Technology

Rabbit, Ballie, and the other gadgets of CES 2024

We saw a lot of gadgets, and a lot of standards like Wi-Fi 7 and Qi2, on display at CES. On this episode of The Vergecast, we dissect all the new stuff coming to your devices.

Published

9 months ago

Jan 15, 2024 05:00 AM

Web Desk

Rabbit, Ballie, and the other gadgets of CES 2024

The best gadgets at CES are the ones you’d never see coming. Not the iterative updates, where everything gets a little brighter and a little faster but nothing fundamentally changes. No, we like the E Ink toilets and the crab-walking cars and the rolling projectors that show you what’s inside your fridge. Do you need all these things? Does anyone? Will they ever go on sale? Who knows?! That’s the fun of CES.

On this episode of The Vergecast, recorded from the Kia Connected Home right in the middle of the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot, we discuss all the most important gadget stories from this year’s show. We talk about the Rabbit R1, which was easily the surprise hit of the show. We discuss Ballie, Samsung’s adorable robot companion, and the tough week it had giving demos. We talk Qi2 and Wi-Fi 7 and the other standards shaping the future of gadgets. And finally, we talk about the future of cars, and what it means that the inside of the car suddenly seems to matter way more than the outside.

To read more about this year’s CES, check out the StoryStream with all our coverage from the show. Here are a few links related to what we discuss on this episode in particular, starting with Rabbit and Ballie:

The Rabbit R1 is an AI-powered gadget that can use your apps for youRabbit sells out 10,000 units of its R1 pocket AI companion in one daySamsung’s Ballie robot is now a projector that follows you around Live demos are hard, y’all.

On the new and growing standards at the show:

Thread Group is finally fixing Thread border routers The Aqara Hub M3 launches at CES 2024 Google and Samsung team up to simplify Android sharingAmazon is trying to fix content casting with an open standardWi-Fi 7 certification is now underway for new routers and devices Wi-Fi 7 quietly took off while everyone was looking at AII just watched the first interactive broadcast TV channel in the USBelkin made an iPhone dock that can track you around the roomSatechi’s new Qi2 charging stands are stylish and storableBehold: the first Thunderbolt 5 port we’ve seen on an actual PC.Have yourself some more Thunderbolt 5.

And on the cars we saw this year:

Intel: ‘We are bringing the AI PC to the car’Hyundai says hydrogen will play a ‘prominent role’ in going carbon neutral BMW turns inward for CES, announcing new gaming, streaming, AR, and AI featuresVW’s software division and Bosch are testing robot parking and EV charging Volkswagen says it’s putting ChatGPT in its cars for ‘enriching conversations’ Kia’s ‘Platform Beyond Vehicles’ is a family of modular electric minivans for businesses Mercedes-Benz taps Will.i.am to create an ‘interactive musical experience’ for its carsMercedes-Benz’s best-in-class voice assistant is getting an AI boostHonda debuts new global EV series, Honda Zero, coming in 2026Google Chrome is coming to your carSony’s Afeela needs to be more than a feeling