3 big trends for the pros to watch at CES 2018

Every January, over 150,000 people from across the technology world converge on Las Vegas for the biggest trade show on earth. As always, ZDNet and TechRepublic will have CES covered from all of the most important angles that matter for businesses and professionals.

In addition to previewing tech's next hot products and showing off a few prototypes of what's possible in the future, there are always key trends that emerge at CES that shape the year ahead in tech.

Here are three to watch at this year's show:

1. AI = Smart

Just as Alexa emerged as the leading player of last year's CES, artificial intelligence will likely be the dominant theme of 2018. A dizzying number of products will claim that they are using AI and machine learning to make their products smarter. We've heard a lot about smart homes, smart cars, and smart cities at CES in the past. This year is going to be about smart everything, powered by AI. We've especially got our eye on the smart office. Look for more coverage on that throughout 2018 on ZDNet and TechRepublic.

SEE: CES 2018: The products and companies to watch

2. CES as an IoT show

With intelligence embedding itself in so many more places and products, CES is expanding far beyond the traditional consumer electronics and computers that have dominated the show in the past. Nearly every product -- from bicycles to kitchen appliances to baby monitors to desks -- are now tech products, thanks to IoT. And many of them are now at CES peddling their wares to the technorati.

3. Health emerges as a rising category

There have been countless activity sensors at CES for years, but a lot more diverse types of health sensors are emerging to help people take control of their own health and wellness. From sleep sensors to smart rings to smart water bottles to smart sensors at your desk, tech is working to counteract some of the unhealthy effects of people being tied to screens for so many hours every day.

BONUS: Also keep an eye on announcements about 5G, since 2018 is the year it starts to get real and it will impact almost every industry.

SEE: CES 2018: Could laptops be the show-stealer?

Special report

For more on the best of this year's CES, follow our special report "CES 2018: The Big Trends for Business" for coverage of the latest products and trends throughout the show and afterward.

ZDNet's Monday Morning Opener

The Monday Morning Opener is our opening salvo for the week in tech. Since we run a global site, this editorial publishes on Monday at 8:00am AEST in Sydney, Australia, which is 6:00pm Eastern Time on Sunday in the US. It is written by a member of ZDNet's global editorial board, which is comprised of our lead editors across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the US.

Previously on Monday Morning Opener:

• Tech's leaps, limps and likes: The 7 trends that defined 2017
• AI and jobs: Where humans are better than algorithms, and vice versa
• Your terrible broadband will kill the Internet of Things dead
• Your biggest threat is inside your organisation and probably didn't mean it
• The great data science hope: Machine learning can cure your terrible data hygiene
• After the iPhone X: Predicting the future of the smartphone
• Businesses need to think about a public cyber star rating
• Why CIOs have bigger IT budgets for 2018, and what they're buying
• iPhone X: Sorry Apple, but I just can't face using Face ID
• Far from deja vu, Google yet again repeating history
• IBM's Watson Data Platform aims to become data science operating system
• Beyond the iPhone: How Apple is positioning itself for the next big thing
• Big data and digital transformation: How one enables the other
• Public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud: What's the difference?