This year's CES placed car tech front and center, leaving many to ask if it's become the world's best car show. Wired's Michael Calore joins Cheddar to wrap up the biggest trends and hottest gadgets from the Las Vegas electronics expo. The senior editor breaks down the latest advancements in autonomous driving and smart-assistant integrations.
Google took its battle with Amazon for voice supremacy to a new level at CES. The tech giant revealed a number of exciting developments in its smart assistant technology, including third-party smart displays from JBL and Lenovo. Calore reveals whether he thinks Google has closed the gap with Amazon's Alexa suite.
Finally, Peloton unveiled the newest addition to its line of smart exercise equipment. Peloton Tread is a nearly $4,000 treadmill that hopes to generate the same success as the company's interactive bikes. Calore is optimistic about people shelling out big bucks for this new device.
The largest car search platform in India, Cardekho, recently raised $250 million in what the company calls a pre-IPO round led by leapfrog investments. The funding bumps CarDekho above unicorn status with a $1.2 billion valuation. The company currently has a catalogue of more than 3,000 pre-owned cars for online purchases and hopes to expand with the new funding. Partner and co-head of South Asian investment for LeapFrog Stewart Langdon joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
E-scooter company Bird made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. CFO Yibo Ling joined Cheddar to discuss what made the company launch a SPAC IPO now. Ling noted one of the deciding factors was the need to scale the business to help take "gas-guzzling cars off the road" by growing into more locations. "A large portion of our proceeds will go to fund expansion into these new geographies," he said.
Thuc Vu, CEO and co-founder of Ohmnilabs, joins 'Cheddar Innovates' to discuss how robots are playing a role in the return to the office, and what's in store for the future of the robotics industry.
Joan E. Solsman, a senior reporter at CNET, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about Netflix moving to offer mobile video games for Android users as part of their subscription. She said this is likely one "baby step" for the streaming giant as it moves into the space. "You can see what Netflix wants to do eventually down the line is have these great ambitions to make their service be more than just passive TV, movies," she said. "They're moving more into merchandising, that they're moving more into in-person experiences. They're trying to broaden a way, which is a great thing to do when everyone keeps talking about metaverses."