CES 2015
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Buckle up: The connected-car revolution is almost here
Soon, you won't need to buy a Tesla to get a car that's as well-connected and technologically advanced as your smartphone. This year at CES, it was clear that we've finally reached a point where a plethora of connected cars will soon be ready for the road. That's a huge step up from past shows, where it always seemed like we were just previewing whiz-bang, futuristic car tech from afar. (CES being CES, there was still lots of that.) Expect advanced dashboards; built-in LTE; revamped entertainment systems; a variety of sensors and cameras to help you park and prevent accidents; and more to be included in new cars from several manufacturers in the next few years.
iJustine loves fitness wearables as much as Taco Bell
Digital diva and influencer Justine Ezarik (aka iJustine) thinks CES is a big "tech tease." She's right, of course -- there's just too much technology to cover in a short amount of time (and inevitably, some of it will never be released). But it's fitness wearables that get her the most excited about the show floor this year, like the stuff Misfit showed off. On our CES stage she explains her valentine Taco Bell and how the two keep up over Snapchat. We talk about a whole lot more during our fun conversation, which you can watch after the break.
The trailer and beyond: Engadget at CES 2015
Team Engadget spent a long week running around Las Vegas during CES, whether it's the the many exhibits at the city's Convention Center, the umpteen meetings at hotels or all-important pitstops like the Peppermill. Want to get a glimpse of what it was like? Follow the journey of our editorial team (and its dear friends) through social media in the gallery below.
Meet the company that brought 'Ebola' to CES
Every year, CES manages to bring thousands of exhibitors to Las Vegas, spreading them across the Las Vegas Convention Center and throughout hotels like Mandalay Bay, Sands Expo and The Mirage. For members of the media, the abundance of companies at the show makes the task of keeping up with every one of them extremely hard -- but it must be done. Exhibitors, on the other hand, have to reach out to journalists and host press conferences in hopes of getting valuable airtime for their product, whatever it may be. Naturally, due to the madness that is CES, smaller companies have to get creative to compete for attention with the tech giants of the world, such as Samsung, LG, Sony and more. And it helps tremendously if their product is, you know, actually good. So, when we got an email with a subject line that said, "WakaWaka Brings Ebola To CES," we instantly took notice. According to recent statistics, Ebola is estimated to have infected more than 20,000 people worldwide, the majority of them in West Africa. To date, the deadly virus has taken roughly 8,000 lives. At first glance, you think, "Are they seriously using a disease for promotional purposes?" Indeed, the company behind it, WakaWaka, wasn't really bringing Ebola to CES, but that's quite a bold way to approach pitching a story to journalists and other CES attendees.
Presenting the Best of CES 2015 winners!
One week in Vegas, several halls filled with tech, but only one official Best of CES Awards. After a few tortuous nights of shouting at each other, debating the merits of each of our finalists, we eventually decided on our winners. Congratulations to all our finalists and winners, and to anyone who's survived this week of tech announcements, Vegas razzle-dazzle and occasionally-dubious celebrity endorsements. Photos: Will Lipman
Toshiba's TransferJet SD cards get NFC previews
Toshiba's been hawking its Eye-Fi competitor TransferJet for years now, letting you push data from your SD card to your PC without removing it from your camera. Now, however, the company has cooked up a way for users to see what's on the card without even picking it up off the table. Simply pick up an Android smartphone, activate the company's companion app and the built-in NFC will show you up to 16 random thumbnails of the images included therein.
Nyko unveils Data Bank hard drive upgrade kit for PS4
Peripheral manufacturer Nyko unveiled its upcoming Data Bank accessory at CES this week, promising users a cheap and easy way to upgrade their PlayStation 4's storage capacity using a standard 3.5-inch desktop computer hard drive. A year into the console's lifespan, PlayStation 4 owners may find themselves running short of space on the platform's included 500GB hard drive. While the PS4's stock drive can be swapped out with a larger-capacity 2.5-inch hard drive intended for laptops, upgrading can prove costly, given the increased price of 2.5-inch drives compared to 3.5-inch models. Nyko's Data Bank sits atop the PlayStation 4 after partially removing the console's casing, and draws on the PS4's AC adapter to power an attached 3.5-inch hard drive. Nyko tells IGN that it's aiming for a "$30-$40 price range" for the peripheral. Compatible hard drives are sold separately. [Image: Nyko)
CES 2015: LifeProof and Scosche say it's OK to play in the water
A couple of announcements out of Las Vegas seem to be telling those of us with iOS devices that it's going to be OK to play in the water this year. Both LifeProof and Scosche have announced new waterproof goodies at CES 2015 that promise to provide power to your iOS toys while keeping them safe from H2O. First, LifeProof announced the frē Power, a waterproof battery case for the iPhone 6 that will not only supply 2600 mAh of power, but keep your pride and joy from drowning if you happen to dunk it. The frē Power case is not only waterproof at depths up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) for up to an hour, but it meets Milspec standards for shock and impact as well. No price or delivery date has been announced, but you can sign up to be notified when the frē Power ships later this year. Scosche is saying "go big or go home" with the new goBAT 6000 and goBAT 12000 rugged and waterproof external battery packs. The goBAT 6000 features a 6000 mAh lithium-ion battery and a single 2.4A USB port, while the goBAT 12000 boasts a 12000 mAh battery and two 2.4 USB ports. Both goBATs are IP67 rated and meet or exceed military shockproofing standards. Expected later in Q1 2015, the goBAT 6000 will retail for US$44.99 while its big brother will be priced at $79.99.
CES 2015: OWC's Envoy Pro mini brings SSD performance to a thumb drive form factor
While flash "thumb drives" are convenient, cheap and come in a variety of capacities, they don't exactly thrill users with their speed. Other World Computing yesterday announced the Envoy Pro mini, a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed SSD drive in the form factor of one of the ubiquitous flash drives. The drive, which won the Storage Visions 2015 Visionary Product Award for Mobile Consumer Storage, is packed in a sturdy aluminum enclosure and can be used for storing and transferring data or backing up your Mac. Unlike a traditional USB 3.0 flash drive, you could also probably get away with installing an OS X beta onto the Envoy Pro mini for test purposes since it should be much faster. OWC says that the drive "achieves sustained transfer speeds up to 433 MB/s". The Envoy Pro mini will be shipping in January in two sizes: 120GB (US$119) and 240GB ($199). OWC also announced that the drive will be available soon in a 480GB capacity with price to be determined.
Mophie announces Juice Pack battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
Mophie is finally bringing its Juice Pack battery cases to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users. Today the company launched pre-orders for the latest editions of the popular cases with prices starting at US$99.95. That price is good for either the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 6 or the Juice Pack for the iPhone 6. iPhone 6 users can also splurge on the $119.95 Juice Pack Plus, which offers 20 percent more battery life than the Juice Pack Air, along with a shock absorbing shell. Of the three cases, the Juice Pack for iPhone 6 Plus offers the least amount of extra charge, promising an extra 14.5 hours of talk time. Given that the iPhone 6 Plus' battery already provides 24 hours of talk time, that's roughly only 60 percent more battery life. Still, the iPhone 6 Plus has a considerably more powerful battery than the iPhone 6, so another 14.5 hours may be all the extra juice you need. Take a look at their offerings for yourself right here on Mophie's website. No hard release date has been announced, but hopefully pre-orders will be shipping soon.
CES 2015: Kenwood aftermarket CarPlay display; VW cars get CarPlay in 2015
A TUAW reader wrote to us yesterday bemoaning the lack of new products from Apple other than upgrades of previous devices. Among the things he thought were missing were HomeKit products and CarPlay devices. Well, there have been plenty of HomeKit-related announcements at CES 2015, although they're not from Apple - the company simply created the HomeKit framework for others to create products for. The same is true of CarPlay, and there have been a couple of interesting announcements in that arena today. First, Kenwood announced it will be coming into the aftermarket CarPlay market with the horribly-named DDX9902S multimedia receiver. No pricing or availability information has been provided, but the company is displaying its CarPlay-compatible unit (which also supports Android Auto) at CES. The unit supports not only regular smartphone connectivity features like Bluetooth pairing for music and phone calls, but also supports Pandora and iHeartRadio out of the box. HD Radio and Sirius XM Radio will be available as well. Kenwood's announcement follows that of Pioneer in October. Alpine has also announced a head unit supporting CarPlay. The second CarPlay announcement for today is that Volkswagen will support both CarPlay and Android Auto in their automobiles later this year. VW appears to be keeping its options open, as they'll also supporting a smartphone-agnostic MirrorLink app in the US. These three dashboard overlays will run on a base platform in the Volkswagen vehicles, allowing those purchasing cars to choose between the overlays depending on their needs. Volkswagen also plans to release a new parking assist technology soon, saying that drivers will be able to monitor semi-autonomous parking from the sidewalk by using a smartphone as a remote control.
CES 2015: Braven announces Fuse audio mixer, luxury speakers line, Bridge
One company is really making a splash at CES this year, and that company is Braven. Yesterday we gave you the news about three new speaker lines from the accessories manufacturer. Today, the press release flood continued with news of the US$99.99 Fuse audio mixer, the 1100 ($249.99), 2200b ($299.99), and 2300b ($349.99) luxury speakers, and the $299.99 Braven Bridge "executive conference call companion". First up is the Fuse audio mixer, described as a portable Bluetooth audio mixer. Seen in the image at the top of this post, the device has multiple Bluetooth connections so that it can link to two audio sources and two speakers. On the little box (less than 5 inches long) are a plethora of onboard controls, including volume and low/mid/high tuners for each audio source, a source level equalizer, a headphone out switch to listen to different audio sources, and a cross fader. Running off an internal 1200 mAh rechargable battery, the Fuse Audio Mixer can operate for over 12 hours on a single charge. It will be available in the second quarter of 2015. Next, the company expanded its design series speaker collection adding three premium Bluetooth speakers. The Braven 1100 supports aptX encoded audio and uses TrueWireless to pair with a second Braven speaker for true stereo sound. It will be available in the second quarter of 2015 as well in black, dark gray, light gray, red, orange and blue colors. The Braven 2200b and 2300b are designed to deliver "room-filling ultra-premium HD sound in an awe-inspiring package." All hyperbole aside, both speakers feature left and right channel stereo, interchangable grill options, and the ability to receive over-the-air firmware updates. Those grills will be available in black, dark gray, red, orange and blue, and the speakers should ship in the second quarter of 2015. Finally, Braven is building on its reputation for making speakers with excellent speakerphone capabilities with the Braven Bridge. It's a stylish accessory designed for executives who want to make loud and clear conference calls while on the road, and like the rest of these accessories it should be available in the second quarter. The Braven Bridge features dual omnidirectional microphones built into a aluminum body with leather accents. As expected with a product like this, there are 360-degree HD microphones and noise cancelling technology built in. The battery inside has a capacity of 2800 mAh and can be used to charge mobile devices.
CES 2015: Energous WattUp wireless charging
"Wireless charging" for Apple devices at this point usually consists of wrapping your iPhone or iPad in a special case or attaching a special dongle to the Lightning port and then placing the device on some sort of inductive charging pad (the Qi charging standard from the Wireless Power Consortium is a perfect example of this). How would you like to be able to have your devices charge up automatically whenever you're within range of a special wireless transmitter? That's the premise behind the Energous Corporation WattUp product demoed at CES this year. WattUp is a Bluetooth and RF-enabled transmitter (that black device in the image at the top of this post) that uses Wi-Fi bands to deliver what the company calls "intelligent, scalable power" to devices that require 10 watts or less of power. Up to 12 receiving devices can be charged by one WattUp transmitter at any time, and the company has an app for controlling the order and preference of charges. For example, smartphones or tablets could start charging whenever you walk into your home, while keyboards and remotes might charge at night. Energous wants to license WattUp to manufacturers of wearables, smartphones, and tablets, so we can only hope that the company has approached Apple. I, for one, would love to use a system like this for constant trickle charging of an Apple Watch.
CES 2015: AT&T announces 4G LTE Modio Smartcase for Wi-Fi iPads
So, you bought a Wi-Fi-only iPad or iPad mini, and now you're regretting the fact that you can't work or play while away from Wi-Fi networks. Regrets, begone! At CES 2015, AT&T today announced the new Modio Smartcase, which is essentially an iPad case with a built-in 4G LTE hotspot. The case will eventually be available for all models of the iPad Air and iPad mini, and has some other perks in addition to the 4G LTE connection. There's a built-in 4,600 mAh battery pack to keep the device going for up to 10 hours, and a microSD card slot that can be used to offload up to 32 GB of files off of your iPad. The AT&T Modio Data application will work to let you do the file transfers, as well as monitor your data usage and connection. AT&T customers with a Mobile Share plan can add the Modio Smartcase-equipped iPad to their plan. Currently, the AT&T website shows the Modio Smartcase for iPad mini as "coming soon," but no availability dates or pricing have been set for the other models.
What you've missed at CES so far
According to the CEA's official schedule, CES 2015 actually starts today -- but the onslaught of unfiltered news actually started two days ago. Before the Las Vegas Convention Center even opened its doors, Samsung and LG both held press conferences; Intel and NVIDIA outed new processors; and Lenovo put its latest laptop designs on display. What happened at CES before CES started? Read on, and we'll fill you in.
Sony: PS4 sales surpass 18.5 million following holiday boom
PlayStation 4 sales are now beyond the 18.5 million mark, according to Sony's announcement at CES 2015. The PS4's pubertal growth into the late teens (millions-wise) occurred in a prolific holiday season, with more than 4.1 million units shifted worldwide since November 23, 2014. Sony's numbers represent the company's estimates of units sold to consumers, as opposed to retail shipments. According to Sony, the PS4 "continues to demonstrate the fastest and strongest growth in PlayStation hardware history." To contrast and compare, the PS3 shipped 10.5 million units within a similar timeframe, and the PS2 10.6 million units. "We are absolutely delighted that so many customers around the globe have continued to select PS4 as their console of choice throughout this holiday season," said Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House. "We will continue to reinforce and deliver additional value on PS4 as the best place to play, by bringing even more exciting content and by enriching our wide array of service offerings."
CES 2015: Narrative Clip 2 adds wide angle lens, Wi-Fi to wearable camera
One of the more intriguing items I reviewed in 2014 was the Narrative Clip, a tiny clip-on "lifelogging" camera designed to take a photo every 30 seconds hands-free. The idea, as you'll get from reading that review, is that there are often situations where you'd like to capture candid photos automatically as life unreels before you. Well, the company took the original Narrative Clip and reduced its price from the previously ridiculous $279 down to a somewhat more sane $149, and has now announced the Narrative Clip 2, an updated version that will sell for $199. What's changed in the new version? First, the camera now has a wider field of view (a full 90°), meaning that you can capture 8-megapixel photos that cover more of the world in front of you. Next, the Clip 2 is now equipped with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Wi-Fi can be used to automatically upload your photos to the Narrative Service when it's being charged and is in range of a recognized network. Bluetooth can be used with the Narrative Clip app not only to let you access images from the camera, but to control the camera as well. While the original Narrative Clip just had a single clip for mounting, the Clip 2 will have a number of interchangable mounting options available later in 2015. Your friends and relatives may still find the idea of you wearing a camera all the time to be "creepy", but if you're into capturing everything you do in your life, this is going to be a great year.
CES 2015: ZAGG announces new iPhone accessories, including Pocket wireless keyboard
ZAGG announced some new products at CES 2015 today, two of which are designed to improve your interactions with an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or other "phablet". First, the ZAGG Speaker Case is an innovative protective case that adds a removable bluetooth speaker to the back. It's also packed with power with an interior 1800 mAh battery. The speaker will be available later in the first quarter of 2015. Probably the most interesting announcement was about the ZAGG Pocket (US$69.99), a small folding Bluetooth keyboard that delivers over 85 percent of the size of a desktop keyboard. By folding between two lines of keys, it's possible to fold the Pocket into a 9-inch long by 2.5-inch wide x .5-inch space. Magnets keep the Pocket folded, and a carrying case is included. It will also be available later this quarter. ZAGG is the current market leader in keyboard cases, and the Pocket will open up keyboard usage for owners of the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and other phablets.
CES 2015: Braven rolls out new 805, Balance, and BRV-PRO Bluetooth Speakers
And now, let's take a break from the connected devices news from CES 2015 with an announcement of three new Bluetooth speakers from Braven. The company, which is known for some pretty decent Bluetooth speakers, announced three models - the 805, Balance, and BRV-PRO. The Braven 805 (image at top of post) will remind many readers of many eariler Braven speakers designed for use in the home. It comes in a variety of colors - orange, teal, magenta, red, green, yellow, white, gray and black. Priced at US$199.99 and expected to ship this month, the Braven 805 can be paired with a second 805, 850, 855s, 1100, or BRV-HD speaker for true left-right channel stereo sound. The 805 also provides speakerphone capability with an integrated noise-canceling microphone, and packs a 4400 mAh battery for charging your other portable devices. Next on the list is the Braven Balance, an indoor/outdoor speaker with a thin profile, anti-slip exterior, and IPX5 waterproof rating. Priced at $149.99, Braven expects to ship the Balance in the second quarter of 2015. Like the Braven 805, the Balance has a 4400 mAh internal battery for powering other devices, and can be used as a speakerphone. Expect the Balance to be colorful, as it will ship in Raven, Alpine, Raspberry, Electric, Sunset and Periwinkle. Finally, outdoor enthusiasts are going to lve the BRV-PRO, a $149.99 ruggedized modular speaker that will come with a range of accessories. The accessories include a 2800 mAh extended battery pack to give the built-in 2200 mAh battery some help, an LED Glow Deck that turns the BRV-PRO into a mini-lantern for camping, a Folding Solar Panel for sun-powered charging, a GoPro compatible camera mount, a Qi Wireless charging pad, and a Stack Plate Multiplier for stacking multiple BRV-PRO speakers. The accessories will be priced anywhere from $29.99 to $49.99 each. Expect to see some reviews of some of the new Braven speakers on TUAW in the future.
CES 2015: Elgato Eve line joins the parade of HomeKit-enabled connected devices
When Apple's HomeKit framework was announced back in June of 2014, many tech pundits speculated that the first product announcements would happen at CES 2015. Sure enough, we're hearing about a number of HomeKit-enabled devices, the latest being from Elgato. Elgato's Eve is more than just one product; it's designed to be a complete line of products and sensors to let you know what's going on in your home and provide control with a Siri voice command. The company says that two products will be available in the first quarter of 2015 - Eve Energy and Eve Door & Window Sensors. Eve Energy is a HomeKit-enabled switch that can also let you know how much energy an appliance is using, while Eve Door & Window Sensors let you know if doors or windows are shut. Controlled by the free Eve app, more devices will be available later in the quarter. Eve Room provides temperature, air quality, humidity and air pressure inside your home, while Eve Weather captures similar information from the outside. Eve Water connects to plumbing to monitor water consumption and temperature. Eve Smoke is a smoke detector that may be able to take on the buggy Nest Protect in the connected devices market. Not surprisingly, no pricing information has been released for the new Eve line. Expect to see more about Elgato's HomeKit offering on TUAW in the future.
