CES 2026: Part One (Monday)

January 6, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

The Format: Live, casual chat podcast from CES 2025 in Las Vegas, with rotating guests roasting tech announcements over drinks and tacos.
The Key Players:
- Host: Ed Zitron, snarky tech critic behind Better Offline, leading the banter.
- Regular Guests: Edward Ongueso Jr. (Tech Bubble newsletter, deadpan analyst); David Roth (Defector, witty non-tech observer adding absurd humor).
- Rotating Guests: Matt Bender (Mashable, CES vet); Scott Stein (CNET, gadget tester); Lisa Edgington (CNN); Robert Evans (Behind the Bastards, exoskeleton tester).
The Vibe: Fun, irreverent, and savage—educational takedowns laced with dark comedy, frustration at tech hype, and "end of an era" melancholy.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Edward Ongueso Jr., David Roth, Matt Bender**
2 (03:09) **NVIDIA Jensen Huang Keynote Recap**
3 (15:16) **Grok AI Scandals and Child Exploitation**
4 (25:25) **Lego CES Debut: Smart Bricks**
5 (34:39) **Smart Glasses and Wearables Deep Dive**
6 (65:43) **Pepcom/Unveiled Weird Tech Roundup**
7 (96:24) **Samsung Trifold Phone and TV Gimmicks**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Palazzo Hotel with an attached open bar where reporters, experts and various other characters bring you the stories from the floor.

In the first episode, Ed introduces you to Better Offline’s CES coverage, we talk about NVIDIA’s tepid press conference, smart glasses, LLMs on TV and Robert’s new exoskeleton. Featuring Ed Ongweso Jr. (The Tech Bubble Newsletter), David Roth (Defector), Scott Stein (CNET), Lisa Eadicicco (CNN) and Robert Evans (Behind The Bastards).

We’ll be here all week - one episode from Monday, then two from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and an epilogue from Saturday.

David Roth, Defector: https://bsky.app/profile/davidjroth.bsky.social

Defector: Defector.com

It’s Christmastown Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-christmastown/id1407429849

Ed Ongweso Jr.: https://bsky.app/profile/bigblackjacobin.bsky.social

The Tech Bubble Newsletter: https://thetechbubble.substack.com/

Matt Binder: https://bsky.app/profile/mattbinder.bsky.social

https://mashable.com/author/matt-binder

Scott Stein https://www.cnet.com/profiles/scottstein8/

Lisa Eadicicco https://www.cnn.com/profiles/lisa-eadicicco

Robert Evans: https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social

Donate in Sean-Paul’s honor: https://www.perc-epilepsy.org/

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

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