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Schwinn's CycleNav bike navigation system points cyclists in the right direction
When you're in a car, it's easy enough to keep an eye on your navigation without moving your hands away from the ol' 10 and 2 positions, but how do you manage your trips when you're on a bike? Enter Schwinn's CycleNav bike navigation system, a $60 Bluetooth device that clips onto your handlebar. The idea is pretty simple: Download the product's iOS or Android app, put in your destination, choose the best route and then let the CycleNav point which way to go, using one of three LED arrows. After your journey comes to an end, the app records fitness stats for you to track (such as distance, calories burned and duration). Fortunately, it doubles as a headlight for your bicycle as well. The navigator will be available at Walmart beginning in March, but you'll be able to grab the CycleNav starting January 15th.
Weekly Roundup: 2013 in review, NSA iPhone hack, live at CES 2014 and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Hands-on with Liquid Image's LTE-capable Ego LS action cam
Liquid Image revealed its 4G LTE Ego LS action cam just hours ago, so we made a dash to take a look for ourselves. In terms of size, the LS is a bit smaller than the popular GoPro cams, but there's no built-in battery and the 1,900mAh cell nearly doubles the thickness of the unit. It's wrapped in a rather dapper matte black soft-touch coating that gives the gadget a nice feel. On the face, there's a display for keeping tabs complete with a red recording light and connectivity indicators. There's a play button up top, with power and connectivity buttons (the cam has both WiFi and Bluetooth options) around to the side. The requisite ports for HDMI, microSD card, USB and connecting to either the aforementioned battery or the 4G LTE module lie on the bottom edge. Meanwhile, Liquid Image has partnered with Verizon for the cellular connectivity bit, which comes at the hands of a clip-in accessory complete with its own 1,900mAh battery to power the streaming. That LTE module will set you back an additional $199 on top of the 200 bones that Ego LS costs on its own and nearly doubles the size (we're talking width here) of the action cam alone. For a look at the whole lot, there's a quick video walkthrough just past the break.
Eyes on with Tobii's gaming eye-tracking engine and SteelSeries prototype hardware (updated)
Tobii's getting serious about bringing eye tracking to gamers the world over. Days ago, the company announced a partnership with SteelSeries to build a new sensor bar (still in development) and its EyeX engine meant to bring eye tracking to more games in 2014. Today at CES, we got to see a non-functioning prototype of that SteelSeries the EyeX dev kit hardware (seen in our gallery below) and test out EyeX playing Deus Ex. As a bit of background, the EyeX engine was released a month ago, and using Tobii's SDK and APIs to implement it, devs can combine gaze controls with regular mouse, keyboard and touchpad inputs to provide new gaming user experiences. Our demo using the Tobii REX sensor, was a bit rough, given that the game was running at a startlingly low frame rate for some reason, and the device hadn't been calibrated to our eyeballs due to time constraints. Still, we could see the potential for the technology, as it allows for faster in-game navigation. For example, the EyeX middleware allows for developers to overlay quick menus on top of the game screen at a touch of a button, and you make your selection by merely looking at the icon you want. Additionally, the control for aiming down the sights simply required closing one eye, while squatting or looking around corners was accomplished by moving our head up and down or side to side. In practice, the menu selection was the smoothest and most accurate implementation, while the character movements were far less reliable -- they worked in about two out of three attempts. Of course, you don't have to take our word for it, you can see for yourself in the video after the break. Update: The sensor bar pictured below is not a product of the SteelSeries partnership, it's actually a prototype of the forthcoming EyeX developer kit sensor. Richard Lai contributed to this report.
Up to 150 Ultra HDTV announcements possible at CES
During a pre-CES briefing today, Shawn DuBravac, chief economist for the Consumer Electronics Association, said he "wouldn't be surprised to see 75 UHDTV announcements" this week. That number could be as high as 150, including hardware rollouts, distribution deals and more, as manufacturers and programmers begin "coming together to figure out what that's about," he said. While DuBravac said it will be a while before most people upgrade to UHD, he pointed out that, according to CEA research, close to 500,000 UHDTVs will be sold this year, up from just 60,000 in 2013. By 2017, that number could leap to almost 3 million, as consumers upgrade HDTVs purchased in the last decade. DuBravac is also bullish on 3D printers, and said that about 7,000 square feet of exhibit space will be devoted to the devices at CES this year, and that 99,000 units will be sold worldwide in 2014. Wearable technology is also expected to grow dramatically (as you may have heard), with worldwide smartwatch sales hitting about 1.5 million this year, and ratcheting up to about 4 million by 2017. Perhaps unsurprisingly, growth in UHDTV is expected to follow a pattern similar to other new technologies, according to DuBravac, with slow early adoption followed by more rapid growth. He compared it to the 3D TV market, which he said experienced 100 percent growth last year. "3D TV has done really well," he said. "We've just stopped talking about it." He did point out, however, that most people aren't necessarily buying 3D sets for their 3D functionality. As a feature on higher-end and mid-range TVs, "consumers are adopting it by default."
Here are Valve's 14 Steam Machines partners (so far)
Valve's Steam Machines initiative is supported by a first-party box that 300 beta users have right now, but 2014 is all about third-party Steam Machines taking that reference box and running with it. Thus far, the only third parties we know of that're making Steam Machines are iBuyPower and Digital Storm -- today, that all changes. Alienware, Falcon Northwest, iBuyPower, CyberPowerPC, Origin PC, Gigabyte, Materiel.net, Webhallen, Alternate, Next, Zotac and Scan Computers are among the first companies signed on to support Valve's initiative, Engadget learned this afternoon. The entire lineup will be on display this week at CES 2014, and we'll have many more details in the coming days. Beyond the dozen companies above, it's totally possible that there are other third parties signed on for Steam Machines -- we'll have to wait and see when Valve unveils everything at its press conference tomorrow afternoon. Update: As seen in the image above, live from Valve's CES 2014 presser, those third-party manufacturers are double confirmed. Maingear is the final addition that makes 14 in total.
LG's latest 84-inch 4K TV breaks cover at CES
Sure, a 105-inch curved, ultra-widescreen TV is LG's pride and joy at CES 2014, but it's also brought a handful of flat Ultra HD televisions along for the ride. We've just laid eyes on the 84-inch variant of the 4K (3,840 x 2,160) set and came away fairly satisfied. Sure, the LCD panel isn't nearly as vivid as an OLED one, but it still manages to handle itself adequately while keeping a thin profile. Hidden from sight is the "Tru-ULTRA HD Engine Pro" chip, which handles upscaling any SD, HD and "True HD" (read: 1080p) content. Around the back you'll find HDMI 2.0, USB and LAN inputs that will help pipe UHD content to the TV, which even supports h.264 and the fresh HEVC format. The set itself doesn't have an extravagant stand or frame as is often the case with UHD sets, but its sleek body and pair of thin, side-mounted speaker bars would look right at home in any (exceptionally large) entertainment center. Both a price tag and release date are MIA, so you'll have to wait a while before bringing this behemoth home. To lay eyes on the panel for yourself, check out the gallery below.
Sphero's 2B smartphone-controlled toy is quick, easy to control and a lot of fun (hands-on)
We know, we know. Sometimes a poem just doesn't do it when it comes to a product announcement. Thankfully, Sphero's new budget 2B rolled into CES Unveiled just in time. The smartphone-controlled toy will retail for $100 when it drops in the fall -- that's $60 less than Sphero 2.0's current asking price. The company had a handful of models on the floor, and while all of them are prototypes, they worked remarkably well. We got the hang of it from the first moment we picked up the iOS app. It's responsive and handles a lot better than its predecessor right out of the box, no doubt owing to the slightly more traditional form factor -- that is, if you can use a word like "traditional" to refer to a device like this. Also, in spite of being a prototype, the 2B is pretty rugged, as we found ourselves playing Sphero bumper cars. The rep we spoke with told us that the final version will likely have IR built-in, so multiple 2Bs can interact -- and with the lower price point, it'll be that much easier for people to pick up a couple of devices for their home. The final version will also have more lighting effects built-in. Those nub tires you see are removable, by the way, so you can customize your device. The company was also showing off a 2B rocking smoother tires, which was even faster, with speeds of up to 14 feet a second, a fair bit zippier than the pricier Sphero 2.0. Nicole Lee contributed to this report.
Wellograph is an activity tracker with good looks and fun graphs (hands-on)
One of the latest entrants to the crowded wearables market is an activity tracker that you might actually want to wear on a night out. The Wellograph, a device with a sapphire crystal display, features a heart rate monitor and an activity tracker, and -- gasp -- it's a standalone device, with no smartphone integration to speak of beyond syncing with Bluetooth 4.0. Sarasin Art Booppanon, CEO of Wellograph, told us his product stands out from other activity trackers by displaying information such as steps taken and heartbeats per minute in graph form (rather than simply displaying digits). Another distinguishing feature: the sapphire crystal display, allegedly the first to appear on a moderately priced consumer product. This type of screen is known for its scratch-resistance, and while that's not something we could easily put to the test here at CES Unveiled, we can tell you it looked (and felt) pretty sturdy.
A closer look at Belkin's Crock-Pot WeMo Slow Cooker (hands-on)
After light bulbs and smart outlets, Belkin is looking to tackle small appliances with its WeMo home automation line. The company just announced the Crock-Pot WeMo Slow Cooker and we've already stopped by to see what's... cooking. Those familiar with the popular culinary tool can expect a similar form factor to the current non-connected wares. The silver-and-black color scheme does offer a bit of sophistication though, just in case you were worried. Simplified controls are situated on the front with a single button for toggling warm, low and high settings. With the WeMo app, users can adjust temperature and set timers to ensure proper doneness. Around back, there's a slot for clipping on a lid holder to keep the mess to a minimum when that batch of meatballs needs a stirring. Belkin tells us that this is the first of many partner WeMo devices with items like space heaters and more on the way. If the idea of smart slow cooking already has you sold, this Crock-Pot will hit kitchen counters in the spring for $99.
Parrot's Jumping Sumo 'bot gets some pretty impressive air (video)
Oh, and Parrot's got one more thing up its sleeve at tonight's CES Unveiled event, and while this one can't actually fly, it's still pretty damn neat. The company's calling it the "Sumo," for reasons that aren't immediately clear -- the "insectoid" label it's also tossing around seems a bit more appropriate, all said. The device is a two-wheeled terrestrial 'bot that's controlled via tablet or smartphone, using streaming video from a built-in camera. It's pretty zippy, and even more impressively, it can stop on a dime. CEO Henri Seydoux was piloting the 'bot around, making sharp 90-degree turns moments before running into an obstacle. Neater still is the 'bot's ability to jump in the air up to 80 centimeters from a sitting position. The Sumo uses 2.4 or 5GHz WiFi, giving it better range than many remote controlled toys. Like the MiniDrone, it'll be available in 2014 for an as-of-yet undetermined price. Nicole Lee contributed to this report.
Here's a smart toothbrush that'll show you how clean your teeth are
One of the current trends in technology right now is inventors jamming wireless radios in objects that you wouldn't expect to find 'em. For instance, the HAPIfork, a smart fork that sent your eating speed to your phone in an attempt to get you to chew your food more slowly, became an unexpected hit at last year's CES. Kolibree hopes to recreate that success with its connected toothbrush. Yeah. Once you've cleaned your teeth (in the usual fashion), the Kolibree pushes your stroke count to your smartphone, telling you if you did a good job and showing which parts of your gob still need some attention. Naturally, the company will request your cash via Kickstarter at some point in the summer, where you'll be able to pick up a model priced somewhere between $100 - $200.
Dish's 'Virtual Joey' is a streaming app for smart TVs that takes the place of a set-top box (video)
Assuming you're not a home-theater gear head, we'll start this post by giving you a quick history lesson. Back at CES 2012, Dish Network announced a whole-home DVR setup, including the Hopper DVR and a multi-room extender, called the Joey. Then, at last year's CES, Dish introduced a version of the Hopper with Sling built in, allowing you to send both live and recorded shows to a mobile device. This year, Dish is turning its attention back to those Joey boxes except, well, it doesn't necessarily have any hardware to show for it. The company just announced the "Virtual Joey" a smart TV app that will come built into select LG televisions, and which will take the place of a physical Joey extender. To be clear, you'll still need a Hopper DVR to anchor the whole experience, but this would at least mean you have one less piece of hardware taking up space in your house. According to company reps, the app will come to 2013 and 2014 LG smart TVs, though it's working to ink deals with other manufacturers as well. We hope to get an in-person demo here at CES, so hang tight for some hands-on!
InAir Smart HDMI adapter overlays the web atop television content with a custom user interface
Televisions are no longer simply screens for viewing video content: Folks want to have the internet on them, too. SeeSpace is a startup building a device called the InAir Smart HDMI adapter that plugs in-line between your set-top box and TV to deliver web content to your big screen. The system then overlays an intelligent layer atop your video feed that analyzes what you're watching and supplies relevant web and social content as well. InAir's UI is controlled by a companion app (for iOS and Android) that turns your phone or tablet into a trackpad that lets you navigate by swiping and scrolling on the screen. Additionally, interested developers can use an API to build new features for the platform. As is the case with so much of what we see at CES, the InAir adapter won't be available until the second half of the year and when it does land, it'll cost $99. Wanna see what your dollars will buy? A demo video awaits after the break.
The announcement of 2B, Prince of Sphero: Act 3, Scene 1
2B or not 2B: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler to spend $100 On a budget device, not technically a sphere, But more reminiscent of a monster truck; With two giant knobby wheels on either side Of an oblong polycarbonate body in black or white. O 'tis capable of traveling at up to 14 feet; Controlled by an iPhone or Android device Up inclines and o'er bumpy terrain But lo, it will not be available until the fall: Ay, there's the rub.
Lenovo trots out a 4K Android-powered all-in-one, with a standalone monitor to match
So Lenovo announced a whole bunch of all-in-ones, you say? You'll have to be a little more specific than that. In addition to unveiling a trio of Windows-based models, the company announced two more that run Android. These include the consumer-friendly N308 and the ThinkVision 28, a 4K machine destined for the workplace (pictured above). Starting with the consumer model (this is CES, after all), it costs a reasonable $450 and, accordingly, comes with some fairly middling specs -- notably, a 19-inch, 1,600 x 900 display and a spinning hard drive with up to 500 gigs of space. That big display aside, you're basically looking at an oversized tablet, with Android 4.2 installed and a quad-core Tegra 4 SoC running the show. Like other all-in-ones Lenovo's released over the past year, this one's portable, with a battery rated for three hours. At 10 pounds, though, give or take, it's actually a good deal lighter than that other portable desktop Lenovo just announced. As for the ThinkVision model, it's crowned by a 28-inch, 3,840 x 2,160 display, allowing you to poke around Android 4.3 at a screen density of 157 pixels per inch. Note that the OS interface is actually upscaled from a 1080p resolution, but we were told that all 4K content is played in its native resolution. Additionally, the machine uses NFC and a "tap to connect" feature to pair devices, though you could also hook them up using one of the four USB ports, three HDMI sockets or the micro-USB connection.
LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 wields dual 500GB SSDs, Intel's latest port tech
When Intel officially ushered in Thunderbolt 2 back in June, it promised that we'd see devices sporting those blazing-fast speeds soon. It seems LaCie was one outfit poised to embrace the tech as the storage company has just announced the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2. The successor to the original model, version 2.0 touts transfer speeds of 1,375 MB/s, thanks to Intel's port, and a new all-black paint scheme on its aluminum shell. Inside, two 500GB PCIe Gen 2 SSDs in RAID 0 can wrangle 4K and 3D video edits -- power that should properly arm the creative lot for hefty fieldwork. That interior space has also been designed to properly handle heat distribution so that the virtually silent, thermoregulated fan need only kick on every now and then. There's no word on pricing just yet, but the storage gadget is set to arrive later this quarter. We were able to see the new Little Big Disk in action in order to catch a glimpse of its speeds. During our time with the unit, we observed write speeds of 1,200 MB/s and read marks at 1,300 MB/s -- transferring a 300GB file in about four minutes. Thankfully, the drives that were set up ahead of our arrival, and had been sorting files for some time, remained at nearly room temp. With two of the Thunderbolt 2 drives set up in RAID 0, we witnessed 2,000 MB/s write speeds and 2,600 MB/s read numbers. Although the front plate of the new unit is glossy, the entire enclosure is still metal and the black paint job looks quite nice beside a new Mac Pro.
Lenovo unveils line of low-cost 'Miix 2' convertibles, refreshes its Flex, Y and Z series laptops
Well, this is a little confusing. After releasing the Miix 2, an 8-inch Windows tablet, Lenovo is announcing two more products called the Miix 2, except these aren't even tablets, but rather, detachable laptops. True to their name, the Miix 2 10 and 11 have 10.1- and 11.6-inch screens, respectively, and come with both a tablet and keyboard dock. In particular, as you can see in the photo above, you can insert the tablet with the screen facing either in or out -- yep, just like on last year's ThinkPad Helix, not to mention Lenovo's growing Yoga line. Either way, you get a 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display, an eight-hour battery, dual 5MP/2MP cameras, optional 3G, a microSD slot, micro-HDMI, JBL speakers and a full-sized USB port on the dock. Aside from screen size, the biggest difference is in processing power: The 10-inch model uses a low-power Intel Bay Trail processor with up to 128GB of storage, whereas the bigger guy packs a more powerful Core i5 chip. What's more, that model goes up to 256 gigs of space, not 128. The Miix 2 10 is slated to arrive in March, starting at $499, with the 11-incher following in April for $699.
Linksys brings back its hackable WRT router, adds dual-band 802.11ac WiFi
Remember Linksys' WRT family of routers? Based on the number of user reviews for the WRT54G alone, we think some of you do. For the uninitiated, however, the WRT line became something a cult favorite thanks to its open-source firmware, which allowed hackers to build custom software builds, and even introduce new features from time to time. Though the line was largely discontinued in 2004, Linksys continued to make a single model, which still sells to this day, despite the fact that it uses wireless-G. Fortunately for all you holdouts, the company is bringing back the WRT line in the form of the WRT 1900AC, which steps into the modern age with dual-band 802.11ac WiFi. As you can see in the above photo, it has largely the same design as all the retro models, with a black and blue color scheme and four big-ass antennas. This time, though, Linksys added a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM processor (an upgrade from the usual 800MHz), an eSATA port for file sharing and remote control via a mobile app. It also has a modular design: The antennas are removable, and the router itself is stackable, with indents in each corner. Speaking of which, Linksys will also sell an eight-port switch, extender/bridge and network-attached storage, all of which have the same stackable design. Everything will ship this spring, by which point Linksys says the first custom firmware build should be ready. Until then, you'll want to start saving your pennies: The WRT 1900AC has a list price of $300. Ouch!
Lenovo's Beacon media hub can house up to 6TB of video and photos, streams to PCs and Android devices
Lenovo makes a lot of laptops. And tablets. And a few phones. But amid its exhaustive PC range, there's also the eye-catching Beacon. Priced at $199, although lacking any storage out of the box, it tries to strike a balance between personal cloud storage and media server. It comes preloaded with XBMC, while dual HDD bays will support up to a heady 6TB of storage. The Beacon, powered by a dual-core (unspecified) Atom processor can then stream whatever you put inside it to multiple devices at once -- we saw it in action, and it managed to output to both a PC and Android phone without a hiccup. You can use your hand-held smart device as a remote (replete with mouse cursor), which makes digging through piles of photos and videos at least a little bit easier. On the back, alongside HDMI, there's Ethernet and twin USB ports, meaning it'll be happy to link up to PCs and TVs for big-screen viewing. Once linked to the respective app, pics and videos captured on your phone can be automatically (or manually) uploaded. As you can see, it's also not the typically unassuming (read: dull) storage hub either and will launch in orange, blue, gray and black finishes this April. Richard Lai contributed to this report.
