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The first Hyperloop test is now just months away
2016 was a big year for Hyperloop One as the company inched ever closer to proving its near-supersonic travel tubes work. At the same time, the business tweaked its plans, intending to become more of a platform and less of a train company. As 2017 advances, it's readying its a three-kilometer test track in North Las Vegas and pushing forward with its Global Challenge. To tell us the state of the company and what innovations we can expect, Co-founder Josh Giegel, CEO Rob Lloyd and Global Ops Chief Nick Earle joined us on the Engadget stage.
LiquidSky streams your games to any device for free
LiquidSky has been quietly building up a base of players to test out its cloud gaming service, and now it's ready to roll out for real, with a few added surprises. First, let's cover the basics: LiquidSky promises to let anyone play any PC game on Mac, Windows, Android or Linux devices via the magic of cloud streaming. It's a promise we've heard before from companies like OnLive, a service that racked up $40 million in debt by 2012 and finally folded in 2015. Cloud gaming services like PlayStation Now exist today, but they're still not exactly mainstream.
AirTV conveniently pairs streaming with over-the-air channels
With the plethora of TV-streaming options, getting all of your content in one place can be a chore. At CES this week, Dish unveiled the AirTV: a 4K set-top box that handles Sling TV, Netflix, Android TV for other streaming apps and over-the-air channels. The $130 device also uses the Sling TV guide to organize all of that content. It also includes a remote with dedicated buttons for those aforementioned streaming libraries. I spent some time with the AirTV on the show floor to see how well it really works.
GoPro CEO: Karma returning as the 'ultimate GoPro'
2016 was a tough year for GoPro. I spoke with the company's founder and CEO, Nick Woodman, about the challenges surrounding that Karma recall, how the company hopes to come back from that and future plans for 2017. Woodman wasn't shy about admitting the recall was "embarrassing." But he's optimistic that there's still a place for Karma. The company is determined not just to put it back on the market but make it more competitive than before with new features and updates -- potentially as soon as its relaunch (likely in February).
Fitbit updates help you meet fitness goals through your friends
Fitbit knows that maintaining a good exercise regimen is as much about motivation as anything else. To that end, it's launching multiple updates to help you stay focused. To start, its core mobile app now has a Community area that makes it easier to keep yourself going. There's a social feed where you and your fitness-minded peers can compete, find nearby workouts, join groups and share achievements. You'll also get advice from Fitbit experts to help refine your routines, and there's a Personal Goal Setting option in the app to help set realistic goals based on your activity.
Vote for the Best of CES People's Choice award!
We've announced our Best of CES finalists so now it's time for you to cast your vote for your favorite gadget at CES 2017! Just head over here (or below) to pick your three favorite items from our pool of finalists. You have until 6 PM ET tomorrow, January 7th, to get your votes in.
Introducing the Best of CES 2017 finalists!
Most of our editors eschewed the typical New Year's Eve celebrations and arrived in Las Vegas on New Year's Day. One of us even arrived on December 31st and spent the last few hours of 2016 in bed. All of that just to give our all to the annual tradition that is CES. We spent the past few days walking the show floor, attending evening events and covering press conferences to bring you the very best from CES 2017. And now, we're ready to unveil the finalists for our annual Best of CES awards. Below you'll find our selections for 15 categories, which range from accessibility tech to wearables. We'll announce our category winners tomorrow, which is also when we'll reveal the recipient of our Best of the Best award, the most coveted prize of them all. That special award is selected from our pool of category winners. If you want your voice heard too -- and who doesn't? -- there's an additional category for People's Choice, where you can vote for your favorite entry in our compilation of finalists. Just head on over to our poll right here to cast your ballot. All award winners will be announced at a special ceremony tomorrow at our CES stage, so be sure to come back right here on Engadget around 5PM PT / 8PM ET Saturday to watch it all unfold.
Inside Honda's money-making, AI-based NeuV concept car
According to Honda, a vehicle is parked a whopping 96 percent of the time. With that in mind, the automaker this week unveiled the NeuV (New Electric Urban Vehicle) concept, an autonomous automobile that could potentially make its owner some extra cash by acting as its own low-level, Uber-like ride-hailing service.
Sony's Kaz Hirai: 4K and HDR are here, robots are coming
By all accounts, Sony played it safe at CES this year. Outside of an OLED TV that projects sound from its screen, the company was light on game-changing product announcements. So when I sat down with Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai for an exclusive interview, we focused on the topic that's been on everybody's lips this week: artificial intelligence. Last July, Hirai announced that Sony was reinvesting in AI in a big way for the first time since cutting funding in 2006. He says its ambitions go far beyond a refreshed Aibo, but not to rule out the possibility of robopup resurrection. As to whether we should be worried about our autonomous K9s turning into agents of a robot uprising? Hirai says it's up to companies like his to keep the AI hounds at bay. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.
Ampd Energy hopes to make pollution-prone diesel generators obsolete
Under normal circumstances, I would have assumed the gleaming white, person-sized box standing next to me was some kind of high-end appliance. Things are rarely so straightforward at CES's Eureka Park, though. It was actually what Hong Kong startup Ampd Energy calls a "silo." Turns out, the thing on top of which I had casually rested my camera was an array of 1,792 batteries designed to keep critical buildings up and running -- all without the nasty environmental effects typically associated with using diesel generators.
The Engadget Challenge: 2017 edition
The most ridiculous spectacle to ever grace the Engadget stage is back as the Engadget Challenge returns for 2017. This time out, we're testing to see if people's knowledge of tech companies is as deep-rooted as their love of fast food. After all, since most toddlers can identify the McDonald's logo from 30 paces, we should be able to guess Twitter from a couple of vague hints, right? Right?
Whill's all-terrain wheelchair is built for rough surfaces
Danielle Kent rode her wheelchair toward a black ramp at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where CES is taking place. She gently pressed on a small controller on the right armrest before the powered wheelchair went over a 3-inch bump to climb the incline. Seconds later, Kent made a smooth turn onto a stone-covered path. The personal vehicle, designed by a wheelchair-making company called Whill, navigated the bumpy end of the ramp with ease.
Kodak brings back classic Ektachrome color reversal film
Kodak Ektachrome color-positive film, beloved by portrait photographers and indie filmmakers alike, is rising from the dead. Kodak Alaris will start selling the classic 135-36x 35mm and Super 8 movie films in the fourth quarter of this year, the company said in a statement. The stock (also called reversal or slide film) was discontinued in 2012 and is known for its extremely fine grain and saturated colors. It's also cherished by indie filmmakers for its ability to be "pushed," producing an artistically grainy effect (see the trailer for Buffalo 66, embedded below).
Basis' wearables are (probably) dead
When you're sitting across from Dr. Jerry Bautista, the vice president of Intel's wearables division, you have to ask about Basis. After all, Intel has been weirdly quiet about the fate of wearables startup it bought, especially after recalling the Basis Peak due to overheating concerns. Bautista wouldn't give a definitive answer about the future of the brand, but from what he didn't say, it's clear we'll never see a new Basis device.
New Balance's running smartwatch is all about little tweaks
At last year's CES Intel and New Balance announced that they would team up to develop a sports-focused smartwatch. One day shy of a year later, and the pair revealed it to the world with significantly less fanfare than before. Intel's press conference was all about VR, leaving all talk of wearables to a press release that crossed the wire before the event even kicked off. So what does that mean for the New Balance RunIQ?
Nike designers on self-lacing shoes and the future of footwear
Tinker Hatfield and Tiffany Beers, the designers behind Nike's Mag and HyperAdapt 1.0, joined us on stage at CES 2017 to talk about how these self-lacing sneakers came to life. They also discussed how 3D-printed materials could shape the future of footwear, since we're seeing more of the technology being used for prototypes and models that end up making it to retail. As for what's next for HyperAdapt, Hatfield and Beers wouldn't give any details away, but they did say the 2.0 and 3.0 versions are already in the works.
Sony at CES 2017: Everything you need to know
Sony's big CES booth is built around one product in particular: its first 4K OLED TV. Beautiful, bright (and highly anticipated), the television's slender OLED panel also doubles as a speaker, with some subwoofer support from behind. Unfortunately, that's about it, as far as the booth is concerned, anyway. Sony boss Kaz Hirai used his keynote earlier this week to recap all the products the company unveiled over the past year. Which would have been fine at CES 2016, just not this week.
A first look at Hulu's radical redesign for live TV
Last May, Hulu announced plans to start streaming live TV, much like Dish's Sling TV and Sony's PlayStation Vue services -- but the company hasn't offered up many details on how this would all tie into the existing Hulu on-demand service. That's changing today, as Hulu is now showing off an entirely redesigned user experience that will debut alongside its live TV service later this year. Surprisingly enough, even though one service is now managing two different video functions, everything looks a lot more streamlined compared to the current Hulu experience. Hulu's senior vice president of experience, Ben Smith, told Engadget that the goal with the redesign was to focus on getting viewers the specific show they were looking for, regardless of whether it's on live TV or in Hulu's on-demand library.
Amber's sensors aim to save farmers' grain from spoilage
CES is most known as a show for computers, cars and seriously strange stuff, but there's no shortage of people here trying to solve big problems the rest of us have never heard of. Take Amber Agriculture for instance: Run by students at the University of Illinois, the startup as developed a finger-size sensor meant to be stuck inside silos to help farmers monitor the quality of their stored grain. What's more, Amber's approach falls in line with other big trends at the show. You've heard of the smart home. Now the Amber team is trying to help build the smart farm.
In 2017, drones are getting faster, more fun and easier to fix
Drones aren't new to CES, but it's only in the last year or two that they got their own dedicated area in the convention hall. But, drones are meant to fly free, not behind netting, so some bright spark invented the Drone Rodeo: an annual off-site event where the latest and greatest in UAVs could do their thing as nature intended. The event is back this year, and once again it provided a pretty good snapshot of what's going to be hot in the drone world in 2017.
