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CES 2014: Auto roundup
While some categories at this year's International CES were a little quiet, the same cannot be said for autos. 2014's show floor was filled with car stuff, not simply from the major vendors at the show, but also from the acres of companies selling every accessory imaginable. Our takeaway from this outing is that autonomous control and re-inventing our car's oft-overlooked analog interiors are what most -- if not all -- vendors will be up to at least in part for 2014. Follow on for a few of the highlights from this year's show.
CES 2014: Household roundup
Alongside the TVs and tablets, CES is also home to the future of... homes. LG had smarter washing machines and robot vacuums that you can turn on by texting with everyday language, while Samsung introduced an entirely new ecosystem: one it's inviting third-party hardware companies to join. Qualcomm had a similar proposition with AllJoyn: Some companies are looking to dominate smart homes. This tech will come to your house. In Vegas, however, it's often the smaller companies that pique our interest. Don't we all want an appliance to automatically marinate our meat?
Caption contest: Mr. Marinator fuses meat, marinade, motion... and madness
Bombing on a home shopping network near you.
Native Union's Jump charging cable can juice up your devices on the go
It only took a little over 24 hours for Native Union's Jump, a charging cable with a built-in battery pack for juicing up on the go, to reach its funding on Kickstarter. Still, the company hasn't abandoned its booth here at CES to go out and celebrate, so we dropped in and laid some paws on the accessory. In case you need a recap, Jump consists of a central hub which contains an 800mAh battery, one braided cable with a Lightning adapter (or micro-USB) at the end, and another with a USB plug. The hardware is lightweight, easily pocketable and feels quite sturdy. Even the cords themselves feel like they can withstand a significant amount of wear and tear. While at first sight, the cables might appear as if they retract, they simply wrap around the central box and fit into small grooves. stretched from end to end, the contraption measures up at roughly 18 inches in length. On the face of the gadget sit a trio of lights that indicate the built-in battery level when a button on its rear is pressed. Not only does the device feel solid, but it's also quite smart. When plugged in, it'll make sure the gear you've connected will be charged up before topping off its own battery. While Jump will be available for $50 when it launches in May, you can snag it now through its already-successful Kickstarter campaign for $40.
CES 2014, Day 5: Five things 50 Cent missed while he was busy hawking headphones
It's been a fun week of awards, announcements and intentionally awful headlines, but all good things must come to an end. Before the doors to the show floor closed for the final time this year, we spent some moments with a pair of smart headbands, some augmented reality glasses and even a remote-controlled airplane, but we understand if you still want more. Don't worry -- that's why we're here. Join us one final time to look back at the interviews, innovations and intentional head injuries that defined CES 2014.
CES 2014 in pictures
` We've written so many words about CES 2014 that our fingers have calloused over. We've seen enough 4K TVs, booth babes and wearable computers to last us another 365 days and our resident photographer, Will Lipman, was on hand to capture almost all of it. We'll spare you the bad catering, grease-smudged demo units and trips to the port-a-john for a glimpse at the more beautiful side of CES. Join us after the break for a closer look at CES 2014.
Spree's head-worn fitness tracker doubles as a... sweatband
We've seen plenty of fitness watches, armbands and pedometers, but it's a rare moment when we see a pedometer that sits on your forehead. Spree believes that it's the top of your noggin that offers the most accurate physiological data, and that was enough for us to give the hardware a quick look. The device itself is a small, square, rubber brick with an optical sensor covering one of the sides. Naturally, that side has to be pressed up against your skin in order to monitor your heart rate and body temperature, while an accelerometer records your moment. In order to get the Spree into its intended position, there's a rubber headband, which doubles as a sweatband, so, no matter how frantic your nodding, you won't be left wiping your eyes in sticky frustration.
Exclusive: PMD's CamBoard Pico XS is the tiniest gesture camera we've ever seen (video)
Just as we were wrapping up CES today, we caught up with our friends over at PMD Technologies who surprised us with a little exclusive. What you see above is the new CamBoard Pico XS gesture camera that's dwarfed by the Pico S -- the one we saw at Computex -- next to it. This tiny module is only 4mm thick, 39.5mm long and 15.5mm wide, making it 1.5mm thinner and almost half as long as its predecessor, while still packing the same Infineon IRS1010C 3D image sensor chip. Given the size plus the fact that it already uses MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) instead of USB, the Pico XS is truly integration-ready for OEMs. The main changes that enabled this size reduction are the smaller lens -- which is compensated by a sharper laser illumination (but still 850nm infrared) -- plus the removal of the aluminum heat sink (which is actually the chassis), courtesy of a much lower power consumption. Instead of a typical 1W you get on the Pico S, the Pico XS requires less than 50mW typically (at 25fps) and 350mW max (up to 45fps). Temperature-wise it goes up by just 10 degrees Celsius at most, apparently. Despite the slightly reduced viewing angles, we've been told that this smaller depth camera offers the same performance as before. That certainly seems to be the case after this author tried it using PMD's Nimble UX middleware (co-developed by 3Gear Systems), which is able to do two-hand skeletal tracking down to finger level, as shown in our video after the break.
Hands-on with the consumer-ready Muse headband and software
If you think the person above looks weathered, broken and a little bit ill, you'd be right. After all, it's the last day of CES, and although this editor wasn't sure he had any working neurons left, he nevertheless took a trip to InteraXon's booth to check out the consumer-ready version of Muse, the mind-probing headband. We first came across Muse this time last year, and in terms of hardware, only minor changes have been made. The EEG sensors in contact with your forehead -- seven in total, measuring four channels -- are now made of conductive ink instead of cold metal, the whole thing is more flexible, and rubbery cushions have been added to its ends. These make wearing the headband perfectly comfortable, but otherwise, its form factor remains unchanged. The band itself is available for pre-order for 270 bucks, with the first units expected to start shipping in spring. To make use of the hardware, InteraXon has, of course, developed companion software for iOS and Android (the band communicates with mobile devices via Bluetooth). Last year, we saw a basic demo whereby changes in our brain activity triggered different events in a wintery scene. What the company has built over the past year, however, is much more polished.
The MetaPro glasses do some pretty amazing things with augmented reality
Yeah, I went through the whole "not another wearable" thing when the folks from the Meta team showed up sporting an early prototype of a device tethered to a small animal-style backpack. But one rep started namedropping some of the parties involved in the AR glasses -- names like Steve Mann. The wearables pioneer now sports a "chief scientist" designation on the company's site. And while we would have preferred to have been first on the demo list, it's hard to complain when the ones ahead of you are people like Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak. In fact, as they set up the demo in the green room behind our CES stage, one employee pulled out a small, translucent vase, measuring an inch or so tall. "Paul Allen made that one," he said, handing it to me. For anyone who's ever spent time around a desktop 3D printer, it wasn't a particularly impressive artifact, more the sort of thing someone learning CAD might design in week two. What's impressive, of course, is how Allen designed it. The demo is really just a proof of concept for the technology, but it really drives home the connection between the real and the virtual that the device is bridging. A quick note about the hardware above, before we go any further: These being prototypes, they'll naturally look a fair bit slicker down the road than what you see. In fact, we're told that the final version of the MetaPro will look like a set of aviator glasses, with a little extra (including some wings on the side to help obscure some of the sensors. In fact, we've included a rendering of what that'll look like below.
PowerUp's smartphone-controlled paper plane makes us jealous of modern kids
So, it turns out that people really like paper airplanes, and by that we don't mean the M.I.A. song, although that's pretty neat too. No, we're talking about PowerUp's Bluetooth propellor kit for paper planes that enables you to steer your origami aircraft. Creator Shai Goitein had already developed a propellor kit for kids, but took to Kickstarter to raise funds for a smartphone-controlled model with a rudder, and was staggered when it managed to raise its $50,000 goal in just seven hours. In fact, the current figure is hovering just beneath the million-dollar mark, and there's still 14 days worth of funding left to go.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: KnCMiner
What better way to send off CES 2014 than with some Bitcoin talk? KnCMiner, the Swedish company behind a number of high profile Bitcoin mining machines will join us for our final on-stage CES interview of the year. January 10, 2014 7:30:00 PM EST
When Parrot AR.Drone meets Myo armband, magic ensues (video)
Ah, Las Vegas, the perfect location for a spontaneous wedding. Earlier today, we witnessed a quick and dirty collaboration between Parrot and Thalmic Labs at CES, where they paired an AR.Drone 2.0 with a Myo gesture-control armband. The demonstrator was able to control the drone's tilt direction by using just one arm, as well as toggling the rotors by clicking fingers. This author gave it a go as well and found this control method to be as effortless as it looked, though due to the WiFi interference on the show floor (ugh, so typical of large events these days), the drone had to stay within a close proximity of the iPad that was relaying the Myo's commands. There wasn't a way to adjust the vehicle's height in that particular demo, but there's no stopping Thalmic Labs from assigning additional gestures for that -- maybe clench fist to ascend and spread hand to descend. Understandably, neither company could confirm whether they are bringing this feature to market, but we'd be very surprised if they don't sustain their marriage moving forward.
Intel's Mike Bell on what's wrong with wearables, and how he plans to fix it
If there's one buzzword that sums up CES 2014, it has to be wearables. There has been everything from cameras to earbuds. Not to mention a veritable deluge of smartwatches, wristbands and fitness trackers. Even Intel is in on the game, bringing us some of the show's most memorable wearable tech: the baby onesie, a smart mug concept, an earpiece and even a watch of its own. There's a good reason why Intel is investing in wearables, though -- and his name is Mike Bell. He's the general manager of the New Devices Group at Intel, and he thinks wearables are a massive opportunity. One problem though: He also thinks we're currently doing it wrong. To that end, he's tasked with shaping Intel's wearable future, which, if all goes well (for him), will be our wearable future too.
Unleashing the tech show hype beast
There's a technological revolution going on; innovation is at an all-time high; and we've seen it all before. While many of the devices we've seen this week are new and even exciting, the unending hymn of hyperbole that echoes through the halls of the LVCC is an old standard. For months leading up to the big show, small startups and tech giants flood the inboxes of tech journalists, attempting to catch their attention with bold and often ridiculous claims. And on the show floor, sprawling booths from the likes of Samsung and LG boast laundry lists of "world's firsts." Each year, we put all of that aside to bring you only the freshest goods CES has to offer -- until now. It's time to unleash the hype beast!
Android TV at CES 2014 highlighted by Chinese manufacturers Hisense and TCL
The project formerly known as Google TV has a limited presence on the CES show floor in 2014. While a number of companies are still working up Android-powered boxes and dongles, the largest TV manufacturers we saw on the floor promoting it were Hisense and TCL. Both are showing off skinned versions of Android TV with Google Play, which look different, but offer similar features like gesture and voice control. Hisense was also showing a new version of its Pulse add-on box, which sports some very Chromecast-like video sharing features. Announced in December, Pulse Pro will ship later this year with Android 4.2.2 and brings a new remote with an integrated microphone for voice control. Hisense's Android TVs include its Ultra HD H9 and H8 line While other manufacturers focus on their homegrown smart TV platforms, it appears Google is doing battle by opening up the services and apps it developed for Google TV to the companies interested in using Android. We'll see if this looser approach helps its reach any, or if Google has any major surprises up its sleeve in 2014, like that Nexus TV box that has been rumored.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: LG EVP Jim Clayton
LG's certainly not the only player in the wearables game at this year's CES, but this isn't the company's first horse race. This time out, the company's showing off the Lifeband Touch, a new fitness tracker that pairs nicely with the company's heart rate headphones. Jim Clayton, the company's EVP of home entertainment and new business development will be joining us on-stage to discuss LG's play in the space. January 10, 2014 6:30:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget Stage: Narrative CEO Martin Kallstrom
Here's another interesting take on the push toward wearable technologies. The Narrative Clip (formerly Memoto) lives on your lapel, taking pictures at intervals throughout the day for a little lifelogging action. The company's CEO will join us on stage to discuss the device. January 10, 2014 6:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Avegant
Avegant's Glyph headset is certainly one of the cooler wearables we've seen at a show jam-packed with them. The company's CEO Edward Tang and CTO Allan Evans will be joining us to discuss what sets their headset apart from the competition. January 10, 2014 5:30:00 PM EST
A sub-$600 desktop 3D scanner that folds into a box
Hidden in amongst the armies of 3D scanners in the South Hall of CES is the Matterform: a crowdfunded, $579 desktop 3D scanner that's also its own carrying case. The device operates on similar principles as other devices in the space, namely MakerBot's Digitizer. There are a couple of clear differences between the two offerings, right off the bat; first and foremost the price, with Matterform's offering coming in at a fraction of MakerBot's scanner. Also cool is the fact that the rotating bed also raises and lowers, so you get more angles for a fuller picture of the object being scanned. And then there's the fact that the whole thing folds up into a rugged case with a handle, for those ever-important 3D-scanning house calls. There's more info in the source link, including video of the included software in action. You can also pre-order the device there, if you're so inclined.
