ces 2014
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Neptune's Pine isn't a smartwatch; it's a smartphone that sits on your wrist
When designing a smartwatch, the general trend is to start with a basic timepiece and add features until physics or budgets get in the way. That's not the approach taken by 19-year-old Canadian Simon Tian when he developed the Pine by Neptune. Instead, he took to Kickstarter with the idea of just shrinking a last-generation smartphone down to watch-size proportions. The result isn't really a watch in any sense of the word, but considering that the Pine raised eight times its goal on Kickstarter, there's clearly a desire for this sort of hardware. We got to spend some time with it at CES and want to share some impressions with you.
CES 2014, Day 2: Five signs you're at the biggest tech show on Earth
It's easy to lose track of yourself in a city as busy as Las Vegas. Between the iconic Strip, the historic downtown casinos and the international trade shows, folks have a habit of waking up without a solid sense of location. We understand, and we're here to help. It just happens to be the second day of CES. Take a deep breath; take a careful look at your surroundings; and see if any of the following five stories sound familiar. If so, there's a good chance you've been doing the trade show shuffle at the Las Vegas Convention Center. If not, well, then you just got fed Engadget's top five stories of CES 2014, day two. Really, it's win-win.
Polar's latest wearable wants to be more than just a sports watch
When we brought you the news concerning Polar's V800 a few days ago, we were impressed that it would replace both a running watch and an activity tracker. But when we spoke to the company's representatives here at CES, it seems that there's a bigger target to aim for. Polar is currently working on an update to the V800 that would see the device produce notifications and alerts in a similar way to the current crop of smartwatches. The company is also working on an option to offer a store for customizable watch faces, and the ability to buy additional functionality as you require.
This case turns your iPhone into a night vision camera
Thermal cameras are expensive, which is why they're mostly used by firefighters, contractors and psychotic aliens. Fortunately, that's all about to change thanks to the FLIR One, which is an iPhone case with a tiny thermal camera stuck on the back. All you have to do is strap your iPhone 5 or 5s into the dock and, once you've downloaded the app, you're ready to go. Using multi-spectral dynamic imaging, it can create hybrid images, adding extra detail to the thermal pictures, or plain-ol' thermal pictures in the dark. When you point it at a subject, the FLIR will also give you a temperature reading of what you're pointing the device at.
Testing the 'huge breakthrough' in new Oculus Rift VR prototype
The newest internal prototype of the Oculus Rift, codenamed Crystal Cove, adds positional tracking, low persistence and an OLED screen, iterating on the 1080p HD developer model out in the wild. Positional tracking is a straightforward addition that players have been looking out for, and the Oculus achieves this with an external camera that faces the player and watches a series of LEDs on the front of the headset. With positional tracking, players are able to lean down and read text or get a closer look at objects in front of them. Low persistence is a trickier beast to tackle, but it basically means the Oculus Rift has erased motion blur, allowing the player to move his head and keep his eyes fixed on one point, as humans do in reality. The Crystal Cove prototype reduces latency to 30 milliseconds from 60 milliseconds in the HD dev kit, though Oculus VR's goal for a consumer product is 16 to 20 milliseconds. "You want to be able to stay focused on something," Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe said during a hands-on demo at CES. "If there's text in the world and you're looking at it, you want to be able to move while you stare at that text. Your head is always moving. So it actually ends up being really key – it's a breakthrough. This is a huge breakthrough." The Oculus Rift team works with Valve to solve some of the headset's technical issues, and the low persistence solution spawned in part from Valve R&D man Michael Abrash. Abrash previously co-created Quake at id Software with John Carmack, who is Chief Technology Officer at Oculus VR.
Meet Christine, Razer's modular gaming PC
Tucked away in a shrouded corner of Razer's booth at CES 2014 lies Project Christine, a stackable, customizable PC that looks unlike any gaming machine you've ever seen. The idea behind Project Christine is simple: Remove the hassle and expense of constantly upgrading a computer by making each of its crucial parts modular and self-contained. Instead of opening a tower and slotting more memory or a new graphics card into your computer, Project Christine allows users to simply snap a new module containing any desired upgrades on to their current configuration. As a result, Project Christine should have a far longer lifespan than conventional computers, as modules containing your desired upgrades can simply be swapped in as necessary. Helpfully, Razer's design negates most of the configuration issues you'd encounter when building your own traditional PC. Project Christine isn't just physically modular, it also divides the motherboard into components which are spread across the system's various modules. Instead of having to match your new components to the specifications of your old motherboard, each new module includes all of the technology it needs to function, save the power it will draw from the rest of the system. Each Project Christine module features a mineral oil cooling system which should come in handy, as Razer promises configurations of the device featuring up to four graphics cards aligned in a quad-SLI array as well as factory-overclocked components. Every module also comes equipped with noise cancelling insulation, preventing your fancy new gaming machine from driving you mad with incessant noise. While Razer will be the sole manufacturer of Project Christine modules, the company is still debating which business model to adopt for this new take on the PC. "We're really looking at other models," Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told Engadget. "Perhaps to say a subscription model of sorts, that we could interchange modules when they come in. Users don't have to worry about a huge bump every time there's new architecture out there." Though Project Christine is still in the early stages of development, Tan hopes support for the idea will be strong enough to convince Razer to begin manufacturing modules at some point during 2014.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's CES 2014 keynote liveblog
No-one was sure what to expect when Google's Marissa Mayer took over at Yahoo, but it's clear that she wasn't there for an easy ride. In less than two years, the company has bought a clutch of other outfits, including Tumblr for $1.1 billion, redesigned its logo and brought some much-needed love to Flickr. Now she's here at CES, ostensibly to talk about the "next wave of innovation," which we hope includes some dirt on Yahoo's future direction. Care to join us for the play-by-play? January 7, 2014 4:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Mozilla COO Jay Sullivan
It's true that CES is primarily a hardware show and Mozilla is primarily a software company, but the team behind Firefox no doubt has plenty to discuss -- including, most likely, some hardware, too. Join us as we talk to COO Jay Sullivan about the browser wars, online tracking and Firefox OS's place in the world of smartphones. January 7, 2014 4:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky
Kickstarter success story Pebble was the darling of last year's CES, helping to usher in a year in which wearables were all the rage. The smartwatch maker's CEO Eric Migicovsky will be joining us to discuss what the company has up its proverbial sleeve for 2014, along with the company's Product Evangelist -- and familiar face around these parts -- Myriam Joire. January 7, 2014 2:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Sony announces PlayStation 4 sales reached 4.2 million by end of 2013
Sony announced it's sold 4.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide as of December 28, 2013. Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House revealed the figure, which is estimated by SCEI, at his company's keynote at the CES trade show. The PS4 data was once again stipulated as "sell-through," meaning it represents units sold to consumers. It's a dramatic doubling of the figure from December 1, 2013, meaning the company sold another 2.1 million units across the next 27 days of the month. In addition, the company estimates PS4 software sales through retail and digital channels are up to 9.7 million worldwide, while PS Plus subscriptions increased by more than 90 percent between the PS4 launch in North America and the end of the year - it's worth noting the PS4 comes with at least a 30-day Plus subscription in some regions, including the US and Canada. Just ahead of the PS4's launch in North America, SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton projected 3 million worldwide sales by the end of the year. We now know the console beat that figure by some way, and the company's next aim of 5 million sales by the end of March looks a cert, given the PS4 is still to launch in Japan next month - the system is currently available in 53 markets worldwide. The news comes the day after Microsoft announced Xbox One sales passed the 3 million mark by the close of 2013, across 13 markets worldwide.
Sony announces PlayStation Now for streaming older games
Sony President Andrew House has announced PlayStation Now, a new games streaming service that aims to bring older PlayStation games to PS4, PS3, PS Vita and other devices. PlayStation Now, which will stream games from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PS3 eras first on PS3 and PS4, will kick off on PS3 with a closed beta in the US at the end of January, with a full rollout planned for some time this summer. Users will be able to rent games individually or pay for a PlayStation Now subscription. Sony aims to eventually expand the service beyond Sony devices too. The foundation for PlayStation Now is Gaikai, the games streaming service Sony purchased for $380 million in 2012. Gaikai is responsible for a variety of PS4 features, including cloud gaming, Remote Play, Try Anything and Instant Broadcast, and other cloud services expected to launch later this year. Four different PlayStation Now games are currently on-hand at the Sony CES booth: The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, God of War: Ascension and Puppeteer. So far, these are the only supported games Sony has announced.
Scosche's new heart rate armband helps you leave the smartphone at home
Forgotten about your New Years' resolutions yet? Don't worry; Scosche is announcing another fitness wearable that'll help you make up those lost days. The company is unveiling the Rhythm Smart+, an armband designed to optically monitor your blood flow and heart rate that's apparently much more accurate than a traditional chest strap. The unit is able to pair with both smartphones and sport watches over Bluetooth or ANT+, and will work with the usual bunch of apps including RunKeeper and Strava. If, however, you prefer to leave the other gear at home, embedded memory will track your stats for upload later. It'll arrive at some point between April and June, priced at $99.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: kickoff!
Welcome to technology's biggest week of the year. Sure, we've already been working our butts off for days now, but CES doesn't officially open until those show doors do. And with them begins a week of high-profile interviews on our official CES stage. Join a handful of our editors as we christen the stage (anyone know a place in Vegas where we can get a bottle of champagne?), talk about the week so far and speculate on what's to come. January 7, 2014 12:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Now your desktop can use Amped Wireless' WiFi gear
Amped Wireless is here in full force at CES, and while the company has previously offered up USB adapters for tablets and laptops, there's never been a card-based solution for your desktop. That's all changing with the advent of the PCI20E, which combines a PCI-E card and two high-gain antennas that'll give you 500mW of wireless power. It'll arrive in February for $90, and pre-orders are open from... now!
JVC makes its Everio camcorders rugged for 2014
If your first thought when buying a camcorder is "can it take a pounding?" then JVC's got two more options for you to consider. The company's new Everio shooters are clad in the same hard-wearing shell that we've previously seen on the rugged ADDIXION line. Both models come with a 2.5-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS, 40x optical zoom and a 3-inch touchscreen, but those stats aren't the ones you're probably interested in. No, get this outside, for instance, and the hardware will resist water for depths of up to five meters, drops from a height of 1.5 meters and cope with freezing temperatures down to minus 10 degrees Celsius. The only difference between the two devices is internal storage, with the GZ-R70 coming with 32GB internal memory, which is priced at $500, while the GZ-R10 will set you back $100 less. There's no solid information (yet) about availability, but as soon as we know, we'll update this accordingly.
Fuhu's DreamTab line pops up at CES sporting Kung Fu Panda and other DreamWorks fare
These are all still early-stage pieces of hardware, so let's just get that right out of the way. Even the "most final" of the three DreamTab slates Fuhu was showing off at tonight's Pepcom event in Las Vegas had a number of apps that just wouldn't load. Instead, the company's here to show off what are more or less final hardware designs and a handful of DreamWorks-sanctioned apps like one that teaches kids how to draw Kung Fu Panda and the like and a Puss in Boots-branded version of Fruit Ninja, which will come loaded on the final units. We've got to say, we really liked the hardware design on these bad boys. They're a fair bit sleeker than a number of the kid-focused tablets we've seen around. On the front, you'll find a speaker grille on either side of the display. On the top, is a slot for a stylus, power button and volume rocker, while the sides have a unique concave design that make it nice to hold -- as does the silicone sleeve that will ship with the systems. Here at CES, the company is showing off an 8-inch, 12-inch and a large desktop tablet, that's a pretty solid way to play a game of the aforementioned fruit-slicing title. Terrence O'Brien contributed to this report.
Champagne Gold HTC One pops off in Vegas, baby
We're here at CES, and what should we spy but HTC's "Champagne Gold" version of its flagship. Unlike the edition crafted for the MOBO awards, this one ditches the 18-carat shell in favor of a finish that, up close and personal, is actually a little classier than the real thing. We've taken some snaps of the handset just because we know that you're curious to see it in the real, but we should warn you of a couple of downsides. First up, it's not coming to the US, at least not in its current form, and secondly, with the HTC One coming up to its first birthday, it's not likely to be favorite son for too much longer, you know? Dana Wollman contributed to this report.
meMini's wearable camera gives you the gift of hindsight
Picture the scene: your child speaks its first words, you've just spotted a public official in a compromising position or you've just shred some phenomenal powder. Of course, unless you've had cameras already set up and pointing at the action, it's not likely that you'll have that recorded for posterity. That's the idea behind meMini, a wearable camera that's constantly recording, but only preserves the last five minutes when you've spotted something worth saving.
Toshiba cares not for 4K, has an ultra-wide 5K TV ready for CES
4K? Pah, Toshiba's already working on something, you know, one better. One of our eagle-eyed readers sent in this picture of a "5K" extra-wide UHD TV on the show floor. Of course, like LG's 5K model, this is really just a 4K TV with a thousand extra pixels tacked on at the edges, but the plain technical facts shouldn't detract from this spectacular work of corporate one-upmanship. Naturally, we'll probably find out more about this hardware in a day or so, but until then, we'll just have to gaze upon this slightly blurry shot and wonder.
The first 13 Steam Machines
At CES, Valve premiered its third-party Steam Machines from 13 ground-floor manufacturers: Alienware, Alternate, Cyberpower PC, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Gigabyte, iBuyPower, Materiel.net, Next Spa, Origin PC, Scan, Webhallen and Zotac. The cheapest Steam Machine clocks in at $500, Valve said, and already Digital Storm unveiled its hybrid PC model that starts at $1,900. The Falcon Northwest Tiki costs up to $6,000. The size, shape and capability of each Steam Machine varies as much as the price. Find your favorite (or the one you can afford) below.
