World News: Talking Tech: It's CES season. These are the gadgets catching my attention.

Thursday, January 5

Happy New Year, Talking Tech readers! It's 2023. As a fan of "The Jetsons" cartoon, I fully expected flying cars would become as commonplace as smartphones. Ah, well.

To paraphrase "Anchorman"'s Ron Burgundy, January is kind of a big deal for the tech industry. CES is officially underway Thursday.

(Side note: I've personally attended CES one time. Picture walking into a really cool Best Buy, but it's also surrounded by slot machines and blackjack tables. Sensory overload!)

Even though I'm watching from afar, there are still a couple of gadgets catching my eye from the trade show this week.

An oven run by AI? Samsung's Bespoke AI Oven was designed for home chefs to perfect their culinary skills. The oven features an internal camera so you can view what's cooking from your phone (soon we'll be able to stream our pot roasts on Twitch). The oven will also send you warnings if your dish is about to burn.

Project Leonardo. This is Sony's new PlayStation controller designed with accessibility in mind. It's highly customizable to help players with disabilities enjoy video games more easily. All the components are swappable, so players can style the controller to fit their needs.

A device for scanning your pee. Health tech company Withings unveiled the U-Scan, a hands-free home urine lab that sits inside your toilet, scans your urine when it's time to go, and provides important health information. The sensor supports cartridges that can monitor nutrition and dehydration or menstrual cycles.

An exercise bike that charges your laptop. Need to upgrade from your standing desk? Try Acer's bike desk, called the eKinect BD 3. When you pedal, the desk converts energy to charge your phone, laptop or other device. It includes an app measuring how many calories you burned and watts of energy generated.

What else happened in tech

Playlist in a bottle? Yeah. Check out the latest feature from Spotify.

Own a MacBook with butterfly keyboard? You may get money from a settlement.

Replacing your iPhone battery will soon cost more. If you need a new battery, get it before March 1.

More tech layoffs. Salesforce to cut 10% of its workforce.

Thursday tech tip

I hope your holidays were filled with fun tech gadgets. As much fun as it is to unwrap a new phone, smart speaker or other gadget, it's important to make sure you're using it safely and securely. Take these privacy and security steps to protect yourself.