Future tech sample platter (CES 2026)
Some of the future is on sale, but it’s expensive
Every year, the future gets a little bit closer. Some of it arrives. A few bits and pieces fade from new and exciting to standard fare. But one yearly tradition in January has us looking just over the horizon at upcoming products that will make tomorrow’s present feel like the future: the Consumer Electronics Show, or simply CES.
They had a blip where a couple shows didn’t happen for “mysterious” reasons, but it’s back to being an annual event. And much as I try to always highlight real tech in the world right now with these emails, today we’re going to look at a few highlights of a promising near future that’s headed our way.
Sonic Fire Tech – Home Wildfire Defense System
Wildfire-prone regions have reason to be optimistic about defending their homes. This innovative system uses sound waves to stop the ignition process of embers so that wildfires don’t spread within its protective range. No water. No chemical sprays. Automated threat detection. If it works as well in practice, these could become a boon to anyone living in dry climates with a lot of underbrush.
This is made by Garmin, the GPS people from the days before your phone and/or car took care of directions for you. Now they’ve made a buoy that basically serves as a GPS and mobile command center for divers. Honestly, it’s a niche I never expected to learn existed, and stepping back, this seems like the perfect thing for a company like Garmin whose main business model got overtaken. Good for them!
As much as I’m not a fan of tossing a Y into a name kind of randomly (a 90s trend for names I don’t have any nostalgia for), the idea of automated decor gardening is cool. It’s basically a hybrid between a houseplant and a lamp. It has an automated assistant that regulates water and lightning, supposedly making it foolproof (challenge accepted!). Is the point of keeping plants the nurturing or the having greenery indoors? Gardyn Studio 2 argues for the latter.
Near and dear to my heart, board games have made their way onto the list this year. Base on Board is a mixed-reality tabletop game that blends the physical feel of a game board and dice with smart TV or smartphone displays, with commentary and even esports integration. If you’re better with dice than a bat and glove, this may be your way to enjoy an old-timey tradition in the most modern of formats.
Do you want to live like a tech billionaire from an old sci-fi movie? Is your home safe from kids and pets? Maybe a giant glass screen with awesome picture quality is the right accent for the middle of your room. This one seems a little more “over the horizon” than some of the other entries, but the hype is commensurately bigger. While buoys are practical and wildfire defenses potentially lifesaving, it’s hard to beat the pure sci-fi appeal of transparent displays.
Some of these products are already on the market. The rest may or may not make it there. But whether they’re nifty gadgets or pie-in-the-sky concepts that never join our daily life, CES reliably brings in cool stuff for us to talk about as we increasingly live life in a future at least somewhat inspired by classic SciFi writers and movie makers.
Note: Some of this stuff is super expensive! I wish we did affiliate sales and you guys were all avid divers, horrible gardeners, augmented reality addicts, and lived in wildfi–wait… no. If any of you live in wildfire areas, just stay safe.
