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AMD's impossibly thin nano PC prototype sits on your TV, but don't call it a set-top box
Let's take a moment to forget the technical nonsense. Seriously. Besides, we only really know the broad strokes about Mullins, AMD's next-gen ultra-low voltage APU. Instead, let's just gaze upon the tiny wonder that is the Nano PC for a bit and soak it all in. This reference design from the Sunnyvale company packs enough power to run Windows 8.1 pretty seamlessly and even get in a quick game of FIFA 14 at 1080p. Inside, in addition to a Mullins chip, is a 256GB SSD, a camera, Bluetooth, WiFI and a DockPort connector. And, it's really not much larger or thicker than a Note 3 -- it's pretty much a marvel of engineering. It's the last of those specs that's pretty important, since it allows you to connect to a tiny breakout box with HDMI and USB ports. Obviously you'll need one of those to connect it to a TV, which the Nano PC is designed to sit atop. Here's hoping that a company or two picks up on the design and starts making absurdly thin machines of their own. Dana Wollman contributed to this report.
ZTE crams a 1080p projector, a 4-inch display and an LTE hotspot in one Android-powered package (hands-on)
ZTE's Projector Hotspot is exactly what its name suggests: a 1080p projector and an LTE hotspot bundled in one highly portable box. Strangely, it even has a 4-inch touchscreen display and Android 4.2 as its operating system, so you could potentially surf the web and send emails from it. The entire package is very compact, measuring only 4.72 x 4.72 x 1.12 inches and weighing in at about 400 grams. We held it for a few minutes at a ZTE meeting, and it does indeed feel quite lightweight, which will be good for business travelers who yearn to pack light. It also packs a 5,000mAh battery in case you want to project your presentations on the go. As far as the video quality goes, we thought it was decent enough from the demonstration we saw, though we're not sure if we recommend using this for movie night (we'll need more than a few minutes to judge that). The hotspot functionality accommodates up to eight WiFi-enabled devices. Other features include 802.11b/g/n, HDMI, a headset jack, Bluetooth and audio output. We asked a ZTE representative if you could make calls with it, and while he said there aren't any phone capabilities, we imagine it might be possible to ring someone using Google Voice if you wanted to be completely ridiculous. The projector is set to be available sometime this year, though the price has yet to be determined.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: OLPC VP Giulia D'Amico
Best known for its nonprofit wing, dedicated to bringing computing to developing nations and low-income communities, One Laptop Per Child made its first play in the consumer space with last year's XO Tablet. We'll be speaking with the company's VP of business development, Giulia D'Amico about OLPC's play in the consumer market at what it means for the organization. January 7, 2014 7:30:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
3D Systems shows off a $500 3D scanner that clips onto your iPad
As excited as we were to play around with the Sense 3D scanner, the first-generation consumer scanner had some shortcomings. Near the top of the list was the fact that it only worked with Windows. While the operating system has a plenty large install base, any semblance of portability with the thing required the user to own a Windows tablet -- which, for obvious reasons, severely limited the device's potential install base. Among a torrent of announcements at CES this year, 3D Systems has just unveiled a solution, right on our CES stage. It's called the iSense. We'll give you three guesses as to which mobile operating system it works with. The iSense snaps directly onto an iPad, giving you the same sort of easy scanning functionality you get with its slightly older siblings. Want to see more? Us too. Tune into our interview with the company's CEO happening right now. The iSense is set for a Q2 launch, priced at $499 -- that's a $100 premium over the Sense.
Qualcomm to bet big on tablets and connected cars in 2014, says CEO-elect
At Qualcomm's CES press event, CEO-elect Steve Mollenkopf took the stage to share his optimistic -- and perhaps a slightly surprising -- vision of 2014. The exec believes that as OSes are becoming more robust and feature-rich, phone makers like Nokia, Samsung, LG and Sony will make a second coming in the tablet market. This becomes an opportunity for Qualcomm and carriers to cash in, with the latter coming up with more innovative and creative ways to bring in more subscriptions, such as by selling the smartphone and the tablet as a pair. Mollenkopf also name-dropped the Amazon Kindle HDX and the Nexus 7 tablets, which are all powered by his company's Snapdragon chips. "Remember, we look at the market as a long game, so when we look at OSes and how they're doing and how we're progressing, we can be nothing but pleased with how we think that's setting up long term," Mollenkopf said.
PlayStation Now actually works! (update: hands-on video)
You'll excuse us if we didn't expect PlayStation Now to work so well. It's a game-streaming service, and the history of game-streaming services is littered with dead bodies. When Sony spent an unbelievable $380 million on Gaikai, it seemed impossible that the service could ever live up to that incredible sum. While PlayStation Now may not live up to that massive payout, it does, in fact, work. And it works really well. We got our hands on PlayStation Now today at a CES 2014 PlayStation event, where we tried God of War: Ascension on a Bravia TV (without a PS3) and The Last of Us on a Vita. Both games played like there was a local PlayStation 3 (including the incredibly long initial load for The Last of Us) and ran without a hitch. There was zero perceptible lag in our (admittedly brief) playtime, and we suspect that the internet Sony's using is of the very strong variety.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental
The company that helped invent rapid prototyping has been in the 3D printing game for nearly three decades. In recent years, 3D Systems has been making an aggressive play at the consumer market with products like the Cube, CubeX and Sense as one of the driving forces in the desktop 3D printing revolution. January 7, 2014 7:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Ford Sync will soon let you order pizza while on the road
Ever wish you could (safely) order pizza while driving home? You'll have that chance soon. Ford has just announced Sync AppLink support in five apps that could prove handy for many commuters, including Domino's Pizza. An upcoming version of the eatery's software will let you dictate orders without taking your hands off the wheel. New editions of Parkopedia and Parkmobile, meanwhile, will respectively help you find and pay for parking. ADT's Pulse app will verify that your house is safe and sound, and an update to HABU later this month will send mood-setting tunes to the car stereo. It's not clear just when all of the new apps will be AppLink-ready, but it shouldn't be long before you're asking for an extra-large Pacific Veggie while you're stuck in traffic.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Lenovo VP Dilip Bhatia
What are Lenovo's big plans for 2014? We've got the VP and general manager of the company's iconic ThinkPad business line onstage to discuss the place of the laptop and tablet in the ever-changing business world. January 7, 2014 6:30:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Setting a course for the future: the best of CES past
Who remembers the CyberGenie cordless phone system from Cygnion? Truth be told: We don't either. That's understandable, though, as it came out nearly 15 years ago. While it might seem like this fairly low-tech (by today's standards) piece of office equipment is a million miles away from what's on Engadget these days, back in 2000, thanks to its unified messaging features and personalized auto-attendant, the CyberGenie was considered innovative enough to be voted Best in Show at that year's CES awards. Coincidentally, it's Engadget that has the honor of deciding which of the thousands of products on display will be worthy of that same title this year. We take a look at a few of the key highlights from the history of CES awards.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Scanadu CEO Walter de Brouwer
Health care devices are, once again, all the rage at this year's CES, and Scanadu's got one of the more ambitious offerings. The company's Scout device aims to be a $150 Star Trek-esque tricorder that'll give users readings for heart and breathing rate, temperature, blood pressure and blood oxygenation levels. We've got the company's founder and CEO Walter de Brouwer to discussion his vision for the future of health care. January 7, 2014 6:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Internal game development at Oculus VR is already happening (and yes, it involves John Carmack)
It's hard to imagine John Carmack not developing games. Sure, he signed on to Oculus VR as chief technology officer, but he's also the man who co-created such gaming classics as Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D. With Oculus Rift, Carmack and the many talented game developers working at Oculus VR have a new test on their hands: showcasing their new device with impressive software. Thus far, Oculus has relied on third parties to create demonstrations of the Rift. From our conversation this morning with CEO Brendan Iribe and Director of Developer Relations Aaron Davies, it sounds like that may change in 2014. "He's working on a lot of exciting tech," Iribe told us of Carmack's role. "But, his heart and soul and history certainly lies in the game-development side." That means, like Epic Games before them and id Software before Epic, Carmack and co. are working on software that'll showcase the Rift's many functions. "That's always been Epic's philosophy. And it's what allowed them to make what they made. It's certainly been id's philosophy in the past. It's been John Carmack's philosophy -- you gotta eat your own dog food here, and develop internal content also," he told us. So that's what Carmack and Oculus are doing, with plenty of game developers in-house to expedite the process. "You'll see, over the next six to 12 months, if you monitor the careers page, we are putting up our team out there. We wanna make this a very open company. Pay attention to that page and you'll see more and more game developers showing up," Iribe added.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: AMD's Kevin Lensing
And what about the chips that power all of those shiny new devices we're seeing on the show floor here at CES? Kevin Lensing, the director of AMD's mobility product line will discuss the hardware that makes our mobile devices tick. January 7, 2014 5:30:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Mad Catz's Tournament Edition Rat is lighter, faster and brighter
If you didn't have enough transforming mice in your cursor collection, Mad Catz has one more for you: the Rat TE (Tournament Edition). It's the latest in the company's line of formerly Cyborg-branded mousing products and is designed specifically, as the name implies, for professional and competitive gamers. That means it's lighter (to improve inertia, the company says), offers faster reaction times and has been outfitted with a new 8,200 DPI laser sensor. Mad Catz has also given the mouse the ability to adjust its lift-off height calibration, giving pro gamers one more aspect of play to fine-tune. That said, it's not exactly a dead-ringer for the original Rat -- the horizontal scroll wheel is missing and the ever-important sniper button is twice as large as the mouse's first design. Mad Catz hasn't announced the teal-accented mouse's price yet, but expect to see it ship in early 2014.
Hands-on with Garmin's windshield HUD prototype
We've tracked Garmin's K2 since last year at CES and this year sees a HUD concept introduced into its navigation mix. In our conversation with Garmin, it seems that in large part this year's focus is on following NHTSA driver distraction guidelines. Interaction with the HUD is very simple as there are only three buttons on the steering column: a scroll wheel which is mounted in capacitive housing, a back button and a menu button. Each level of the menu is well thought out, and only requires a roll of the finger to get in or a tap of a button to hop back out of. Colors, fonts and general layout have all been chosen to work well in brightly lit, snow, dark and most other conditions you find yourself in while out driving making the task of peeking down at the HUD quick and simple. Of course, we've seen many similar setups, but Garmin's infotainment-focused offering adds a dimension of useful and quick interaction to the system that makes it much more compelling than a simple read out of speed, direction and time. We look forward to see this hit retail but in the meantime give the video a once over if you want to see s bit more.
Sprint announces Virgin Mobile hotspot with Spark LTE support, adds six new markets
Most carriers shy away from offering LTE on its prepaid plans, but Sprint is diving right in by making it available on its first Virgin Mobile device. The network will take advantage of Sprint's Spark service, which will offer tri-band LTE support at faster speeds on the company's Broadband2Go plans. The first device to leverage it is the Netgear Mingle, which is essentially a red version of Sprint's Zing (pictured above). You can get the fast service at a cost of $5 per day, or you can choose monthly plans of 1.5GB for $25 or 6GB fof $55. Additionally, Sprint announced that it will launch Spark in six more cities: Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston and Fort Lauderdale.
Yahoo acquires Aviate to build context-sensitive Android apps
That was quick -- Aviate hasn't even finished developing its context-aware Android home screen, and it's already an acquisition target. Yahoo has announced at CES that it's buying Aviate for an undisclosed amount; the web giant wants to use Aviate's simplified, ever-changing interface as a "central part" of its Android software in 2014. While it's not clear just what that entails, the launcher replacement will live on for the foreseeable future -- in fact, the first 25,000 people to use the code "YAHOO" will get into the ongoing private beta.
Sprint's new "Framily" plan lets you share your account with 10 friends, but still bills you separately
It's a scam thrifty cellular subscribers have been pulling for years: sharing a "family plan" with a group of non-biologically related peers to save a few bucks. It works, but it's kind of a headache - family plans arrive as one bill, and the ringleader needs to hassle their friends to pay their share of the bill. Tired of the nightmare? So is Sprint - the company has dropped all pretense for these plan-sharing schemers with its horribly named "Framily" plan, which allows up to 10 lines to be shared on a single account regardless of blood relation. The initial line of service costs $55 a month, but each additional user takes $5 off the price of every line on the plan until they reach a maximum discount of $30 per line, per month. A group of seven, for instance, can score unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data for $25 per line. Best of all, each line is billed individually, and allows each user to manage and customize their own plans without going through the central account holder. The new system will be available to new and existing Sprint customers on January 10th, although currently active lines can only be combined if they are already owned by the same person. If you can tolerate its moniker, Framily seems to be a good spin on the existing shared plan dynamic. Want more details? Check out Sprint's official announcement at the source below.
Yahoo News Digest to offer bite-sized news for busy people
Yahoo has just announced Yahoo News Digest, an app that summarizes all the biggest news of the day into short easily consumable chunks. Summly's Nick D'Aloisio is heading up the venture, and he came on stage to describe how the app works. A large cover image greets you on the splash screen while a cluster of headlines lie underneath. The app is designed to summarize news twice a day from multiple sources, and the news chunks have contextual information like maps and tweets baked right in. Infographics, stock tickets, scoreboards are part of the app, and it'll prompt you when you're done reading.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: ARM CTO Mike Muller
Mike Muller isn't just the CTO of ARM -- he's also a founder. Suffice it to say, the executive knows a thing or two about the mobile industry. We'll be picking his brain tonight at 5PM ET. January 7, 2014 5:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
