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Send your love around the world in this box
LoveBox is a French messaging startup that, in exchange for $120, will let you send messages of love to your amour... or your paramour. Simply hand your beloved one of the boxes, pair it to your phone with the companion app, and you're all set. Then, when you're out and about, you can send text-message length missives back home, for the box to receive over WiFi.
Amazon Fire TV Edition televisions put its box in the big screen
Earlier today Amazon announced that Seiki, Element Electronics and Westinghouse will sell TVs with its Fire TV experience built in, and tonight we got to see them in action. As promised, the televisions pack the latest version of the Fire TV software, with Alexa voice commands plus the usual apps and tweaks. What they add to it are wrinkles needed for TVs, plus the convenience of not having to switch inputs all the time.
Mohu teases its wireless TV antenna
One thing about cord-cutting and switching to antenna-delivered TV is that some people can't get a good signal near their TV. Mohu's new AirWave antenna solves that by making it wireless. The $150 device just needs to plug into power to catch TV broadcasts, transcode them and stream the video via WiFi to its apps on platforms like Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, iOS and Android, not to mention the web. We couldn't get all the details tonight at the CES Unveiled event, but it should hit shelves in the spring.
The Royole-X is a foldable headset for movies on-the-go
For a brief moment in the hectic and crowded floor of CES, I escaped and watched a trailer for a "Fast and Furious" movie. No, I didn't sneak away into a theater (I wish) -- I simply donned the Royole-X, a new personal theater headset that's on display here at the CES Unveiled event. At first glance, it seems very much like the Avegant Glyph, another personal theater headset. But instead of using a mirror projection system, the Royole has an AMOLED embedded in its visor. Specifically, it's supposedly a superthin and flexible AMOLED display at only 0.01 mm thick. The result is what the company is calling the "world's first foldable audio and video headset.
Sensorwake clock wants to wake you up with scents, not sound
One of the most hated sounds in the world has to be the shrill siren of the alarm clock in the morning. But what if you could wake up to a pleasant scent instead? That's the thought behind the Sensorwake, which is a unique olfactory alarm clock. Insert one of six scent cartridges (ocean, lush jungle, croissant, coffee, chocolate or peppermint) in the slot, program in your wake time and you'll be awakened with the aroma of your choice.
The Oree Stylograph is a smart pen made out of pure copper
While Livescribe may have the recognition, it's by no means the only smart pen on the market. Here at CES, we got a peek at the Oree Stylograph, a beautiful ballpoint smart pen that's made of pure copper. In fact, it was a Kickstarter project that was fully funded just a few weeks ago and should start shipping soon. The pen feels nice in the hand and, fortunately, uses standard ballpoint cartridges. Like the Livescribe, it communicates with your Android or iOS device via Bluetooth and will automatically transfer whatever you've scribbled to the corresponding Oree app. The app doesn't have character-recognition now, but it will by the end of the month, according to a spokesperson.
Loyal robot dog waits for you to walk through the door
WowWee, a smart toy company, has unveiled a robotic dog with blue-green LED eyes. The dog, aptly called CHiP (short for Canine Home Intelligent Pet), sits with the tap of a button, picks up your presence in the room via bluetooth and plays fetch. The sensor-loaded pup comes with a toy-watch looking wristband that allows it to pick up your whereabouts. When you're happy with your "pet's" response, you can press down a thumbs up on the wristband as a sign of approval -- it's the digital equivalent of a belly rub.
CES Unveiled 2015 in less than 60 seconds
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611").style.display="none";}catch(e){} While today marks the official start of CES 2015, we've been on the ground for what feels like an eternity. It all started Sunday at CES Unveiled, a small pre-show packed with oddities like smart baby bottles, levitating speakers and family-friendly facial recognition cameras. We may not have found the next big thing at Mandalay Bay this year, but it did make for some decent eye candy. In an attempt to share the love, here's a glimpse of CES Unveiled 2015 in under 60 seconds. For more from Unveiled and beyond, check out our 2015 CES Field Guide.
When fingerprint scanners are hidden in your trackpad, you'll want one
Fingerprint scanners are coming to laptops. Again. Thanks, in part, to smartphones making them, if not quite cool, then useful. Synaptics, the laptop trackpad maker, already told us all about SecurePad, a touchpad with a fingerprint sensor built into the upper-left corner, and now look! Here it is! While the sensor built into the prototype laptop had a raised outline, Synaptics also told us that, heck, it can make it look like anything a hypothetical PC maker wants -- even if that means making it indistinguishable from the "main" trackpad. Since last month, laptop manufacturers have been able to start embedding the tech into their PCs, although which company will strike first with the sensor remains a mystery.
Zensorium's 'Being' is a fitness wearable that promises to track your mood as well
We've seen wearables that track our heart rate, activity levels and sleep patterns, but rarely do we see one that tracks our mood as well. That's the idea behind Zensorium's Being, a wearable that promises to not just monitor the usual activity tracker data such as NREM and REM sleep, heart rate, steps, calories burnt, distance and speed, but also your mood.
The modern tape measure has instant metric conversions, optional Bluetooth
After an apparent seven-year hiatus, the electronic tape measure has returned... with a smartphone-era upgrade. If you don't see the screen, the E-Tape looks like any typical tape measure you'd find at Home Depot: a rubberized guard for the tape, a lock, and a hardy metal clip for attaching to your belt as you go about doing... buildery things. However, it does a few things more. Possibly the most convenient feature is the E-Tape's single-button press conversion: to inches, centimeters, inches with a decimal point, as well as distance in feet and inches. (Yay, no more thinking!)
CES Unveiled: Dexim's Lightning Power Skin and Music Talking Stylus
We looked at Dexim's chargers last year, but the company is rolling out a new Lightning port Power Skin for the iPhone, as seen above. It should sell for US$60 and be available at the end of January. For those of you who still have 30-pin iPhones, they were handing out samples of the ClickStick Bluetooth remote for the iPhone's camera. I'll have a review of that next week. One crazy accessory they were pushing as well was a Bluetooth stylus, which you can use to listen to music (you can actually plug your headphones into the end of it), or use it as a sort of pen phone, as it has a microphone on it. Crazy stuff, but it just might be a hit. Then again, it is called the Music Talking Stylus and will be available for $79.99 in February. Engadget has a gallery of the Music Talking Stylus here.
CES Unveiled: The HAPIfork aims to help you track your eating habits with Bluetooth
CES Unveiled was held last night in the Mandalay Bay conference center in Las Vegas, and served as the unofficial kickoff of one of the biggest gadget shows in the world. The Unveiled room was crowded with new product demos, but one product stood out: The HAPIfork. The HAPIfork, as you might guess from looking at it above, is a Bluetooth-enabled fork. Yes, really. The fork (and there's also a spoon version) uses a combination of sensors to measure just how much you're eating and how quickly, and then will translate those metrics to either an iOS or web app. The fork won't actually measure what you're eating (so it won't measure caloric content or fat content), but it will measure each "fork serving" you take, and it can even be set up to give you an alarm when you're eating too much or too quickly. And each app comes with a "coaching program" to help you eat more healthily (though, of course, actually listening to that coach is up to you). There are also a number of achievements to earn, so HAPIlabs has added a light gaming layer on the whole thing. It definitely seems like a interesting idea, and if you have a real issue controlling portion sizes, this might be worth a try. HAPIlabs is bringing out a USB-based version in the second quarter of this year that will cost $99, and then the Bluetooth fork isn't due until 2014. The HAPIfork definitely turned heads at CES Unveiled, but we'll have to wait just a little while to see how much the finished version actually helps fast eaters tame their habits.
VIA Technologies Leo U8500 hands-on (video)
When stopping by the ST-Ericsson booth at CES Unveiled tonight, we weren't expecting to stumble upon a phone we'd never seen before. Fortunately we were treated to a splendid surprise, as a new device designed by VIA Technologies was hanging out on the desk like a villain. The handset is designated as the "Leo U8500" and is touted as one of the first phones containing a full ST-Ericsson chipset. The yet-to-be-branded Gingerbread device sports the NovaThor U8500 smartphone platform, which rocks a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, Mali 400 GPU and 14.4Mbps HSPA+ radio. Its chipset supports cameras with up to 20MP sensors and 1080p HD video capture. While the phone is production-ready, it appears that VIA is still shopping for potential suitors, and it's most likely China-bound when all is said and done. A few images and a video can be found below. Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Marvell shows off ARM-powered Google TV, looks a lot like Google TV
Tonight at CES Unveiled Marvell gave us a peek at the future of Google TV with this tiny box, running the latest version of the software on one of its recently announced Armada 1500 ARM processors. It was controlled by a standard Logitech Revue keyboard/trackpad combo, and we couldn't really get a feel for any potential performance differences but the box was sitting there, fanlessly, cheaply and efficiently doing its thing. We'll probably know more about the actual hardware you'll be able to buy in the future tomorrow, but for now you can peep a few more pics of this reference box in the gallery. Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Fujitsu Arrows μ F-07D hands-on (video)
It was only a few short months ago that Fujitsu's F-07D cropped up at the FCC and took a swing at the "world's thinnest" smartphone title. Since that time, the handset's taken on a new name -- the Arrows μ -- and has launched on NTT DoCoMo in Japan. Today at CES Unveiled, we got a chance to get up close and personal with the device which, despite hitting a high water mark for slim profile, doesn't exactly attempt to compete with high-end specs. Instead this Android 4-incher runs Gingerbread atop a single-core Qualcomm MSM8255 processor clocked at 1.4GHz and is complemented by 1GB of RAM, 5.1MP rear camera and 1400mAh battery. So, does it hold up to its slight reputation? Join us after the break as we answer that question and delve deep into our first impressions.
Dish Network adds video on-demand streaming for iPad, enhanced Thuuz Google TV app
While Dish isn't yet ready to officially reveal the details of its new "Hopper" multiroom DVR setup or any wireless broadband plans, it has announced the addition of video on-demand streaming to its Remote Access iPad app. For users with the Blockbuster @Home package or premium movie channels like HBO, they can log in with their Dish Online ID and be in business. The remote viewing portion has also been refreshed, with what we're told is an updated guide. For Google TV owners, it also announced an official tie-in with the developers of Thuuz to record the live sports programs it alerts users to. Check out the details in the press release after the break, as well as a few hands-on pics of the iPad app in our gallery.
Mitsubishi's 'big year' at CES includes 92-inch DLP, 155-inch OLED displays
As we mentioned in our 3D roundup, the advantage of Mitsubishi sticking to DLP technology for its HDTVs is easily seen in square inches per dollar spent, and they're going to push that even further by introducing a 92-inch HDTV in 2011. We should get our eyes on the monster and its new "Clear Contrast" screen at the CES Unveiled event tonight, but you'll excuse us if we're slightly distracted by the 155-inch OLED that will apparently be on hand from its business division. No word yet on price or release date for the 92-incher, check out another picture and all available details in the press release after the break.
