GeneralThe Morning After: The best of CES 2026The best things after almost a week in Las Vegas.Mat SmithBureau Chief, UKUpdatedFri, January 9, 2026 at 7:44 PM UTCWe’re wrapping up coverage of the biggest tech show in the world.CES 2026 is almost over, and while we have more stories and wrap-ups to come, here are the most interesting products we’ve spotted, written about and critiqued/praised.That includes our picks for the best of CES.
We gave out 15 awards as well as our best of show, and you might be surprised by some of our picks — I know I was.Read on for some of the best things to come out of Las Vegas this week, but first up, our Best of the Best winner, which was Lego Smart Play.As Engadget’s editor-in-chief Aaron Souppouris put it, “Lego could almost be seen as the antithesis of the typical CES product.”Regardless of trends, Lego has always persisted.And in 2026, it’s getting much smarter.The system consists of a Smart Brick, Tags and Minifigures.
They’re packed with modern technology, so they can respond to how you play with them or the sets you build.The Smart Brick has a 4.1mm ASIC chip, which Lego says is smaller than a standard Lego stud.It senses things like motion, orientation and magnetic fields, but also has a tiny built-in speaker, which produces audio “tied to live play actions,” not just canned clips.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt’s hard to explain it in only a few words (we’ve got a deep-dive hands-on right here), but what immediately drew me in was the lack of smartphone pairing and screens.
The ability of each part to detect and interact with others can lead to some ridiculous setups, whether it’s ducks and police officers or a helicopter or an X-Wing.Naturally, it’s a little pricier than basic Lego, but not out of the realm of being a special gift or birthday present.One of the first sets, with a smart Darth Vader Minifigure, one Smart Brick and one Smart Tag, is $70.We'll be back to our regularly scheduled newsletter next week.Have a great weekend!— Mat SmithThe other big stories (and deals) this morning19 CES gadgets you can buy right nowThe weirdest tech we’ve seen at CESCES 2026 proved the PC industry is hosed this yearSamsung Galaxy Z TriFold hands-on: Flexing is believingAnker unveils a new lineup of chargers, docks and accessories at CES 2026All the laptops that caught our eye at CES All the winners at CES 2026Wait, IKEA?With no further ado, here are our winners.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBest robot: Switchbot Onero H1Best accessibility tech: WheelMoveBest TV: LG’s Wallpaper TVBest AI hardware: Subtle VoicebudsBest smart home: IKEA Matter-compatible smart homeBest home theater: Samsung HW-QS90HBest audio: Shokz OpenFit ProBest outdoor tech: Tone Outdoors T1Best toy: Lego Smart PlayBest PC or laptop: Dell XPS 14 + 16Best health tech: Eyebot eye test boothBest gaming tech: ASUS ROG Zephyrus DuoBest mobile tech: Samsung Galaxy Z TriFoldMost promising concept: Lenovo Legion Pro RollableBest emerging technology: IXI autofocus lensesEverything NVIDIA announced at CES 2026NVIDIA has started production of its Vera Rubin supercomputer.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn Monday, which feels like an age ago, Jensen Huang shared the latest from NVIDIA.
While the presentation was more a refresher than a barrage of new announcements, it was a pretty low-key presentation, with lots of AI chat.One announcement was Alpamayo, a family of open-source reasoning models designed to guide autonomous vehicles through difficult driving situations.The centerpiece is Alpamayo 1, a 10-billion-parameter chain-of-thought system NVIDIA says can drive more like a human.When it comes to tech we all might , we had to wait for a separate event, when NVIDIA announced DLSS 4.5 and G-Sync Pulsar.
For both features, you’ll need a 50-series GPU.You got one, right?Continue reading.
