Eliana Willis

The Swippitt at CES 2025.  Kerry Wan/ZDNETCES 2025 is bringing some seriously cool tech, and while we’ve seen plenty of hype around fitness wearables, TVs, smart home gear, and more, there’s one device so captivating that it’s hard to look away — the Swippitt. Swippitt is a boxy device that lets you insert your phone into the opening, and in two seconds, it comes out with a fully-charged battery. The allure of this tech toaster hasn’t been understated, and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. Also: CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products so farHere’s how the mobile-like toaster works. To use the Swippitt, a user needs the Swippitt Hub and the accompanying Link case. On the back of the Link case is a battery, which when inserted into the Hub (much like a bagel in a toaster slot) gets swapped out for another fully charged 3,500 mAh battery, perfectly boosting your device in a simple exchange. The depleted battery that was just swapped into the hub is then charged. [embedded content]The process is so quick and seamless that it left ZDNET’s Kerry Wan confused. So, who wouldn’t want a real-life piece of tech that feels right out of Disney’s 1999 Smart House flick? The answer is anyone who doesn’t want to spend almost $700 on the setup, which includes the Swippitt hub and two Link phone cases. Also: New product wows CES by fully charging a phone in under 5 secondsYou can pre-order the device now on the Swippit website and get 30% off all products, plus an additional CES promotion that takes $100 off the price of the Hub. That still places you at over $350 for a Hub and one case, though, and even at that discounted rate, it begs the biggest question: should you just buy alternative power-boosting options? As a mobile accessory and battery pack expert at ZDNET, I’ll suggest a few other options to keep your phone juiced up when you need it most without dropping your cash on this pricey futuristic appliance.  More

Sylvain Sonnet/Getty Images Technology is predicted to be the most divergent driver of labor market change, with broadening digital access expected to create and displace more jobs than any other macro trend, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).  About 170 million new jobs (equivalent to 14% of today’s employment) will be created this decade, […] More

XH4D/Getty Images Tomorrow’s application users may look quite different than what we know today — and we’re not just talking about more GenZers. Many users may actually be autonomous AI agents.    That’s the word from a new set of predictions for the decade ahead issued by Accenture, which highlights how our future is being shaped by […] More

LG This week at CES 2025, LG revealed its new UltraFine 6K Display, a professional-grade monitor that resembles Apple’s Pro Display XDR but comes with a few advantages.  For starters, the LG UltraFine is the first 6K monitor to use Thunderbolt 5 ports. Apple incorporated the new connectivity standard last year in the M4 MacBook Pro […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways It had great AI motion tracking It’s iOS or Android compatible But it doesn’t have a tilt function –> Roaming the North Hall of CES I came across a gazillion AI tools. Most were over-hyped gimmicks. However, I did find the XbotGo Chameleon<!–> to be quite interesting and useful. As a sports […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Viture Pro Neckband is available now for $299 for the Classic model and $399 for the Elite model Increased RAM and twice the storage are provided in the Elite model This accessory has a refined design with easy controls, supports hand gestures, provides multi-screen support, and lets you take content […] More

Jack Wallen/ZDNETWhat’s the deal? The Airthings Renew air purifier More