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Soofa's Sign is a 21st century smart bulletin board
Smart cities of tomorrow will run on information, with various pieces of connected urban infrastructure all sharing data amongst themselves. But what sharing information amongst the citizenry? That's where the Soofa Sign, a community bulletin board for the 21st century, comes in.
People don't want to talk to LG's big friendly robots
Last year was when talking to a smart speaker started to become the norm, but surprisingly, LG has struggled to replicate the same success with its CLOi series commercial robots. Ahead of LG's CES show, I talked to its Head of Research for Life Robots, Jaewon Chang, who updated on the company's robot trial service in South Korea's Incheon International Airport. Since deployment in July, each of the five Guide Robots has interacted with around 2,500 people. However, only a quarter of travelers used voice interaction, with the majority preferring the touchscreen mounted vertically on the robot's chest. Likewise, just as few people let the robots guide them to their destination. Chang needs to find a way to boost those figures -- and make us learn to trust these big friendly robots.
CES 2018 recap: Day one
The CES show floor officially opened yesterday, and suffice to say Team Engadget was kept very busy. As the day began, we divided our time among all the big booths (think: Sony, Samsung, Intel, LG, etc.). But we also had to leave the Las Vegas Convention Center and make our way over to the Sands, which is home to CES's increasingly important startup section. That's where we tend to find unexpected gems each year. The above recap includes just a sliver of what we saw yesterday -- you can find all of our coverage here, and be sure to stay tuned in. After all, we still have two full days left on the show floor. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.
Dell breaks down its new XPS laptops and jewelry debut
Dell's new XPS 13 and XPS 15 laptops are promising additions to a popular series, but the company has continued to place the system's webcams below the screen, making for awkwardly angled Skype calls. The company's marketing director of the XPS products, Donnie Oliphant, explained that it's because the display bezel is too thin to accommodate a camera on top. Hopefully that will change in the future, as Oliphant said the goal is to ultimately place a camera inside the display. Check out the video above to see what else he had to say about the new XPS laptops, Dell's future plans and its new e-waste recycling initiative with actor Nikki Reed. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.
CabinR's travel bags keep thieves away with an annoying alarm
Not everyone is good at keeping track of their personal belongings, like a backpack or a messenger bag. So CabinR, a startup based out of Hong Kong, wants to help you feel safer on a journey. The company has created two bags, a backpack and a messenger model, that feature an alarm system powered by RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags to (hopefully) keep any potential thieves away from your stuff. It works quite simply: On the bag, there's an alarm device that you activate by pressing a button, and the only way to deactivate is by tapping an RFID plastic card on it.
Waze's crowd-sourced traffic info comes to Ford Sync 3 cars
In 2016, Ford wisely decided to offer Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto on all its Sync 3 infotainment system-equipped 2017 vehicles, and owners are seeing more benefits from that at CES 2018. Ford announced that it now supports Waze's traffic and navigation app directly from your iPhone. After you plug it into any of the vehicle's USB ports, the app will appear on the Sync 3 touchscreen, letting you control it from there or use voice commands.
Sony's $30,000 4K short-throw projector hides powerful sound
We've been eying Sony's short-throw projectors for the past few years, but they've always been too obscenely expensive to really take seriously. Well, that's not changing this year. In fact, the new LSPX-A1 is actually more expensive than last year's $25,000 model at $30,000. But, with that extra cost comes a major new feature: six speakers that simulate 360-degree atmospheric sound.
Brilliant turns your light switches into connected-home hubs
Brilliant plugs directly into your home's existing light-switch ports, and it controls a slew of smart home devices, including lights, the Ring doorbell, Nest thermostat, Sonos speakers, Amazon Alexa and more. This is a control panel built for everyday folks, rather than businesses, and it has a price to match. A single Brilliant panel starts at $200 and maxes out at $350 for a four-switch set (that's $50 for each additional switch). The whole shebang will be available at the end of February.
How HP plans to sell laptops to millennials in 2018
In 2017, HP chose some surprising places to launch its laptops and show off its technology -- music festivals like Coachella and Panorama. Here at a more conventional tech launchpad, the company unveiled a couple of new laptops: the Spectre x360 15 and the Envy x2. We had a chat with Chief Technology Officer and VP of Product Experience Mike Nash to learn more about the company's devices launched at CES, as well as how it determines what new features to add to its laptops. If you missed our interview when it aired live, here's a nifty recap video for you to catch up. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.
Philips Hue lights will sync with music and games on your PC
Philips' team-up with Razer is just the start of Hue-to-PC syncing. The lighting behemoth is preparing to launch a Hue Sync app that will let you sync games, movies and music on any Windows 10 PC or High Sierra-equipped Mac. While the exact functionality is under wraps, it's easy to imagine turning the room blood red when you play death metal, or dimming the lights when you settle in for a Netflix marathon.
Spend some time with Samsung's $2,700 Flip whiteboard
Samsung has made smart screens of all types and sizes, but there's always a new market to invade, and at this year's CES it found a new one. Flip is a smart whiteboard designed for businesses, but it would be right at home in a state-of-the-art school as well. It's a 55-inch touchscreen with a smooth matte finish (e-ink-style), and it includes a dual-sided stylus with a fine-point pen on one end and a slightly wider highlighting tool on the other.
Lacie's DJI Copilot is the perfect portable hard drive for video pros
Look, it's kinda hard to get excited about a hard drive. But Engadget video producer Kaard Bombe immediately started geeking out hard over the Lacie DJI Copilot. It's a portable hard drive with the sort of features any professional videographer or photographer would kill for. Sure, at its heart it's a rugged 2TB drive, but it's also a media-card reader, a USB hub and backup battery.
Samsung will launch the Galaxy S9 in February
You won't see Samsung's upcoming flagship phone before CES 2018 ends, but you won't have to wait that long to get a peek, either. DJ Koh, the Korean conglomerate's mobile chief, has announced at a press conference in Las Vegas that the company will launch the Galaxy S9 and S9+ at the Mobile World Congress. Samsung will also reveal when the phone will be available for purchase at the annual trade show, which will take place at the end of February in Barcelona, Spain.
Razer's Hyperflux wireless mouse is powered by its pad
Pads that wirelessly charge mice aren't new, but they are difficult to pull off, especially when appealing to the high-performance gaming crowd. We found Logitech's effort -- its PowerPlay system of mat and companion mice -- hit the right mix of reliability and ultra-low signal delay to be a viable choice. Not to be outdone, Razer introduced its own attempt at CES: the Hyperflux suite.
How will VR and AR affect the future of entertainment?
It's been almost two years since consumer VR arrived with the launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. And we've also seen great mobile VR options like Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream View. While we've seen plenty of compelling games and experiences since then, the medium still has a long way to go. To help figure out exactly where VR and AR are headed, especially when it comes to entertainment, we chatted with three executives in the field on stage: Tom Harding, director of immersive products and VR at Samsung; Oscar Werner, Tobii's technology president; and Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport and senior VP of virtual reality at HTC Vive.
SteelSeries' new gaming mouse won't skip when you pick it up
If you're a gamer, you probably pick up your mouse frequently -- and that's a bit of a problem when you're lining up a precision shot, since the cursor tends to skip the moment you plunk your mouse back down. SteelSeries thinks it can tackle that problem. It's launching the Rival 600, a gaming mouse whose centerpiece is a second sensor from PixArt that promises to eliminate the surprise cursor movements that come whenever you raise your mouse. The component not only tracks lift distance to a greater level of precision (down to 0.2in) but lets you customize when tracking begins and ends to match your mousing habits.
Samsung's future of the living room: MicroLED, and an 8K AI TV
Samsung has a busy year ahead when it comes to TVs. There's the world's first MicroLED set, the 146-inch "The Wall," as well as an 8K TV that uses AI to upconvert lower-res content. And we're still waiting for more details on its QLED lineup. Samsung's Scott Cohen, who serves as the company's senior product-training manager, joined us on stage today to help break down what's next.
Amazon expects more games for the Echo Button in 2018
Amazon's Echo Buttons are somewhat-bizarre devices that allow you to add a game-show element to playing trivia with Alexa. Now, it looks like the online retail giant has larger plans for the device. "I think you'll see a lot more games come out this year that take advantage of the buttons," Steve Rabuchin, the vice president of Amazon Alexa, told TechCrunch this week at CES. The plan is to launch more of these gadgets in 2018.
Flying a real drone in a VR world is as weird as it sounds
As drones become more ubiquitous in our lives, it's really only been a matter of time until they integrated themselves into our arcade games as well. French startup Drone Interactive has done just that by combining physical drones with virtual reality gameplay.
Somnox’s robotic pillow is designed to snuggle
We're all having trouble sleeping, and at least one group of researchers in the Netherlands believes it's because we're not cuddling enough. That's the thinking behind Somnox, a breathing robot that's designed to nestle in your arms and make you think that you've got a special friend over. At the same time, the unit will offer up soothing sounds, like a heartbeat, lullabies or nature sounds, depending on your preferences. And, it's entirely possible that you'll form an attachment to the giant gray McNugget.
