CES 2026 is now a couple of weeks behind us and after some time to rest and reflect, we can look back at the overall experience.
Hackster presence
A few us were in Las Vegas to represent Hackster, including myself and Will Donaldson as the on-camera faces at the event.
You likely saw Donaldson all over social media, posting exciting short videos providing quick glimpses at some of the most compelling technology on display. That was Donaldson’s first time at CES and though he may have been overwhelmed by the big city lights, he did an amazing job.
My focus was on written pieces and longer interview videos, which will appear on the Hackster Videos page as they get released. This was my fourth time at CES and I’ve seen how it has evolved over the past decade.
Like last year, Hackster hosted a VIP dinner for notable figures from several key companies and organizations across several industries. That was a great success and you should see the results of many of our dinner conversations in future content.
Trends
CES is fun for tech enthusiasts, but it is particularly useful as a tool to help people within the industry understand ongoing and emerging trends.
To that end, I wrote an article describing the biggest trends that I saw at CES this year. Those trends include AI, humanoid robots, and revolutionary — or potentially deceitful — new battery technology.
You shouldn’t think of those trends as representative of total production or investment. It isn’t like humanoid robots are going to be filling our cities next month. Those trends just indicate changes relative to previous years. As is always the case, there were also plenty of TVs and all of the usual consumer electronics products on display.
Tech deep dives
Some technology requires a bit more explanation to fully understand, which is why I chose a couple of technologies that I think our audience would like to know more about.
The first up is UV printing, which is brand new to the consumer market. Professional print shops have used UV printers for a long time, but outside of that industry, they’re almost unknown. In that deep dive, I explain how UV printers work, why you should care, and which manufacturers you need to pay attention to right now.
CES 2026 was also big for the burgeoning consumer UV laser machine market — something that has nothing to do with UV printing, other than wavelength. UV lasers join the plethora of other laser types on the consumer and prosumer markets, so I decided to break down all of the different kinds of laser machines you can get and which materials are ideal for each.
CES isn’t what it used to be
Even in the last nine years, I’ve noticed what feels like a decline in enthusiasm for CES. That was particularly true this year and I heard from many others who felt disappointed.
Why is that? What has changed and why are so many people feeling like CES isn’t what it used to be? I attempted to answer those questions.
The best of CES 2026
Moving past melancholic ruminations, there was still plenty to see at CES 2026 that was really cool. No CES retrospective would be complete without a “best of” list and I’ve got you covered on that front, too.
I did my best to select products that you won’t see on many other lists, because our readers have unique interests. You all don’t care about the Bose’s new headphones or whatever it is that most other tech outlets report on.
And I guarantee there is one item in particular on my list that you didn’t see anywhere else, but that will blow you away. It is something that I would have written off as silly hyperbole if I hadn’t experienced it for myself.
Moving ahead
The fun won’t be ending just because CES is over. We’ll be releasing reviews of some of the products we saw at CES and will be continuing to build relationships with the companies that were there.
What does that mean for our community? We don’t have specifics to share yet, but you may see some of those companies sponsoring Hackster contests and competitions in the future. Those are always fun and give you the chance to participate in the community and potentially win cool prizes!
