We live in an anti-social century. What to expect from DOGE. Contrarian ideas about AI in the Workplace. History of playing cards. Creation of the compact Disc. Mapping newsletters by author. What I learned from a good and orderly CES.
The Distilled Spirit
Current Dilemmas
😟 The Anti-Social Century (The Atlantic)
America has become a much lonelier place. Even lonelier than the days of Bowling Alone. The 1970s represented the peak social era. Since that point nearly every facet of American life has become less social. We build fewer social spaces on the whole. People spend far more time inside their much bigger homes. When they are home they spend more time alone than in common spaces. Frequency of entertaining is plummeting. AI could further exacerbate our loneliness as it can create less reason to talk to one another.
🐶 What to Expect from DOGE (Statecraft)
🤯 Five Contrarian Ideas about Workplace AI (
)This article explores five concepts about AI usage that ring very true to this expert. The ball has been moving so fast that most people are not quite seeing what the tools can do. Force multipliers like AI always favor experts as their advantages scale logarithmically over average workers. Much more behind the link.
Trivial Pursuits
🃏 A History of Playing Cards ()
Trace the history and development of playing cards from China through Egypt and then Europe. It will help you understand why suits sometimes differ between countries and regions. Also learn how the Ace of Spades really did lead to death typically through hanging. This is great table banter for your next card game.
💿 The Creation of the Compact Disc ()
Nearly half a century ago, L.F. Ottens invited Sony Chairman Norio Ohga to Eindhoven to visit Phillips and see a demonstration of the nascent optical videodisc technology. These two forged a partnership between Phillips and Sony to create what we know as the compact disc.
📰 The Newsletter Map ()
Links went out and created a newsletter chainmail by asking seven writers she loved to recommend the ones they loved. In the end she got a list of more than 50 writers to recommend more than 135 newsletters across any topic imaginable. If you are looking for a new niche, or a way to get into Substacks, this is it.
A Good and Orderly CES
I left last year's CES fairly underwhelmed. This year's CES did not feel much different. There were slightly more attendees but it felt atmospherically less busy. Paradise Road, usually jammed, was clear. Navigating between venues was unusually smooth, merely taking 45 minutes not the usual hour to get from Tech East to Tech West.
The most striking shift was in TVs. LG and Samsung focused on AI ecosystems rather than heavily promoting screens. Sony’s booth barely mentioned the Bravia. Instead the bulk of the immense space was given over to a PlayStation-centric cosplay activation. On the other hand TCL and Hisense were impressive. They had large format TVs — each of those groups featured a 115” set in 2025. Beyond the displays, each group had a booth full of other consumer technologies. They have really joined the big boys club.
Beyond the big boys, Exhibitor numbers rose, driven by smaller, mostly Chinese manufacturers. Their products, often impressive clones of innovations like LG’s StanbyME, highlight how quickly form factors are commoditized. The world will never be without PTZ webcams with cute bunny ears.
Smart glasses are fast becoming commodity. The technology to run a device light enough to sit on your face with enough processing and battery power to be effective is not a barrier. Smart glasses are a very powerful form — when done right you can wear them for extended periods and they can effectively see and hear what you see and hear. They could be the killer app for AI input in the coming years if these threads come to fruition.
Robotics made significant strides, from rolling robots cleaning floors and pools to bipedal models offering hands-on demos. Waymo and other robotaxi companies showcased the near future of autonomous transport. These advances, paired with emerging AI integrations, signal a leap toward automation of life.
Outside of smart glasses, AI subtly powered many products, such as Bird Buddy’s Petal camera, which uses machine learning to identify critters and invasive species. While generative AI wasn’t explicitly branded, its influence was evident in smarter devices and translation tools that bridged global communication gaps.
Overall, I left Las Vegas feeling slightly less parched and hungover than usual. It just was a sleepy CES, not up to the usual punch and panache. The magic will be back
Interesting Products that Might Actually Exist
Here are some of the products that caught my attention that seem to be likely to deliver before Christmas.
Splay: A really cool little portable projection system from Arovia. What makes it cool is that it is a pretty well-designed rear projection projector that includes a foldable screen. It is a battery-powered 25” screen you can easily fit in your bag. $1299, available today with a larger version on the way.
Droplet: Uses machine learning to instantly detect water leaks and understand your water usage. Install is brilliant — the device just clips onto your water line, no plumber required. It listens to the flow to find leaks and can detect specific faucets and toilets by sound signature.
Hexcal Studio: A beautiful desktop wire management and power distribution system. It is just a power and wiring solution — you can use it with just about anything. Includes space for transformers. It will make your desk feel like this.
Electric Salt Spoon: Exactly what the name says. It uses electricity to make your tongue sense salt in food. On sale for $100 in Japan already, the manufacturer is looking to expand internationally.
Bird Buddy Maker Wonder’s Petal camera: A small, wireless, solar-powered camera designed to be placed outside. It features an AI-powered Nature Intelligence that identifies critters, including identifying invasive species. They should appear on the market in the spring.
The Nuwa Pen: The smart pen you need if you are into smart pens. It records what you write and ships it to a smartphone app for further use. Has a pretty solid offline mode where it can record and send later. Lets you have the ease of use and knowledge retention of paper while effortlessly giving you the digital copy for posterity. The platform also integrates with many third-party applications you might use, making it a bit more useful.
The Torras Coolify: A personal air conditioner. It features a heat exchanger that gets cold so it is effective in just about any sort of heat. It was a bit heavy, and battery life is a thing but it really looks like it has some legs. Will be very useful in the right environment.
Speaking of products, one concept this CES reinforced for me is that brands never die—they just get bought in IP fire sales. This cycle of commoditization impacts consumer trust and market perception, as these revived brands often lack the quality or innovation of their original iterations, leaving buyers questioning the authenticity of what they’re purchasing. RCA is just a licensed logo, emblematic of how brands often persist as commoditized assets. There were no less than four versions of Kodak on the floor, each illustrating the fragmented afterlife of iconic names in the marketplace. The Radio Shack booth represents a shell company who bought the name not the venerable and long since shuttered retailer.
The Look
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