Wireless accessories are great for a variety of reasons. Without those pesky cables, it’s a lot easier to keep your desk looking nice and neat. You also don’t have to worry about having the right ports and cords. But you do have to worry about battery life—starting your workday with a dead keyboard or mouse isn’t always fun. Lenovo’s Mechanical Energy Harvesting Solution aims to solve this issue. The lineup, which consists of a mechanical keyboard, mouse, and headset, uses mechanical movement and solar irradiation to power it rather than external charging. It’s worth noting this is a proof-of-concept, so Lenovo doesn’t have any plans to sell or ship it any time soon (if at all). But it’s still an interesting idea.

The mechanical keyboard is compact, with 68 keys, and comes with RGB backlight. The built-in lithium battery is rechargeable using solar power (you can keep it near a well-lit area like a window) or mechanical rotation—by rotating the built-in knob, it’ll collect mechanical rotating kinetic energy and convert it into electric energy. According to Lenovo, the keyboard can hold more than 30 minutes of charge. It also comes with support for 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, but there’s also a port for wired connectivity. The mouse comes equipped with a 2-way scroll wheel (up and down) along with a variety of shortcut buttons. The battery recharges via mechanical rotation using the ring mechanism on the bottom. Meanwhile, the headset comes with a Switching Mode button, a volume knob, a trackpad, and a toggle switch. Like the keyboard, it supports 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth, and wired connectivity. It doesn’t come with a knob or ring to rotate for more battery life, but it’s rechargeable using solar power. —Brenda Stolyar

The Go Kart Pro 2 is honestly the most fun I’ve had in a while, which is, in all honesty, not something I was expecting to say about a product manufactured by Segway. It’s a 3-in-1 vehicle—it converts from a punchy little go-kart with a maximum speed of 26.7 mph that leaps when you touch the foot pedals and corners nicely on Segway’s tester track (the fact that I immediately flipped it into race mode didn’t hurt.)

Once you’re done with that, pop out the back to find a floating hoverboard. When you bring it home, you don’t even need to worry about storage. Just roll it in front of your 75-inch television, for your go-kart is now a racing sim. The body of the go-kart flexes as you stomp on the gas and shudders with 360 haptic feedback when you crash into a wall or unsuccessfully try to drift. It’s compatible with all major gaming platforms and can go online so you can race against your friends with their crummy racing wheels attached to their dumb gaming PCs. It will be on presale exclusively at Best Buy as soon as today and will ship shortly thereafter.

Getting between hotels at CES is such a struggle. Making a meeting means budgeting an hour of shuttling, monorailing, navigating huge lines and crowds, dealing with carsickness in Ubers or cabs, or just giving up and walking for hours through Vegas city streets (I did this today.) So imagine my delight when Julian and I discovered electric pedicabs waiting in front of the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. “How much do they cost, you think?” I asked him. “It doesn’t matter, it would be worth it,” he said.

In fact, the pedicabs were free, paid for by Dailymotion.com. This is the most incredible advertising that I’ve ever seen (and honestly a missed opportunity for the hundreds of electric bike companies that are currently here). Instead of slowly getting hungrier and more carsick on a shuttle, we whizzed through streets in the fresh air and around cars. The pedicabs will be here today, too. The best part of it is riding past everyone else waiting in line.

There’s nothing like the joy of new parenthood–or the stress of having a crying baby in the middle of the night and trying to determine what’s wrong while half asleep. Maxi Cosi’s new baby monitor promises to fix that. The See Pro 360° Baby Monitor has built-in AI called CryAssist that will translate a baby’s cries into five main categories: sleepy, hungry, fussy, gassy, or agitated. I saw it in action at CES, and the monitor will alert you that the baby is crying, analyze it for you, and then tell you the type of cry. The app will also describe what cues it’s using to identify it; for example, urgent and energetic are two descriptors for a hungry cry. There’s also an option to say if the AI was wrong.

The audio of your baby crying is uploaded to the cloud for analysis, but the Maxi-Cosi team said there’s no identifying information uploaded with it. The app will also track what types of cries it heard when in a little calendar, so you can look back to find out if you’re getting consistent hungry cries at the same time. The AI only works over Wi-Fi since audio needs to be uploaded to the cloud, but the included Parent Display doesn’t need Wi-Fi to work, which makes it easy to travel with or use for older children whose cries you aren’t analyzing.

Nobody should have to sleep with the lights on, but that’s exactly what Dhaval Patel found himself doing one night. The Founder and CEO of Lotus has spent periods of his life on crutches due to an intermittent disability. We’ve all experienced the frustration of getting into bed only to realize we left a light on, but for folks with limited mobility or other disabilities, it’s not always as simple as getting back up again to check.

The Lotus Ring is a wearable that uses infrared light and magnetic switch covers to control lights, fans, and other on-and-off gadgets. The magnetic switch covers eliminate the need to rewire existing electrical infrastructure—even those at hotels or in rentals. And the portable design means any light switch can be converted into a smart light switch. The ring’s simple point-and-click interface doesn’t have a learning curve or require that all of your smart home gadgets play nicely with one another. The system is completely offline, so you don’t need a smartphone or a speaker that sometimes gets it wrong. (That also eliminates the privacy concerns that stem from a gadget that listens to you.) While this tech can be useful for anyone, it’s refreshing to see a company that prioritizes those of us so often underserved. The Lotus Ring is available for pre-order via a $5 deposit here; Shipment is tentatively slated for Fall 2024.

The City Car looks like a golf cart, but if golf carts were beachy and fun. The first thing I noticed were the surfboards loaded on the back rack and the Jeep Wrangler-esque roll bars on the swappable door panels. It has a top speed of a modest but capable 30 mph and is powered by four moped-sized li-ion batteries. You can swap them in and out, but you probably won’t have to since it recharges itself via solar panels on the roof.

It’s as long as a typical parking space is wide, so you can nose it in anywhere head first. It seats two, or four, if the other two are children tucked into the back. But for such a small vehicle, there’s plenty of storage space—Squad CEO Robert Hoevers showed me how to put the seats down for even more storage, and there’s plenty of space under the seats. (When I exclaimed that the dainty vehicle was the perfect size for 5’2” me, he responded, “Hello! We are Dutch! We are the largest people in the world!”)

Hoevers says that while the vehicle is regarded as a second car replacement in Europe, in the United States it’s generally used as an additional vehicle, or for food delivery—on college campuses, company lots, gated communities or for beach properties. If an electric bike seems too dangerous for you, this is a very attractive solution. Or it is for me, at least—if it was on, I probably would’ve tried to drive it around the show floor.

Last year, a new company called Sightful—founded by former executives of Magic Leap—introduced the world’s first AR laptop. Known as Spacetop, it delivers a virtual 100-inch screen that allows you to display as many windows and apps as you need to get work done from any location. Initially, it was only available for purchase through an invitation-only early access program for $2,000—to gain and implement feedback from what Sightful called “enthusiastic early adopters.” At CES, the company announced Spacetop is now officially available for purchase (no invitation required) for $2,150.

The entire setup is comprised of a pair of glasses that are connected by a wire to a full-size keyboard with a touchpad—it’s lightweight and portable so you can easily throw it in your bookbag or tote. The glasses are designed to be comfortable to wear for long periods and are optimized for viewing content up close. There’s a built-in button to control brightness too. The keyboard comes complete with multiple ports, including two USB-C ports, a 3.5-mm headphone jack, DisplayPort 1.4 (for external Full-HD screen support), and SuperSpeed USB up to 10 gigabits per second. There’s also a 5-megapixel camera sensor that you can use for video calls. The entire device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 core CPU and Adreno 650 GPU and runs Sightful’s proprietary operating system called Spacetop OS. I had a chance to go hands-on with the gadget before its release, which you can read all about here.

Since its launch, the company added a few new capabilities to its OS. There’s a new Spacetop Live Stream feature that gives users the option to share a first-person view of their workspace using a URL or QR code; an expanded library of web apps including Windows 365, Docusign, Figma, Notion, and more; and a motion stabilization mode for when you’re in the car, on the train, or a flight (you can turn it on or off using a hotkey command). You can purchase Spacetop starting today through the company’s official website.

Independence is vital for the elderly, but take it from someone whose grandmother refused to use smartphones or an Apple Watch: There aren’t enough options for caregivers who need to monitor loved ones from afar. The same can be said on an institutional level—people can slip through the cracks. When my grandmother fell, she was on the floor for hours. That’s the case for too many people. Zoe Care’s patented technology integrates with Wi-Fi to analyze the waves, detect movement, and alert caregivers to emergencies.

The first version of Zoe Care’s system comes as a wall plug, which has about 700 square feet of coverage. Data is processed on the plug itself, so there are fewer privacy concerns compared to security cameras or audio monitors. And the tech working with airwaves means better coverage of blind spots. Co-founder and CEO Thomas Saphir says the fall detection accuracy is nearly one hundred percent in the company’s independent testing. Accessible pricing is a goal, and while Zoe Care will first be available as a subscription for businesses, the product will likely be available to consumers within a year. Especially interesting is the implication of the motion detection technology. Unlike wearables, it doesn’t rely on an accelerometer, so different types of falls are detected—not just the heavy ones. Zoe Care uses AI to analyze more than just falls—the tech could be used to monitor activity levels, breathing rates, walking speeds, and more. That means falls could be prevented rather than detected after the fact. As Saphir says, “we can almost do too many things.” But if there’s a world in which my grandma’s smart TV could have alerted me to her fall; if there’s a world in which wandering nursing home patients could be found quickly; if there’s even one person that can preserve their independence safely and autonomously, it’s a world I’d like to live in.

Among all the wacky and fun gadgets we see at CES, some devices can actually improve quality of life. The GyroGlove stabilizes the hands of someone with Parkinson’s disease or essential tremor condition, allowing the wearer to eat, drink, and text, as well as do hobbies like painting again.

It looks a little like a brace you might wear for tendonitis, aside from the gyroscope on the back of your hand. “Much like how a spinning top remains erect, gyroscopes instantaneously and proportionally counter a wide range of tremors, from mild to severe,” GyroGear says. “This direct stabilization restores normal hand function.” Though the gyroscope looks big, WIRED writer Nena Farrell tried the glove on and said it had a nice weight to it but wasn’t uncomfortable, like the equivalent of having two iPhones strapped to her hand. Though she doesn’t have tremors, she could feel it reacting to her hand movements.

The company says even someone with severe tremors can zip the glove on and operate it. Because you don’t have to get surgery or take medications, there’s no physical side effects to consider. There will be an effect on your bank account, however. The GyroGlove costs $5,900 for one, though you may be able to preorder it for $4,900. It has not been reviewed by the FDA.

The lines between electric bike, moped, and motorcycle are very thin. Nevertheless, each type of vehicle is bound by different use cases—and different laws. Cleveland, Ohio-based Land’s District Street meets all your two-wheeled electric mobility needs via a clever series of locked modes. The first mode locks it as a Class 2 electric bike with a speed cap of 27 miles per hour; the second as an electric moped, capped at 37 mph; and the third and fourth are motorcycle modes, with speeds of up to 72 mph. You want to commute to work on the highway, and then take the long way home on some dirt backwoods trails? No problem!

Land’s bikes are sleek and beautiful, and hand-made in the United States. But the company also positions itself as a battery manufacturer. The motos are powered with swappable and proprietary Core batteries, which give each bike a range of about 120 miles, depending on how hard you ride or how big you are. It’s an attractive, flexible solution for riders who might not be comfortable riding a full-on electric motorcycle (or don’t have a license) but are willing to explore faster speeds and styles of riding. At $7,000, it’s not that expensive, either.

What’s better than an undersea scooter? One that can also turn into an electric outboard motor. Kahe Nautic’s Pod 600 is supposedly the first multi-purpose electric outboard motor, one that with its tiller attachment, and despite weighing just 4.5 kg, is designed to power a small boat of up to a half-ton. Then by switching up its configuration in a matter of seconds it will be good for activities such as kayaking, snorkeling, stand-up paddling, fishing, and so on. The 420 Wh battery should be up to about 6 hours’ action. The whole shebang starts from just over $1,000, and pleasingly, the battery uses a patented architecture where the lithium cells are not welded together, making it easy to dismantle, recycle or repair.

The mixed reality (XR) glasses market is blowing up, and Asus is the latest company to pull a pair out of its pocket. The Asus AirVision M1 glasses sound suspiciously Apple-y, but it turns out they are a lot like other glasses we have reviewed from Viture, TCL, and Xreal. Essentially a wearable display you can plug into your phone or laptop, the AirVision M1 just needs a USB-C port in a device with DisplayPort Alt Mode support. It relies on Micro OLED tech at FHD resolution with 1,100-nit peak brightness. There’s a 57-degree field of view, so you can easily watch multiple screens while keeping tabs on your real-world backdrop, and it supports 3 degrees of freedom (3DoF), so you can pin virtual screens in a static position and have them stay put as you move your head.

Asus seems to be billing the AirVision M1 as a work aid, picture yourself multitasking on virtual displays with documents and spreadsheets in your local coffee shop. Controls are via a multi-function touchpad on the left temple, which is likely to be finicky. The glasses also have noise-canceling microphones and speakers. With no word on price or release date, it’s tough to judge their prospects, but the chunky AirVision M1 looks a lot like the other XR glasses currently available.

AMD unveiled its latest round of desktop processors with onboard graphics, the Ryzen 8000G series of APUs. It’s been a while since AMD has shown its APU lineup some love so this comes as a welcome surprise.

The top two Ryzen 8000G series desktop processors, the Ryzen 7 8700G, and Ryzen 5 8600G both include dedicated NPUs — a first for a desktop processor.

Additionally, the entire Ryzen 8000 series features included Radeon 700M, RDNA 3 performance with their onboard GPUs, meaning better gaming performance for systems without a dedicated graphics card. AMD claims you should be able to run most new games at 1080p with just one of these new Ryzen 8000 series APUs, but that will remain to be seen.

The Ryzen 8000G series is slated to hit store shelves starting January 31, with OEM systems expected to start shipping later this spring.

I’m not sure the phrase “spatial content creation” will catch on, but Sony’s headset aimed at creating content in 3D space probably has a better chance. Available later this year, the headset will come with 4K OLED displays on each eye, and external cameras that allow the user to see what’s happening around them.

The headset is aimed at creative professionals, with Sony promising to collaborate with companies in the entertainment and industrial design fields, starting with an exclusive partnership with Siemens. The headset and controllers will mainly be used to design and interact with virtual models, so don’t expect to play Beat Saber on this thing.

Mercedes Benz, like other car companies this CES, is slapping ChatGPT into its vehicles. Infused into Mercedes’ MBUX Virtual Assistant platform, the new AI assistant will rely on large-language model tech to answer your every query with conversational-sounding vocal responses. The assistant pops up in the form of a “living” star avatar. It’s like a talking Clippy in the shape of the Mercedes logo. It comes with four personality traits to guide its responses—Natural, Predictive, Personal, Empathetic. These all sound very much like the kind of laws of robotics you’d try to stick in a robot before it goes rogue.

In addition to chatting with you while you drive, the virtual assistant can also be used to enhance all the luxury offerings found in a Mercedes with a command or automation. Hold a virtual meeting via Zoom, WebEx, or Microsoft Teams. When you’re done working from car, have it dim the lighting and put on relaxing music while massage rollers built into the seat pummel you in the back.

This Anura smart mirror from NuraLogix is essentially a big tablet that sits upright on a table in front of you. Sit still for 30 seconds while it studies your face, and it gives you a report on your vital signs. It can measure heart rate, breathing rate, your stress levels, and other basic biological information, all while also identifying basic risk factors that you can go talk to your doctor about. The camera can sense the blood flow activity beneath the skin of your face to take these measurements. In our trial on the busy floor of the expo hall, it was pretty accurate! Watch WIRED’s Adrienne So try it out in the video above.

The autonomous truck developer Kodiak Robotics said today that its sixth-generation self-driving semi-truck is here—and ready to carry goods between two Texas cities, no human driver needed. The company says it plans to launch a driverless route on public highways between Dallas and Houston sometime this year. The two cities are 250 miles apart.

The announcement is a bright spot for autonomous trucking, which has had a rocky few years as startups and established players such as Alphabet-owned Waymo have stepped away from goods transport. 2024 could see a reversal of fortunes: There’s the Kodiak deployment, plans to launch a limited number of self-driving trucks from Aurora Innovation, and continued efforts from Daimler Truck-affiliated Torc Robotics.

What makes this Kodiak semi-truck different from all other semi-trucks? The company says the key is redundancy, which backs up the autonomous system in the same way human safety drivers do. Kodiak says the sixth-gen version comes with redundant braking, steering, power, and compute and electrical systems. All are the result of lots of work from Kodiak: five years, 2.5 million miles’, and 5,000 loads’ worth of testing.

There is nothing quite like pet love, but because they can’t tell us what’s physically ailing them, pet health is often addressed after a serious medical issue. AI is in everything now, but if it can help improve preventative pet care technology, we may be able to keep our pets happy, healthy, and with us as long as possible.

Invoxia’s Minitailz Smart Pet Tracker hopes to make that a reality, using sensors and AI to measure respiratory and heart vitals, detect Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), and track anomalies in pet behaviors simply by attaching it to a collar. Last year, Invoxia released a smart dog collar with GPS and biometric tracking. The Minitailz also has GPS tracking in case of a lost pet, but it’s smaller and lighter, It fits on most collars you already own and offers more advanced health information than the competition. It can also track basic activity, so it can tell you if your cat got the zoomies while you were at work.

The company says it’s also using machine intelligence to sift through the data being collected. The information is analyzed and interpreted so owners are presented with actionable information. Now you can know: is this serious enough to call a vet, or just something to keep an eye on?

The dog version is available for purchase now, and the cat version should be available in March. Both cost $100 plus an $8.30 per month subscription, which works out to $100 a year in fees.

At some point during the Panasonic press conference yesterday at CES, I lost track of where I was and what was happening. At the beginning of the presentation, a jungle-like mist (yes, an actual mist, made up of water) descended upon our befuddled heads, which executive officer in charge of quality and environment Hirotoshi Uehara explained was used to cool outdoor environments as they heated up due to climate change. Then Uehara discussed Pasaonic’s use of recycled cellulose fiber to replace virgin plastics, a material that the company calls kinari, and the uptake of captured carbon dioxide on fruit and vegetable yields (if you’re interested, it ups them by about 40 percent). “If we don’t change what we’re doing, we’re going to die,” says Uehara. That is true, but our ability to act on climate change seems a little limited from this crowded ballroom in Vegas.

Thankfully, the presentation quickly turned to talk about what we were really interested in—that is to say, not this rapidly boiling rock that we all live on, but electric shavers, TVs, and AI-enabled microwaves. Panasonic’s palm-sized shaver, the PalmShaver, is an appealing little device that you move about your face and body to remove hair, like scrubbing it off with a beach stone. It uses another sustainable material called Nagori, which is made from sea minerals and gives it a ceramic-like handfeel.

The company also announced a partnership with Amazon Fire TV, which will come built-in on the new flagship OLED models (still unfortunately not sold in the United States) and have AI-tailored recommendations to sort through all the shows and movies. We also heralded “a new era in microwave ovens” with Fresco CEO Ben Harris, who showed an AI cooking assistant in the Panasonic app, to be used with the Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 cooking oven. To be honest, I was a little less excited about an app that could adjust recipes based on serving size than I was to see the Magic Pot, a little pan that theoretically allows you to sear or brown food in the microwave. All hail the smart microwave!