Source – “Alien: Romolus,” 20th Century
“Sweat, goosebumps. That’s your skin trying to cool your body down. So, watch out for those. Now, stay calm and stay quiet.” – Andy, “Alien: Romulus,” 20th Century, 2024
Walking the 2.5M sq ft of exhibit area (even with the best shoes), jostling with about 140,000 attendees, grabbing snacks/drinks when you can and doing it all in as quickly as possible is not what we would call healthy but that was CES 2025.
Amid all of the AI eye candy, there were a growing number of folks unveiling, hyping and showing how (their) technology was going to change/improve healthcare and personal wellness.
It’s becoming such a big thing we had to spend time going beyond this year’s smart TVs/home products, transportation, toys and stuff to check out systems, devices and apps that will improve people’s quality of life/living.

According to Futuresource Consulting, the health wearable device market grew 8.7 percent last year with smartwatches and sports watches being the primary growth driver delivering nearly $5lB this year.

It’s estimated that nearly 560M units were shipped last year and more than 645M will ship in 2028.
Constant Monitoring – Fitness wrist wear was initially developed for people who workout a lot and want to track their progress, but today’s devices and apps are beneficial for young and old, active or sedentary.
Constant Monito
There were more than an ample number of wearables at the show because they’re more than just a lifestyle statement, they’re an important tool for healthy living.
New devices from Samsung Garmin, Suunto, Huawei, Noise, Fitbit and a laundry list of other manufacturers showed off their newest devices.
But as is typical the big kid on the block – Apple – will unveil their new smartwatch and refreshed apps … later.
Doesn’t really matter. We’ll have to “upgrade” our daughter’s unit because … just because.
Backed by Bose, India’s Noise showed off its impressive new line of health, fitness and lifestyle wearables that provide a full range of personalized health monitoring and AI emotional insights for the wearer.
In addition, they, and a growing number of firms, are working on/testing solutions that will connect personal devices with families and healthcare institutions to monitor key vitals of young and old.

Noise, Apple and Samsung are working with medical/healthcare institutions on solutions that will be proactive rather than reactive.
During his opening remarks, Gary Shapiro, CEO of CTA, emphasized that AI-enabled diagnostics, remote monitoring systems and health tech are one of the fastest growing segments at the show.
Kinsey Fabizio, CTA president, added that the technology is not about replacing people but empowering and addressing he shortages of healthcare professionals.

Proactive – A growing number of smart device apps are becoming available that enable people to follow their health conditions and fitness progress. The next step will be to provide the data directly to your healthcare provider when there are changes or anomalies that need immediate attention.
Apple, Samsung and a growing number of personal device and app providers introduced AI-enabled technology that monitors a broad range of personal health areas including nutrition, sleep, body response and 24×7 monitoring key body vitals.
Many of them have been designed to allow elderly people to provide doctors and professionals with access to key functions/activities to enable members of our ageing population to live independently.
Sleep has never been one of our issues. We hit the bed, we go to sleep (instantly), and we wake up … so far.
But a lot of folks do find getting a relaxing night’s rest is tough and according to some of the CES exhibitors, there’s a lot going on while you’re in bed that can affect your quality of life.

Better Sleep – Healthcare professionals are finding there are ways to give people better quality sleep and understand and improve what the mind/body is doing when you close your eyes.
While some people use headphones to fall asleep, several show exhibitors introduced in-ear solutions including Tone and Ozlo.
The Tone Buds combine the calming sensation of listening to something as well as sleep tracking.
The in-ear EEG technology uses brain waves to monitor and improve the brain’s activity to help you sleep better and awaken refreshed.
Designed by former Bose engineers, Ozlo sleep buds fit flush in the ear in case you toss and turn during the night to track your sleep and identifies sounds/activities that interrupt/disrupt your sleep.

Almost every smartphone and fitness device has a sleep app; but Fitbit seemed to have a solution that touched all of the bases monitoring heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels while you sleep and gauge the quality and restorative value of your night’s rest.
The devices also measure your overnight body temperature, respiration and total time in bed so you can discuss sleep issues with your health care professionals more intelligently.

But if you’d like to check yourself out by yourself, there were a growing number of intelligent mirrors introductions to meet your needs.
There were what we’d call pure vanity units that would take a look at you while you stare in the mirror and analyze your skin tone/complexion and provide makeup and skin care recommendations.
Withings showcased the Omnia “work in progress” full body, 360-degree screen that collects data from a wide range of personal devices and your inputs. It gives an up-to-the-minute status report on how you’re doing – body composition, ECG, resting heart rate.
They’re even planning to add an AI voice assistant that will give you suggestions/hints to maintain and improve your health and that includes recommending you see your health care professional.
However, if you don’t like what you see and the feedback you get from the AI-enabled mirrors concerning your looks and personality, that requires more professional assistance.

Finger Monitor – The finger has quickly become another way for people to track their body’s activities and fitness. However, prices range from reasonable to ridiculous and a sticking point can be the device’s battery life.
We’re old enough to remember when rings were worn to either indicate marital status or were simply a gorgeous bling.
But at CES, there was a growing array of smart rings made of new, more durable materials; with added features, capabilities; added battery life and performance.
All you really needed was to understand “your” smart ring size … it isn’t that easy.
Along with its Apple Watch app, Dexcom unveiled a partnership with Oura smart ring that adds blood sugar monitoring to it’s extensive biometrics. Delivering added features and benefits, the company also launched a proprietary GenAI platform that provides personal tips on diet, exercise, sleep.
Noise’s new titanium Luna Ring tracks sleep, energy expended, stress and comes with an AI workout coach.
The AI-powered Luna Ring seems to have a lot to offer – titanium construction (naturally), tracks 70 body metrics and provides advanced features such as stress tracking, sleep monitoring and AI-driven insights/suggestions appropriate to whether you’re a male or female.
Movano Health’s Evie Ring delivers very good battery life and covers all of the usual feedback, but its AI tool provides the wearer with greater reassurance in its data tracking and recommendations.
EvieAI was trained on published material from more than 100,000 medical journals to improve the accuracy and thoroughness of responses.
To differentiate its Air ring, Ultrahuman noted that theirs was the lightest wearable weighing only 2.4 grams.
Together with its Untra Trace technology, it monitors sleep quality, movement, heart rate, skin temperature and glucose data to track and optimize a wearer’s overall well-being.
The Ultrahuman Ring AIR is the world’s lightest sleep-tracking wearable at just 2.4 grams, offering continuous monitoring of sleep quality, movement, heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature in an ultra-thin, comfortable design. Paired with the Ultrahuman M1, a real-time glucose monitoring platform, users receive personalized insights to optimize exercise, sleep, and nutrition based on glucose levels.
If you’re having trouble seeing all of the data flying around, not to worry … there was a large number of better looking, more useful smart eyewear (glasses) unveiled this year.

There were more than seven new smart glasses at the show, and we have to say they all looked better than the early Meta Ray-Bans which were almost guaranteed to get you slapped or punched.
Loomos smart glasses had an impressive set of features including a 16-megapixel camera to record up to 32GB of 4K video, open-ear speakers as well as lens/fit selection. They are supported by ChatGPT-40 to handle some data requests locally and connect to the web over your smartphone’s wi-fi or Bluetooth.
If you want to watch videos or movies during classes or meetings without anyone knowing, the Xreal smart glasses deliver a virtual 100-in screen and still let people think you’re paying attention.

Instead of capturing all of the stuff going on around you, Halliday has incorporated pro-active AI that listens to conversations (and records) while providing appropriate information on the lens.
The idea is to keep ideas and discussions on track as well as securely storing the information or, as one person testing the glasses noted, “they keep things on track, moving forwards and also CYA.”
Solos smart glasses were also AI-enabled units that have Open AI’s ChatGPT built in that can give you information and answers on demand in addition to listening to music and on-line content as well as the ability to take calls with a light touch to the frame.
And if you’re into smart, glamour eyewear, the new Chamelo Aura color-changing glasses may be just the ticket. Just tap the frame and cycle through the four lens options.
Nearly all of the new smart eyewear was designed to simply blend in and look completely natural on the user. They’re not bulky or geeky. They have … style.
The AI features we found most intriguing and helpful were the real-time translation that was being designed into many of the units.
Okay, you’re not going to use that capability every day, but just think about coming home after a tough day of having the glasses transcribe and store all of the information being thrown at you.
Then relax on your sofa and watch a fantastic movie in the country’s native language and have it instantly and accurately translated for you.
It could happen!

And while the SolidddVision smart glasses are far from trendsetters, they are gamechangers for people who have vision loss due to macular degeneration and low vision disorders.
While a little bulkier, they look like almost every pair of smart glasses you’ll see on folks, but they have a special set of lens arrays that delivers separate images to areas of the retina that aren’t damaged so the brain can “assemble” the image.
They may not be glasses you’d wear, but they’re a great answer for the estimated 20M Americans and 200M people around the globe with eye disorders.=
Cool … Damn Cool!

Source – 20th Century
CES had a growing wave of exhibitors that promoted great ideas for home and personal fitness including all of the devices/tools we can use at our local club.
In years past, we’ve bought at least one of the non-AI-enabled units for our home only to use it to gather dust or a place to hang clothes.
We understand, appreciate and participate a couple of hours a day five days a week not necessarily for the exercise but for the people connections and shared pain/success.
Sorry, but even an AI-enabled robot just won’t do.
However, we stumbled across one robotic aid at the show.

German Bionics introduced its new Apogee Ultra Robotic Exoskeleton that looked almost out of place in the show’s healthcare arena, and looking like it belonged more in a transportation/logistics event.
Strap it on and it helps the wearer handle even the heaviest tasks with ease.
It supposedly makes warehouse lifting almost a pleasure and if you want to take long walks or runs, it provides great protection to your back and legs.
But in our discussions with company executives, they said it’s especially useful for hospital personnel who have to lift and move incapacitated patients as well as for families who face the challenges of properly caring for family members who are bedridden or recuperating at home.

Now at first glance Bodyfriend’s massage chair might look like a cross between Transformers Bumblebee and Tony Stark’s Ironman night off lounge, but it is rather special.
The AI-enabled 733 Massage Chair provides safe, comfortable assisted sitting and standing assistance while its patented ROVO technology delivers multi-massage support for the entire body.
The company calls it “the most advanced healthcare robot” but at $20K, we’ll wait until we really get old and broken down.
Yes, again this year there were a number of AR/VR headgear that our two “heavy duty” gaming friends follow closely and use.
We admit they are great for immersive game play and specialized training while they are slowly being used in complex healthcare settings.
As much as the Meta folks work to convince us to strap on one of the isolation screens, we’ll resist the temptation and watch a good movie.

Source 20th Century
We’re really relieved when Rain tells us in Alien: Romulus, “It’s gone. It’s off of you. It’s off of you. It’s off. It’s off. It’s off.”
And, as long as we don’t have to deal with the facehugger, we’re going to explore the CES introductions that are going to impact the content creation, production and distribution industry.
But increasingly, we’re seeing the healthcare industry merge with consumer electronics/technology with firms like Galen Health, Syla, Bloom Surgical, Vivoo, Eli, Flowbeams, Abbott and other health industry providers working to bring professionals and services closer to regular you.
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Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. An internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields; he has an extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants.