January, 2018

• 8 January

  CES 2018: Intel shows off ‘flying car’ Volocopter

  

  We were promised flying cars. Intel said it’s closer than we think.  At CES on Monday, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich showed off the Volocopter, an autonomous passenger drone, which he called “essentially a flying car.” The Volocopter comes from a Germany-based company that launched in 2012, with its first flight in 2013.  Intel brought it …

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• 8 January

  HTC’s Vive Pro makes your virtual world a whole lot clearer

  

  HTC is sharpening its view of virtual reality.  The Taiwanese company, best known for making slick-looking phones, on Monday at a CES press conference unveiled an upgraded Vive Pro, which like the original Vive system requires a high-end PC and a cable attachment connecting the two, but has enhanced resolution, integrated headphones and a number of other improvements. The Vive …

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• 8 January

  Trump pushes for more broadband in rural areas

  

  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday aimed at making it easier for companies to deploy high-speed broadband networks in rural areas.  Speaking at the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville Monday, Trump unveiled and then signed a presidential order that expedites federal permitting to allow broadband expansion in rural areas and makes it easier …

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• 8 January

  Starry, Marvell see a Wi

  

  Starry and Marvell want to make 5G affordable for all.  The two companies have entered a partnership to offer internet service providers a reference design that combines Starry’s wireless broadband technology with Marvell’s expertise in next-generation Wi-Fi known as 802.11ax, according to a statement released Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A Starry wireless router Boston Globe/Getty Images …

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• 8 January

  Huawei’s Honor will break into the US phone market

  

  Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A Chinese phone maker riding a bit of buzz wants to make a splash in the US market. There are the ceaseless rumors that Xiaomi, once the most valuable startup in the world, will eventually come here. Alcatel, Huawei and ZTE have spent years trying to break into the market in a …

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• 8 January

  Helite Hip’Air is a belt with airbags to protect your hips

  

  Hip injuries can be deadly, and it takes nothing more than a simple fall to get one. But at a tiny booth at CES in a Mandalay Bay Hotel ballroom, a woman wearing fluorescent airbags around her waist had the answer: the Hip’Air. The Hip’Air deployed. Helite She was from a French company called Helite that specializes in wearable airbags …

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• 8 January

  Rokid Glass promises AI and voice in AR smartglasses at CES

  

  How do you interact with a pair of augmented-reality smartglasses? Maybe with your hands or a controller or a touchpad? Rokid, a Chinese company that’s developed voice assistant-based products, believes the answer is voice. Last year, Rokid unveiled a little Amazon Echo-alike called the Rokid Pebble at CES, which used an AI called Melody to attempt to one-up Amazon Alexa and …

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• 8 January

  Qualcomm’s Bluetooth chip means your wireless earbuds will last longer

  

  Get ready for smaller, longer-lasting wireless earbuds, thanks to a new Bluetooth processor from Qualcomm. The mobile chip giant on Monday unveiled a low-power Bluetooth processor, the QCC5100, at its CES 2018 press conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. The chip integrates into one package the Bluetooth tech that connects to other devices, the application processor that …

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• 8 January

  Panasonic GH5S hits new lows at CES 2018

  

  While the size-to-capability balance of Micro Four Thirds cameras really can’t be beat, the smaller-than-APS-C-size sensors can be a drag in low light.  With Sony’s full-frame, low-light-champion A7S II as competition, Panasonic took a necessary step backward. It created a 10.2-megapixel Four Thirds sensor for the Lumix GH5S, about half the resolution of the 20MP version in the GH5 in …

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• 8 January

  Moshi intros eye

  

  A couple of years ago, Moshi came out with an on-ear wired headphone called the Avanti that had an eye-catching design. Now it’s cut the cord on that headphone and released the new Avanti Air wireless on-ear headphones. They’re available now for $300. No word yet on international pricing, but that roughly converts to AU$380 or £220. The Avanti Air …

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