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Roaming CES on ZBoard's second-generation electric skateboard
Has there ever been a product as paradoxical as an electric skateboard? After all, the price and concept can intimidate any amateur, and yet it's this group that would get the biggest benefit out of owning one. It's a tricky tightrope that companies like ZBoard have to walk, creating a product that has to satisfy the exacting needs of skateboarders and yet appeal to ordinary people who just want a slightly easier commute. Is it something that the ZBoard 2 succeeds at? Only time (and the following few hundred words) will tell.
The new Nabi Square HD is a 4K action camera for kids
There are a lot of durable, high-resolution action cameras on the market, but how many would you feel comfortable giving to your kids? Probably not many: Most such cameras won't tolerate absentminded abuse without a protective case -- and they're expensive to boot. An attentive parent could lend a GoPro or a Sony Action Cam to their offspring, but it could become an expensive proposition. Instead, Fuhu wants to call your attention to its new Nabi Square HD: a "kid-proof" 4K action cam that costs $170.
Qualcomm cans its 4K smart TV chip while everyone's busy watching House of Cards
Remember that awesome Smart TV processor Qualcomm trotted out for CES? It looks like it won't be making its way to your living room after all. The company quietly announced the death of the Snapdragon 802 this week, stating that "the overall demand for processors uniquely designed for smart TVs has proven to be smaller than anticipated." It's a shame, too -- that quad-core chip was specifically designed to push 4K content to your living room with a robust app experience, complete with multitasking support. Considering how many Android sets have hit the market in the last few years, we're left to wonder: is there really a dearth of demand, or is Qualcomm struggling to find a way to market its new silicon?
The Engadget Show 49: CES 2014 wrapup
Grab a wearable, switch on the 'ole curved TV and fire up your favorite 3D printer. We came, we saw, we conquered and now we're ready to distill it all for you in the form of some high-quality video content. We're not going to suggest that it'll replace the seemingly endless stream of posts we've churned out over the past week or so, but if you've got a cocktail party full of guests you need to impress tonight, it'll help you drop some serious CES 2014 tech news knowledge on their collective heads. We've pulled together some top editors to offer up an abbreviated view of tech's biggest show of the year, charting trends in old standby categories like HDTV, mobile, tablets and cars, to emerging spaces set to define the changing face of the show for years to come. Oh, and we've also tossed in some fun video of the show's gadgets, because, well, it wouldn't be much of an Engadget Show without that sort of thing, now would it? Toss in a bit of video of your long-time host getting a bit welled up the end, and you've got yourself a little thing we like to call The Engadget Show 49. 'Til we meet again, Engadgeteers.
SoftKinetic's 3D scanning solution aims to popularize MakerBot's printers
SoftKinetic, the 3D gesture middleware provider for Intel and Ubisoft's Just Dance 2014 for the PS4, is once again catching our attention by announcing its strategic partnership with MakerBot at CES. These two companies will work on optimizing the former's time-of-flight depth camera technology for 3D scanning, which will hopefully help popularize MakerBot's 3D printers. While we didn't get to see objects being printed live at the show, SoftKinetic's CMO Eric Krzeslo surprised us by how quickly he could scan a person's face using his depth camera. The data was then sent to Volumental's impressive cloud service, which returned a printer-ready render in a matter of minutes. See for yourself in our video after the break. SoftKinetic also announced that NVIDIA's Tegra Note 7 platform comes with the former's gesture recognition middleware, as well as support for its DepthSense 3D Time-of-Flight USB camera. This means OEMs or developers will be able to quickly implement short-range ("as close as 6 inches away") gesture control on NVIDIA's tablet reference design. At this rate, it shouldn't be long before we can control our tablets from afar -- it's just too much effort to reach over one's bowl of noodles to poke the screen.
Engadget Podcast 379 - CES Day Four - 1.10.14
Join Brian Heater and the Engadget gang for the CES 2014 wrap-up podcast, with personal "best of" choices, audience giveaways and significantly less background noise. It's been a long week of interviews, hands-ons and an avalanche of new gadgets, leaving the team worn out, yet melancholy about another CES coming to a close. This is Brian's final Engadget podcast and after some parting words he leaves the stage in a decidely Murph-approved style. So please join us for the final CES 2014 edition of the Engadget Podcast at the streaming links below. Enjoy! Host: Brian Heater, Terrence O'Brien Producer: Jon Turi Hear the podcast:
Just Mobile unveils its fine-point capacitive stylus, expands dock and battery lineup
Just Mobile was back at CES to sprinkle some magic dust on its new accessories, and this time it involves a mixture of batteries, Lightning docks, cables and styli. We're most excited by the company's AluPen Digital, a fine-point capacitive stylus that works on any modern mobile device, without the need of Bluetooth or any additional sensor. We also got an exclusive look at the upcoming AluBolt Pro Lightning dock for the iPad, along with the Lounge Pro and Lounge Ice iPhone docks, the AluCable Flat and the aluminum refresh of the Gum++ battery. Read on to check them out.
GameFace Mark IV: The other VR headset at CES 2014 (hands-on)
After all the time we've spent with Oculus VR's latest Crystal Cove prototype last week -- our first Best of CES award winner! -- you might think we're all VR'd out. You'd be wrong, and when the folks at GameFace Labs offered us a chance to check out their Android-based, standalone VR headset, we jumped at the chance. The Mark IV model of GFL's unnamed headset is a 3D-printed proof of concept, and it serves that goal fantastically. We put on the headset, were handed a paired Bluetooth gamepad (Sony's DualShock 3) and were instantly transported to a lower-res version of the Tuscany demo we've seen running previously on the Rift. Only there's one major difference here: no wires.
Leaving Las Vegas: Farewell to CES 2014
We came. We saw. We got punched in the head. Some of Engadget's New York-based editors took longer to get to Las Vegas than those traveling in from Hong Kong or Tokyo, thanks to winter storms that caused the cancelation of thousands of flights. But we all made it, and by Sunday evening, when we kicked off our coverage at CES Unveiled -- the unofficial start of the event -- our whole team was in place, and some had already been here for days.
CES 2014: Audio roundup
Imagine the footsteps of thousands and thousands of people. Now add in hundreds of booths showing loud promo videos, playing music and giving demos over microphones. That is the literal sound of CES. The theoretical sound of CES will come from some of the products you see below. We feel this selection of products gives you a pretty good feel for the trends we're likely to see in 2014. Enjoy.
CES 2014: Cameras and digital imaging roundup
As in years past, CES wasn't the premier showcase for groundbreaking digital imaging products, but we still saw our fair share of photo-centric updates. Of course, with manufacturers highlighting a wide array of 4K televisions, it wasn't surprising to see them emphasize Ultra HD on the capture side of things, too. Most notable on that front was Sony's compact $2,000 4K Handycam. It's significantly smaller than the company's pricier alternative, and it scores major points for affordability, too. Other manufacturers also peddled 4K shooters, such as Panasonic with its GH and head-mounted prototypes, but the pre-release versions on display weren't nearly as compelling as the model Sony plans to start shipping in March.
CES 2014: Gaming roundup
Gaming is once again a thing at CES! Since splitting from the Consumer Electronics Show in 1995 and creating E3, the game industry has sat out much of the past 20 years. Between last year's big news from Valve and this year's reappearance of Sony's PlayStation, it's never been a better time to be a journalist covering gaming at CES. In case the resurgence of gaming news wasn't enough to solidify our belief, the first ever Engadget-hosted Official CES Awards Best of Show trophy went to Oculus VR's Crystal Cove Rift prototype. Gaming, as it turns out, is more innovative and exciting than the curved TVs and psuedo-fashionable vitality monitors of the world -- not exactly a surprise, but validating our years-long assertion feels so, so right. CES 2014 saw Steam Machines third-party support go official -- we even told you about all 14 partners a full 24 hours before Valve loosed the info -- a new, crazy/ambitious project from Razer and Oculus VR's latest prototype. And that's to say nothing of Sony's PlayStation Now and Huawei's China-exclusive Android game console, or the dozens of interviews we did.
CES 2014: Mobile roundup
While this year was predictably quiet for smartphones, we weren't expecting it to be this quiet. Only a small sliver of companies announced new handsets at the show, and the ones we saw -- with the exception of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact -- didn't impress. Even tablets, which have had pretty healthy showings in years past, failed to make an appearance. Naturally, this left a gaping void that needed to be filled by something, and wearables were up to the task. Read on as we take a look back at just a few of this week's mobile highlights.
Smartphone concept incorporates LiFi sensor for receiving light-based data
The lights are now dimmed throughout the many halls of CES, and none are more perturbed by darkness than the folks at Oledcomm. Illumination is the company's specialty, after all; or, more specifically, LiFi technology, which facilitates high-speed data transmission via pulsating light sources (though they appear static to the naked eye). We swung by the firm's booth in Vegas to check out the various demos on display, including a two-way, 10 Mbps link tying a Macbook to a router. What interested us most, however, was a concept smartphone that took instructions from the many lamps scattered around the booth.
CES 2014: Laptops roundup
It wasn't exactly a banner year for laptops at CES. Hell, the "Best of CES" award for PCs ended up going to a desktop, and was nearly upstaged by an all-in-one running Chrome OS. Still, that didn't stop some companies (especially Lenovo) from trotting out new models. From a simple Haswell refresh to a dual-OS hybrid, we've rounded up every laptop announced at the show. Couldn't keep up with all the news the first time? Get ready to catch up right here.
Hands-on with Sennheiser's HD6, HD7 and HD8 DJ series headsets
Sennheiser, long a staple at CES with its stellar audio goods didn't disappoint this year by launching a new line of DJ headsets. The HD6 MIX, HD7 DJ, and HD8 DJ sets priced from $280 for the low end, $329 for the HD7 DJ and $389 for the HD8 DJ. Sennheiser's HD25 model has become something of a classic with disc jockeys. So, when it launched a product, presumably it thinks is superior, we get excited. Of the three new models, the HD8 is essentially the flagship, with the HD7 being the more affordable option. Both have been designed to provide high quality audio (with an impedance of 95 Ohms), but have a little more emphasis on the mid- and low-end frequencies. Something that will help DJs as they listen out for transients (think: beats) in a club environment. The HD6 has more of a studio focus, and as such has a flatter response and higher impedance (150 Ohms).
CES 2014: HDTV & home theater roundup
Every year, CES is filled wall to wall with flat-screen televisions and the things that plug into them. 2014's show brought its own variations to that theme. Curved TVs, OLED TVs, Ultra HD TVs or some combination popped up wherever we looked, and unlike last year, many of them will go on sale soon. Big manufacturers like Samsung, LG and Sony dominated news for high-end sets, but others like Vizio are promising an unprecedented slew of features at value prices.
CES 2014: the Engadget interviews
Coming into CES 2014, we knew there would be some recurring themes at the show: wearables, connected cars, home automation and 3D printing would all have a major presence on the show floor. So, we were sure to talk to some of the biggest names in those industries to give us the lowdown on what's new and what we can look forward to in 2014. Naturally, when you've got a slate of CEOs and celebrities coming to talk to you, you wan't to give them a proper forum in which to chat, and this year's Engadget stage was bigger and better than ever. Our interview lineup was packed from day one through day four and included the likes of new Sony Electronics President Mike Fasulo, Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park, Nest founder Matt Rogers, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis and hip-hop superstar 50 Cent. And, of course, we also got to chat with Mr. CES himself, Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro. Not all the interviewing happened on stage, either. We chatted with Sony CEO Kaz Hirai, Will.i.am (3D Systems' new creative director) and Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe out on the show floor, too. Of course, that's just a sampling of the folks who joined us, so head on past the break for a full list. We recommend settling in someplace comfy with a nice bottle of pinot, some cushy headphones, and letting the words of some of the biggest names in tech in all the world wash over you.
The Onewheel self-balancing, single-wheeled skateboard comes to CES, we take it for a spin (video)
It's hard not to do a double-take when first laying eyes on the Onewheel. After all, it is a single-wheeled skateboard that uses an electric motor, accelerometers, gyros and a microcontroller to give riders a smooth, self-balancing ride. The contraption's creator, Kyle Doerksen, brought a prototype by the Engadget trailer here at CES, and we couldn't resist putting it through its paces. Although the unit we played with was a pre-production model that still needs refining, you can color us very impressed. If the sight of a metal frame, wooden deck and a chunky go-kart wheel didn't convey a sense of great build quality, laying hands on (and picking up) the 25-pound package drives home its heavy-duty nature. When it comes to speed, the deck can go as fast as 12 MPH, but Doerksen tells us its acceleration is software-limited to allow for better self-balancing (and maybe even to protect users from overdoing it). As for range, Onewheel can go from four to six miles on a single charge thanks to a lithium battery, and it can be juiced up in two hours -- or 20 minutes with an "ultra" charger. What's more, the gadget sports regenerative braking to recoup roughly 30 percent of expended energy. Unfortunately, the device only has about 20 minutes worth of ride time in its battery, though that changes with terrain and personal driving style.
SmartThings shows off the ridiculous possibilities of its connected home system
Sure, we had to hop in a cab and take a rather expensive ride out into the boonies. But we had no option -- SmartThings had no official presence on the CES floor. Thankfully, the 45 minutes we spent in transit were not wasted. The company rented a rather opulent McMansion far from the strip and tricked it out with sensors, connected light bulbs, smart locks and cameras. It looked like the sort of place that was probably used as the set in a porn at some point, but on this day it was the location of a rather impressive connected home demo meant to showcase its new Labs program. SmartThings announced Labs during CES, which gives users early access to third party apps and devices. Philips Hue, Belkin WeMo, and Sonos are the first three partners to join, and many of the demos in the home revolved around those products. For example, they built a "wake up" routine triggered by a Jawbone Up24. When the wearable is taken out of sleep mode, it tells SmartThings to turn on the lights in the kitchen, start brewing a pot of coffee and fires up NPR news on a Sonos Play1. In other examples the Sonos was used as an alarm or virtual guard dogs. A more fun example had a motion sensor attached to a hammer inside a piano. When that particular key is hit, it tells a Sonos to playback a file, allowing founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson to mime his way through a rather challenging classical piece. Obviously, there isn't much practical purpose to rigging up your piano with sensors (at least not that we can think of) but it shows just how versatile the young ecosystem already is. We don't want to ruin all the surprises, so just check out the video after the break, in which Mr. Hawkinson gives you tour of SmarthThings' CES headquarters.
