CES 2026 live: Wild tech, weird gadgets, and the laptops everyone’s talking about
It’s that time once again: CES 2026 is here.
Think of CES like a harbinger of what’s next in technology. Every January, the industry descends upon Las Vegas to pull back the curtain on the products that will power the upcoming year. Not only will you gawk at massive walls of bleeding-edge OLED monitors and oddball demoes of all sorts of PC gear, but CES often serves as the grand reveal for new generations of processors — and the army of laptops you’ll find them inside.
This year is no different — but what is different is that for CES 2026, PCWorld’s crack team of PC experts will be blogging about the gaudy sights and fresh new tech goodies live as we see them. The show proper kicks off Tuesday, January 6, but many of the biggest blockbuster keynotes will take event on Monday, and CES Unveiled will even showcase a horde of goodies Sunday night. It’s a packed week, y’all — and the PCWorld team is here and primed to cover all of it.
Check out our early primers on what we expect from major PC chipmakers and the laptops of CES 2026, then bookmark this page and check back throughout the week for the hottest announcements and wildest sights from the show. Here’s hoping we don’t get too unhinged as the announcements, interviews, and briefings bleed into a week-long haze.
It’s Vegas baby. Let’s get weird! ~Brad Chacos
Table of Contents
Dephy Sidekick: Like Deus Ex, but without implants
You gotta love the wild stuff at CES Unveiled. Like kinda-sorta-bionic ankles!
The Dephy Sidekick straps onto your legs and claims to provide a boost to your walking efficiency, easing the strain on your overused calves. Dubbed the world’s first ankle wearable, Dephy says the Sidekick “is lightweight, intuitive, and designed to help you move farther, faster, and with less effort.” And it kinda makes you look like Robocop from the knee down!
Fortunately, Lifehacker’s Beth Skwarecki (who writes awesome fitness and health articles) had a pair strapped on when I visited the booth, so you can see how it looks IRL. They’re chonky, but like the Cyber Fidget, in a good way — kinda like gunslinger holsters for your calves.
It’s hard to get a bead on how well the Sidekick sidekicks without trying them out ourselves, but becoming a cyborg cross-country runner doesn’t come cheap. Even though Dephy explicitly states this is lifestyle device, “not a medical device,” the Starter Pack costs a cool $4,500. The rep I spoke to suggested it could provide a lot of relief to people with walking pains and troubles. I suggest staying tuned for reviews, because if the Sidekick pulls off what it claims (and another rep pointed out that Dephy is part of Nike’s Project Amplify), improving your quality of life may very well be worth the cash.
The Cyber Fidget is tailor-made for grown up nerds
I’m tooling around CES Unveiled, where you’ll find row after row of vendors hawking their wares and showing off rad product demos. Very few of these have anything to do with PCs — but you’ll always find some deeply interesting gadgets to poke and prod.
Case in point: The Cyber Fidget.
I was lured in by the killer ’80s retro vibes, but found myself ensnared by the sheer variety of buttons to poke and programs to try. You can even make your own wallpaper in a browser by connecting the Cyber Fidget to a computer! It’s satisfyingly chunky, and grown up nerds (like yours truly) can tinker with the code in this puppy too.
The Cyber Fidget website describes it as “A pocket-sized, machined-aluminum gadget you can fidget with and program. Wi-Fi + Bluetooth, OLED display, LEDs, speaker, mic, slider, buttons, and micro‑SD — built on ESP32.” That means it’s “open and hackable.” Woo!
I’m thinking “Sign me up!” as I read that, especially after holding it in my own two hands. If you’re thinking the same, you’ll be able to back the Cyber Fidget on Kickstarter soon.
Ozlo Sleepbuds: The night-time earbuds you’ve been dreaming of
Why wait to meet with a manufacturer in person if they’ll send you their hardware two weeks before the show? Ozlo offered to send me their Sleepbuds in advance of our CES meeting, and OMFG, these slumber-time earbuds are impressive.
The Ozlo Sleepbuds may look like regular earbuds, but they’re so low-profile, they’re comfortable enough to wear all night as a side sleeper. The idea is to stream a “masking” sound (think white noise) to drown out much more disruptive sounds like snoring or city ruckus.
Jon Phillips/Foundry
I scoffed before trying them, but they perform as promised during a recent San Francisco rain-and-wind storm that was battering my windows and skylights. Slept like a baby. On my side. As I always do.
You can also stream your favorite content (podcasts, music, whatever) and the Sleepbuds’ sensors will detect when you’ve fallen asleep, and then switch to your masking sound. The hardware does not use active noise cancellation, but I found it’s so good at noise suppression, I had to lower the volume to hear my dog’s “I need to go out!” whimpers. You can buy them now, on-sale, for $274. — Jon Phillips
White Castle²
On the Vegas strip, White Castle is literally a White Castle. Back to tech shortly but 🤯 — Brad Chacos
Jensen welcomes the crowds to Las Vegas
CES 2026 hasn’t kicked off yet, but the signs are everywhere — literally. Not gonna lie, seeing a 100 foot-tall digital display of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang smiling benevolently down at the crowds from a gigantic techno-pedestal, in front of high-end Forum Shops dedicated to former Roman emperor Julius Caesar, feels a bit on the nose.
Don’t be surprised if AI is the major theme of the show yet again, and Huang certainly is the kingmaker in that field. Look for Nvidia’s livestream keynote to go live at 1p.m. Pacific Time on January 5. –Brad Chacos
