The top tech of CES 2020

And so ends another CES. Here's our favorite tech from Day 4 -- and our overall picks for top tech of the show this year.

And the winner is…

By Allison Matyus

We see a lot of tech at CES. Much of it is exciting, some of it we've seen before, but it takes something really impressive to win our Top Tech of CES Awards. We've got a pick for each category of product we cover, but only one was worthy of our overall best in show award.

In terms of technology that really could impact people for the better, the BrainCo Dexus takes the cake as this year’s top tech winner. 

The prosthetic arm uses a brain-machine interface to allow the wearer to control the arm entirely with their own thoughts, just like a regular arm. We got to see the arm up close, and even shake someone’s hand, and were blown away by how seamlessly the limb was able to move. 

Another thing we applaud is its price: $10,000 for a prosthetic arm is much more affordable and accessible to more people who actually need it than the $40,000 that many other prostheses cost. 

One less thing to worry about when flying your drone

By Mathew Katz

Drones can be expensive, and some of my friends have told me nightmare tales of buying a new one only to fly it into some obstacle and ruin their investment. PowerVision has come up with a solution — kind of — by eliminating one major threat: Water. It’s demoing the new PowerEgg X waterproof drone by flying it back and forth under a man-made waterfall.

Along with a resistance to wetness, the PowerEgg X acts as a 4k handheld camera, making it perfect for all kinds of adventures.

Intel’s discrete graphics card

By Brandon Widder

Intel’s CES showcase included everything from A.I.-enhanced tracking to foldable laptops though, its biggest reveal may have happened behind closed doors. On Wednesday, the company gave Digital Trends and a handful of outlets a sneak peek at its long-rumored Xe graphics architecture, specifically its upcoming desktop graphics card, the Intel DG1.

Intel leveraged the processor, which the company ensures us is nowhere near finished, to play the popular free-to-play shooter Waframe. It didn’t blow us away — performance was choppy, even when running at a mild 30 frames per second at 1080p resolution — but Intel reminded us it’s only a “software development vehicle,” meant only to prepare developers for future Xe graphics solutions. In the future, we expect Intel to release more robust, capable pieces of Xe hardware more in line with what AMD and Nvidia currently produce. Until then, we’ll keep our eyes open.

What it’s like to hang out with a fake human

By Allison Matyus

Samsung’s Neon artificial humans have been a massive hit at CES this week, but we got to hang out with them, and they are so much more than just cool tech to look at. 

Neons bring us that much closer to a digital creation that not only understands and interacts with us in a meaningful and relatable way but is also able to share our lives with us. 

We walked around the Neon booth, and while at first glance the Neons just appear to be animated people, it’s a whole other level of awe once you understand that they are looking at you and making their own movements through machine learning. 

Where was Windows 10X?

By Mathew Katz

One of the biggest disappointments of CES was the complete absence of Windows 10X. The new Microsoft operating system, meant to work on dual-screen and touchscreen devices, was conspicuously missing from a show that featured a lot of them. As writer Arif Bacchus asks, what’s the deal?

Our team saw plenty of devices on the show floor that would have benefited from Windows 10X, from Dell’s Ori conceptual device to the Intel “Horseshoe Bend” foldable OLED PC. The only piece of hardware that had any kind of working version of Windows 10X was the ThinkPad X1 fold, which was behind a glass.

All of this means that we couldn’t get our hands on the new software, and we really have no idea how it’s going to work ahead of some of 2020’s biggest hardware releases.

Thanks for reading our daily CES coverage. We'll be back to our normal weekly schedule starting next Friday.