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DFree helps the incontinent heed the call of nature
Most folks have little trouble recognizing when their bladders are nearly at capacity and are able to plan accordingly. However for the elderly, disabled, and infirm, doing so isn't always quite so easy. But that's where the DFree from Triple W comes in.
Verizon and Disney think 5G can 'transform' entertainment
Verizon has announced at CES 2019 that it's teaming up with Walt Disney Studios to bring emerging technologies, namely 5G, to media and entertainment. The partnership is designed to deliver the network's 5G connectivity to every facet of the studio's work, from production to personal consumer experiences. According to Variety, the deal between the two companies will give Disney's StudioLab the ability to tap into Verizon's next-gen wireless broadband, which offers data transferring speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second.
Lancey will make smart radiators with recycled e-bike batteries
Batteries are the future of home energy consumption. But where do you put them? In the garage, or the side of your house? French startup Lancey has a more discrete solution: inside radiators. The team is already producing electric heaters that have a 600W or 1200W battery inside. If you have solar panels, or another form of energy generation, they can theoretically store the resulting power and conveniently heat your home when it's cold. Alternatively, the battery can serve as a distributed grid system for energy providers, drawing electricity at quieter, cheaper times and warming your house or apartment during the busier, pricier hours.
HTC Vive Pro Eye hands-on: Everything is prettier with gaze-tracking
HTC's newest Vive Pro headset adds just one feature to the existing hardware, but it's a doozy -- integrated eye-tracking. Using Tobii technology, the Vive Pro Eye is able to follow users' eyeballs in real-time, letting developers gather data on exactly where they're looking and when, and opening the door for new, more immersive experiences. But eye-tracking isn't just a clever input method. Its existence also enables foveated rendering, a technique that essentially means VR is about to get a lot prettier.
Samsung's 'Bots' and exoskeleton hint at the future of care
At Samsung's press conference, the day before CES officially opened, there was the usual parade of smart home gadgets and appliances. Then right at the end, almost as an aside, the company revealed potentially the most exciting products of the show: Three robots and a line of exoskeletons. Details were sparse, all we knew was that the there was a robot for the home, one for air purifying and another for retail situations. Can you guess which of the Bot Air, Bot Care and Bot Retail (as they are called) does which?
This mobile app could offer sweet relief from tinnitus
There's no magic cure for tinnitus. If you're one of the millions that suffer from this condition -- a strange ringing or buzzing in the ear -- coping can be a constant struggle. Diapason, a French startup, has distilled some of the best treatments into a mobile app that people can use anywhere. It offers a series of three-to-five minute activities, served through daily collections, that are personalized to the particular frequency or pitch that your ears are struggling with. The activities are basically mini-games that can, the company claims, deliver tangible results in as little as two weeks.
NVIDIA RTX 2060 hands-on: Ray-tracing on a budget
Finally, NVIDIA's RTX 2060 is here. And that's great news for gamers on a budget. At $349, it's the cheapest of NVIDIA's desktop RTX GPUs, which sport next-generation features like real-time ray tracing. The mid-range RTX 2070 goes for around $500, while the 2080 sells for $700 and the highest end 2080 Ti goes for nearly $1,000. Sure, it's still pricey -- NVIDIA's GTX 1070 originally debuted around $380 years ago -- but the RTX 2060 also delivers plenty of value for anyone who wants to dip their toes into NVIDIA's latest tech.
What's next for HP's PCs?
It's been a busy CES for HP, after debuting a gorgeous 65-inch gaming TV, the AMOLED-equipped Spectre x360 and the Omen 15 with a 240 Hz display. And that's coming after a year where the company introduced the world's first leather, the Spectre Folio. To help break down all of its recent news, and to figure out where HP and the PC industry is headed, I sat down with the company's president of personal systems, Alex Cho, to chat on the Engadget stage. We discussed how HP thinks about design, what he's expecting from the next generation of computing and more.
Novus' $35,000 electric motorcycle oozes sinister style
If you've ever seen a spy movie, you'll know that there's normally a rogue assassin character riding around on a motorbike in head-to-toe leather. We're never quite sure of their allegiance until they swoop in and save the day in the final moments of the film. Give it a couple of years, and the sort of bike they're riding around on will probably look a lot like Novus' new prototype.
Razer's 'Hypersense' vibration tech shakes your whole gaming rig
When Razer released its Nari gaming headset this past fall, it brought haptics, or vibration feedback, to a new realm: your head. I'm not sure anyone was asking for that, but if the idea of adding some haptic feedback to your favorite games sounds appealing in any way, Razer my soon have the product(s) for you.
National Inventors Hall of Fame honors creators of Unix, power drills and more
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) joined Engadget on stage today at CES to announce its 2019 class of inductees. While the official induction ceremony won't actually happen until May 2nd at the National Building Museum in DC, we can tell you that 19 separate innovators representing 12 different inventions will be honored. The group ranges from relatively obscure creators of a programming language used by engineers and scientists, to house hold names like S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker -- or Black & Decker -- the inventors of the first portable handheld drill. The festivities will be hosted by Danica McKellar, best known as Winnie Cooper from the Wonder Years, but also an accomplished academic and mathematician.
Twitter will test new conversation features out in the open
Twitter is launching a new program to let users reshape how conversations on its site look and feel, the company announced today in an interview with Engadget at CES 2019. The idea is for users to try out new organization and context features with their followers, such as the status updates and "ice breaker" tweets we saw being tested last year, which are designed to encourage people to talk to each other. Twitter is set to start testing the program in the coming weeks, and while anyone will be able to apply to join, only a few thousand users are actually going to get in.
I want Sony's 360 Reality Audio to be the future of music
Sony's CES press conference didn't offer many surprises, aside from a lot of discussion around Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and a cameo by Pharrell Williams. The singer and producer was on stage to discuss the company's biggest announcement during the brief evening event: 360 Reality Audio. With this project, Sony is taking high-resolution music to another level by adding a spatial dimension. The goal here is to create something that "makes listeners feel as if they are immersed in sound from all directions." Or to put it another way, to make you feel like you're at a concert any time you listen to music. To do so, the "experience" depends on a lot of things lining up.
Fat shame your cat with this smart treadmill
If you're in a meaningful relationship with a house cat, then it's likely you spend a lot of time showing your love to it through food. If it's not going outside, however, there's always the risk that your moggy will start to put on a little bit extra timber, which can't be good for its health. Which is why you can buy a cat treadmill, or maybe spend a lot more on a smart cat treadmill from The Little Cat.
Bebop's VR gloves are ready to enter the virtual world
How do you breach the divide between reality and the digital world without going full Lawnmower Man? (you never go Full Lawnmower Man). Bebop has been trying for a while, with its smart fabric that can measure pressure and bend to create digital gloves. This year, the outfit is back at CES with an updated version of the glove, and it felt time to give it another try to see what's improved.
I don’t want to live in LG’s vision of the future
The point of a concept video is to be aspirational, showing how happy and beautiful we'd all be if we just bought what we're being sold. But, at LG's CES 2019 keynote, the Korean company showed off its vision of a ThinQ AI future that's worse than what we have today. Mostly because -- and this is LG's official sales pitch for its technology -- its AI is going to be a complete asshole.
Intel's Mobileye will help China's public transport go autonomous
Mobileye is making a big push for autonomous driving in China, albeit not in the way you might expect. The Intel-owned company is "exploring" two major deals to use its self-driving tech in the country, most notably for mass transit. It's hoping to team up with Beijing Public Transport Corporation and Beijing Beytai to roll out driverless mass transit services in China, including the development of Level 4 (fully autonomous in specific conditions) tech and the creation of an industry standard. If everything goes forward, it could be ready in 2022.
CES might be the home of tech, but not all gadgets are welcome
Lora Haddock was disappointed, sad and frustrated when she was notified that the CTA had decided to rescind an award for a personal massager made by her company, Lora DiCarlo. The Ose, which the company touts as the "world's first hands-free device for the holy grail of orgasms" had been selected as a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Robotics and Drone category. But barely a month later, according to emails Lora DiCarlo provided to press, the committee took it back.
Google stuffed Assistant in a smart button and e-ink screen
It's hard to imagine but Assistant is just two and a half years old (officially anyway), and it's finding its own identity. Assistant is on track to be on a billion devices by the end of January, and is in 80 countries and almost 30 languages. But Google isn't done trying to squeeze Assistant into everything imaginable, and is launching a new program to make it cheaper and easier for companies to integrate the digital helper. It's introducing a preview of the Google Assistant Connect platform today at CES 2019, which uses existing smart home platforms to expand to new device types.
Some 'earlier' Sonos speakers will work with Google Assistant this year
Sonos has been talking about its plans to bring Google Assistant support to its speakers for a long time now. Unfortunately, we don't have much of an update on exactly when that'll happen, but Google did have a little new info for us on what speakers will be supported. As we already know, the Sonos One and Sonos Beam (both of have mics that work with Amazon's Alexa) will be able to use the Google Assistant at some point in 2019 -- but some unspecified "earlier" speakers will also receive Google Assistant upgrades too.
