The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 (CES) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association. Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typically hosts presentations of new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry. CES 2024 was scheduled from Jan 9-12. As always, the CES introduced some exciting electronics products in all price points.
Home Patrolling Robot
The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 introduced the LG’s AI agent, a companion robot, who patrols your home when you’re away and personably greets you when you return. It zips around, balancing on two wheeled legs using a camera and AI to recognize people and objects. The bot has sensors to monitor temperature, humidity and air quality. It’s billed as an autonomous mini butler, controlling your gadgets, keeping an eye on your pets. Lights left on? It’ll text you. Come home feeling glum? It’ll spin your favorite track as you enter. LG hasn’t shared a release date or pricing – so stay tuned.
Newer and Better TVs
The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 includes lots of tv technology and here are two standouts. Samsung says it now can remove reflections on tv screens without hurting the contrast, the viewing angle or the full range of color. Imagine: watching TV in the daytime with the blinds open. Samsung hasn’t announced the price or sales date. The more exciting release is LG’s Signature OLED T television Using proprietary wireless video technology and some kind of pixel magic that LG didn’t fully explain, the 77-inch 4K transparent OLED TV creates images that seem to float in space. Fish appear to be swimming in midair. Snow appears to materialize in your living room. When turned off, the TV basically disappears. It also has a rolling contrast screen that can slide up behind it to turn it into a traditional OLED TV. It has no bezel, no wires, nowhere to plug anything in, and no discernible heat signature.
While there is a roughly 1-inch-thick screen suspended in the TV’s housing frame, you can see right through to the wall behind it, though the glass still has a slight sepia tone. The transparent display creates a kind of faux 3D effect while you’re watching, such that the images appear to occupy the full space between the wall at the rear and the front of the screen.
LG has stated that the LG OLED T will be available to buy later this year but has not given a price. (Let me know if you buy it!)
The Pawport and Flappie – The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 Gifts for Pets
The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 had lots of things for the smart home, with internet-connected models of nearly any device imaginable on display. Pawport is a smart pet door that opens and closes automatically when your pet approaches. The Pawport consists of a pair of powered aluminum doors connected by steel hinges to a steel frame. You screw the frame around an existing pet door and then slide the Pawport down over the frame. Around the inside of the doors is rubber weatherstripping that compresses when the doors close to form an airtight seal. The doors are either insulated or have rechargeable, slide-in batteries that last several months between charges. On top is a suite of intuitive touch controls, including open, close, lock, and power.
The companion to the doors is a collar fob with a rechargeable battery that sends a Bluetooth signal to the Pawport so that it opens
when the pet approaches from inside or outside. It’s also smart enough not to open the door if your pup decides to lie down within range of the door. The Pawport is due in May and will be sold in a range of sizes and finishes, starting at $450.
If you have a cat, don’t worry. The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 has something for you too. Flappie offers an AI-powered cat door that rejects dead mice and other would-be offerings. There’s a motion sensor and a night-vision camera on the exterior side of the door. Using Flappie’s “unique and proprietary” dataset, the door distinguishes between Tom and Jerry and keeps out unwanted guests with more than 90% accuracy. To do this, Flappie collected video of a lot of cats and prey in a variety of lighting conditions. There’s even a chip detection system that will reject all other cats.
Thankfully, it’s not all automation. The prey detection system can be turned off entirely, and there are manual switches on the inside for locking and unlocking the door at will. You don’t even have to hook it up to the Internet, it seems, although what is the point of it if you don’t use it to its best purpose?
Americans will have to wait a while, as the company is rolling out the door in Switzerland and Germany first. No word on when the US launch will take place, but interested parties can expect to pay around $399.
Baby Sensor for the Back of the Car
Every summer there is a tragic news story of a child forgotten in the back of a car. Automakers are developing sensors and techniques to combat the problem, and one of the latest comes from Novelda, an Oslo Norway-based maker of sensors for human presence detection. Its low-power “child presence detection” sensor uses ultra-wideband radio frequency to detect even the slightest breath or movement coming from the way back. The company said the device can “see” through clothes, blankets, even car seats. Novelda says it’s testing the device with some major automakers. Let’s hope this one gets to market quickly
Better Outdoor Security Cameras
Outdoor security cameras should help give you peace of mind, but you need a good Wi-Fi connection. Abode’s new answer to that problem—the Abode Edge Camera—replaces traditional Wi-Fi with HaLow wireless technology, which gives it a range of almost 1.5 miles. In addition to long range, HaLow is good at penetrating structures, making this camera suitable for outdoor use while the unit’s wireless hub, which connects to your main network, sits safely indoors.
The weatherproof camera includes a 6,000 mAh rechargeable battery, which the company says will power the camera for up to a year. The camera can integrate with Abode’s security systems, including one reviewed recently by the New York TImes Wirecutter. Other security camera companies have tackled the long-distance Wi-Fi problem by skipping it altogether and including 4G LTE connections in their cameras, but those models require an expensive subscription fee through carriers such as T-Mobile and Verizon. Abode’s Edge camera is expected to sell for $200 and requires just a $4-per-month service plan for cloud video storage.
A New PC Keyboard Built for AI
PC makers rarely change their keyboards but for the first time in nearly 30 years, they’re doing it for Microsoft’s new AI assistant. Many new Windows computers will come with a Copilot key that summons Microsoft’s suite of AI products when pressed. Generally, you’ll find it to the right of the space bar. You can use it to type questions, generate images, summarize webpages, draft documents and more. A bunch of computer makers introduced PCs with the button this week, including the Acer Swift Go 14. That computer will be available in North America in March starting at $750.
Consumer Electronics Show 2024 Loves on Grill Masters!
Smoking meats gives them a depth of flavor not possible with stovetop or oven cooking. Since it requires, well, smoke, it’s best suited for the outdoors. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2024, GE introduced its GE Appliances countertop GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker which lets you hot-smoke brisket, pork ribs, salmon and other meats without having to go outside. Its filtration technology contains the smoke within the appliance, converting it into warm air, says its maker. Once your food is in, you can monitor progress through the SmartHQ app. The smoker is available for $999. Please let me know when I am invited to dinner if you buy this!
A Solution for Snoring!
Whether you are the snorer or the one listening to your partner’s snoring, chances are you aren’t getting a great night’s sleep. The Consumer Electronics Show 2024 even has a solution for snoring. The Derucci Anti-Snore Pillow uses sensors to detect your snoring and automatically adjust your head. Plug it into the wall, and when you start to snort, it inflates internal air bags to nudge your noggin into a less noisy position. Pair it with the mobile app for sleep-improvement recommendations. The pillow will be available for $972 in the U.S. this year, the company says. While that seems pretty expensive (unless it is covered by the Cadillac of health insurance plans), it is probably less expensive than getting a divorce or buying a bigger home with bedrooms for each of you. (Of course, I am happy to help with the latter solution at any time! Just call me!)
Finally – For Bird Watchers and Feeders
This bird feeder was not featured at the Consumer Electronics Show 2024 but I thought it was interesting enough to share anyway. The Bird Buddy is a bird feeder with an integrated camera to capture 5MP photos and 720p videos of visiting birds. The Bird Buddy also connects to the cloud wirelessly and uses AI power to identify what species of birds come visit. If you want to brag about your indigo bunting, share those photos and clips with others in the community section of the Bird Buddy app. The roughly $200 Bird Buddy can be accessorized with mounts, a solar panel to reduce the need to charge the batteries, and additional feeding attachments like a suet-ball holder. The best part is that video storage and the ID service are both free—at least for now.
You can click on any bird name that the Bird Buddy has spotted, and it’ll list how many visits you’ve had, as well as detail its habits, favorite foods, average size, and song samples.
And unlike a fusty bird book, the Bird Buddy has a sense of humor: Birds are described as brainiacs, hoarders, bullies, and the like, and the descriptions aren’t dry ornithology but more like kid-friendly trivia (fun fact: Grackles allow ants to crawl all over them in an effort to kill parasites). Currently Bird Buddy can identify about 1,000 species of birds using its own proprietary database, which relies on vetting of new entries by ornithologists.
As a feeder, the Bird Buddy is smaller than a lot of non-camera models such as those in Wirecutter’s best bird feeder guide, so you may need to refill it more frequently. It holds about 4 cups of seed, and it’s easy to fill using a pull-down hatch on the back of the feeder. If the birds get particularly rowdy around you, it’s easy to disassemble the feeder and clean it with soapy water or bleach, per Wirecutter recommendations.
The Bird Buddy baseline unit is about $200, but you may want to pay the extra $70 for the model with a solar panel to avoid recharging the battery every five or so days. Despite the steep price, the Bird Buddy’s ability to ID birds, its AI-powered filtering that reduces nuisance notifications, the free video storage, and the option to share and view photos with other users is worth it for devout birders! I would love to see your pictures if you invest in Bird Buddy!
New Home for These New Toys?
If you want a new home to go with these new toys, just give us a call at 240-401-5577 or email us at lise@lisehowe.com. There are some homes on the market now which are fully equipped with all the smart home features you could ask for! Let’s go check them out!
