1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,240 Welcome to day one of our CES 2026 coverage. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,440 You can look forward to getting CES tech news five days in a row 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:12,680 instead of the regular three with special guests in the midweek because in 2026 what happens in Vegas ends up on the internet. 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,680 NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang took to the stage at CES in his trademark leather jacket 5 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,120 and basically said the future is robots and we're building all of it. 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,480 NVIDIA is building the robots and also the chips those robots run on 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,400 and also the software and also the simulation tools. 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:34,160 It's NVIDIA's all the way down. The headline is the Rubin platform, their next gen AI supercomputer 9 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:38,880 with six integrated chips, including the Vera CPU with 88 custom cores 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:44,080 and a Rubin GPU packing 336 billion transistors, which is more. 11 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:49,560 NVIDIA claims five times the performance of Blackwell and a 10x reduction in inference costs. 12 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,520 They also unveiled Alpameo, which I thought was an expensive mayonnaise brand, 13 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,160 but it's apparently the first reasoning AI for autonomous vehicles. 14 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,880 Jensen showed a car navigating San Francisco supposedly thinking through decisions in real time, 15 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,640 which is more than I can say I do. NVIDIA announced that they're open sourcing it, 16 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,320 which either means they're very confident or they want everyone else to do the bug testing. 17 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:15,920 Talked about lowering inference costs. But the real showstopper was when Star Wars BDX droids 18 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,160 walked on stage the exact same way they did last year. 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:24,080 But this time they were fully autonomous, trained on NVIDIA's Cosmos AI models. 20 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,880 Partners like Boston Dynamics, LG, and Caterpillar showed off robots running NVIDIA Silicon, 21 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,360 which sounds impressive until you realize NVIDIA's entire business model is now 22 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,400 we sell the shovels in every gold rush simultaneously. 23 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,760 Autonomous cars, NVIDIA chips, humanoid robots, NVIDIA chips. 24 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,880 AI data centers, believe it or not, NVIDIA chips. 25 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:47,880 I'm sure nothing can possibly go wrong with a single company building the infrastructure 26 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:53,560 that's propping up the entirety of the US economy. Love it or hate it though, at this point, one thing's for sure. 27 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,920 Jensen is building the cyberpunk dystopia that matches his cool leather jackets. 28 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,440 I guess that's Mad Max. One big desert. 29 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,640 There's a phone with a robot ARM now. Honor unveiled the robot phone, 30 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,680 a device with an actual three-axis gimbal camera that pops out of the back 31 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,880 like something out of a Transformers movie. The camera can rotate 360 degrees, 32 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:18,240 track your face autonomously, and basically turn your phone into a DJI Osmo 33 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,080 that also calls your mother, or doesn't call her, sorry. 34 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:26,880 Honor's calling it part of their $10 billion alpha plan for AI devices, which sounds like something 35 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,800 a Transformers villain would announce before Shia LaBeouf shoved the all-spark 36 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,240 into its shiny metal ass. No pricing yet and it launches at Mobile World Congress in March, 37 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,600 which isn't CES and we care about CES. But if you've ever thought, 38 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,480 my phone needs more moving parts, then this is your moment. 39 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,560 And if you want the exact opposite, clicks unveiled the communicator, 40 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,880 a full BlackBerry-style phone with a four-inch AMOLED display, minimalist UI, 41 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:54,120 physical QWERTY key-barred, headphone jack microSD slot, 42 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:59,000 and a fingerprint sensor in the space bar. It's 499, runs Android 16, 43 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,760 and is marketed as the best second phone on the planet, 44 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,320 because apparently one phone isn't enough anxiety. Here's some more. 45 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:10,000 Haining Toa'al showed off what they're calling the world's thinnest tablet. 46 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,800 So thin it makes the iPad Pro look like Kirby after inhaling an entire panda express. 47 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,080 TCL brought back Max Ink Mode on their NextPage Paper 70 Pro 48 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:22,440 to allow you to experience what it would be like if the page master designed a smartphone. 49 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:27,560 And Solver announced customizable magnetic haptic buttons for phones, allowing you to bind whatever action 50 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,680 or string of actions you want, like quickly launching your I'm Pooping at Work timer 51 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,760 and making a new entry in your How Much Money Do I Make While Pooping at Work spreadsheet. 52 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:41,920 I'm up to 85 bucks in 2026 already, baby! Samsung brought some of the literally biggest news at CES, 53 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,920 showing off their massive 130-inch R95H microRGB TV. 54 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,880 Unfortunately, they didn't provide pricing or availability deals for this wide boy, 55 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,440 so who knows when we'll get to see Linus try to plug it into his house. 56 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,640 But not only did Samsung unveil a big-ass TV, they also revealed a bright-ass TV 57 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:04,640 with their 77-inch QT OLED panel capable of reaching up to 4,500 nits. 58 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,560 Samsung touts it as the world's brightest self-emissive display. 59 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:16,000 Naturally, it's not tech in 2026 without AI in the mix, so Samsung also revealed some new TV AI-based software. 60 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,200 For example, AI Sound Controller Pro is gonna let you mess with the volume of background noise, 61 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,400 including music and crowds, to bride you with a personalized listening experience. 62 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,920 As a purist, I hate this. Not to be left out of the CES Fun, LG previewed their 2026 OLED TV line-up 63 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,120 featuring the new G6 that boasts a more advanced tandem OLED panel 64 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,720 with about 20% higher brightness and greatly reduced reflections, 65 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:43,440 and the C6 series, everyone's favorite, now upgraded to tandem OLED. 66 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:48,160 Big-ass TVs, bright-ass TVs, and even flat-ass TVs? 67 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,400 LG also showed off its ultra-thin wall-paper OLED design 68 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:56,660 with the LG OLED EVO W6, a wireless, nine-millimeter-thin OLED TV 69 00:04:56,660 --> 00:05:00,760 that sits flush to the wall in pairs with a separate zero-connect box. 70 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,760 Finally, Amazon said, we like that TV too, 71 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:08,760 and debuted the Ember Artline TV, a thin, art-focused, 4K lifestyle TV 72 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:12,960 with a matte screen, customizable frames, and Amazon Photos integration 73 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,120 that seems ready to directly compete with Samsung's frame TVs. 74 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,720 Thank God, because those, they stink, you know? I've said it. 75 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,760 Plus, Amazon is kicking off 2026 with a major redesign to Fire TV's interface 76 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,080 and mobile app that's meant to be cleaner, faster and easier to navigate. 77 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:32,100 Now, let me usher you to our sponsor. The quick bits are angry, 78 00:05:32,100 --> 00:05:35,520 they didn't get to go to Vegas with the crew, but they keep it professional. 79 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:40,040 They showed up today focused and on task. Bad Goliath Raleigh raised them right. 80 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,680 Western Digital's WD Blue and WD Black SSD branding 81 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:49,800 is officially dead with Sandisk replacing them with a unified Sandisk Optimus lineup. 82 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,960 The new range introduces three clear performance tiers, 83 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,660 Optimus, Optimus GX, and Optimus GX Pro 84 00:05:56,660 --> 00:06:00,520 to better differentiate mainstream gaming and high-end NVMe SSDs. 85 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,040 I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I demand to know if these drives 86 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,240 can transform into a truck or gorilla. If they can't, what are you even doing Sandisk? 87 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,440 More companies are reacting to rising RAM prices. 88 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:16,560 In an interview with Reuters, Samsung co-CEO, TM Rowe, said that this situation 89 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,120 is unprecedented and no company is immune to its impact. 90 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,880 Rowe didn't dismiss the possibility of increasing product prices, 91 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:29,600 noting that some effect was inevitable. Outside of CES, that inevitable impact is already here 92 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,760 with Taiwanese retailers already raising laptop prices 93 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:37,840 by roughly 15 to 20%, following ASUS's announcement of higher notebook 94 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:41,400 and gaming PC prices starting January 5th. That's tea. 95 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:48,000 To be clear, we're not just talking about ASUS. Laptops from Acer, HP, Dell, MSI, and Gigabyte 96 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,200 have all seen price increases. At least Taiwanese retailers aren't copying Corsair, 97 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,360 who sparked backlash by cancelling confirmed orders for DDR5 RAM kits 98 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,620 due to a pricing mistake and lack of stock, 99 00:06:59,620 --> 00:07:05,720 but then re-listed them at much higher prices before offering apology coupons that were already expired. 100 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:10,960 High performance RAM, terrible customer service. AI is everywhere at CES 2026 101 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,840 with a ton of stuff, leaving us asking, why is this even a thing? 102 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:20,360 First and almost certainly most importantly, Amazon's Alexa Plus finally went public in early access, 103 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,080 but AI's also showing up in Bosch coffee machines. 104 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,600 Samsung teased its wild AI OLED cassette player 105 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:32,640 and turntable, blissfully bringing AI into a scene, using the occupied way of people trying not to deal with AI. 106 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,240 GE unveiled its smartest fridge ever. 107 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,960 With a built-in barcode scanner for effortless grocery shopping, 108 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:44,640 and AI even snuck into an ice cube machine. We're reaching a rule 34-like moment here. 109 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,240 If something exists, there's a version of it with AI built in. 110 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,480 The shareholders are titillated. The PR nightmare continues for XAI 111 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,880 as multiple countries are now investigating the organization in the aftermath of GROC 112 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,280 generating sexually explicit images of women and minors. 113 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,240 France, Malaysia, and India have all either open investigations 114 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:07,800 or issued orders to the company after GROC was caught generating CSAM. 115 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:14,240 X's response, it allowed GROC to issue a user-prompted heartfelt apology from the GROC account, 116 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:18,740 which was somewhat undercut by the fact that it had also issued a user-prompted statement 117 00:08:18,740 --> 00:08:23,760 that it was absolutely not sorry, telling users that it's revolutionizing tech, 118 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,640 not babysitting sensitivities. India gave X 72 hours to fix it 119 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,480 or lose legal immunity from liability for user-generated content, 120 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,600 meaning X would be legally liable for all the content people post on the platform, 121 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:40,280 which could result in Elon Musk getting sued by Nintendo over all the Super Mario Brothers fan art 122 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:44,120 I posted back in high school. A lot of chemicals in my body back then. 123 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:48,000 Microsoft has quietly killed phone activation for Windows and Office, 124 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:53,120 forcing everyone into online-only activation tied to a Microsoft account. 125 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:59,240 We're done here, boys. The support site still lists phone activation as an option, 126 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,280 but if you call the number, you'll get a message saying support for product activation 127 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,840 has moved online, as YouTuber Ben Kleinberg discovered. So if you're trying to activate Windows 128 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:12,000 on an old machine without the internet, your offline alternative according to Microsoft 129 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,040 is now going online. 130 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,800 I know people say this every year, but this might actually be the year of the Linux desktop. 131 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,540 Man, all this talk of Linux and Vixx has me in a gambling mood. 132 00:09:23,540 --> 00:09:27,200 I'm hitting the casino. Don't forget to come back tomorrow for even more CES coverage. 133 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,520 That's right, five nights of tech news, baby. 134 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,040 Line them up.