I got blue lips and weak knees on my first day at CES 2026, and I couldn't be happier

I'm eating cold, fizzy, blue shaved ice, savoring the chill and surprisingly-sweet sugar-free raspberry blueness, wondering, as I often do at CES, "How did I get here?"

CES 2026 kicked off last night – and for the uninitiated who are quick to tell me I got my dates wrong, I'm talking about the firehose of product releases and carnival atmosphere that kicks off two days before the big show floors open. The event, known as CES Unveiled, serves as the official launch gathering for the media, and our first opportunity to take the temperature of the world's biggest tech event.

As I expected, there were a lot of tech companies showing off the "AI of this and the "AI of that." But sandwiched in between (and on top of) all that artificial intelligence were some truly unusual and entertaining devices and ideas.

Like the blue ice I ate from Iceplosion, which is making the world's first fizzy 'Slurpee'-style machine for the home. It'll cost you $700 and another $1 per syrup packet, but from where I stand, that's a small price to pay for semi-sweet iced goodness.

Image 1 of 3

Fake skiing and sharp edges

Perhaps emboldened by the saccarin, I then found myself 'skiing' across the cement floor, adjacent to the largely carpeted CES Unveiled ballroom.

Skwheel's Peak and Peak S are best described as giant, powered rollerblades that are designed to recreate the feeling of skiing but on virtually any surface (other than snow). Company reps explained how they created the Peak boots initially as a way to keep people 'skiing' during the off-season, but quickly found that people really enjoyed the feeling of skiing on roads and hills, and in parks.

Image 1 of 2

So, yes, against my better judgment, I strapped them on, grabbed the remote that allowed me to control speed and braking, and took off... at maybe three miles per hour, and doing my best to lean into imaginary slaloms. The Peak S can travel at up to 20mph and for distances of up to 37 miles, but I couldn't afford to take a spill and ruin the rest of my CES.

It's a fun take on mobility, but if you plan to spend between $990 and $1,490 for a Peak or Peak S, you'd better be serious about hard-surface skiing.

With my adrenaline cooking and my mouth still slightly blue from the slushie, I sauntered over to have a look at the C-200 Ultrasonic Chef's Knife. It's $300 worth of silently vibrating, slicing excitement.

I liked the look of the rechargeable blade, but was a little underwhelmed when I tried to use it to cut a tomato. It seems that even a piezo crystal-inflused knife vibrating at 30,000 times per second needs some finesse if you are to use it properly.

A home allergy lab

Nearby, I spotted a cluster of French-speaking technologists who were explaining their hand-sized device, Allergen Alert, which can smash up your food, squeeze it, and then test it for allergens like milk and gluten, and show the results on a connected iPhone app.

It might be the first consumer device that could bring such testing into the home, but it won't be cheap: $200 to start and then $25 for six pouches, in which the food gets mashed, then tested, and then discarded. But, hey, you can't put a price on peace of mind.

As for the AI, it was on display in Nosh, a $2,000 robotic cooking device that has 500 on-board recipes, mixes ingredients, and then uses AI and a camera to watch the food in real time and assess how meal prep is going.

Sadly, they weren't allowed to cook in the ballroom, so Nosh went through the motions, but no one was snacking on its Asian cuisine.

Any way the wind blows

There were other interesting discoveries, like the man who made GeoWind, a geodesic-like wind turbine that he insisted is far more efficient and rugged than a standard turbine. I loved his passion.

Then there was the Ascentiz team, who descended on me like my own personal cotiere, quickly strapping me into their robotic assistive walking device, which starts at $1,500.

I strutted around for a few minutes, waiting for the "Aha!" moment of feeling like I no longer needed to move my own legs, the robot could do it for me, but it never came (to be fair, it's an "assistive" device, not a walking replacement). Instead, I felt a few pulls as I awkwardly tried not to fall on my face and look even more ridiculous.

Finally, I squeezed myself into Bodyfriend's $20,000 robotic massage chair, which tugged on my arms and legs as it aggressively massaged my back and butt.

At least I left the evening feeling both stretched and relaxed, and perhaps ready for the rest of CES 2026.