New laptops, TVs and smart speakers are the usual suspects at CES 2024, the world’s largest consumer electronics show. But this year’s exhibition also highlights how people increasingly crave more specialized devices, our longing for the past and the ways in which artificial intelligence (particularly in the form of ChatGPT and similar AI-generated chatbots) is becoming more integrated into our lives.
Here’s what’s captivating us at CES 2024. We’ll be bringing you more news about the best tech features we come across.
Stained glass gets a new lifetime energy lease
Do you think you know what solar panels look like? This thing captures light energy.
Solar panels are great — they produce electricity from one of our most abundant resources, and they pay for themselves quickly — but no one has ever called them “beautiful” before. do not worry! Japanese company inQs has come up with a way to manufacture solar cells from colored glass. The company will display a number of items at CES 2024, including a stained glass panel that generates electricity. The devices are small, and one of them could only power a desk fan, but we like how they suggest a rethink of what solar panels should look like and how they work.
Hiding weird-looking objects has always been a trend at CES, as is the case with LG’s ArtCool air conditioners. This year, the Samsung Music Frame allows users to place artwork inside a smart speaker.
Hi Ida, which is better: Alexa or Siri?
Artificial intelligence is already everywhere here at CES 2024 – and cars will be added to the list of products where it will appear. Volkswagen has announced a deal with ChatGPT that enables users to ask all kinds of questions about their cars, in the same way they would use a traditional digital assistant. Currently, Volkswagen’s voice assistant lets users say “Hey, Ida” to ask a question about something basic, like requesting tire pressure. But the automaker’s vehicles are unable to answer more advanced questions like “When did the New York Jets last win the Super Bowl?” Under the new deal, if the car assistant can’t answer the question, it will hand the query over to ChatGPT. (Yes, the Jets actually won one of those. But that happened a very long time ago.)
It’s worth noting that competitors like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri have been completing these queries natively for many years, so teaming up with ChatGPT is an easier way for VW’s Ida to catch up.
This transparent screen, which currently displays fish, can turn into a 77-inch TV.
Must see through TV
TVs are getting larger every year, which means a larger slab of black plastic takes up a good portion of your living room wall when not in use. But what if we could make it disappear, without removing it from the wall?
It seems that Samsung has done just that. The company is showing off the first transparent version of its Micro-LED display technology at CES 2024. While transparent OLED displays and even LCD-based displays have been around for a while, transparent MicroLED displays seem to be the best in terms of brightness and color, but CNET’s David reports Katzmeyer.
Samsung says its Micro-LED display technology produces brighter, clearer images And More transparent than current technology. But Samsung says its transparent Micro-LED technology isn’t available on the market, so what Katzmaier saw (or didn’t he see?) is basically a concept.
LG has also gotten into the business with a transparent OLED display that has been transformed from an “aquarium” into a 77-inch TV (pictured above).
Samsung is set to unveil the smart home assistant this week at CES in Las Vegas.
Ice cream maker in 2 minutes
Coming soon to a restaurant near you: fresh ice cream, ready from start to finish in just two minutes.
We’ve loved trying ColdSnap’s instant vanilla ice cream — first in 2021 and then again this year. Unfortunately, we’re still a year away before we’ll be able to purchase one of its innovative ice cream makers for our homes, but the company came to CES this year with news that its restaurant partners will be getting the machines much sooner.
This countertop ice cream maker uses pods to make a bowl of the cold stuff in less than two minutes. The end result has a gelato-like texture that kept us coming back for more every time we passed the ColdSnap kiosk.
We scream for ice cream.
Stain resistant robot
We’ll start things off with a product that’s sure to clean—literally. The Bespoke Jet Bot AI Plus Smart Robot Vacuum does more than just sweep up dust bunnies and dog hair; It’s designed to go around your room looking for stains as they happen and scrub them so you don’t have to.
As the name suggests, the robot taps on AI-powered object recognition technology to identify stains on carpets, rugs and hard floors. And yes, it can tell the difference between surfaces, and is supposed to make adjustments to its clean style accordingly. You can also tell this $1,000 home helper where it can and can’t go as it attacks stains like a bad puppy dog or Zinfandel spill with a rotating mop of up to 170 RPM.
Dental technology
Not only does AI help keep your floors clean, it is also being used to make sure your teeth are as clean as possible. The Oclean
It also features Wi-Fi connectivity so you can pair it with your home network, and it will store information about your brushing history so you can download it to your app. It also offers up to 40 days of battery life through wireless charging. It will go on sale in the US in the fall for $130. (International prices were not immediately available, but this equates to around £100 or AU$190.)
What is old is new
If you consider yourself an old-fashioned smartphone user, you may crave the physical keyboards that accompanied yesterday’s phones. The iPhone’s on-screen keyboard has replaced the full physical keyboards that were common on BlackBerry devices.
The Clicks Keyboard, from Clicks Technology, will transform your iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, adding a keyboard that’s already built into a wraparound case. This $139 case slips over your device and drains your phone’s battery, so no charging is necessary.
What if your smartwatch could also control your lights, Netflix shows, and more?
All in one wristwatch remote
Imagine using your wrist to control everything around you. With one click this way, you can turn off the lights or scroll through shows on Netflix. Finnish startup Doublepoint has developed software that can turn an Android watch into a general-purpose controller for any device via a Bluetooth connection.
The software will come to developers in the first half of this year, but it will be up to developers and app makers to determine what a small gesture, like a tap of your fingers or a turn of your wrist, will actually do.
Watch this: LG Transparent OLED goes from TV to animation art