Out of the 4,400 exhibitors in Las Vegas for the massive consumer tech show, here are the best ones we found. As you might expect, covering the massive Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas each year is a thrill for tech enthusiasts, as you get to kick the tires, so to speak, on gadgets and gear not commercially available for months or, sometimes, years. But when you're talking about 4,400 exhibitors, you bet there's no shortage of ho-hum products, blatant copycats, or ridiculous concepts. Still, within the vast convention halls housing CES, there are gems to be mined. When it comes to products I'd actually buy, the following are a few 2019 standouts for me so far.

A smart cushion that keeps tabs on your furry friend's fitness was all the rage last year, as were robot petsitters, telemedical apps for cats and dogs, and other tech-centric pet accessories. But leave it to Volta, a Milan designer of connected home appliances and industrial apps, to reinvigorate the category with a pet bowl -- Mookkie -- it says is driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Mookkie, which will make its formal debut at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, features a built-in camera with a fisheye lens, an IR sensor, and an embedded circuit board that automatically detects pets. If a recognizable face -- or muzzle, rather -- comes within range of its sensors, a mechanical panel rotates open to reveal the feed compartment. Better still, Volta says that Mookkie's embedded deep neural network can distinguish between individual pets -- preventing, say, Fido from overfeeding, or a wild animal from stealing your good boy's dinner.