2017
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The first Hyperloop test is now just months away
2016 was a big year for Hyperloop One as the company inched ever closer to proving its near-supersonic travel tubes work. At the same time, the business tweaked its plans, intending to become more of a platform and less of a train company. As 2017 advances, it's readying its a three-kilometer test track in North Las Vegas and pushing forward with its Global Challenge. To tell us the state of the company and what innovations we can expect, Co-founder Josh Giegel, CEO Rob Lloyd and Global Ops Chief Nick Earle joined us on the Engadget stage.
The Engadget Challenge: 2017 edition
The most ridiculous spectacle to ever grace the Engadget stage is back as the Engadget Challenge returns for 2017. This time out, we're testing to see if people's knowledge of tech companies is as deep-rooted as their love of fast food. After all, since most toddlers can identify the McDonald's logo from 30 paces, we should be able to guess Twitter from a couple of vague hints, right? Right?
Basis' wearables are (probably) dead
When you're sitting across from Dr. Jerry Bautista, the vice president of Intel's wearables division, you have to ask about Basis. After all, Intel has been weirdly quiet about the fate of wearables startup it bought, especially after recalling the Basis Peak due to overheating concerns. Bautista wouldn't give a definitive answer about the future of the brand, but from what he didn't say, it's clear we'll never see a new Basis device.
New Balance's running smartwatch is all about little tweaks
At last year's CES Intel and New Balance announced that they would team up to develop a sports-focused smartwatch. One day shy of a year later, and the pair revealed it to the world with significantly less fanfare than before. Intel's press conference was all about VR, leaving all talk of wearables to a press release that crossed the wire before the event even kicked off. So what does that mean for the New Balance RunIQ?
Who needs a 6-inch touchscreen Windows desktop?
Dutch startup Ockel believes that what the world needs right now is a 6-inch Windows 10 desktop PC that's also kind of a tablet. Ish. The nonfunctioning prototype was on show at CES, with final models expected to reach Indiegogo backers in May. Which give us a few months to wonder what exactly we'd ever use it for.
Finally, a haptic display that might be worthwhile
Back in 2011, tactile displays were thought to be the next big thing in mobile computing, since you can't feel anything from glass-fronted smartphones. Tanvas, a startup out of Northwestern University, is looking to change all of that with its prototype haptic display. It's a system that can theoretically bolt onto any existing touchscreen, although some of its most exciting uses may not be on a smartphone (or tablet).
The best thing about Samsung's keynote was the comments
One downside of announcing most of your new products in the days leading up to your keynote is that the surprise has gone. Thankfully, while devices we'd already seen were trotted out on the dais, we could spend our time watching the YouTube commentary that accompanied the stream. Since this is the internet, the bulk of the statements were offensive drivel, but a few were entertaining. In fact, these brave YouTube souls offered us a masterclass in corporate trolling.
Here's the smartwatch New Balance and Intel have been working on
It was nearly a year ago to the day that Intel and New Balance announced they were teaming up to launch the New Balance RunIQ, an Android Wear watch for fitness enthusiasts. Now, at CES 2017, we're finally getting a good look at the finished product. The device is designed to be used by runners looking for an accessory for their fancy sneakers -- also made by New Balance, of course. But beyond that, it's not clear what this device does that so many other Android Wear watches can't already do.
Medium can't make money from blogging, so it's cutting 50 jobs
When Ev Williams left Twitter to build Medium, it was with the intention of building "the best writing tool on the web." It's up to you to decide whether he succeeded, but it looks as if his efforts weren't enough to make the company a success. In a blog post, the CEO revealed that he's firing 50 people and radically redefining its business. Long story short, it looks as if Medium needed to change, or risk running out of money.
'Mass Effect: Andromeda' arrives March 21st
Electronic Arts and BioWare have finally ended months of itchiness by announcing the release date for Mass Effect: Andromeda. At CES this morning, the duo revealed that the title will arrive in the US on Tuesday, March 21st. Europeans will need to be a little more patient, unfortunately, since the game debuts on that side of the pond on the 23rd. The title will arrive on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows just four months after its original ship date of "Holiday 2016."
Wanna develop an app for your sex toy?
Everything's a platform these days: Facebook, Twitter, Uber and others want developers to build software on top of their systems. But that rarely happens for sex-toy manufacturers, who often lack the knowledge, desire and customer base to bother. OhMiBod is looking to change that by offering coders the opportunity to build their own applications for its BlueMotion vibrators.
Intel invests in Nokia's old mapping division
Intel has announced that it's buying a 15 percent stake in Here, the mapping company that was spun out of Nokia, for an undisclosed fee. The chipmaker has also revealed that the pair will work together to build a new high-definition mapping platform for self-driving cars. Since the rest of Here is owned by the German car industry, it's not hard to see who might be interested in using that sort of technology.
Polar's next fitness wearable is a smart shirt
In the good old days, the best way to get accurate body readings was to strap on a chest-worn heart-rate monitor and go out for a run. But companies like OMSignal and Hexoskin, among others, changed this by developing monitors that could be embedded in fabrics. It was this trend that led to the first and second waves of "smart" running shirts that we've seen at several previous CES shows. Now Polar, a company that made its name building chest straps, is getting in on the action with the Polar Team Pro Shirt.
Bloomberg: An OLED iPhone is coming next year
OLEDs make for better displays because they draw less power and provide much nicer color reproduction. The only thing stopping them from being on every smartphone in the world is that they're a hassle to make. It's one of the reasons that an OLED iPhone remains as much-rumored as Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Bloomberg, however, believes that we'll see the device hit store shelves in limited quantities by next year. At least, that's what Apple is planning, but like the sapphire crystal display that never was, these things can always change.
'Sonic Mania' looks like the 2D sequel fans deserve
Sonic The Hedgehog is more than just a trash-talking Twitter account. To celebrate the franchise's 25 year anniversary, Sega is taking the series back to its 2D roots. Sonic Mania looks like it'll strip away all the extraneous bloat that's barnacled itself to the core gameplay since the Blue Blur's glory days, with a focus on what always worked so well. Namely, going fast, collecting rings and moving from left to right.
Nintendo to launch NX console in March 2017
We don't know what it looks like. We don't know how it works. But now, we finally know when Nintendo's next system will launch: March 2017. The company's mysterious "NX" platform was first teased more than a year ago, during an investor presentation that also outlined its smartphone strategy. We've heard plenty of rumors since then, including a console-handheld hybrid, a system more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One, and a console with a bizarre touchscreen controller (including faked photos) based on Nintendo patents. The house of Mario has stayed quiet throughout, stating only that it will talk about the console later in 2016.
EA says 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' not due till 2017
It's been almost four years since players gathered a crew on the SSV Normandy SR-2 and saved the universe with Commander Shepard. A new Mass Effect game was originally scheduled for 2016, however an investor call with EA's CFO Blake Jorgensen suggests that Andromeda has now slipped into 2017. During the presentation, he was asked which titles the publisher will be releasing in its "FY (fiscal year) 2017," to which he replied:
Christopher Nolan goes to war in 'Dunkirk'
His last movie took audiences to the other side of a black hole, but director Christopher Nolan's next project is an altogether different trip back in time. Dunkirk tells the story of one of World War II's early battles, where Allied forces were trapped on a French beach. Remember, this was back in 1940 and they were surrounded by German soldiers -- it wasn't a vacation. As he's part of the lobby that pushed film studios to essentially keep celluloid company Kodak afloat, the movie's naturally being shot on large format 65mm film stock in addition to his favored IMAX 65mm.
GM: A Cadillac that can (almost) drive itself is coming in 2016
We've talked a lot about autonomous driving developments like Google's self-driving car, but today in Detroit GM CEO Mary Barra is announcing her company's push to put similar technology in cars we can actually buy. Two years from now, Cadillac will launch an all-new car with its "Super Cruise" technology that not only holds your speed, but uses sensors to keep it in the middle of the lane, and can brake if necessary. We've ridden in a demo vehicle that could even steer to avoid obstacles, but what's coming is more limited (likely because of legal and insurance questions that have yet to be answered), and says it will provide comfort to "an attentive driver" -- hopefully with enough leeway for us to snap an in-traffic selfie or two.
EU's Galileo satnav system orbiting way past budget, delayed until 2017
Up and running by 2014? Try 2017 at the very earliest. Such is the bogus news coming out of the European Commission today, as reported by the German Financial Times. Shockingly enough, the ill-organized Galileo navigation network has suffered from yet more delays, which have pushed it back by a further three years and even deeper into the budgetary red. An additional €1.5b to €1.7b will be required to complete the grand project, while fiscal recalculations now indicate that it's unlikely to ever turn a profit. Again, we are shocked. The total bill for European taxpayers is estimated to amount to somewhere in the region of €20 billion ($27.8b) when development, construction, and operation are all factored in. Ah well, it's a cash drain, but at least it'll divert funds from the EU's suicidal scheme of paying farmers to not farm. Every cloud has a silver lining, right?
