Author: Admin

Barely making it to your gate at the airport — or even missing your flight — due to long lines at security checkpoints could soon become a thing of the past. Here’s why: The Transportation Security Administration is testing a new self-service system that could let you complete the screening process on your own.

The idea is to reduce the number of pat-downs and bag inspections performed by transportation security officers to free them up for busier parts of screening operations. It also lets you move through checkpoints at your own pace without feeling rushed.

“Like self-ordering kiosks at fast-food and sit-down restaurants, self-service screening allows passengers in the Trusted Traveler Program to complete the security screening process on their own,” said John Fortune, Screening at Speed program manager.

The Screening at Speed team and the Transportation Security Administration, which are partnering with the Department of Homeland Security, are giving the public a virtual reality walkthrough of the self-screening system at CES in Las Vegas this week. Here’s how it works.

What exactly is a self-service screening checkpoint?

The self-service screening pods are for TSA PreCheck passengers to use as individual screening consoles. They come equipped with a carry-on screening system to check bags for any prohibited items — for instance, weapons or liquids exceeding the maximum ounce capacity. It also has a panel that screens the passenger. If you need assistance, there’s a button to press to ask a transportation security officer for help.

The self-service checkpoint serves as an alternative to going through TSA checkpoints, which typically requires a full body scan with your arms up while your carry-on items go through a separate screening checkpoint. And if there’s an issue found, TSA will either have to search you or your bags. That’s not the case with the self-service screening checkpoints.

How does the self-screening process work?

When a passenger steps inside the screening pod, they’ll show their ID and then the machine will begin scanning them and their bags. Each station includes a video monitor with step-by-step instructions.

There are automated entry and exit doors. So if someone doesn’t pass the screening on the first go — maybe they forgot to pull keys out of their pocket — the entry door will reopen so they can remove the items and get re-screened.

The exit door will not open until the passenger passes inspection. Once the screening process has been completed and the passenger is cleared, the automatic exit door will open and the traveler can grab their belongings and head to their flight gate.

Voxel Radar, in partnership with the Screening at Speed team, is working on developing in-motion panel sensors so passengers are screened in near real time while removing belongings.

Which airports will have self-service checkpoints?

For now, the self-screening is a pilot program at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. The airport will use Vanderlande’s prototype, the PAX MX2, which has an automated screening lane for carry-on bags. There are four integrated stations for one checkpoint lane. Vanderlande is one of the three companies working with the TSA and the Screening at Speed program.

The prototype that’s being shown at CES this week is the Micro-X self-screening system. This self-service screening pod is scheduled to be tested in 2025.

For more CES products, check out this ChatGPT-enabled electric car and the most captivating tech at CES so far, including foldable TVs.

At last year’s CES, I drove all the way to Vegas just to see a prototype of a next-generation display called nanoLED. If you haven’t heard of it, you might have heard of the technology it’s based on: quantum dots. While the prototype was cool enough for me to drive eight hours over two days, it was still just a tiny prototype. The screen was more Nintendo Switch than home theater size.

Things have moved quickly in the last year. At CES 2024, Nanosys showed off a significantly larger prototype. Not TV sized just yet, but it’s a big step.

NanoLED, specifically electroluminescent, aka “direct-view” quantum dots, are even more advanced than current TV tech like LED, LCD or OLED. They boast improved picture quality, energy savings and manufacturing efficiency. And they’re theoretically so easy to produce, they could usher in a sci-fi world of screens on everything from eyeglasses to windscreens and windows, similar to transparent OLED and Micro-LED. Here’s what we know.

Read more: Best TVs of CES 2024

Direct-view quantum dots grow up

At 12.3 inches, the new nanoLED screen is pretty much a usable size. Not for a TV, of course, but definitely for tablets, small laptops and automotive uses. Resolution of the new prototype was a lot higher too, at 1,920×720. Sure, 167 ppi is not mind-blowing resolution, but again, this is very much preproduction.

While perhaps not as interesting as pixels and screen sizes, one of the most important aspects of this prototype is that it was made at atmospheric pressure. The previous prototype required a vacuum chamber. That’s a big step towards cost-effective manufacturing.

Sharp is Nanosys’ manufacturing partner. While Sharp has been out of the US TV business since 2015, it didn’t abandon the TV market entirely and reacquired its brand name for use in North America in 2019. The company has a lot of firsts in the TV market, including the first LCD TV, all the way back in 1992, and it sold the first 8K TV in 2016. It’s also worth noting that it’s majority owned by a little company called Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Limited, aka Foxconn, a massive manufacturing company that makes iPhones, Kindles, PlayStations and more.

What does the future hold? Neither Nanosys nor Sharp are revealing that. It’s not difficult to guess we’ll see an even larger prototype, maybe even before next CES, probably with even higher resolution. Already Sharp has revealed in a recent white paper that it’s been able to achieve 3,994ppi on a silicon wafer, with promising results up to 6,048ppi, which potentially gives it even higher resolution than Apple’s much-hyped micro-OLED. TVs don’t need that kind of resolution, but it is promising for the technology’s scalability. Regardless, it will still be a few years before we see production nanoLEDs, and those first displays will be on smaller devices, but this is a promising tech that seems to be marching steadily towards production.

To whet your appetite, check out our tour of the factory where they make quantum dots.

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As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips, and more.

He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines, and also Budget Travel for Dummies. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.

Sure, some people talk to their plants (King Charles III among them), but the leafy things just don’t respond in the same way pets do. Until now. An innovation we spotted at CES 2024 called PlantPetz gives your up-till-now quiet houseplants personalities all their own. Think Big Mouth Billy Bass for houseplants, or those dancing, sunglasses-wearing Rock ‘n Flowers from the 1980s.

“This thing made me happy,” CNET’s Bridget Carey, who saw the product at CES on Wednesday, said. “I think it’s going to be a great product.”

Read more: We’re Vibing This Captivating CES 2024 Tech

PlantPetz is designed to be easy to use. Put any plant and soil in the PlantPetz planter, and insert the provided special sensors in the dirt touching the roots. One long sensor stick touching the plant gives it capacitive touch — so when you touch the plant, it knows and moves and reacts.

Your plant will rotate, turn and shift as its pot moves in randomized ways. It also moves around to sound, so it can play and dance to music, or just react to music and sound in the home. And while it’s moving, it makes distinctive little cartoon sounds, almost like Star Trek Tribbles, cooing and chirping and chittering. You don’t need to keep the plant near an outlet, either, as it’s battery-powered.

Other sensors detect water, and if your plant is too dry, it makes bubbling sounds to let you know your plant is thirsty — and it’ll keep doing it until the soil is moist again.

PlantPetz won’t break the bank — the small pot is $40, and a large pot is $60.

There’s also a flower vase for $45. In this case, if you touch a bouquet in the vase or talk to it, it spins around and will also play any pre-recorded message. So you could give someone flowers for a special occasion, and have the bouquet announce your congratulatory or birthday message every time your gift recipient touches the flowers.

The PlantPetz products have been in development for five years, and made their global debut at CES in Las Vegas. They’re in production now, and should be available soon.

How can we ever give a normal plant as a gift now, when there’s an option to make it into a cute little pet that comes to life?

A computer desktop showing a work-related project is displayed on a giant virtual screen right before my eyes. But as I turned to the left, my gaze switched to a music player showing the most recent song, while to my right was YouTube. All of these virtual screens stayed anchored in place as I looked around the room.

I was trying out the Xreal Air 2 Ultra at CES 2024, the newest pair of smart glasses from China-based tech startup Xreal. The company is no stranger to the world of smart glasses; it already sells augmented reality glasses that place a giant virtual screen in front of your eyes, as well as wearable display glasses that work with handheld game consoles, phones and computers. And back when it was called Nreal, the company released a similar pair of lightweight AR glasses called the Nreal Light.

But the XReal Air 2 Ultra, which costs $699 and launches in March, arrives as mixed reality is having a moment. Apple just announced availability for the Vision Pro, a $3,500 headset it announced last June. Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are also partnering on a mixed reality project, although they haven’t disclosed many details beyond the chipset. The Air 2 Ultra is a pair of glasses that Xreal hopes will rival Apple’s Vision Pro, but its success will depend on the types of apps developers create. That’s likely why the company is positioning the glasses as a developer model. Xreal is one of several companies, including TCL and Lenovo, working to make AR glasses work better with phones and other devices. Qualcomm has been a driving force for glasses like these, but Google has still been quiet on expanding AR glasses support for Android phones (although Samsung and Google’s headset could be the start of something).

“Applications [would] need to go from 2D to 3D; we need to go from this rectangle to everywhere,” Chi Xu, CEO and founder of Xreal, said while gesturing towards a smartphone. “It definitely takes some time.”

The Xreal Air 2 Ultra looks like a slightly bulkier pair of regular glasses and weighs roughly 0.2-pound. They feel lightweight and comfortable to wear, although I only had the chance to try them for a few minutes. They support full motion tracking (six degrees of freedom, or 6DoF), which means they can tell whether you’re moving around in a space. Full HD resolution is supported in each eye with a 52-degree field-of-view. When viewing 2D content, the screen is an equivalent of looking at a 154-inch display from a distance of 13 inches.

The $699 Xreal Air 2 Ultra glasses are far cheaper than the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro and $1,000 Meta Quest Pro. But unlike those devices, Xreal’s new glasses aren’t standalone; they must be tethered to another device in order to work. The benefit is that Xreal’s glasses are noticeably smaller and more natural-looking than other headsets. The downside, as mentioned earlier, is that it can’t operate as a standalone device. Xu thinks a self-contained wearable computer that looks like a pair of glasses could be possible in about five years.

I was impressed by the sharpness and clarity of the Xreal Air 2 Ultra’s displays. During the brief time I spent with the glasses, I watched clips from Life of Pi, Despicable Me 2 and Avatar, and it almost felt like watching TV. You can interact with the various screens and menus being viewed through the glasses by pinching your thumb and index finger together, similar to the Double Tap feature on the Apple Watch Series 9. It was surprisingly responsive; I barely had to pinch my fingers together more than once to switch movies or make other selections.

Xreal’s demo had some interesting examples of what app creators could do with the technology. For example, a messaging app had 3D artwork representing the content of the message displayed alongside the text. Tapping (sorry, I mean pinching) a person’s name and image on the contacts page prompted them to appear as a 3D avatar. But the success of advanced glasses like these depends on apps that are developed for them. Right now, there aren’t many AR glasses-ready apps available on phones. That could change in the future if Google — and maybe Apple — start supporting more devices with their own app ecosystems, but it also holds glasses like Xreal’s back in the meantime for anything more than being a way to extend multiple displays.

I haven’t tried Apple’s Vision Pro, so I can’t say how the Xreal Air 2 Ultra compares. But Xu takes the fact that industry giants like Apple, Samsung and Google are showing interest in this space as a promising sign.

“I’m very excited about those companies going in this direction,” he said. “It’s actually disappointing if they don’t pay attention to this.”

Apple released iOS 17.3 beta 3 to public beta testers on Wednesday, a day after the iPhone maker released the developer beta. The release also comes about a week after Apple released iOS 17.3 beta 2 to developers but abruptly withdrew it after the software prevented some iPhones from starting properly. The latest update brings a few new features, like Stolen Device Protection and bug fixes to the iPhones of beta testers and developers.

We recommend downloading a beta only on something other than your primary device. Since this isn’t the final version of iOS 17.3, these features might be buggy and battery life may be short, and it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.

If you’re a developer or public beta tester, here are some of the new features you can find in iOS 17.3 beta 3. Note that the beta isn’t the final version of iOS 17.3, so these might not be the only new features to land on your iPhone when iOS 17.3 is released. There’s no word on the public release for iOS 17.3 just yet.

Stolen Device Protection

Apple introduced Stolen Device Protection in iOS 17.3 beta 1, and it aims to help protect you and the data on your iPhone. Here’s what Apple writes about the new feature:

Testing is now available for Stolen Device Protection. This new feature adds an additional layer of security in the unlikely case that someone has stolen your phone and also obtained your passcode.

• Accessing your saved passwords requires Face ID to be sure it’s you.

• Changing sensitive settings like your Apple ID password is protected by a security delay.

• No delay is required when iPhone is at familiar locations such as work and home.

According to CNET’s David Lumb, Stolen Device Protection requires you to enter your biometric authentication, like Face ID and Touch ID, multiple times to access some of your sensitive settings and information. This is an optional security feature, but Apple recommends everyone turn it on.

Once you’ve updated your iPhone, it should prompt you to enable Stolen Device Protection. If you didn’t see a prompt or you skipped it for later, you can turn the feature on by going to Settings > Face ID and Passcode and tapping Turn On Protection under Stolen Device Protection.

Read more: Apple’s New iOS 17 Security Feature Blocks Opportunistic iPhone Thieves

The return of Apple Music collaborative playlists

Apple announced collaborative playlists in Apple Music at WWDC 2023 in June, and the feature was included in some beta versions of iOS 17.2. Apple removed this feature from the final version of iOS 17.2. With iOS 17.3 beta 1, Apple brings collaborative playlists back, allowing multiple people to edit and control shared playlists in Apple Music.

And with iOS 17.3 beta 2, Apple introduced the ability to react with an emoji to a song in a collaborative playlist that someone else added. That way you can let someone know instantly if you like a song or not in the playlist.

Those are some of the new features developers and beta testers will see in the third iOS 17.3 beta. That doesn’t mean these are the only features coming to the next iOS update, or that these changes will stick when iOS 17.3 is released to the public.

For more on iOS 17, check out what was included in iOS 17.2 and iOS 17.1. You can also check out our iOS 17 cheat sheet.

DJI, the top maker of drones used for taking videos and photos, is getting into the package-hauling business. Its new Flycart 30 has a hefty 66-pound (30-kilogram) payload capacity.

The Chinese company announced the new model Wednesday in conjunction with CES 2024. The drone is available globally for about $42,000, a price that includes six battery packs and an extra remote control, and is due to ship in the first quarter. Early customers are using it in China to deliver solar panels in the mountains, carry tools and supplies to a remote construction site and shuttle goods to boats on the Yangtze River, DJI said.

With that kind of price tag, you probably won’t buy a Flycart 30 to record your extreme sports exploits or survey your real estate. But it is emblematic of drones’ expanding uses. These unmanned aircraft first found a niche as cameras in the sky, but now they’re increasingly used to move goods more efficiently than cars or other traditional modes of transportation.

On Tuesday, Walmart, the largest retailer in the US, announced a major expansion of its drone delivery program in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a service in partnership with startup Zipline and Alphabet subsidiary Wing. Most dedicated drone delivery services use their own drones, which are designed in house as part of an integrated delivery system and certified by the FAA.

DJI’s Flycart 30 is also FAA-certified. At this stage, it looks more likely to be used by industries for their own logistical needs, but DJI said it’s exploring partnerships with express delivery companies in China.

The Flycart 30 has radar and binocular vision for avoiding obstacles in rain or other difficult weather, an ADS-B receiver to spot radio beacons from traditional aircraft, and a parachute in case of major problems. Its maximum flight speed is 20 meters per second, and it has a range of 10 miles. In an emergency configuration with just one battery, it can carry an 88-pound payload up to 5 miles.

CES 2024 in Las Vegas, as in years past, is a flurry of dazzling gadgetry: giant televisions, robots, EVs and foldable phones. But underpinning just about every piece of tech at this year’s show is AI, the technology that’s captivated millions ever since ChatGPT stormed onto the internet in late 2022. It’s not hard to imagine C-suite executives pounding on boardroom conference tables demanding AI be a cornerstone in future products.

And who could blame them? When ChatGPT launched on Nov. 30, 2022, it took only five days for it to attract 1 million users. By comparison, it took Netflix three and a half years to accomplish the same feat. Two months later, ChatGPT had an estimated 100 million users.

“AI is reshaping industries beyond technologies and has the power to make lives easier and more inclusive for all,” J.H. Han, CEO and head of the device experience division at Samsung, said during the company’s keynote on Monday.

Across the CES landscape this year, there was no shortage of AI-infused products angling for attention: lamps, lawn mowers, vacuums, mirrors, meat thermometers, dog collars and even pillows. Samsung showed off an AI robot named Ballie and refrigerators with AI vision that can recognize foods to suggest recipes or tell you when the expiration date is near. Samsung’s washing machines will use AI as well, learning your habits and suggesting cycles.

AI isn’t one singular thing. Apps such as ChatGPT are built on generative AI. It uses massive troves of training data, synthesizing information much like the human brain, to create text, images or even computer code in seconds. It’s a transformative technology that has Big Tech titans like Google and Microsoft investing billions in a quest to lead the market. McKinsey estimates that generative AI could add the equivalent of up to $4.4 trillion in economic benefit annually, increasing global GDP by 7%. In Big Tech’s AI wake are hundreds of smaller companies floating to the surface, finding specific ways of using generative AI tech for bespoke applications, like helping high schoolers with college essays or creating online dating profiles.

CES 2024 has been packed with product reps, CEOs, investment bankers and keynote speakers all vibrating their vocal cords to the tune of AI. It’s not just major tech brands, but also the likes of Walmart, L’Oreal and Volkswagen all filling the Las Vegas Convention Center to appeal to CES’ 130,000 attendees – and to a wider world looking to figure out how AI will fit into their lives.

“You don’t want to show up at the costume party in plain clothes, right?” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, principal analyst at Forrester. “Everyone’s going to be there saying AI. You’re probably going to look like a fool if you don’t.”

The Consumer Technology Association, the trade group that runs CES, expects that over 230 million smartphones and PCs arriving in the US this year will use generative AI in some form or fashion.

For many products on the CES 2024 show floor, AI is more of an evolution than a revolution. A few years back, refrigerators and toasters were “smart” with Amazon Alexa or Samsung Bixby integrations. While the ideas were cool, being able to ask your fridge to order some milk didn’t substantively change people’s lives. Voice recognition technology felt half-baked at times, as if these smart home assistants were only as smart as their pre-programmed answers allowed them to be.

But the new wave of AI is, in a sense, a rebranding of smart tech. This conversational technology is multilayered, allowing you to ask question upon question, shimmying in more parameters without hesitation.

For instance, you can ask the upcoming ChatGPT-powered Volkswagen ID 7 to find a nearby Chinese restaurant. It might point you to Panda Express, but you could instead request something more upscale. Heck, you could request five upscale options and ask which has the best seafood options. Pretty clever stuff.

Walmart said it’s using AI to make product searches more dynamic, allowing shoppers to look beyond brand names. People can query “football watch party” and get results for wings, chips and big-screen TVs. Even TVs themselves are now on the AI train, with LG’s top-end OLED devices promising better picture processing and upscaling, thanks to AI.

It’s not about tech for tech’s sake, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during the company’s keynote on Tuesday. The goal of adding something like generative AI should be one in which the “benefits of technology are pursued but people are considered along the way.”

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger sees technology as impartial and says it’s up to those who use it to shape how it’s used. AI is just the latest development in humanity’s technological evolution and will eventually become a mainstay of everyday life.

“Would you go to a radiologist that wasn’t using AI-assisted radiology? Absolutely not. Just like you wouldn’t have gone to a finance guy who didn’t use a spreadsheet,” Gelsinger said in an interview with CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevolos during the company’s keynote on Tuesday.

Anyway, don’t expect a $3,500 AI-powered toaster to send you on an existential crisis. Actually, most of the products shown off at CES tend to be conceptual, showing what’s possible but seldom materializing in the market, at least not in the short term. But some features do trickle out to consumers, slowly changing the tech landscape.

“What [brands] don’t want to do is go back home and compete on price,” Chatterjee said. Instead, he said, brands find more value in delivering features you will continue to rely on, learning more about your habits as you continue to use their product.

“You’re basically hooked.”

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.

If you can’t get enough of Ted — the foul-mouthed bear from the 2012 comedy film and its sequel — a prequel featuring the fuzzy bad influence is on the way.

The show takes place in the ’90s, offering a new look at the lifelong friendship between Ted and John (Mark Wahlberg in the movies, Max Burkholder in the series). In a trailer, the pals participate in activities befitting the franchise, including taking the opportunity to make jokes during a high school sex ed class and buying drugs to do for the first time. Seth MacFarlane voices Ted, in addition to serving as co-showrunner.

The Ted prequel will have seven episodes: the first will be 50 minutes long, followed by six 30-minute installments. All of them will drop at once on the Peacock streaming service. Here’s exactly when you can tune in, plus why you may want to pair your binge-watch with a VPN.

When to watch the Ted prequel series on Peacock

Viewers in the US can start watching the new comedy series on Peacock as early as 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT on Jan. 11.

Last year, Peacock hiked the price of its Premium and Premium Plus plans to $6 and $12 a month, respectively. Premium has ads, while Premium Plus is mostly ad-free. Premium Plus also lets you download titles and stream your live local NBC station.

If you use the free tier of Peacock (only some existing customers are able to do so), you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to watch the full Ted season. Recently released Peacock series like Twisted Metal and Based on a True Story have one episode on the tier, but watching additional episodes requires paying for Peacock.

The 2012 film Ted is also available on the streaming service, but Ted 2 is not. You’ll find the sequel on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max service instead.

How to watch the Ted prequel from anywhere with a VPN

Perhaps you’re traveling abroad and want to stream Peacock while away from home. With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the series from anywhere in the world. There are other good reasons to use a VPN for streaming too.

A VPN is the best way to encrypt your traffic to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds. Using a VPN is also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. Streaming TV can be a bit smoother with a reliable, quality VPN that’s passed our tests and security standards.

You can use a VPN to stream content legally as long as VPNs are allowed in your country and you have a valid subscription to the streaming service you’re using. The US and Canada are among the countries where VPNs are legal, but we advise against streaming or downloading content on illegal torrent sites. We recommend ExpressVPN, but you may opt for another provider from our best list, such as Surfshark or NordVPN.

Follow the VPN provider’s instructions for installation, and choose a country where the Ted series will be streaming on Peacock. Before you open the streaming app, make sure you’re connected to your VPN using your selected region. If you want to stream the Ted series on more than one device, it’s possible you’ll need to configure each one to ensure you’re signed in. Go to settings and check your network connections to verify you’re logged in and connected to your VPN account. Now you’re ready to open Peacock to stream.

If you run into issues with streaming, first make sure your VPN is up and running on its encrypted IP address. Double-check that you’ve followed installation instructions correctly and you’ve picked the right geographical area for viewing. If you still encounter connection problems, you may need to reboot your device. Close all apps and windows, restart your device and connect to your VPN first. Note that some streaming services have restrictions on VPN access.

CES 2024 is full of innovative delights, futuristic concepts, practical products you can preorder or buy today and some of strangest tech to stumble across our paths. Here in Las Vegas at the world’s largest technology show, we’re scouring the show floor for the best, most cutting-edge tech set to change our lives.

As we expected, AI is everywhere at CES this year, especially in the form of ChatGPT and similar generative AI chatbots. We’re also seeing plenty of TVs, phone goodies, new car tech, gaming gear and robots — there’s even a robot for your dog.

Here’s what’s captivating us, and here are the biggest tech trends at CES this year. We’ll bring you more news on the best tech highlights as we come across them this week in Las Vegas.

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Hitch a ride on a flying EV taxi

Banish thoughts of flying cars from your mind. Banish them! The Hyundai Supernal S-A2 is more of a helicopter replacement, only this one comes without the noise or running costs. The S-A2 is a VTOL design and, as every Marvel and Call of Duty fan knows, it means the vehicle can take off vertically without a runway — just like a helicopter. As an electric vehicle the S-A2 is designed for short trips — say from downtown to the airport — and the company says that its modular design means it can be easily upgraded with future battery technologies. You may not see one in your backyard, or even at your local airport, but the Supernal S-A2 is potentially the start of a new era for sustainable air travel.

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The future is electric

As we get closer to a single standard for EV charging, the future of electric vehicles is bright. CES being what it is, there have been phalanxes of future cars on show with hidden gizmos and plenty of LED bling. At its press conference, for example, Sony demonstrated a Honda vehicle which could be steered with a Dual Sense controller (why?), while LG’s concept car has gone the “board room on wheels” route — with a driverless front seat and rotating chairs!

The most impressive, and most-likely concepts to appear in our opinion, was Honda’s own 0 series EV range. While the van had an aircraft-like steering wheel the sedan had intriguing “steer-by-wire” controls. Both vehicles boasted cool LED grilles highlighting the new “floating H” logo.

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Foldable phones? How about a foldable TV?

What to do with a TV when it’s not being used? You could make it see-through (more on that below) or, if you happen to have a couple hundred thousand dollars lying around, maybe you opt for a foldable TV like the 137-inch one C Seed showed off at CES 2024.

The custom-built N1 features a stunning, bright, seamless picture,and its screen can rotate 180 degrees to face different directions. Divisions between the different sections of the screen were invisible. But when when not in use, the N1 folds up into a compact rectangular chunkin about two and a half minutes with the touch of a button, forming something that looks more like a metal bench than a large expensive TV.

Oh, and it costs $200,000 for the 137-incher, but hey, that includes installation and setup.

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Steam Deck has a new challenger

After years of near misses such as the Steam Machine, the Steam Deck was an unexpected success for Valve, and the console is the current standard for mobile PC gaming. While the competing Asus ROG Ally looked cool, using Windows on it was apparently pretty clunky. Now that situation might change with the help of Intel — the company has a lot of experience making Windows machines. MSI’s Claw handheld obviously owes a debt to the Steam Deck, but it has Intel’s new Meteor Lake chips onboard instead of AMD chips. CNET’s Scott Stein says this development means more manufacturers will have the opportunity to design their own Steam Deck-alikes that can also run Windows.

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What’s old is new

Ifyou consider yourself an old-school smartphone user, you may yearn forthe physical keyboards that used to be a mainstay of the phones ofyesteryear. The iPhone’s on-screen keyboard ushered out the fullphysical keyboards that were popular on BlackBerry devices.

The Clicks keyboard,from Clicks Technology, will transform your iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 15Pro and Pro Max, adding a keyboard that’s actually integrated into awraparound case. This $139 wraparound slides onto your device and runsoff the phone’s battery, so no charging required. Be sure to check out our hands-on review.

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This phone bends over backward for you

As phones with screens that fold in half get more consumer attention, Samsung appears to be poised to flip the market again. The electronics giant showcased a concept handset at CES 2024 called the Flex In & Out Flip that can fold in both directions and completely backward, allowing you to use the phone’s 6.7-inch screen even when the device is shut.

When bent backward, one side is slightly shorter than the other, to avoid covering the camera, while the larger side was big enough to show several icons in the phone’s quick settings menu, media playback controls and the time and battery level. Although the handset is only a concept design right now, CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco points out that it might offer a hint at the future of devices that roll, flex, bend, fold and otherwise contort to adapt tech to our unique needs.

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Get to work with this gaming laptop

More and more, we’re asking our laptops to do double duty. In addition to strong gaming performance, we want to be able to use these thinner, lightweight devices for work or school. The HP Omen Transcend 14, which made its debut at CES 2024, is light enough for a daily commute but sports a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 48-120Hz variable refresh rate backed up by an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070.

The 14-inch laptop weighs only 3.6 pounds (1.6 kilograms) — light for a gaming laptop and has battery life good for up to 11.5 hours with the integrated graphics and an Eco mode. The new 14-inch size starts at $1,500. A 16-inch version will also be available with the option for a 4K 240Hz OLED starting at $1,900.

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This thermometer also checks your heart and lungs

If you ever wanted to hold up a single device to your head for a quick health checkup, the Beamo might be just what the doctor ordered. The BeamO, which looks like a game stick, is a four-in-one thermometer,electrocardiogram, oximeter and stethoscope made by Withings and it wasunveiled this week at CES 2024. Depending on where on your body you “beam it,” the device can give you clues about your health.

The device, which Withings describes as being “portable and smaller than a smartphone,”combines the simplicity of taking your temperature at home with some ofthe wellness metrics newer-grade wearables and smartwatches carry, likeblood oxygen and heart rate readings, as well as chest sounds when usedas a “digital stethoscope.”

Following expected clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration this June, you can get one for $250.

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Forget a projector, get a huge TCL instead

CNET’s projector reviewer Geoff Morrison has been extolling the benefits of projectors for many years, but even he has come around to technologies like OLED and Mini-LED of late. What would he think of the new TCL 115QM891G? This is a 115-inch 4K LCD TV that’s up to five times brighter than most TVs, and with better blacks too, according to TV reviewer David Katzmaier.

As TV reviewers ourselves we’ve seen large TVs, but in the old days they were stuck at HD. The pixels on Panasonic’s 103-inch 1080p, for instance, were huge and easily noticeable. This is why 4K technology is so great — it means you can install a TV as big as a wall, and not see black lines between the pixels. The TCL also going to be a lot cheaper than that $100,000 Panasonic too, at under $20,000.

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Stained glass gets a new lease on lifelong power

Solar panels are great — they produce electricity from one of the most abundant resources we have, and they pay for themselves in quick order — but no one has ever called them pretty. Fear not! Japanese company inQs has worked out a way to make solar cells out of colored glass. The company is exhibiting a number of objects at CES 2024, including a stained glass pane that generates electricity. The devices are small, and one was able to power only a desk fan, but we like how they point to a rethink of how solar panels should look and work.

Disguising weird-looking things has been a perpetual trend at CES, as with LG’s ArtCool air conditioners. And this year the Samsung Music Frame lets you put art inside a smart speaker.

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Hey, Ida, which is better: Alexa or Siri?

AI is already everywhere here at CES 2024 — and adding to the list of products it’ll be appearing in is cars. Volkswagen has announced a deal with ChatGPT that enables users to ask all sorts of questions of their car, in the same way they would of a traditional digital assistant. At the moment, VW’s voice assistant lets users say, “Hey, Ida,” to ask a question about something basic, like requesting tire pressure. But the automaker’s cars are incapable of answering more advanced questions like, “When did the New York Jets last win the Super Bowl?” Under the new deal, if the car’s assistant can’t answer the question, it’ll hand off the query to ChatGPT. (Yes, the Jets did win one. But it was a very, very long time ago.)

It’s worth noting that competitors like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri have been completing these queries natively for many years, so teaming with ChatGPT is an easier way for VW’s Ida to catch up.

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Must-see-through TV

TVs are getting bigger every year, which means there’s a bigger slab of black plastic taking up a significant portion of the living room wall when it’s not in use. But what if we could make it disappear, without actually pulling it off the wall?

LG has apparently done just that with a transparent OLED screen that converts from a “fish tank” to a 77-inch television (pictured above). Unlike Samsung’s competing technology this will apparently be a real product, shipping later in 2024.

Meanwhile Samsung is showing off the first transparent version of its Micro-LED display tech at CES 2024. While transparent OLED and even LCD-based screens have been around for a while, Samsung says its Micro-LED display technology produces brighter, clearer images and is more transparent than the current tech. But Samsung says its transparent Micro-LED tech isn’t available in the market, so what Katzmaier saw (or didn’t see?) is essentially a concept.

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A 2-minute ice cream maker

Coming soon to a restaurant near you: freshly made ice cream, ready from start to finish in just 2 minutes.

We’ve loved trying the vanilla ice cream churned out by the speedy ColdSnap — first in 2021 and then again this year. We’re still a year away from being able to buy one of these innovative ice cream makers for our homes, but the company came to CES this year with the news that its restaurant partners will have hold of the machines much sooner.

The countertop ice cream maker uses Keurig-like pods to make a bowl of the cold stuff in less than 2 minutes. The finished result has a gelato-like consistency that had us coming back for more every time we passed the ColdSnap booth.

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Robot stain fighter

Here’s a product sure to clean up — literally. Samsung’s new Bespoke Jet Bot Combo, a smart robot vacuum with a mop, does more than just get rid of dust bunnies and dog hair. It’s designed to roam your rooms scouting for stains on hard flooring and scrub them out so you don’t have to.

The robot taps AI-powered object recognition to identify stains on hard flooring. Yes, it can tell the difference between the surfaces, presumably making adjustments to its cleaning technique accordingly. You can also tell this likely $1,000-plus household helper where it can and can’t go as it attacks stains as bad as a puppy piddle or a zinfandel spill with a spinning mop that hits 170 rpm. (Pricing details aren’t yet available.)

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Teeth tech

AI isn’t just helping keep your floors clean, it’s also being used to make sure your teeth are as clean as they can be. The Oclean X Ultra Wi-Fi Digital Toothbrush features an algorithm-controlled motor, five brush modes tailored to specific needs, an interactive touchscreen that shows you areas you missed and, brilliantly/weirdly, an AI voice guide that speaks into your brain via bone conduction to help you improve your technique.

It also features Wi-Fi connectivity so you can pair it with your home network, and it will store information about your brushing history until you can download it to your app. It also offers 40 days of battery life through wireless charging. It will go sale in the US in the fall for $130.

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It’s all in the wristwatch remote

Imagine using your wrist to control everything around you. A flick this way, and you can turn off the lights or scroll through the offerings on Netflix. Finnish startup Doublepoint has developed software that can turn an Android watch into a general-purpose controller for any device via a Bluetooth connection.

The software will come to developers in the first half of this year,but it’s up to developers and app-makers to decide what a small gesture, such as tapping fingers or rotating your wrist, will actually do.

Steven Musil, Sareena Dayaram, Katie Collins and Ty Pendlebury contributed to this article.

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