CES2013
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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: the Engadget Podcast CES closer (update: video embedded)
Hoooooooo-boy. We did it, guys! The craziest week of the year is finally over. It's time for a little R&R -- well, once we've spoken to our entire staff about the CES that is. We're tired, we're loopy and we're in it to win it. You're not gonna want to miss this one, kids. January 10, 2013 11:00 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Cambridge Consultants Tê, the tea-machine of the future taste test (video)
After water, tea is the world's favorite beverage, yet to the gadget-producing fraternity, it's cruelly ignored in favor of coffee machines. Thankfully, the folks at Cambridge Consultants are trying to remedy this with the Tê, a machine that promises to whip up a perfect brew in two minutes. Naturally, as your humble narrator is a milquetoast European correspondent, we were compelled to see if it could live up to its impressive claims. Grab a Chocolate HobNob and join us after the break.
Revolve Robotics' KUBI spins your tablet around for teleconferences, we go hands-on
We've been covering telepresence robots for years, but those that have materialized aren't exactly within most people's budget. However, if all you need is some way to rotate your view on the other end of the line, then you may consider Revolve Robotics' KUBI. With six days left and just over $27,000 away from the $50,000 goal (the team was able to knock 50 percent off the original goal), this Indiegogo project hopes to offer a relatively affordable and simple telepresence solution for existing tablet users. The KUBI itself is essentially a tablet mount that can do a 300-degree pan plus 90-degree tilt, and the prototypes we saw featured two spring-loaded aluminium arms that elegantly pinches the tablet -- we've been told that they can even fit Microsoft's Surface in landscape. The robot is pretty much platform-agnostic as long as the tablet supports Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy, which is how the robot receives its motion commands.
Ultra HD TVs stole the show at CES 2013, but they're just part of the puzzle
Even before this year's CES kicked off, we knew Ultra High-Definition was going to dominate the show. Then from the first press conference to the last, 3,840 × 2,160 resolution displays were a center piece of almost every major manufacturer's announcements. Leading up to the show, the CEA's board decided against using "4K" to market these 8-megapixel (1080p is two megapixels) displays, instead choosing Ultra High-Definition or Ultra HD. Of course not everyone followed along, in fact Sony was first to market in the US, late last year, with its "4K Ultra HD TV." The display is only one piece of the puzzle and plenty of questions remain, however. Like, "Where's the content?" and "Will I have to replace all my other home theater gear?" Questions aside, Ultra HD TVs are here and more are coming, so click through for these answers and to discover the slate of new Ultra HD TVs for 2013.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Node's George Yu (update: video embedded)
CES 2013 has been a big week for crowdfunded success stories. Node is amongst those whose Kickstarter campaign has resulted in a real, salable product. We'll be discussing the modular iPhone sensor and what it's like to be a small company in a place like CES with founder George Yu. January 11, 2013 7:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Benchmarking CES 2013's flagship smartphones
As you might've noticed, CES 2013 didn't turn out much in they way of smartphone reveals. Most of the mobile industry's big guns held back their reserves (Sony aside), prepping behind-the-scenes for Barcelona's world stage and ceding this Vegas showcase to lesser known Chinese OEMs. So before we bid adieu to these vast convention halls and tuck in for the impending reviews, we've decided to roundup the show's only flagships -- ZTE's Grand S, Huawei's Ascend Mate and D2 and Sony's Xperia Z / ZL -- and pit them head-to-head in preliminary performance testing. Follow along after the break to find out which handset earns the top spot in this benchmark battle.
In Win D and H-Frame PC cases: Tubes, and LEDs and aluminum oh my! (hands-on)
Let's face it, PC cases are often pretty lame -- and traditionally something we don't chase down -- though In Win's two launches at CES definitely beg for an exception. Heck, what can you say about a case? The D-Frame (pictured above) is pretty stellar with its glass sides, orange welded aluminum tubes, amazing fasteners, and blue LEDs would be an easy choice if we were building a new box around these parts. Though, the H-Frame with its radiator or layered gasket look is also a strong contender as we really dig its layered look and the solid metal thing it has going on. Both of these cases are seriously strong-looking, fairly hefty to haul, and in the case of the D-Frame crushproof. Look for these at you favorite In Win retailer sometime this month for a hefty $399 each. James Trew contributed to this report
Princip Interactive LED Futuro Cube hands-on
Playing around with ThinkGeek's table full of toys was unquestionably a highlight of 2013 CES experience, which is (thankfully) nearly at an end. In amongst the always awesome licensed Star Trek and Star Wars toys was the Princip Interactive LED Futuro Cube, a strange game device created with ThinkGeek. The device brings to mind the Rubik's Cube, if only because its a geometrical puzzle game. In place of colored squares are a series of different colored LED lights. Like Rubik's famous three-dimensional toy, the Futuro isn't particularly easy to master. It has a menu system and offers up a series of audible commands to access its different games. Getting started takes a quick shake and it can be put to sleep with couple of taps. There's also a USB port on one side for downloading software updates, including new games.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth (update: video embedded)
Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth has a long history of disrupting the industry, and this year's CES is no different. The entrepreneur / space tourist will join us to day to discuss his company's swipe at the smartphone space. January 11, 2013 7:00 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Marvell's Winston Chen (update: video embedded)
Marvell's been all over the place this week, showing of some the best technology of 2013 it'll be helping to power. We'll be sitting down with the company's vice president of the smart home, Winston Chen, to talk set top boxes. January 11, 2013 6:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
PrimeSense shows off tiny Capri sensor, yearns for 3D-sensing future (hands-on)
Though we wrote about it last month, PrimeSense is showing off its Capri sensor for the first time at CES 2013. As a refresher, the Capri is about ten times smaller than the company's existing 3D-sensing chip, which incidentally make up the guts of Microsoft's Kinect. With the help of potential OEMs, the Tel Aviv-based firm hopes the cheaper and tinier sensor will make it in tablets, laptops, cell phones and many other consumer-level products beyond the niche realm of video games. We saw an example of how it could be built into a Nexus 7 tablet as seen above, though the company didn't have any Capri-compatible applications it could show us. Combined with implementations in retail, robotics, healthcare and more, the Capri is just the latest attempt by PrimeSense to create a ubiquitous 3D-sensing environment. President and founder Aviad Maizels told us he would like it to be so universal that it's a "new way of living." We have a PrimeSense-produced concept video of just such a world after the break, along with close-up shots of the teeny weeny system-on-a-chip.
AblePlanet preps a gaming headset with smart haptics, we preview the tech inside (hands-on)
Headsets with vibrating haptics aren't exactly novel -- we've already seen such offerings from Skullcandy as well as Sony. Now AblePlanet is coming out with something similar, but the underlying technology makes it considerably smarter than anything currently on the market. The company recently announced it's pairing up with haptics firm ViviTouch to make a gaming headset that offers different-feeling vibrations depending on what kind of music you're listening to, or what's happening in the game. The as-yet-unnamed headset will go on sale within the next six to nine months, according to AblePlanet, with pricing to be announced at a later date. Additionally, the companies plan to team up on other projects, including ear canal devices for field workers (firefighters, etc.) and even products for the hearing impaired. Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, we want to give you a quick preview of the headset, which we tested for a few minutes here at CES. Unfortunately, the set we tested today was merely a retrofitted NC1000CH plugged into a control box. Still, it gave us a good sense of what we can expect when the final product drops later this year. Meet us after the break to learn more.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: show wrapup with the CEA's Gary Shapiro (update: video embedded)
What better way to bookend another successful CES than an interview with Gary Shapiro? The CES president joins us to talk about the week that was. January 11, 2013 6:00 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with ThinkGeek (update: video embedded)
Toys? Toys. We'll be talking to ThinkGeek about running a successful online business, how to stay novel in a world of noise and Toys. Mostly toys. January 11, 2013 5:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Huawei Ascend G350 hands-on (video)
Huawei made waves with three major phone announcements at this year's CES, but the Chinese phone maker brought along another unannounced device to show off in its booth. Called the Ascend G350, this lower-specced handset's main feature is its IP68 certification, which means the device is dustproof and waterproof (Huawei reps specified waterproof, not water-resistant). Aside from that, the dual-core 1GHz processor, Android 4.1, AT&T-compatible HSPA (7.2Mbps) and UMTS, 5MP rear-facing camera and VGA front-facing cam are the headlining features. Because of the phone's durability, the G350 is on the pudgy side at 12mm thick. However, the 4-inch WVGA display makes it a little easier to maintain a good grip, so it's not overwhelmingly large by any means. If anything, the biggest issue we had with the phone was the dim display; cranked up at full brightness on the show floor, we still had an incredibly difficult time seeing anything with clarity. No pricing or availability has been announced yet, but we suspect that this device will be a lower-end phone geared toward anyone working in extreme weather or other harsh conditions. Check out our photo gallery and video overview below.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Sculpteo's Clément Moreau (update: video embedded)
For a few years now, Sculpteo has taken a different approach to goal of mainstreaming 3D printing. While the competition races to produce the first popular consumer printer, Sculpteo keeps its eyes on the cloud. We'll be discussing the company with co-founder and CEO Clement Moreau. January 11, 2013 5:00 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Jamstik portable MIDI guitar lets you play and learn on the iPad wirelessly
We heard from our friends over at TechCrunch (thanks, John Biggs!) that a company called Zivix has been showing off a cool little MIDI guitar at CES, so here it is! Dubbed the Jamstik, this digital instrument serves the same purpose as the already-available You Rock, except this one comes with real guitar strings, works wirelessly over WiFi, features a lower latency (under 10ms instead of about 20ms, according to Zivix's lab test), and it also has a shorter neck plus a much smaller body for the sake of portability -- even for some casual plucking on the plane. The Jamstik also supports string bending thanks to the way it detects finger movement on the neck -- the rows of infrared lights and sensors under the strings make the magic happen. Of course, you'd need a PC or an iOS device (with CoreMIDI-compatible apps like GarageBand and Animoog) to get the audio, and for the latter, Zivix will be offering three apps: JamTutor guitar teaching suite, JamHero game (very much like Guitar Hero and Rock Band) and Jam Live music remixer. We had a go using a wired prototype Jamstik, and apart from the slight delay between our strumming and the audio output (which will be further fine-tuned before going retail), we had a lot of fun with it. Check out the demo videos after the break, and expect to see the Jamstik hit the market this summer for somewhere around $249 to $299.
2013: The year that Valve attacks
I lost a bet with myself at CES 2013. In the gaming preview we published ahead of this week's big show, I wrote, "As per usual, the games industry and CES are acquaintances at best -- at least from what we've heard thus far. Perhaps this will be the year that bucks the years-long trend, but we're not betting on it." Wrong. Wrong. But hey, this is one of those, "glad to be wrong" situations. NVIDIA shocked everyone with its first Tegra 4 device, Project Shield, which is essentially NVIDIA's first in-house dedicated gaming handheld. Not only does it play Android games, but more importantly, it streams full retail games from your NVIDIA GPU-based PC, all on its high-res 5-inch screen. Heck, it even has Steam's Big Picture Mode built right in, allowing you to explore Steam and purchase games, as well as push them directly to your television (employing Shield as your controller). And then Valve's internal hardware prototypes popped up, confirming what we've heard murmurs of for months: the company's head down on creating a PC for your living room. Not exactly shocking, but certainly exciting; the plans are still nebulous, but Valve's confirmed we'll see hardware in 2013. We even saw some third-parties stepping up with their own versions of Valve's initiative. Xi3's Piston is the first such creation revealed, though the company's staying tight-lipped about specs -- we do know that Xi3's working directly with Valve on its tiny, modular PC. It's barely 2013, and already Valve's Steambox initiative is dominating gaming news. Let's call it right here -- this is the year that Valve attacks.
Engadget Podcast 325: CES 2013 Day 3 - 01.11.2013
More gadgets, more gadgets, more gadgets. If you were wondering what to expect from today's podcast, may we refer you to the previous sentence? Brian, Tim and a host of other guests (including our competition winner Dan Orren!), grace the stage once more, all in the name of technology. Jump on the audio below to get involved. Hosts: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater Producer: James Trew Hear the podcast
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Vuzix's Paul Travers (update: video embedded)
Wearable domination at this year's show? Vuzix certainly had quite a presence at CES with those Smart Glasses we've been hearing so much about. We'll be discussing the product and the state of wearables with the company's CEO, Wearable domination at this year's show? Vuzix certainly had quite a presence at CES with those Smart Glasses we've been hearing so much about. We'll be discussing the product and the state of wearables with the company's CEO, Paul Travers. January 10, 2013 4:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: Unfortunately Paul was unable to join us.
