Navigating the high-tech dystopia of CES — Most folks go to Las Vegas to gamble. Others go to party, get married, or see Cher. I visited Vegas last week to check out a fully functional A.I.-enabled laundry folding machine. I speak, of course, of the FoldiMate — a real thing, Ms. Kondo — perhaps the most compassionate…

Companies spent billions crafting powerful stories around their consumer products. Then came Alexa. — Around this time last year, just as most of us were tucking into Thanksgiving turkey, the sleepy world of consumer packaged goods was stunned by the news of Procter & Gamble’s $100 million cash acquisition of Native, a venture-backed natural deodorant company based in San Francisco. …