With CES happening just a few days after the new year, it’s a good marker of what the year in tech will be like (or what we hope will be). And one of the areas we love seeing updates in is the smart home space.
We had to take note of the few cool and occasionally unusual smart home appliances that made their way to the CES 2023 show floor.
Here’s a quick rundown of them:
A cutting board with a display
The Blok is a large cutting board with a digital display and docking station. You can watch live cooking classes taught by professional chefs. The classes should be around 30 minutes or less, and you’ll be able to interact with other participants.
Creators Alissa and Tony Frick envision family and friends taking virtual classes together a few times a month with the Blok. They plan to sell this for around USD 299 or 399, with an app subscription costing USD 9.99 a month.
GE’s smart mixer for your smart home
This new smart mixer from GE is something we want in our smart home ASAP. The GE Profile Mixer can weigh the ingredients as you work. It has an auto sensor that can monitor changes in texture and viscosity in what you add and adjust its speed accordingly.
The GE Profile can even shut itself off automatically to prevent overmixing. And if you have your hands full, you don’t even need them to control this mixer because it supports voice control. The GE Profile will retail for USD 999.95.
Surveil your cooking
Samsung’s not the first to do this, but we like having options. The new Samsung Bespoke AI Oven has a camera inside that can warn you when your food is about to burn. As a smart home appliance, it also optimizes the cooking settings to monitor what’s being cooked in the oven properly.
It ties in with other Samsung technologies like Samsung Health. So if you’re maintaining a specific diet or workout plan, it can check your stats and help you plan meals. And as part of Samsung’s Bespoke line, you can get it to match your other Samsung appliances.
Alexa-supported toilet in your smart home
I don’t like touching toilets, so I appreciate the hands-free operation this premium Kohler Numi 2.0 offers. It has high-end features, including Alexa support (for said hands-free operation), a bidet, UV cleaning, a heated seat, and a lid that automatically opens and closes. Of course, that sets you back a whopping USD 11,000.
Withing’s urine analyzer
This borders on personal health tech, but it’s still something you may find in a smart home. The Withings U-Scan is a Wi-Fi-connected urine analyzer sitting at the edge of your toilet seat like a scent block.
It catches a small pee sample to give information on your nutrition, menstrual cycle, etc. It uses different cartridges to determine these data. I’m not sure how the cleanup or setup will be, but it is Withings’ first attempt at body-fluid analysis, and we’re a bit intrigued by it.
These products barely skim the surface, but they’re the ones we’re intrigued with the most. We’re still putting together some other notable and standout tech from CES 2023, so continue checking out our stories from the show! And let us know what you love to see more!