The best of CES 2024

Hello and happy new year! Once again, team Engadget has set up shop in Las Vegas for CES, living out of suitcases so that we can scour the massive show floor and occasionally injure ourselves in the process. For CES 2024, we expected to see AI everywhere, and we were not disappointed.

We saw more than a few laptops with AI-powered chips inside, not to mention multiple references to Microsoft's Copilot assistant. Volkswagen built ChatGPT into its in-car system, while BMW teamed up with Amazon to improve its own in-car assistant. Qualcomm announced an AI Snapdragon chip. Walmart came to CES for the first time to announce its building generative AI into its online shopping experience. Even SAG-AFTRA struck a deal for AI and voice acting at CES (not that the actors themselves consider it a good deal).

Meanwhile, The Rabbit R1, a device co-designed by Teenage Engineering, was the surprise hit at this year's show — so hot we haven't been able to see it in person ourselves as of this writing. And then there were the oddballs: a grill that uses AI to help cook a steak in 90 seconds, and a cat door that automatically locks when it knows your pet is about to drag in a mouse.

Then there were not one, but two transparent TVs: one from Samsung and one from LG. Remember when rollable TVs were the thing? Oh, and GE kindly fed us beef tenderloin cooked with an indoor smoker. It was delicious.

Notably, too, there was a lot less pee on the show floor this year. (But we did find some.)

Today is our team's last day on the ground, which means it's also time for us to announce our annual Best of CES award winners. You may notice an obvious difference this year, which is that we've gotten rid of categories. From our point of view, we still attempted to see as broad a range of products as possible: laptops, mobile devices, gaming gear, smart home stuff, cars and items meant for people with disabilities. When it came to choosing winners, though, we saved time not having to debate amongst