Welcome to your tech-wonderful Wednesday friend! You know we always start our party with a little fun fact. According to the February 2017 issue of the Archives of Surgery, if a surgeon grew up playing video games, it had a definite effect in the operating room. Did they make … A.) 6% fewer mistakes, B.) 37% fewer mistakes, C.) 17% more mistakes or D.) 41% more mistakes? Answer’s at the end!

✅ Reply. I need you to reply to this email right now, please. Why? I changed email servers, and your email provider says I’m junk email. (The nerve, right?!) The best way to tell their algorithms this newsletter isn’t junk is for you to reply to this email. Thank you, and on to the tech news we go! — Kim

I’m always astounded by the number of people who go to the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This year, over 130,000 attendees and 4,000 exhibitors are descending upon the city. CES used to be the least profitable week in Vegas for casinos since no one was gambling … but it was still the biggest week for prostitution. Go figure.

Here are a few items that have caught my attention at this year’s CES — for better or worse.

Samsung’s home robot

Ballie is Samsung's new home robot, a redo of the 2020 version no one liked. The latest Ballie will follow you when you call it and project whatever you want on the wall or floors using integrated cameras and lights.

The main sell: The estimated $300 bowling ball will watch your pets and report what they get up to when you’re away. Spare me.

Smart bidets have arrived

Kohler’s PureWash bidet seat has built-in voice assistants. Just tell Alexa or Google how warm or cold you’d like your very personal wash. I wonder how Big Tech will use that data to target market us better. I have a Toto smart toilet and it’s a blast.

Use your palm to open the door

This is pretty sweet. Philips' new $359.99 Wi‑Fi Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt recognizes up to 50 unique palm prints. It's designed to work with hands of all ages and conditions as an alternative to PINs or keys. At my new house, I wave to open the front door, and it works 20% of the time. That's just not right.

TVs with no glare

Samsung's newest OLED TVs come with a special anti-reflective screen finish. Yep, there’s no glare in well-lit rooms or those with windows. Forget 8K — this is what I want.

Transparent displays (like the future!)

LG and Samsung both unveiled transparent LED displays. These innovative screens project images and videos on glass. They don’t rely on power or HDMI cables, instead using Wi‑Fi and wireless charging tech. The last TV I wanted from LG rolled up from a console table and cost $120,000. No word yet on how much these TVs run.

Your dog’s very own robot companion

For $799, the Oro Dog Companion Robot will play with your pup when you’re not around. Think of it as a smart nanny, complete with two-way audio (so you can talk and your dog can bark) and an interactive screen so you can wave hi from work. There’s a treat dispenser, and it can also feed your pup dinner. If you really need this, you shouldn’t own a dog.

Fancy-schmancy binoculars

Swarovski (yes, that one!) wants to make all your bird-watching dreams come true. For the low, low price of $4,799, their Optik AI-enabled binoculars identify over 9,000 birds. Expect them on Feb. 1, if you have some cash to drop. So far, people can’t stop raven.

Check your heart rate from your bra

Ever worn one of those heart rate monitors you strap around your chest? Garmin has a solution for those of us who wear sports bras. The $149.99 HRM‑Fit snaps onto the bottom band of a bra. I don’t know who’s going to buy this.

The dawn of Wi‑Fi 7

Wi‑Fi 7, the next-gen wireless standard, is coming and it’s going to be speedy. To get that speed, you need a router upgrade. TP‑Link and Amazon have already released routers like the Archer BE800 and eero Max 7, starting at $599. The future is expensive.

👋 Folks, there’s only so much room here. I’ll be back tomorrow with more tech I want from this year’s CES. I’m scouring it all to bring you the best and the worst!

Meal prep is a huge time-saver for those with busy lives who want to eat well. The right gadgets sure can help.

• This handy-dandy vegetable chopper is a no-tear solution to make soup, stew or anything else a lot faster.
• Want the taste of an outdoor grill without having to brave the winter cold? The Ninja Foodi Smart XL 6‑in‑1 indoor grill can grill, air fry, roast, bake, broil and dehydrate.
• No one wants tuna salad mixed with orange slices. These compartmentalized glass meal prep containers keep everything separate.
• A digital kitchen scale helps with portion control. Grab it now while it's under $10!
• The Ninja portable blender packs a serious punch and lets you make the perfect smoothie or protein shake to take on the road.

📍 Parents, this one is important! A wacko stalker in Pearland, Texas, found a teen's address using Snapchat’s Live Location feature. To prevent tracking, go to App Settings > Privacy Controls > See My Location, and turn on Ghost Mode. This keeps their whereabouts under wraps. Share this with your family and friends to keep all the kiddos safe.

Texting tells your age: Gen Z is ditching caps lock. Why? Lowercase texts are cooler and less ugly, they say. Full sentences? Save 'em for school. All caps scream anger and emotion to them. Oh, and ending a sentence with a period? That reads as angry. (I’m not mad, promise.)

No tracking Ram-ifications: The 2008-vintage Ram 1500 Classic is back on the market as a new truck, sans all the internal computers. Starting at $32,345, it's a steal for a V8. If GPS systems and built-in screens freak you out, this old-timer might just be what you’re looking for.

🚘 ChatGPT hits the road: Volkswagen is rolling out ChatGPT this spring in all its vehicles — Tiguan, Passat, Golf and the ID electric line. It'll offer what they call "enriching conversations.” I guess your family isn’t good enough to call on your way home.

The future of therapy? There’s a new penguin-shaped bot from Japan that responds to touch with seal-like sounds and asks for hugs. Researchers found it boosts oxytocin, the "cuddle hormone," 2.2 times (compared to non-robot owners) and lowers the stress hormone cortisol within 15 minutes. Just don’t pho‑get about me.

It’s not spam: Have Verizon now or in the past? Check your inbox for an email with the subject line, “Notice of Verizon Class Action Settlement.” It’s a real settlement, and you can file a claim here.

📱 License and registration, please: If you live in Maryland, Arizona, Colorado or Georgia, you can link your state ID to Google Wallet. More states are getting access soon — but Google hasn’t said which. You can do the same with your Apple Wallet, too! I’ll update you when the list of states is live. Fake IDs just got a lot easier.

It was true: Apple is paying out $500 million for slowing down older iPhones, a sneaky tactic dating back to 2017. Each claimant in the lawsuit gets around $92. Too late to file a claim now, but hope lots of you get the money!

Here’s a powerful trick that can save you lots of time (and annoyance): Text replacements. Set up shortcuts to replace longer phrases, like “GM” for “Good morning!”

Just think of the possibilities. The @ symbol becomes your email address, and something like “myhome” can shortcut your address.

On an iPhone:

• Go to Settings > General  > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
• Tap the plus icon, then enter your phrase and shortcut. Tap Save.

For Android, you can do this using the Google Keyboard:

• Open Gboard’s Settings > Dictionary > Personal dictionary and choose your language.
• To add, tap the plus sign. In the first field, type in the word or phrase you want Gboard to remember. In the second field, type in the shortcode you want to pull up that word or phrase.

🎁 Now, as my gift to you, a dumb joke short enough to text: How long did Cain hate his brother? As long as he was Abel.

Splish-splash: Macs can now inform Apple if any liquid gets into the USB‑C ports. Oh, this neat feature isn’t meant to help you. Apple’s limited warranty doesn’t cover liquid damage, so it wants to know if you’re fibbing when you come in with a problem.

🧽 No scrubs: Raise your hand if you have an air fryer. Raise your hand if it’s disgusting inside. Instead of scrubbing, squirt in some dish soap, add a little water and run it for about 3 minutes. Voila, all clean!

Use a Windows PC? Create a folder with your favorite wallpapers or pics. Right-click on the desktop, choose Personalize and set the background to a slideshow with the folder you created.

💼 Resume secret code: If you’ve sent tons of applications and aren’t getting any bites, your resume might be to blame. Take the job description, find the keywords and add those to the background of your resume in white text. Only bots will see it, not a real person. More tips here!

I just saved you money: Here are two lesser-known ways to save a buck on Amazon: 1.) Warehouse has excellent deals on used and open-box products (you can return anything not up to snuff), and 2.) Outlet is your spot for low prices on all the “Oops! We have too many!” items.

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“Yule” notice it feels so empty in here.

The answer: B.) When surgeons are also pretty good video gamers, they make 37% fewer errors and complete surgeries 27% faster. I’m going to share this tidbit with my corneal transplant surgeon, Dr. Aldave at UCLA … not that he needs better skills.

Eye puns are cornea. I had a corneal transplant in May 2023. Dr. Aldave took out two of my 16 stitches last month. On Friday, he’s going to remove two or three more. Yay! My vision is about 20/70, which is so much better than 20/400, what it was pre-surgery. Special prayers go out to the donor’s family. Want to see my eyeball? (What a pickup line!) Click here.

And that’s The Current, over and out! See you back here tomorrow, friend, with the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim