This year's IFA seems to revolve around the idea of embedding one technology within another. Motion sensors inside light bulbs. Spotlights inside party speakers. And most impressively: a robot designed to transport another robot.
See also: The NexLawn robot picks fruit and throws a ball to your dog
This week on The Vergecast, we discussed our favorite technology (so far!) from the big trade show currently underway in Berlin. The panelists broke down some of the biggest trends, starting with the incredible ways robot vacuums are learning to climb stairs. Then we took a deep dive into the major upgrades to the Philips Hue, where a decade of bulbs are getting updated with motion-sensing capabilities, all you need to do is buy a new hub to support them.
See also: Robot dog ANYmal plays badminton against humans
Lauren then talked about the outcome of the antitrust lawsuit against Google. The judge announced his rulings this week, and everyone except Google seems unhappy with them. Lauren helped us understand exactly what the judge is asking for, why critics are so frustrated, and what’s next. The judge sees this ruling as a way to open up the search market, but there will likely be a few more twists and turns before that happens.
See also: Pregnancy Robot: Robot will give birth to human babies!
Finally, Thunder Round is back, better than ever. We talked about Garmin's very expensive new smartwatch, Amazon's reduction of Prime benefits, how the Pixel 10 Pro's AI zoom feature completely failed when photographing the moon, why Instagram has finally come to the iPad, and the incredible journey of the FTC's only Democratic commissioner.
