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The Omnia is still very much in concept mode — a phenomenon popular in the automotive world that has since spilled over into consumer electronics. That is to say that Withings’ splashiest product of CES 2025 may never be a product. Among other things, a body-scanning smart mirror would likely be cost prohibitive for consumers.

According to Withings, Omnia is “not just a product — it’s a transformative experience that reimagines digital health possibilities.” Certainly the notion of a daily full-body health scan is appealing to many potential customers. It does, however, come on the heels of a decade of failed smart mirror projects.

The “conceptual product” would offer 360-degree body scans, offering up user insight into weight, along with heart and lung health. Other metrics like sleep, activity, and nutrition would presumably come from a connected wearable.

The mirror itself would be interactive via touch, coupled with the inclusion of a voice assistant. The Omnia could also serve as a telemedicine portal to healthcare professions, who would gain access to user metrics and offer advice accordingly.

Withings says the system is “currently in development,” pending things like clinical reviews and additional AI features. It does add, however, that some of the above features will be available in some form via the Withings app at some point later in 2025.

Lots of variables determine a flight’s survivability, including the location of the seat—and plain luck

When Jeju Air Flight 2216 crash-landed at a South Korean airport, skidded into an embankment beyond the runway and burst into flames, it seemed impossible that any of its 181 occupants could have survived.

Miraculously, two did—but how?

Investigators assessing the survivability of a plane crash focus on five factors: integrity of the aircraft, effectiveness of safety restraints, G-forces experienced by passengers and crew, the environment inside the aircraft and postcrash factors such as fire or smoke.

The two flight attendants who survived the Boeing 737-800 crash were seated in the very back of the plane, which was the only recognizable part of the aircraft left intact.

They are on a very short list among aviation’s worst disasters. Over the past eight decades of commercial travel, there have been just 17 other crashes where planes carrying 80 or more occupants left a sole survivor or two, according to data collected by the Flight Safety Foundation, an international nonprofit that provides safety guidance.

The Jeju Air flight attendants, a 33-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman who remain hospitalized in Seoul, sat in rear jump seats a few steps from where the jet’s tail snapped apart. Both are conscious and communicative, their doctors have said.

The man suffered bone fractures largely on the left side of his body and is wearing a brace to limit his neck movement due to spine injuries. The woman fractured her right ankle and possibly sustained other injuries on her right side. She recalled hearing a loud bang, then smoke billowing from the plane.

“There are a lot of reasons someone may survive in what appears to be a totally unsurvivable situation,” said Barbara Dunn, president of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. “Depending on how the aircraft lands and where a passenger is seated has an impact. If you have your seat belt tightened, it limits the amount of flailing the body goes through. It also depends on whether a passenger is able to assume a brace position.”

Days before the Jeju Air accident, as many as 29 people survived the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight that killed 38 people in western Kazakhstan. The preliminary conclusions of an Azerbaijani probe said the plane had been hit by Russian air-defense missiles. The crew battled for more than an hour to maintain constant speed and altitude before it crashed, The Wall Street Journal reported.

All surviving passengers were seated in the rear of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane.

The relative safety of where occupants are seated during a crash varies, and one of the biggest factors is how the aircraft touches down. Passengers up front in a nose-first crash bear the brunt of the impact, but other factors also come into play.

“A lot of people think it’s safer in the back than in the front,” Dunn said. “Not necessarily. How quick the fire takes over and how quick you can get to an exit, all those things matter as well.”

In January 2024, Japan Airlines was able to evacuate hundreds of passengers before the frame of their Airbus A350 collapsed in flames after a collision with another jet upon landing.

The National Transportation Safety Board deems a crash “survivable” if the forces transmitted to occupants don’t exceed the limits of human tolerance and the structure of the aircraft surrounding the occupants remains largely intact. A crash is deemed nonsurvivable when the G-forces are so great, the body can’t withstand the punishment.

G-forces are the gravitational forces that keep humans grounded on earth. In daily life, humans are subjected to 1 G. A roller coaster or a rapidly accelerating electric car can create two or three times that force.

In general, a human will lose consciousness at 4 Gs or 5 Gs—although they have survived greater forces, according to Lonnie G. Petersen, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The effect depends on the number of Gs and the direction and duration of the force.

If an aircraft such as the Boeing 737 that crashed in South Korea sustains no more than 9 Gs in forward motion, occupants have a reasonable chance of escaping serious injury, according to University of North Dakota professors Thomas Zeidlik and Nicholas Wilson, who referenced federal airworthiness standards.

“The occupants will most likely survive with bumps and bruises,” said Zeidlik, who researches aerospace physiology. “Crumple zones, much like cars, are built into modern airplanes to help with this, as well as air bags, seat belts and other devices.”

The NTSB survivability definitions don’t take into consideration the effect of hazards such as smoke or fire, nor do they hinge on whether there are, in fact, survivors in a crash.

“When you hear survivable, you’d think people survived, and when you hear non-survivable, you’d think everybody dies,” said Anthony T. Brickhouse, an expert in aerospace safety and a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “We’ve had people survive what we would call nonsurvivable crashes, and we’ve also had people die in what we would call survivable crashes.”

On Monday, South Korea extended the closure of Muan International Airport, where the Jeju Air crash occurred, by another week to Jan. 14. Authorities over the weekend completed a roughly two-hour transcription of the cockpit voice recorder file, though haven’t committed to releasing it publicly. Key focuses of the joint U.S.-South Korean probe are why the plane made a belly landing without its landing gear, as well as if the location of the concrete-reinforced embankment met international standards.

Air-safety experts have called the crash puzzling. South Korean police have raided the offices of Jeju Air and the airport, with a search warrant issued on charges of professional negligence resulting in death.

To understand occupant-survivability rates in serious accidents, the NTSB examined commercial flights between 1983 and 2017. Serious accidents were defined as having had a fire, at least one serious injury or fatality and a substantially damaged or destroyed aircraft. Thirty-five crashes met that criteria.

In one, a 4-year-old girl was the only survivor among 155 occupants aboard a McDonald Douglas DC-9 that crashed shortly after takeoff in Detroit in 1987.

The wreckage of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 was strewn over a 3,000-foot crash path that crossed two highway overpasses, according to the NTSB accident report. All of the passenger seats were detached and scattered along the way. The surviving child, who had been traveling with her parents and brother, was found in the wreckage beneath one of the overpasses.

She had been assigned seat 8F.

Just over half of the 3,823 occupants in the accidents studied by the NTSB survived with minor or no injuries; 6.3% experienced serious injuries; 27% died from impact; 4.1% died from fire or smoke; and about 10% died from other or unknown causes.

In its Northwest 255 accident report, the NTSB said the passengers and crew died of blunt-force trauma, the plane disintegrated during final impact, and the crash destroyed the cabin. It was, the report concluded, nonsurvivable—except for a combination of fortuitous circumstances that spared one preschooler.

“Sometimes things happen, and it’s really hard to explain,” Brickhouse said. “I hate to use the term, but sometimes luck does come into play.”

Matthias Rebellius says energy sourcing is one of the main factors holding back data centers, which provide computing power for AI models

There isn’t enough green energy around the world to power data centers, and operators need to look elsewhere for a solution to the artificial intelligence energy-consumption conundrum, the head of Siemens’s SIE 2.68%increase; green up pointing triangle Smart Infrastructure division said.

Electrical-equipment makers have been among the early beneficiaries of a boom in data-center construction, as companies snap up gear such as power transformers, generators and switchboards to build more facilities. This gives the likes of Siemens’s smart infrastructure division insight into the challenges facing data-center companies as they race to satisfy AI’s growing computing needs.

Energy sourcing is one of the main factors holding back the data-center market and it needs to be addressed, Siemens Smart Infrastructure Chief Executive Matthias Rebellius said in an interview.

Data centers provide the computing power that AI models need to run, but consume hefty amounts of energy, and water for cooling. Their rapid growth over the last two years has raised the question of where the energy to power them will come from, Rebellius said.

“The world needs a new plan,” Rebellius said. “It’s just a question of speed and how much can be done at the same time.”

Operators of so-called hyperscale data centers are looking at green energy, but Rebellius said this isn’t the solution. Some are now considering nuclear power or small nuclear reactors, while hydrogen could be talked about in the long run, he said.

Nevertheless, Rebellius said the data-center market is bound to experience a normalization after the current phase of rapid growth driven by AI.

In the year to September, orders at Siemens’s data-center business surged around 60% to top 3.6 billion euros ($3.71 billion), while revenue jumped 50% to more than 2 billion euros, the company said.

“We will not see 50% growth every year—not our company, not others—but we will continue to see mid double digit growth in the data-center range, which is more than double the normal infrastructure market and four times [gross domestic product],” Rebellius said.

Siemens Smart Infrastructure in December said it was targeting comparable revenue growth of 6% to 9% and profit margin of 16% to 20% over the next three to five years, which will overlap with President-elect Donald Trump’s second term and a new German government after the country’s elections early next year. In fiscal 2024, the business reported comparable revenue growth of 9% and margin of 17.3%.

In Germany, the uncertain political situation is concerning and Rebellius hopes the new government will come in place soon, he said.

Rebellius remains optimistic about the division’s prospects in the U.S., where he expects the business to be as successful in the next four years as it was during Trump’s first presidency or under President Biden, he said.

Possible trade tariffs aren’t a concern due to the high proportion of local sourcing for Siemens’s smart infrastructure division, Rebellius said. The business has more than 85% localized supply for Americas, China and Europe, Rebellius said. Moreover, the Inflation Reduction Act—President Biden’s signature climate legislation—is unlikely to be stopped, he said.

The center is France's busiest mall.

PARIS – Paris- and Amsterdam-based mall giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) said Monday it has sold a 15 percent stake in the central Paris shopping center Westfield Forum des Halles as part of its ongoing efforts to streamline its assets and reduce its debt.

The shares were sold to CDC Investissement Immobilier, a subsidiary of French institutional investor Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, for 235 million euros, the company said in a statement.

The massive, 835,300-square-foot underground Forum des Halles is the flagship shopping center in central Paris. It’s the most visited shopping center in France, with 150,000 visitors daily.

“This transaction marks a strong milestone in the flagship shopping center investment market, showcasing one of the most attractive and best-performing retail assets in the European market,” URW said.

The center will now operate as a joint venture, with URW in control of a 50 percent stake, along with AXA Investment Managers Alternatives at 35 percent, and CDC with 15 percent.

URW will continue to manage the center, which houses fashion shops such as H&M, Zara and Mango, alongside books and electronics retailer Fnac and French retailer Monoprix.

The joint venture structure of Forum des Halles will allow URW to retain oversight of the center while generating property management fees. As part of a restructuring plan first launched in 2020, the company aims to generate non-rent based annual revenues of 150 million by the end of 2025.

The sale is the latest step in the 9 billion euro deleveraging and debt reduction plan. As part of that plan, the mall giant began selling off its underperforming and second-tier U.S. properties in 2022, such as the Westfield Mission Valley and Westfield North County in Southern California, and Westfield Brandon in Florida.

Since the beginning of 2024, URW has sold 1.5 billion euros of properties, which has gone towards the debt reduction. “The group remains in active discussions for further divestments, as part of its debt reduction plan,” the company added.

URW also launched a carbon reduction plan in 2023 to cut its emissions 90 percent by 2050, from a baseline of 2015.

Five years in the making, L'Oréal Cell Bioprint marks a breakthrough in the beauty giant's efforts to proactively — versus reactively — improve skin longevity.

Has the Magic 8 Ball of skin care arrived?

With L’Oréal unveiling its latest Cell Bioprint device on Monday at the annual CES tech showcase in Las Vegas, the beauty giant is looking to assess consumers’ unique skin concerns of not just the present but more importantly, the future — and in just five minutes at the beauty counter.

“We want to give people an idea of how to correct the trajectory of their skin health, and not just reactively address what has already happened,” Guive Balooch, global managing director of augmented beauty and open innovation at L’Oréal, said in an interview.

The tool, slated to pilot with a L’Oréal brand in Asia later this year, has been five years in the making alongside Korean start-up NanoEnTek, which develops biochemical skin diagnostic systems.

It differs from existing skin analysis tools — including L’Oréal’s own L’Oréal Paris Skin Genius — in that it’s not an imaging tool, or one that functions via a 2D or 3D scan of one’s face that detects fine lines, blemishes, hyperpigmentation and other existing conditions.

“Those give you a snapshot of where your skin is today, but what people really want to know is their biology — and how understanding it can help them right now to improve their skin health in the future,” said Balooch.

Rather, L’Oréal Cell Bioprint works by measuring the presence — or lack thereof — of certain proteins in the skin, each of which has different implications for the conditions a consumer may be more prone to in the future. The tool also calculates one’s biological skin age, and indicates how well certain active ingredients, like retinol, will work on their skin.

“There are certain proteins, or what we call biomarkers, which if present in high levels, dispose you to a greater likelihood of having wrinkles, fine lines, or dark spots,” Balooch said. “For instance, we might give you a visual diagnosis and say, ‘OK — your skin isn’t dry at this moment, but based on your biomarker related to dry skin, you have either a low, medium or high chance of having dry skin in the future.’”

The device, which aims to take the guesswork out of skin care, can then help ascertain a personalized regimen to optimize skin health in the long term. To undergo the assessment, a strip of facial tape is placed on one’s cheek and inserted into a protein-isolating buffer solution, before being deposited into the Cell Bioprint cartridge for analysis.

“It’s a protein measurement tool at the point of sale that works in five minutes — nothing exists in the beauty market like this,” claimed Balooch, adding that so far, the Cell Bioprint can detect just under 20 kinds of proteins which correlate with consumers’ most common skin concerns.

“Those proteins took us years to uncover and to clinically study, but every time we find a new one in the lab, we will add it to the experience,” said Balooch, adding that the tool will most likely be paired with a luxury L’Oréal skin care brand during its initial rollout, “and then we will cascade — this plan has worked well for us in the past.”

At CES 2022, L’Oréal revealed its at-home hair coloring Colorsonic tool, hailed as a revolutionary development in the space thanks to its mess-free application. In 2023, it revealed a number of prototypes including Hapta, a computerized makeup applicator intended to support consumers with limited mobility, which launched at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Like those innovations, the Cell Bioprint “is a tech that aims to solve a real problem,” Balooch said.

“We’re finding that nine out of 10 women are frustrated with their skin care solutions, and part of that stems from the crowdedness and confusion of the market. We must make that number go down; we must make people less frustrated and more precise, and that will take biology and tech to do.”