Brian Heater
Articles by Brian Heater
The Engadget Show 49: CES 2014 wrapup
Grab a wearable, switch on the 'ole curved TV and fire up your favorite 3D printer. We came, we saw, we conquered and now we're ready to distill it all for you in the form of some high-quality video content. We're not going to suggest that it'll replace the seemingly endless stream of posts we've churned out over the past week or so, but if you've got a cocktail party full of guests you need to impress tonight, it'll help you drop some serious CES 2014 tech news knowledge on their collective heads. We've pulled together some top editors to offer up an abbreviated view of tech's biggest show of the year, charting trends in old standby categories like HDTV, mobile, tablets and cars, to emerging spaces set to define the changing face of the show for years to come. Oh, and we've also tossed in some fun video of the show's gadgets, because, well, it wouldn't be much of an Engadget Show without that sort of thing, now would it? Toss in a bit of video of your long-time host getting a bit welled up the end, and you've got yourself a little thing we like to call The Engadget Show 49. 'Til we meet again, Engadgeteers.
Beats Music is launching January 21st -- here's a sneak peek
That's Beats' new streaming service. No surprise, of course. Seems like the Jimmy Iovine / Dr. Dre's red headphone-pushing company has been eyeing the space since the World Class Wreckin' Cru days. Last month, the company offered up a bit of information in the form of an online teaser, noting that it would finally be dropping in January. The exact date, it turns out, is the 21st, though the company happily let us download an iOS teaser of the offering (it'll be available on "nearly all the major platforms" at launch according to the company). The product is reportedly the culmination of two years of work, an attempt to approach music streaming from a different angle -- namely populism. The rep I spoke with told me the company sees many of the current streaming offerings as appealing primarily to the early adopter. The first part of the solution is the "on-boarding" process. Here you tap bubbles on a series of screens, first designating your favorite genres (one tap for "like," two taps for "love" and holding down on the bubble to make it disappear -- take that, electronic music). Next up, do the same thing with artists, designating your favorites amongst the offerings. Then, the system begins "curating music based on what you like." The idea is somewhere between a Spotify and a Pandora, offering up custom playlists based on your listening habits, curation that will change as you continue to utilize the service. The playlists, as the company puts it, are based on ""feels like, not sounds like," and future iterations will also include options to make it possible to follow your listening habits based on location, so you can, say, get a workout playlist when you're at the gym.
The MetaPro glasses do some pretty amazing things with augmented reality
Yeah, I went through the whole "not another wearable" thing when the folks from the Meta team showed up sporting an early prototype of a device tethered to a small animal-style backpack. But one rep started namedropping some of the parties involved in the AR glasses -- names like Steve Mann. The wearables pioneer now sports a "chief scientist" designation on the company's site. And while we would have preferred to have been first on the demo list, it's hard to complain when the ones ahead of you are people like Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak. In fact, as they set up the demo in the green room behind our CES stage, one employee pulled out a small, translucent vase, measuring an inch or so tall. "Paul Allen made that one," he said, handing it to me. For anyone who's ever spent time around a desktop 3D printer, it wasn't a particularly impressive artifact, more the sort of thing someone learning CAD might design in week two. What's impressive, of course, is how Allen designed it. The demo is really just a proof of concept for the technology, but it really drives home the connection between the real and the virtual that the device is bridging. A quick note about the hardware above, before we go any further: These being prototypes, they'll naturally look a fair bit slicker down the road than what you see. In fact, we're told that the final version of the MetaPro will look like a set of aviator glasses, with a little extra (including some wings on the side to help obscure some of the sensors. In fact, we've included a rendering of what that'll look like below.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: The Engadget Podcast
Here we are, the final Engadget Podcast of CES 2014 -- and, for yours truly, the final Engadget Podcast, period. It's been a hell of a trip in both respects, so let's end things off with a bang, a little controlled chaos and some out-of-control champagne. This is Vegas, after all. Join myself and pretty much everyone writing for Engadget these days on-stage at the Las Vegas Convention Center. And heck, if you're still in town for CES, swing by our booth in the Central Hall lobby to take part in the mirth and merriment. If we shed a tear or two, it's only because we just got a little bit of Korbel in our eyes. January 10, 2014 9:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: KnCMiner
What better way to send off CES 2014 than with some Bitcoin talk? KnCMiner, the Swedish company behind a number of high profile Bitcoin mining machines will join us for our final on-stage CES interview of the year. January 10, 2014 7:30:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: LG EVP Jim Clayton
LG's certainly not the only player in the wearables game at this year's CES, but this isn't the company's first horse race. This time out, the company's showing off the Lifeband Touch, a new fitness tracker that pairs nicely with the company's heart rate headphones. Jim Clayton, the company's EVP of home entertainment and new business development will be joining us on-stage to discuss LG's play in the space. January 10, 2014 6:30:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget Stage: Narrative CEO Martin Kallstrom
Here's another interesting take on the push toward wearable technologies. The Narrative Clip (formerly Memoto) lives on your lapel, taking pictures at intervals throughout the day for a little lifelogging action. The company's CEO will join us on stage to discuss the device. January 10, 2014 6:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Avegant
Avegant's Glyph headset is certainly one of the cooler wearables we've seen at a show jam-packed with them. The company's CEO Edward Tang and CTO Allan Evans will be joining us to discuss what sets their headset apart from the competition. January 10, 2014 5:30:00 PM EST
A sub-$600 desktop 3D scanner that folds into a box
Hidden in amongst the armies of 3D scanners in the South Hall of CES is the Matterform: a crowdfunded, $579 desktop 3D scanner that's also its own carrying case. The device operates on similar principles as other devices in the space, namely MakerBot's Digitizer. There are a couple of clear differences between the two offerings, right off the bat; first and foremost the price, with Matterform's offering coming in at a fraction of MakerBot's scanner. Also cool is the fact that the rotating bed also raises and lowers, so you get more angles for a fuller picture of the object being scanned. And then there's the fact that the whole thing folds up into a rugged case with a handle, for those ever-important 3D-scanning house calls. There's more info in the source link, including video of the included software in action. You can also pre-order the device there, if you're so inclined.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Eye-Fi co-founder Ziv Gillat
Eye-Fi has been making our cameras more connected for several years now. We'll speak with the card-makers co-founder Ziv Gillat about the company's push toward broader adoption. January 10, 2014 5:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Broadcom VP Rahul Patel
Get ready to talk chips and the internet of things with Broadcom VP Rahul Patel. January 10, 2014 4:30:00 PM EST
StickNFind reveals its vision for the future of retail
Those little StickNFind Bluetooth stickers are back for another CES, and this time out, they've got even grander ambitions than helping your locate your lost keys. Founder Jimmy Buchheim swung by our CES stage this week to show off plans for retail applications. The idea is pretty simple, really: Put the company's Beacon offerings all over your retail location, and you can tell who's looking at what and for how long. How's that for targeted marketing? The store can create an app with a map, which will help the shopper locate specific items in the store and, naturally, serve up coupons and such based on tracked shopping habits. The company is showing off a slew of different-sized Beacons (as you can see in the palm of my hand above), with ranges up to 0.6 mile and batteries that last as long as nine years. Buchheim told us that the company is talking with retail partners with regards to rollouts, but wouldn't spill the beans about who might be interested.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: ThinkGeek VP Ty Liotta
After last year's shenanigans, we naturally wanted to get ThinkGeek's Ty Liotta on stage. What better way to help wind down the final day of CES than with a grab bag of weird and wonderful tech toys? January 10, 2014 4:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget Stage: Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro
Who better to wrap up the big stories and trends with than Gary Shapiro? The CEA's president/CEO will be joining us on-stage to discuss the week that was. January 10, 2014 1:30:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget Stage: Solidoodle CEO Sam Cervantes
In a show full of 3D printers, Solidoodle sets itself apart in one key area: affordability. The company has offered up a series of sub-$1,000 models, including, most recently, the Solidoodle 4, introduced a few months ago. January 10, 2014 1:00:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget Stage: Misfit Wearables CEO Sonny Vu
If CES 2014 is the year of the wearable (hint: of course it is), then Misfits Wearables' time has come. The company's Shine device is a beautiful fitness tracker -- something you wouldn't be embarrassed to wear on your person. January 10, 2014 12:30:00 PM EST
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: The Engadget Eurocast
Join Dan Cooper and the usual gang of European Engadget editors as they put a bow on the second to last day of CES 2014. Hijinks, most assuredly, will ensue. January 9, 2014 11:00:00 PM EST
will.i.am on changing the world one 3D printer at a time
We were skeptical, too. The trend of gadget manufacturers putting rockstars on the payroll in figurehead "creative director" roles has gotten a bit out of hand in recent years. Again, if Alicia Keys and BlackBerry taught us anything, it's that all the piano playing in the world can't help right the ship of a struggling hardware manufacturer. After chatting with will.i.am high atop the 3D Systems booth in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, we'll say this: he's a passionate guy. The Black Eyed Peas member's excitement is palpable as he speaks about emerging technologies and their potential roles in education and sustainability. He freely admits that he's not really equipped to break down the technology behind the 3D printer company's more complex offerings, but he's got some grand visions with regards to the part he might play in helping making the technology more accessible and broadly appealing for a mainstream audience. Check out the full video interview just after the break.
Live from the Engadget Stage: The Best of CES 2014 Awards
The big moment is here. We've been doing exciting interviews all week on our CES stage in the Central Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center, but this is really what we've all been waiting for all along. We're extremely excited to host the Best of CES awards for the first time ever and have been working hard all week to help chose the best products from 13 categories, from Best Startup to Best Audio Product (and hopefully you've been doing your part as well). We can't wait to let you know who won one of those beautiful 3D-printed trophies. We'll see you on our stage (and in our stream, if you want to follow along at home) at 8PM ET to tell you all about the Best of CES. January 9, 2014 8:00:00 PM EST
Watch Engadget's CES SuperSession featuring Pebble, Oculus, 3D Systems and Leap Motion
Welcome to CES 2015. When we were originally batting around ideas for this year's Supersession, we suggested something further off, centered around predictions about where all of this is headed in the decades to come. But while CES is all about looking forward, the show's real bread and butter centers around something more immediate: the gadgets that will define the year to come. With that in mind, we pulled together an all-star panel of forward-thinking innovators who are creating products that are available now (or, in one case, soon to be available). These are companies that aren't looking to shift paradigms in the future -- they're ready to move and shake things now. Panelists for the session included Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky and 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental. Full video of the session can be found in the source link below. [Photo by Will Lipman]