BEST OF CES 2023: ELECTRIC SKATES, PET TECH AND AI FOR BIRDS

Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show.

The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in 2022 attendance because of the pandemic.

Exhibitors range from big names including Sony and LG to tiny startups. You might see the next big thing or something that will never make it past the prototype stage.

On Tuesday night, the show kicked off with media previews from just some of the 3,000 companies signed up to attend.

Here are some highlights:

POKEMON, BUT MAKE IT BIRDS

Bird Buddy showed off a smart bird feeder that takes snapshots of feathered friends as they fly in to eat some treats. The startup says its Al technology can recognize more than 1,000 species of birds, allowing users to share through a mobile app what kind of birds they're feeding.

"We try to kind of gamify the collection so it's a really fun game that you can play almost like a real life Pokémon Go with real animals and wildlife in your backyard," said Kyle Buzzard, the company's co-founder and chief hardware officer.

The product has already sparked some interest from consumers who want to show the world what birds are coming into their backyards.

The company, which began as a Kickstarter project in 2020, says it started shipping its bird feeders in September and has already sold all 100,000 in its inventory. The price for the basic feeder is $199.

ELECTRIC SKATES 

Journalists had fun zipping around the exhibit hall on remote-controlled, electric inline skates from French startup AtmosGear.