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  James Kotecki (00:07): 

  This is CES Tech Talk. I'm James Kotecki, exploring the trends shaping the world's most powerful tech event, CES 2025 in Las Vegas, and it is on. We are diving in for an inside look of what's hot on the show floor, and who better to guide us than our two hosts of CES, the content creators bringing us highlights across social media at CES, and joining us right here for an exclusive glimpse of the future that is here today. Justine Ezarik, AKA iJustine, and Brian Tong are YouTubers, they're internet personalities, they're tech-obsessed nerds in the best possible way. And most importantly, they are here with us right now. Brian, Justine, welcome to CES Tech Talk. 

  Brian Tong (00:53): 

  Thanks for having us. 

  Justine Ezarik (00:54): 

  Thanks so much for having us. Woo. 

  Brian Tong (00:54): 

  Yeah, this is fun, James. 

  James Kotecki (00:57): 

  And I hope you don't mind that I called you nerds. I really mean that as a term of endearment. And within the family of CES, I feel it's appropriate. 

  Justine Ezarik (01:03): 

  Love it. I just like that nerds are cool now. I just wish that was the case- 

  Brian Tong (01:05): 

  Exactly. 

  Justine Ezarik (01:07): 

  When I was in high school, because it was not. 

  Brian Tong (01:08): 

  Exactly. 

  James Kotecki (01:09): 

  Exactly. It was not at all, and now we're the cool kids and- 

  Brian Tong (01:14): 

  It's a good time for us. 

  James Kotecki (01:15): 

  And look at us now. And much like you would maybe walk into the high school cafeteria as the cool kid jock in our day, these days you walk into the Las Vegas Convention Center as the cool kids, and you check out what's going on at CES. Justine, what does it feel like to walk into the LVCC for CES? 

  Justine Ezarik (01:33): 

  It's so overwhelming, but in the best way possible, especially for anyone who loves tech. This is the future of tech. This is what we're going to be seeing in the next year, or the next 5 to 10 years. It's all here, and a lot of it is stuff that you're not going to be able to see for a really long time. So you're getting kind of the heads-up on what's the best and what's the newest. 

  James Kotecki (01:55): 

  Brian, how long have you been coming to CES? 

  Brian Tong (01:56): 

  If I do the math properly, I believe I'm either at year 16 or year 17. 

  James Kotecki (02:02): 

  Yes. So much longer than you were even hosting CES. 

  Brian Tong (02:05): 

  Yeah, I started covering tech. Actually, 2009 was my very first actual CES, so yeah. And I've been going ever since or hosting ever since, so that's 16 years now once you hit 2025, which is crazy. So Justine and I have been covering it forever and been attendees, so we've really seen it evolve and grow. And just to kind of piggyback on what she said, I think the biggest thing is that this is really our... This is no trademark infringement here. This is our Super Bowl of tech. 

  (02:37): 

  Every major company that is a player in this space is not only showing us what they're going to showcase, but what's interesting is, you see a lot of these companies who don't collaborate at all, and you start kind of putting the pieces together, and you start seeing trends in the direction that the tech world is seeing in the next 2, 3, 5, and 10 years. 

  (02:57): 

  So people that come I think generally are very excited to be there. And it is overwhelming because the booths are massive, there's displays everywhere, there's sounds everywhere, there's people everywhere, and there's tech everywhere. So as for Justine and I growing up around this stuff, this is one of the places I always wanted to be at when I was a kid. So to be able to host it, and host it with a friend that I knew before we did YouTube, that is amazing. That's freaking amazing. 

  James Kotecki (03:24): 

  It's like the manifestation of the hive mind, and the two of you were able to host us as we experience the highlights from that. Justine, what are some of the ways that you've seen the show change or evolve, just even in terms of the physical layout of the space and the experience of moving through it? 

  Justine Ezarik (03:42): 

  It's massive. There's so much tech happening in so many different spaces, so it's like car tech, health tech. Anything that you can possibly think of, it's here. And the cool thing is, because I feel like we've been going for so long... There's this place called Eureka Park, which is where all of the startups are. So it's amazing to be able to see those startups go from just this tiny little table and a chair, to a booth, and just continue to grow. So it's amazing to kind of see that progression for a lot of these companies. And I think for me, just being able to... Kind of starting from basically nothing, it's like I can relate to that in the startup sense, and it's just so cool to be able to witness it. 

  James Kotecki (04:23): 

  Brian, Justine talked about the car show aspect of this. But even beyond vehicles, this is about mobility and transportation more broadly. What are some of the things that excite you in that space, that part of the show? 

  Brian Tong (04:35): 

  I may not be able to afford one yet, maybe Justine can. But the boat space, there's boat tech. That is kind of incredible and mind-blowing of how... Yes, you might think, "Oh, auto parking a car is cool." How about auto docking a boat? The technology that's involved with that, with the currents, the speeds, other boats around you. I thought that's really fascinating. And then you see robotics, which Hyundai has shown off every year, a different robotics showcase. 

  (05:05): 

  And then on top of that, when we talk about mobility, of course cars are obviously the main attraction. But even a company like Pebble, which is doing their RV, which is the streamlined EV RV. That's crazy too. So it's anything that moves in tech. When it first started, I remember years ago before cars were really a bed of technology, we saw some cars and they'd be talking about maybe, "Oh, our GPS systems," and then it became, "Oh, self-driving in GPS," then it became self-driving GPS infotainment, and now it's become even more than that. So that space has just exploded and really is one of the most exciting places to be at CES, 

  Justine Ezarik (05:49): 

  Even agriculture, Brian and I have done a bunch of stuff with John Deere. So I might not be able to afford a boat, but I might be able to get a tractor. Although maybe not, because those things are also very expensive. Because the amount of tech that's going into that to allow farmers to have more free time, they're able to just connect and talk to each other, and it's really fascinating technology. 

  James Kotecki (06:11): 

  How about the three of us pool our resources and buy one of those giant Caterpillar mining rigs that's the size of three stories, and we could all live in it together? 

  Justine Ezarik (06:18): 

  I think we just go in on the boat, maybe. That might be more fun. 

  Brian Tong (06:23): 

  I do think the boat is probably the best bet from a luxury standpoint. Justine and I could talk about this for ages, James. But even from the construction and farming stuff, by no means are we paid for this, but a bird told me that every year I think what we've seen, also in the mobility space, is how a company like John Deere has evolved. Where we first were like, "Why is John Deere here?" I remember... Was it five or six years ago? We felt that way. And every year they've stacked on, they've stacked on, now they're showing us how they're a true tech platform. They said this year is going to... "Watch out. There's a fleet of some special stuff coming." So they're hyping it up to me like they're really going to impress us with multiple things, so I'm curious to see what they deliver. 

  James Kotecki (07:10): 

  Justine, the question of how all this stuff gets powered, not just vehicles, but really everything at CES usually has some kind of electronic component to it, and that leads right to the question of energy use and power, tell us about how that theme has emerged as you've seen it in the last few years, and at CES 2025. 

  Justine Ezarik (07:29): 

  I remember back in the day, if you had solar panels on your house, that was so revolutionary. And now, most new homes, they might not have them, but they have the hookups for them. So that's just something that is now coming standard. I think that's something that I've also been considering, because there's so many different options now. So being able to go to CES, to be able to see these options, and now it's becoming something that's much more affordable. And in the long run, after a few months, a lot of this is being paid off just because you're using these natural resources. So I think that's something that a lot of people are considering. And just those ways of using those renewable resources I think is very important, because a lot of this is being powered by electricity. 

  Brian Tong (08:14): 

  You know what's also crazy? One thing that... Again, how technology has changed and evolved, we're now seeing this huge push, probably in the past two years, where we have these now large batteries on wheels for home use that are acting as home backups, huge batteries that can either charge our cars, when the power goes down charge our homes, and it has a relationship with being able to gather solar energy and store these, and just basically have this massive battery on hand. 

  (08:44): 

  That was something that I hadn't seen before until recently, and now they're really trying to push us in that direction. Right now, if the power goes in my home, I don't have a system. And someone's like, "Hey, just get this big old battery that's on wheels. You can put it somewhere in your house, and it'll power your house for those five, six hours that you need it," and also the efficiency of how to go about doing that. So energy tech is a big thing here as well. 

  James Kotecki (09:10): 

  Yeah, and the battery on wheels could be a literal battery on wheels, or it could be that you're kind of using that as a metaphor for the car itself. When we talk about the car as a computer on wheels, maybe the car itself is the battery and you charge it at home on a good day, and then if you have a hurricane or the power goes out, it can reverse and charge your smart home. 

  Brian Tong (09:26): 

  Yeah, crazy. Look, our car charges our home now. Come on now. 

  Justine Ezarik (09:29): 

  It's great. 

  James Kotecki (09:31): 

  If it feels to listeners like this conversation is just like a buffet grab bag of a lot of amazing and interesting things that are going on at CES, I would say that's because that's exactly how CES is, where there's so many interesting things. So I'm just going to keep hitting you all with different topics, and just going to let you riff on these topics for a little bit. Justine, something I know that is near and dear to both you and Brian's heart is the concept of being a content creator. So how have you seen, in the C space part of the show or the content part of the show, both in terms of how people are talking about content and how people are using content to cover CES in new and innovative ways? What's exciting you there? 

  Justine Ezarik (10:10): 

  These types of events, it's like how can you get the information, get the content, edit it as fast as possible, and get it out there? So I think just that speed and efficiency is the most important thing. It's like, "How quickly can we get this before somebody else breaks the story?" But even just how many years Brian and I have been going, I really just need my phone. I don't really need anything else. 

  (10:35): 

  I think the technology has become so readily available for people that anyone is a journalist now. So no matter what you have, it doesn't matter if it's the perfect lighting, the perfect video quality, it's kind of about that message. I definitely do like to have good audio and good video as well, it definitely does help. But the fact that you can really just start creating with whatever you have, if you have a good story and a good message, I think is really what it all comes down to. 

  Brian Tong (11:04): 

  Yeah, I think from a content creation standpoint, what's also fascinating is, like Justine said, our phone can truly be our main camera. And now you're starting to see... Not starting to see, but more at CES companies that are making products that augment our phones, our phones have become the center of creation. Of course, both Justine and I still use DSLR cameras for other things. But when it's a show like CES where it's crowded, it's packed, you need to be mobile, you need to be light, the phone is the answer. So that's just how content creation is really exploding. And you see other companies really trying to work with content creators of all shapes and sizes, whether it's long-form, short-form, the phone is the heart of it. 

  James Kotecki (11:47): 

  So many creators and so many stories coming out of CES 2025. But as always, there's going to be a few major brands that are going to have stories that people are going to be talking about, brands like Sony, Panasonic, LG, Samsung, some of the heavy hitters that we're looking at year after year. And I want to ask you both, starting with you, Brian, how does someone like you in your position as CES host, and really a long time CES participant and observer, how do you look at what those tent pole brands are doing and advancing at CES? How do you think about that? 

  Brian Tong (12:19): 

  When we think about the tent pole brands, Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, those are typically the biggest boosts from a presence standpoint in Central Hall that you can't miss. And whenever someone has said, "Hey, how should I approach CES? What should I do first?," I always say, "Okay, go to Central Hall, go to the big booths first, get a sense of the impact," because typically these booths are going to hit you hard with the most elegant, over-the-top TV display walls of craziness, so that's your entry point. 

  (12:51): 

  But what's interesting is, with those big four, when you go in there, then they do other things beyond the TVs. That's the sexy thing that catches your eye. But you have home appliances, whether it's displays and gaming monitors, there's sometimes robots, laundry folders, steamers, there's shoe racks, there's so much stuff. So that is a way to maybe... Let's say if someone had a little bit of time, that's a way to at least get a general sense of what the big four are doing. But to me, CES is... It's got to be at least a three-day experience to try to get a little bit of everything, Eureka Park, mobility, the smart home food stuff. But that's how I try to make sense of it. I see what the first four are doing, but then I really do digging into the nitty-gritty. 

  James Kotecki (13:43): 

  So Justine, same question to you. Also, if you could weave in maybe your sense of how a lot of these things are kind of combining together. As Brian's talking about, there's a lot more to see at CES. One of you mentioned earlier, just about how these trends and companies, I think it was Brian, that maybe are disparate companies are maybe bubbling up some of the same ideas. It's also obviously a place where you can get a lot of cross collaboration in the best possible way of ideas. So how do you see those big brands bubbling up into the mix with these smaller brands too? 

  Justine Ezarik (14:14): 

  They're also pushing the envelope too, like doing prototypes. I know we saw the Sony car, for example, and now the Afeela's an actual vehicle that's going to be out in the next year. So it's one of those things where they present these concepts because they are these huge companies and have the ability to bring these things to life, and then I think people come to CES, they kind of gauge it, they see how people feel, and I think a lot of them can kind of go from there. 

  (14:41): 

  But it really does kind of set the tone for the rest of the industry. It's like, "Here's everything..." You were talking about the laundry, they all have so many different things, so it's not just one single thing. So I think what's cool is, a lot of these other companies too are able to kind of augment what a lot of these top four are doing, and just weave their tech in to sort of work in that ecosystem. So it is impressive to see because the booths are so expansive, and it is such an experience every single time. I feel like it is the race to see who can have the coolest most over-the-top booth, and what is everyone going to be talking about? But they all do such a great job. 

  James Kotecki (15:26): 

  Thank you both so much for bringing your coverage of those booths and those innovations to us at CES. People should make sure to follow @CES on various social channels and check out your coverage of it there. CES is a really busy time. Thank you Brian and Justine for joining us today on CES Tech Talk. 

  Justine Ezarik (15:43): 

  Thank you. This was so much fun. 

  Brian Tong (15:43): 

  Thanks, James. 

  James Kotecki (15:46): 

  Well, that's our show for now, but there's always more tech to talk about. So if you're on YouTube, please subscribe and leave a comment. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Media, or wherever you get your podcasts, hit that follow button and let's give the algorithms what they want. You can get even more CES at ces.tech. That's ces.tech. Our show is produced by Nicole Vidovich and Paige Morris, recorded by Andrew Linn, and edited by Third Spoon. I'm James Kotecki talking tech on CES Tech Talk.