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LeEco brings Android-powered smart bikes to the US
LeEco is determined to add a dash of technology to just about everything, and that now includes old-school pedal power. The fast-rising tech company has unveiled two bicycles for the US, the Smart Road Bike (above) and Smart Mountain Bike (below), whose centerpiece is a 4-inch touchscreen box that runs a customized take on Android. The front end gives you turn-by-turn directions from Here, music playback (including streaming), ride data and even chats with nearby LeEco bike riders. They have their own GPS and sensors, and you can track your own fitness by pairing ANT+ heart rate and power monitors.
UVify's Draco drone is a racing quad for everyone
You might be pretty handy with your DJI Phantom, but flying a racing drone is something else. Most consumer drones are programmed to make flying a cinch, but the trade-off is a lack of agility and speed. Racing drones right now are akin to making your own gaming PC: You need to get your hands dirty, know how everything works together and labor over it to get everything optimized. UVify wants to democratize the burgeoning sport with Draco, a ready-to-go speedy drone that can hang with the pros.
This selfie-drone recognizes, finds and auto-records its owner
Look how happy I am in that photo below. Or am I scared? It's hard to tell. Selfie technology just took a new turn, and I'm evidently not quite sure what to make of it. The source of the photo is Zero Zero's Hover Camera. It's a foldable, lightweight, 4K camera drone that we've seen before. The new trick that helped take this picture is that I just threw the drone up in the air. It then turned around until it recognized me (passing two colleagues along the way), and I waved at it. Boom: awkward selfie.
Tesla narrowly missed its 2016 sales targets
At the start of 2016, Tesla set itself the ambitious goal of delivering up to 90,000 new cars to customers, and by the end of the year it almost, but not quite, achieved it. The company has revealed that it managed to get 83,992 electric vehicles out to people over the year; it would have been more but for some production hiccups in the fall. It's a big year-over-year boost for the relatively small automaker, since it only managed to deliver 50,580 cars in 2015.
Qualcomm plans to bring gigabit data speeds to your car
Remember last year, when Qualcomm pulled back the curtain on its X16 LTE modem? At the time, the chipmaker touted peak download speeds of up to 1Gbps for smartphones, even though gigabit speeds were (and are) basically impossible to experience in the wild. Still, the age of super high-speed wireless data is fast approaching, which is why Qualcomm just announced that it's bringing that X16 modem to cars. It will be a while before you get to torrent movies in a flash from the comfort of your Chevy, though: The modem is baked into a new module reference design that carmakers will likely adopt further down the line.
ODG launches its Snapdragon 835-based mixed-reality glasses
The name Osterhout Design Group (ODG) might not sound all that familiar, but it has unveiled two mixed-reality smartglasses at this year's CES. These new devices, called the R-8 and the R-9, are two of the first wearables powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. They're both capable of augmented and virtual reality overlays, though the R-9 has more-sophisticated features to go with its higher price point. It has a 50-degree field of view and 1080p resolution, whereas the R-8 has a 40-degree FOV and a 720p resolution. Further, it functions as a development platform for mobile AR and VR, as well as smartglass applications.
Qualcomm wants to make smarter cars by sharing sensor data
You don't need us to tell you that modern cars aren't just cars. They're places to surf the web and watch movies, and they're getting smarter by the day. With the launch of its new Drive Data platform, Qualcomm is trying to add another big role to that list. As far as the company is concerned, modern cars are roving sensors too, and there's a lot to be done with all the data they collect.
The Honor 6x does the iPhone's portrait trick for $250
Smartphones with dual cameras are about to become the norm now that Apple has jumped aboard the bandwagon. And they're about to spread to more-affordable phones too. Budget phone maker Honor has just unveiled the $250 Honor 6x, which the company says is the first smartphone "in its price range" to sport two cameras on the rear. After a few days with a preview unit, I found the Honor 6x decent for the price, with its dual-camera setup in particular delivering mostly effective results.
Mattel built a $300 Echo for kids
It's late, and you're tired. Before you can knock off for the night, however, there's one thing left to do: read your child a bedtime story. In Mattel's world, you might not have to pick up a book or even put on voices for their favorite characters. That's because it's working on an Echo-style speaker with an assistant called Aristotle. It's built specifically for kids, offering games, facts and soothing sounds on demand. Most importantly, it has the smarts to recognize your little one's less-than-perfect speech and adapt as she gets older and more curious about the wider world.
ASUS lays claim to the "world's lightest 14-inch business laptop"
If weight is your biggest concern when buying a laptop, you've probably grown used to 11- and 13-inch ultraportables. If you're looking for something a little bigger but still light, ASUS may have something for you. Weighing in at 2.31 pounds, the company's new 14-inch ASUSPro B9440 claims to be the lightest business notebook in its class. Despite its larger screen, the machine itself is actually pretty small: At just 12.6 inches wide, it's a little narrower than the 13-inch MacBook Air.
Hyundai's connected cars now work with Google Assistant
Hyundai is giving you another way to shout orders at its connected Blue Link cars, shortly after revealing an Amazon Alexa partnership. The company is teaming up with Google, letting you give commands to Santa Fe, Sonata or other compatible models via its voice-controlled Assistant. Using a Google Home device, you'll be able to say, "OK Google, start my Santa Fe and set the temperature to 72 degrees" or "Ask Blue Link to lock my car," to give a couple examples.
Kuri home robot can read to your kids and watch your home
You may not have to wait for the likes of ASUS' Zenbo to cross the ocean before you can get an affordable home robot. Mayfield Robotics (one of Bosch's startups) has taken the wraps off Kuri, a 20-inch-tall robot companion that promises to play nicely with your smart home. It can answer questions with a humanlike touch (facial expressions, head gestures and sounds), watch over your home with a 1080p camera and play audio, whether it follows you around with music or reads to your kids. It's reportedly easy to program, and you can use IFTTT to have it talk to other smart household devices.
Amazon Fire TV is now built into 4K sets
You won't have to buy a separate Fire TV device to use Amazon's full services on your TV. Seiki, Westinghouse and Element Electronics are launching a series of 4K sets with Fire TV technology built in. They all include Amazon's current interface, including a wide range of Alexa voice commands, thanks to a microphone-equipped remote. If you use an over-the-air TV antenna, you'll have access to both a channel guide and favorite individual channels on the home screen.
HP's Sprout Pro looks nicer (and works better) than the original
In 2014, HP unveiled the original Sprout -- a unique all-in-one with a projector and camera extrusion that turns the surface between you and the display into an interactive space. It was designed for creative professionals and hobbyists, and a later version released in 2016 targeted the classroom. This year, HP has a new Sprout called the Pro G2, which the company says is a completely redesigned device, featuring "a higher resolution projection, more powerful processing, advanced 3D scanning and a more accurate precision active pen for drawing compared to the previous model." Basically, then, the Pro G2 should feel faster, more precise and more realistic than before, which seems to us more like an incremental upgrade than an overhaul.
Even smart toothbrushes have AI now
Before the likes of Oral-B started selling Bluetooth-enabled, app-connected toothbrushes, there was Kolibree. The startup developed one of the first smart toothbrushes that incentivized regular brushing and documented oral hygiene habits. We caught the first Kolibree brush at CES several years ago ahead of its successful Kickstarter campaign, and this year the company is back at the tech show with a new model: the Ara. So, what's the latest innovation in smart toothbrushes? AI, of course.
Intel invests in Nokia's old mapping division
Intel has announced that it's buying a 15 percent stake in Here, the mapping company that was spun out of Nokia, for an undisclosed fee. The chipmaker has also revealed that the pair will work together to build a new high-definition mapping platform for self-driving cars. Since the rest of Here is owned by the German car industry, it's not hard to see who might be interested in using that sort of technology.
The ASUS ViVoPC X is a compact box designed for virtual reality
Right now, going all in on PC virtual reality means going big: You need a big space for room-scale VR; a big, powerful gaming PC; and a big wallet to buy it all with. ASUS wants to make one of those things smaller. Unfortunately, it's not the price. The new ASUS ViVoPC X is a compact gaming desktop that's powerful enough for virtual reality but still small enough to be moved in a pinch.
Earin's latest wireless earbuds tout AirPod-like controls
Fancy the subtle tap-based controls of Apple's AirPods but want something that's not quite so conspicuous (or conspicuously targeted at iPhone owners)? Earin wants to talk. It's introducing its second set of wireless earbuds, the M-2, and they promise a taste of AirPod-like control in a subtler design. You only have to tap an earbud to pause your music or answer a call -- no reaching for your phone or fiddling with buttons. It's not as sophisticated as the AirPods (you won't be talking to Siri as easily), but the simplicity remains a big deal.
Dish brings Alexa and multi-room music to Hopper DVRs
Until recently, the world of voice-controlled computing, nay, voice-controlled living, seemed like it was still a few years away from becoming mainstream. Amazon's Alexa platform, however, has made it easy for companies to bolt on the technology to their existing products. Case in point: Dish has announced that you'll soon be able to pair your Hopper DVR with the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot in order to change channels just by speaking.
Ford to build a 300-mile electric SUV and hybrid Mustang
Ford just made a big electric vehicle announcement, saying it will build a hybrid Mustang and F-150 truck, along with a fully electric SUV with 300 miles of range, all by 2020. The $4.5 billion investment will make it the latest automaker to fully commit to a heavily electric and hybrid road map, joining Mercedes, Volkswagen and others. "Our investments and expanding lineup reflect our view that global offerings of electrified vehicles will exceed gasoline-powered vehicles within the next 15 years," said President and CEO Mark Fields in a statement.
