All of the news on the latest gadgets and what went down at the biggest consumer electronics show
Most of the biggest names in gadgets and electronics were in town to show off their latest innovations at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from giant curved TVs to the newest in video games, so JOE takes a quick look at what there was that caught our eye.
Wearable Technology
Unsurprisingly, there have been plenty of new ideas put into the wearable technology market, which looks like one of the big areas of growth for 2014. The Wall Street Journal have a few of the best on that front, but the fitness enthusiast in us particularly liked the RunPhones, a sweat-wicking headband with removable headphones built in.
Google Glass have been cornering the market on glasses that make you look thick but have technology involved somehow, that is until the lads at Epson came up with this beauty, which may do an even better job than Google’s hi-tech specs at making you look pretty darn foolish. They’ve even come up with a snappy name, the Moverio BT-200. It rolls off the tongue
Pic via Digital Trends
There were plenty more innovations too, much of which have to do with fitness and tracking your movement, including OM Signal’s Spandex shirt, which gives your heart rate, and all the usual smartwatch suspects like Samsung and Sony. The Pebble Steel looks very cool we have to say, almost like a real watch, while Casio’s STB-1000 also grabbed our attention as a watch that doesn’t look ridiculous but works with your fitness apps on your phone.
Video Games
Video game geeks are also well represented at the conference, and some of the biggest news was the Nvidia Tegra K1 processor. Not content with four or even eight cores, they decided 192 was probably the right number to go for.
According to those in the know, this should see really big developments in mobile gaming coming down the pipeline, with the lads at VG 24/7 describing it as being like having the power of a PS3 or Xbox 360 in your pocket. Sounds good to us.
Oculus Rift showed off their latest toy too with the Crystal Cove prototype, and while it may look like something Lady Gaga would wear, it does certainly seem to really blow people’s minds when they put it on.
PlayStation and Xbox were still having their war of words about how many sales there were for both consoles, but the numbers have been pretty good for both. Another group of gamers, namely the lads at Valve who make Steam were in action too, showing off their pretty funky controllers. Alienware are on of the companies making a machine for them, and with a few others on the market too, the likelihood that PC gaming can move into your living room is becoming more and more realistic.
General gadgets
Asus haven’t made much of a mark on the smartphone market, but their padphone idea seems pretty cool to us. Put your phone inside a tablet when you need a bigger screen, take it out when you’re on the move. Simple.
Pic via PC Mag
Giant TVs were also on the agenda for LG, Samsung and Sony, as they showed off their curved displays with 105 inch screens. So big in fact are they, that merely standing near one caused Michael Bay to lose the power of speech.
Motoring Tech
It wasn’t just the latest gaming tech and fancy home entertainment electronics on show at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, as some of the world’s biggest car companies are also there to show off their latest technological advances.
Two of the coolest pieces of motoring tech on show at the expo come in the form of the self-driving BMW M2, which takes autonomous driving to the next level with autonomous drifting. It’s pretty cool and you can check it out below…
The second coolest bit of tech to come from the motors side of CES 2014 came in the form of Audi’s new Audi Sport Quattro Laserlight Concept, which comes equipped with FREAKING LASERS! Or a combination of laser high beams and a matrix of LED low beams, to be precise. The Quattro concept debuted at the Frankfurt motor show last year, but now the latest version now has the aforementioned lasers, which is just one of the many projects that the German automaker are currently working on.
The only disappointing bit of motoring tech to be displayed at CES 2014 was the Formula E demonstration in the car park outside the expo hall. If you’re going to try and demonstrate what a brand new all-electric open wheel racing car can do then it’s probably best to do it on a race track and not in the car park. The car also sounds horrendous.
Now, we reckon we’ve covered a decent bit there, but we couldn’t tell you about everything (even though we claimed that in the title, which we suppose technically makes us filthy liars) but hey, you get what you pay for and you ain’t paying nothin’. If you think we missed something of import, tweet @AdrianCTweets or @OisinCollins and let us know. Or tweet JOE himself, you never know, he might even respond.
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