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It was while walking past the RadioShack booth at CES 2025 that I spied the Kodak stand not far ahead. And it was while musing about the fate of those two storied okay maybe not storied names that I spied another Kodak booth two rows over. For a company thats been dead more than a few times over, its certainly enjoying something of a renaissance. Look, its not as if there havent always been brands that die and get revived in pursuit of a quick buck. Especially if the price is cheap and theres any residual degree of affection for it, but even so there are a hell of a lot of them now. Do we need four different companies selling Kodak-branded wares? Daniel Cooper for Engadget Perhaps the most egregious example at this years show was from Mizari, an LA-based company that sells hardware under a variety of names. This year, it was showing off a lineup of products under the Memorex brand, including e-bikes, scooters and golf caddies. If youre unfamiliar, Memorex made recordable media in the analog era: computer and cassette tapes, VHS, CDs and eventually DVDs. Its slogan was Is it live, or is it Memorex? boasting its superior audio quality. Does that slogan work as well for e-bikes, scooters and golf caddies? Thats less clear. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The companys representatives said that using the Memorex name was an experiment to see how much affection the public has for the brand. Theyre targeting people over the age of 40 who remember what they slammed in their tape decks. At the same time, theyre targeting younger generations who may feel the pull of that retro name, since were apparently in an era where anything old is inherently laudable. Mizari also holds the license for Delorean, albeit just to make e-bikes, scooters and go-karts, for the kids, you know? Daniel Cooper for Engadget RadioShack has been passed from owner to owner since it initially filed for Chapter 11 back in 2015. In May 2023, it was bought by Unicomer, a RadioShack franchisee from Central and South America which is now relaunching the parent brand in the US. It will act, like so many of these companies, as a distributor, adding its name to a variety of products made elsewhere. Its lineup is already 400 products strong, from gaming keyboards and mice to portable projectors and speakers. The idea, as you might have guessed, is to cash in on the fact people likely remember the name of this over some generic product they'll find among the dregs on Amazon. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The two Kodaks nearby share the Kodak name, but very little else: One is showing off the Kodak Mini Shot (lead image), made by Prinics Co. Walk 50 yards further down the plush CES carpet and youll find another Kodak (pictured above), this one selling digital photo frames and tablets. Staffers at both booths are happy to talk about which part of the sprawling Kodak license they are paying for. Hell, the latter Kodak stand was also advertising those same products under the Thomson name, an old French electronics company that was rebranded as Thales 25 years ago. Daniel Cooper for Engadget A little walk and youll soon find a large stand from RCA, which also holds the names Thomson and Blaupunkt. All three are nothing more than names and logos slapped on products that are shipped in from various manufacturers. RCA is famously known for making radio equipment and other electronics before branching into broadcasting, music and movies. So its natural, too, that you can pick up an RCA-branded e-bike and scooter, cashing in on all those bikes RCA made when your pop pop was in diapers. Daniel Cooper for Engadget Next to Mizaris Memorex-branded exhibits was the third Kodak booth Id stumbled across, this one showing off a wide variety of products. This included smartwatches, cameras, binoculars, mirrors with halo lighting and Bluetooth speakers, all made by various licensees. And, quite literally two booths over, was another Kodak stand, this time from C&A Global, which makes Kodak branded photo printers (and the HP Sprocket) as well as projectors and scanners. Daniel Cooper for Engadget Im not sure I need to wave my hands around and try to make some sort of grand point about All Of This. One one hand, it doesnt matter. Lots of low-cost products are sold to folks who arent going to interrogate their purchases. Given how common the practice of buying a dead brand and slapping it on whatever you sell, it must be profitable enough to justify doing it. But it just leaves me scratching my head, wondering whos going to remember the tape company from the 9s and want to ride an e-bike with its logo on the side. Or who would think theres any trust left in the Kodak brand given the near-homeopathic levels of dilution its subjected to. Maybe these companies' real lingering value is to serve as a reminder to all the other tech brands that this is the fate that awaits them if they keep messing up. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/a-tale-of-four-kodaks-173040742.html?src=rss
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Were officially recovering from CES 2025! In this episode, Devindra and Senior Reporter Sam Rutherford dive into their favorite PCs from the show, NVIDIA's RTX 5000 GPUs and debate the merits of Lenovos extra-large Legion Go S handheld. They explain why they like ASUSs ultra-light Zenbook A14, and Sam gives us his final thoughts on Dells clunky brand transition. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News! Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts Topics Lenovos surprising CES showing: ThinkBook Plus Gen 6s rollable screen 0:47 Legion Go S by Lenovo is the first third-party handheld to run SteamOS 4:35 NVIDIAs RTX 5000 seems great 10:16 But Jensen Huangs keynote on NVIDIAs future lacked focus 15:29 MicroLED TVs shown at CES are gorgeous and pricy 30:11 Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam RutherfordProducer: Ben EllmanMusic: Dale NorthThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-thats-a-wrap-on-ces-2025-171558731.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
CES 2025 was a fantastic show for companies making good on the promises of years past. At these events, were used to seeing booth after booth of gadgets in concept and prototype phases, with vague details about final designs and release windows of eventually. This year, however, the vibe was way more release-ready. A handful of high-profile projects that debuted at previous CESes are back with concrete plans and actual release dates, and many of these products are available right now. Its a veritable CES miracle. Remember Ballie, the rolling robot that Samsung debuted in 2020 and then brought to CES 2024? This is exactly the type of thing that wed expect to never see again, doomed to forever haunt the consumer-electronics graveyard, but this year Samsung revealed Ballies final form and set its release window in the first half of 2025. Ballie is a cute yellow robot about the size of a bowling ball, with an Among Us-style cutout housing a projector that allows it to beam images and videos onto your walls and floors. This is a fun one from Samsung, and even though we dont know an exact price or release date just yet, the news that its actually coming out this year is a welcome update. Sony Honda Mobility Sony Honda Mobilitys Afeela 1 is officially available to preorder right now, nearly five years after Sony announced its intent to enter the EV market. The Afeela 1 started out as the Vision-S concept car, which Sony unveiled at CES 2020, and it picked up the Afeela name in 2023 after Sony and Honda established their joint venture for EV manufacturing. At CES 2025, Sony Honda Mobility opened up reservations for the Afeela 1 Origin and the Afeela 1 Signature, which respectively cost $89,900 and $109,900. Reservations are only available to customers in California for now, and the first vehicles will be delivered in mid-2026. Its definitely cool to see Sonys EV ambitions manifesting after half a decade of build-up. One of the headlines we published this year with the word finally in it was dedicated to Displace TVs wireless 4K OLED screens with suction attachments. First revealed at CES 2023, Displaces suction-cup TVs are now ready for mass consumption, and theyre available for pre-order with shipments expected in March. Displace is selling two models, the Basic and the Pro, both with 4K OLED displays and screen sizes of 27 inches or 55 inches. They all support rudimentary gesture controls, too. The 27-inch Basic model goes for $2,500, while the 55-inch Pro is $6,000, with the other prices in between. LG Speaking of TVs, the hottest bit of home entertainment tech at CES 2024 was LGs transparent OLED T and this year, its officially on sale. LG brought the OLED T to CES 2025, just a few weeks after the display hit the market at the eye-watering price of $60,000. The OLED T is a 77-inch, 4K, transparent TV, and even though it costs as much as a fancy car, its stunning in action. Heres another idea we were prepared to forget about forever: Lenovos rollable laptop. A handful of concept products with rollable screens have hit CES since 2019, and Lenovo has been talking about its rollout laptop idea since 2022. At CES 2025, the company showed off its first market-ready model, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. It has a vibrant OLED display that expands from 14 inches to 16.7 inches at the press of a button, and we found it to be shockingly elegant in person. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable should go on sale this spring, expected to start at $3,500. It should be noted that this list isnt limited to things that fit inside your home some products hitting the market after previous CES appearances are actual houses themselves. Pebble brought its Flow all-electric RV trailer to CES 2024 and even opened up pre-orders that year, but at CES 2025, the company shared its final design and officially kicked off production. The Pebble Flow should ship out this spring, starting at $109,500 and topping out at $175,000. Amy Skorheim / Engadget AC Future brought concepts of its transformable RV home to CES 2024, and at the 2025 show, the company unveiled its finished product. AC Futures Ai-TH line comes in three models: a deliverable pod (Ai-THu), a pullable trailer (Ai-THt) and a drivable EV RV (Ai-THd). The RV expands into a 400 square foot apartment with one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen with a full-sized refrigerator, two-burner induction stovetop and microwave. Theres even a washer and dryer in the bathroom. Production on the Ai-TH range will begin as son as the AC Future gets home from CES 2025, and pre-orders are live now, priced at $98,000 for the pod, $138,000 for the trailer and $298,000 for the EV RV. Its always nice to see innovative concepts like these become real products. The glut of actual release announcements out of CES 2025 is a relief, and it feels like a positive sign for the current consumer-tech production cycle.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/ces-2025-was-more-shoppable-than-conceptual-160010350.html?src=rss
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