There were times I wasn’t sure the Rabbit R1 was even a real thing. The AI-powered, Teenage Engineering-designed device came out of nowhere to become one of the biggest stories at CES, promising a level of fun and whimsy that felt much better than some of the more self-serious AI companies out there. CEO Jesse Lyu practically promised the world in this $199 device.
Technology
A morning with the Rabbit R1: a fun, funky, unfinished AI gadget
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25415491/DSC08587.JPG?ssl=1 "A morning with the Rabbit R1: a fun, funky, unfinished AI gadget")
Well, say this for Rabbit: it’s real. Last night, I went to the swanky TWA Hotel in New York City, along with a few hundred reporters, creators, and particularly enthusiastic R1 buyers. After a couple of hours of photo booths, specialty cocktails, and a rousing keynote and demo from Lyu — in which he made near-constant reference to and fun of the Humane AI Pin — we all got our R1s to take home. I’ve been using mine ever since, and I have some thoughts. And some questions.
From a hardware perspective, the R1 screams “kinda meh Android phone.” Here are the salient specs: it’s about three inches tall and wide and a half-inch thick. It weighs 115 grams, which is about two-thirds as much as the iPhone 15. It has a 2.88-inch screen, runs on a 2.3GHz MediaTek MT6765 processor, and has 128 gigs of storage and four gigs of RAM. It has a speaker on the back, two mics on the top, and a SIM card slot on the side right next to the USB-C charging port. It only comes in one color, a hue Rabbit calls “leuchtorange” but is often known as “brilliant orange” or “luminous orange.” It’s definitely orange, and it’s definitely luminous.
At this point, the best way I can describe the R1 is like a Picasso painting of a smartphone: it has most of the same parts, just laid out really differently. Instead of sitting on top or in the back, the R1’s camera sits in a cutout space on the right side of the device, where it can spin its lens to face both toward and away from you.
The R1 is like a Picasso painting of a smartphone
After spending a few hours playing with the device, I have to say: it’s pretty nice. Not luxurious, or even particularly high-end, just silly and fun. Where Humane’s AI Pin feels like a carefully sculpted metal gem, the R1 feels like an old-school MP3 player crossed with a fidget spinner. The wheel spins a little stiffly for my taste but smoothly enough, the screen is a little fuzzy but fine, and the main action button feels satisfying to thump on.
When I first got the device and connected it to Wi-Fi, it then immediately asked me to sign up for an account at Rabbithole, the R1’s web portal. I did that, scanned a QR code with the R1 to get it synced up, and immediately did a software update. I spent that time logging in to the only four external services the R1 currently connects to: Spotify, Uber, DoorDash, and Midjourney.
Once I was eventually up and running, I started chatting with the R1. So far, it does a solid job with basic AI questions: it gave me lots of good information about this week’s NFL draft, found a few restaurants near me, and knew when Herbert Hoover was president. This is all fairly basic ChatGPT stuff, and there’s some definite lag as it fetches answers, but I much prefer the interface to the Humane AI Pin — because there’s a screen, and you can see the thing working so the AI delays don’t feel quite so interminable.
Because there’s a screen, the AI delays don’t feel quite so interminable
Almost immediately, though, I started running into stuff the R1 just can’t do. It can’t send emails or make spreadsheets, though Lyu has been demoing both for months. Rabbithole is woefully unfinished, too, to the point I was trying to tap around on my phone and it was instead moving a cursor around a half-second after every tap. That’s a good reminder that the whole thing is running on a virtual machine storing all your apps and credentials, which still gives me security-related pause.
Oh, and here’s my favorite thing that has happened on the R1 so far: I got it connected to my Spotify account, which is a feature I’m particularly excited about. I asked for “Beyoncé’s new album,” and the device excitedly went and found me “Crazy in Love” — a lullaby version, from an artist called “Rockabye Baby!” So close and yet so far. It doesn’t seem to be able to find my playlists, either, or skip tracks. When I said, “Play The 1975,” though, that worked fine and quickly. (The speaker, by the way, is very much crappy Android phone quality. You’re going to want to use that Bluetooth connection.)
The R1’s Vision feature, which uses the camera to identify things in the scene around you, seems to work fine as long as all you want is a list of objects in the scene. The device can’t take a photo or video and doesn’t seem to be able to do much else with what it can see.
When you’re not doing anything, the screen shows the time and that bouncing rabbit-head logo. When you press and hold the side button to issue a command, the time and battery fade away, and the rabbit’s ears perk up like it’s listening. It’s very charming! The overall interface is simple and text-based, but it’s odd in spots: it’s not always obvious how to go back, for instance, and you only get to see a line or two of text at a time at the very bottom of the screen, even when there’s a whole paragraph of answer to read.
Rabbit’s roadmap is ambitious: Lyu has spent the last few months talking about all the things the R1’s so-called “Large Action Model” can do, including learning apps and using them for you. During last night’s event, he talked about opening up the USB-C port on the device to allow accessories, keyboards, and more. That’s all coming… eventually. Supposedly. For now, the R1’s feature set is much more straightforward. You can use the device to play music, get answers to questions, translate speech, take notes, summon an Uber, and a few other things.
That means there’s still an awful lot the R1 can’t do and a lot I have left to test. (Anything you want to know about, by the way, let me know!) I’m particularly curious about its battery life, its ability to work with a bad connection, whether it heats up over time, and how it handles more complex tasks than just looking up information and ordering chicken nuggets. But so far, this thing seems like it’s trying to be less like a smartphone killer and more like the beginnings of a useful companion. That’s probably as ambitious as it makes sense to be right now — though Lyu and the Rabbit folks have a lot of big promises to eventually live up to and not a lot of time to do so.
Photography by David Pierce / The Verge
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Make no mistake, the Bastl Kalimba is a synthesizer, you just play it like a kalimba. Its tines don’t really make much sound. There is an internal mic that you can blend in for a little acoustic spice, but it’s mostly driven by the synth engine that combines physical modeling and FM. The tines are actually touch and velocity-sensitive triggers. And, while it can sound somewhat like a real kalimba, it’s a lot more sonically versatile and offers features you can only find on a synth.
Beyond the synth sounds that range from pluck to pads, there are also built-in effects covering basic spatial effects like delay and reverb, as well as distortion, bit crushing, and even tape emulation. There’s also a multi-mode high- and low-pass filter, a simple arpeggiator.
More interesting, though, are the looper and touch points that add unique effects. The looper has time-stretching features, can be reversed, and rerecorded through the effects for destructive processing. A series of touchpads on the front enable note glides and alter the timbre using effects that Bastl calls Soil and Wind. Those effects unlock the Kalimba’s accelerometer for further timbral manipulation. There are also two programmable touch points on the top that can be assigned to almost any parameter, from simple pitch bends to the size of the reverb.
Bastl is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the first batch of Kalimbas. Normally, this is where you get the caveats about crowdfunded products. But Bastl Instruments is a well-established company with a long track record of delivering oddball music gear at scale. The company called it “one of the most challenging” products it has ever created, and it spent more than three years in development, so it’s possible that Bastl is gauging interest before committing to mass production. We’ve reached out to Bastl for comment and will update if we hear back.
Food delivery drones launch in NJ
FOX Business correspondent Madison Alworth reports on drone food delivery services launching in New Jersey on ‘America Reports.’
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Want two large pizzas and drinks at your door in just over four minutes? That is now possible, as long as you live in the right place.
Flytrex has partnered with Little Caesars to roll out a new kind of delivery. Instead of a driver, your order arrives by drone, still hot and fresh from the oven.
There is one catch. The service is currently live in Wylie, Texas. If you are not there, you will have to wait a bit longer. Still, this gives a clear look at where food delivery is heading.
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ROBOTS ARE TAKING OVER UBER EATS DELIVERIES. IS YOUR CITY NEXT?
A Flytrex drone carries a Little Caesars order through the air, showing how pizza can now be delivered straight from the sky. (Flytrex)
How Flytrex drone delivery works step by step
The process feels familiar at first, then quickly shifts into something very different. You open the Flytrex app and check if your home falls within the four-mile delivery zone. If it does, you build your order just like you normally would, choosing up to two large 16-inch pizzas along with sides and drinks, as long as everything stays under the 8.8-pound limit.
Once you place the order, it goes straight into Little Caesars’ system. This is the first time a drone delivery platform connects directly to a restaurant’s point of sale, which speeds things up behind the scenes. The store prepares your food as usual. Instead of handing it to a driver, the order is picked up outside through what Flytrex calls remote pickup. The drone collects it curbside and takes off.
From there, everything is automated. The drone flies to your home, usually in about four and a half minutes. When it arrives, it hovers above your yard and lowers the food down on a wire. There is no landing and no face-to-face handoff.
Sky2 drone features that make pizza delivery possible
The system works because of the new Sky2 drone, which was designed to handle full meals instead of small packages. It can carry a full family-sized order in one trip, including two large pizzas, sides and drinks. That alone sets it apart from earlier delivery drones that could only handle lighter orders.
The drone uses an octocopter design with eight motors, which gives it redundancy in flight. If one motor has an issue, the others can keep it stable. It also runs on a dual battery system for added reliability.
Navigation relies on satellite positioning with real-time corrections, allowing it to move with a high level of precision. Its onboard AI continuously monitors the flight to keep everything running safely from takeoff to delivery. The range is designed to cover nearby suburban neighborhoods, which helps keep delivery times fast and food fresh.
DELIVERY ROBOT AUTONOMOUSLY LIFTS, TRANSPORTS HEAVY CARGO
A Little Caesars order is secured for drone pickup, replacing the need for a traditional delivery driver. (Flytrex)
Why faster pizza delivery could change habits
Speed is what makes this stand out. A delivery that takes just minutes changes how people think about ordering food.
For anyone who prefers picking up pizza to keep it hot, this starts to remove that tradeoff. You can get the same freshness without leaving your house. That alone could push more people to order in rather than drive.
It also removes traffic delays and long delivery routes. The drone flies directly from the restaurant to your home, which cuts out many of the usual slowdowns.
“Flytrex is laser-focused on making on-demand food delivery by drone a reality for everyday families,” Amit Regev said. “A big part of advancing this market is making sure people can get the food they actually want, when they want it. Until now, drones simply weren’t capable of delivering a full family meal. The Sky2 changes that.”
ALEXA+ LETS YOU ORDER FOOD LIKE A REAL CONVERSATION
The drone travels across a suburban neighborhood, covering short distances in just minutes to keep food hot. (Flytrex)
Where drone food delivery is available now
Right now, this service is limited. Wylie, Texas, is the first place where you can order two full pizzas by drone through this partnership.
That said, Flytrex isn’t starting from scratch. The company has already completed more than 200,000 deliveries across the United States, including ongoing operations in North Carolina, where residents place more than 1,000 orders each month.
Drone delivery is also expanding in other parts of the world and in select U.S. markets. Companies like Wing, Amazon, GrubHub and Manna, and Manna are all pushing into new areas, which suggests this will not stay limited for long.
The delivery is lowered safely to the ground by wire, completing the drop-off without the drone ever landing. (Flytrex)
What this means for you
Even if this isn’t available where you live yet, it is moving in that direction. Faster delivery could become the new expectation, especially for short distances. Food may arrive hotter and more consistently since it avoids traffic and long wait times.
Ordering could also feel easier as systems connect directly with restaurants, reducing delays between checkout and preparation. At the same time, you may start to notice more drones overhead. That raises questions about noise, safety and how often these flights will happen in residential areas.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Drone delivery has been discussed for years, yet this feels like a turning point. The ability to deliver a full meal removes one of the biggest barriers that held the idea back. This rollout shows how quickly things can shift once the technology matches everyday needs. It may not be in your neighborhood yet, though the pace of expansion suggests it will not stay that way for long. Little Caesars’ VP of innovation, Trish Heusel, summed it up this way. “Partnering with Flytrex to bring full family meals by drone delivery is a major leap forward and a clear example of how we’re pushing the boundaries of convenience, speed and accessibility in our category.” For now, the future depends on where you live.
Would you order pizza more often if it showed up hot at your door in under five minutes without a driver? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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I’ve got to thank my oldest friend and concert buddy, Tim, for turning me on to this one. Ashnymph is a London band that blends post-punk melodies with Krautrock rhythms and industrial grime. Their debut EP, Childhood, drifts between dreamy vocals buried in layers of reverb and four-on-the-floor dancefloor pounding. It’s a thrilling opening salvo from a band that feels on the cusp of a major breakthrough.
Childhood opens with an ambient recording of someone walking down a hall (I think), and some swirling synth noise before the first song, “Island in the Sky” kicks off properly with a motorik beat and bass throb. The thin, digitally manipulated vocals and robotic groove punctuated with bursts of noise, but the big chords of the chorus bring to mind Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll.”
“Saltspreader,” the band’s first single, is next. It launches with a deep metallic grind splattered by clanking percussion and drum hits, before a soft synth arpeggio brings some melody to the party. In the back half, there are deeply chorused vocals that ooze ‘80s goth, driving guitar, and a disco stomp. Despite its slow build, it’s clear why the band chose this as their first single. It’s dark, dancey, and an absolute earworm.
“After Glow” leans even further into ‘80 fetishism, recalling Depeche Mode and early Ministry, before Al Jourgensen discovered guitars. “47” marries industrial beats with chipmunk vocals and off-kilter guitars in the vein of No Wave acts like Swans. But the last-minute switch to a half-time groove removes the more abrasive layers, letting the beauty of the guitar melody shine through while ethereal vocals float over the top.
The last track, “Mr. Invisible,” is possibly the most experimental of the bunch. It’s more explicitly electronic than the rest, relying on heavily manipulated samples, indecipherable vocals, and a relentless bass thump for the first chunk. Eventually, clearer vocal melodies and circular guitar lines play off the polyrhythmic synths. The whole thing is disorienting, dizzying, and exhilarating. It ends somewhat abruptly on a lopsided guitar groove and an echoed vocal, leaving me wanting more. So much more.
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