only what you have at home.
There have been drink systems and apps before but the Barsys 360 is something special. It works with what you have at hand in your home or at you home bar. The device features six reservoirs where you can put in whatever drink that you have on hand. Fill only a few or fill all six and the app will then tell you what drinks the Barsys 360 can make for you and mix them perfectly.
No longer do you have to guess what drinks you can make at that last second party, or even if you can mix them correctly. It’s a fun system that managed to impress by making a couple of really great quality drinks for us during the demo. Making having a drink a fun adventure is sure to make the next party a lot more fun and make you look like a master mixologist to your friends. The $475 price tag is also nice as we guessed it would be $1,000 among ourselves as the demo happened. Not a bad price, especially when you’re saving on all those drinks at the bar.
One by One Music – ‘WEIRDEST TECH’ Award
We can’t have a list without featuring something really weird and out there, and the One by One Music system fits that bill perfectly. This little startup is all about music, music for dogs. The One by One Music team brought a lot of data with them from two years of study showing that their music system makes dogs happier, especially when left home alone for long periods of time.
The team have developed an AI-driven composition system that creates music for dogs. Depending on your breed the system will create a playlist that best fits them to help keep their anxiety low. We aren’t sure about how any of this works, even with the data that they provided, but we know that the pet sector is one that is growing and this will be something someone out there wants for their pup.
It’s the sort of weird that we like and the team hopes to expand their AI music creation system to help with other animals, especially cows and other farm animals. It’s available now which is nice, but we aren’t thrilled about the subscription model that they are using for something we still aren’t sold on, but everyone has to make a buck to grow. At least you can check out a sample for yourself on their website.
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