As part of the ongoing story, 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. We’re wrapping up coverage of the biggest tech show in the global stage.
The report highlights that as Engadget’s editor-in-chief Aaron Souppouris put it, “Lego could almost be seen as the antithesis of the typical CES product.”. 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.
In a fresh development, and in 2026, it’s getting much smarter. Regardless of trends, Lego has always persisted.
In a fresh development, 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. The system consists of a Smart Brick, Tags and Minifigures.
According to the latest update, 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. It’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.
In a fresh development, one of the first sets, with a smart Darth Vader Minifigure, one Smart Brick and one Smart Tag, is $70. Naturally, it’s a little pricier than basic Lego, but not out of the realm of being a special gift or birthday present.
In a fresh development, have a great weekend! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled newsletter next week.
As part of the ongoing story, cES 2026 proved the PC industry is hosed this year.
Industry observers note that samsung Galaxy Z TriFold hands-on: Flexing is believing.
According to the latest update, anker unveils a fresh lineup of chargers, docks and accessories at CES 2026.
According to the latest update, all the laptops that caught our eye at CES.
The report highlights that with no further ado, here are our winners.
According to the latest update, best smart home: IKEA Matter-compatible smart home.
According to the latest update, best mobile tech: Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold.
Industry observers note that most promising concept: Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable.
The report highlights that best emerging technology: IXI autofocus lenses.
Industry observers note that while the presentation was more a refresher than a barrage of fresh announcements, it was a pretty low-key presentation, with lots of AI chat. One disclosure 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. On Monday, which feels like an age ago, Jensen Huang shared the most recent from NVIDIA.
As part of the ongoing story, for both functions, you’ll need a 50-series GPU. You got one, right? When it comes to tech we all might use, we had to wait for a separate showcase, when NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 4.5 and G-Sync Pulsar.