There is less than one week to go until I head out to Las Vegas for CES 2023. Trying to game what the central theme of a particular CES is before it happens will forever be a losing play, but I do have seven things I'm looking for this year:

1) Actually seeing and hearing things that actually need to be seen or heard. Most of us have had to believe vendors when they say "looks great" and "sounds great." We should know for sure about those televisions and speakers at CES 2023.

2) Metaverse everywhere. Metaverse is now the most used (and misused) term at CES, replacing Artificial Intelligence (AI), which had been the most used/misused for about six years.

3) Big name keynotes. AMD, BMW, John Deere, and Stellantis all have keynotes at CES 2023. In particular, I have high expectations for Dr. Lisa Su's keynote.

4) What's next from the auto manufacturers? It turns out that self-driving cars are harder than some thought. Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Toyota are still going to be on the show floor (out of inertia?)—what will their emphasis be this year?

5) Electrification and batteries. A quick look at the list of vendors on the show floor shows hundreds of vendors in this area.

6) Relative quiet from client hardware vendors as over two years of sales peaks and supply chain issues recede. There will still be updated products, but I see fewer game-changers.

7) Finally, the eternal question: what relatively unsung areas of technology will I see that interest me? At every CES, at least a few technologies come out of the blue with interesting applications, such as Samsung's Freestyle mobile projector in 2022, Tanvas in 2017, and the Griffin BreakSafe USB-C power connector in 2016.

What unexpected products and technologies will I see this year? Visit Mac Edition Radio in 2023 and find out!

John Mulhern III, Posted 12/28/2022