Greetings, gadget geeks!
Welcome to this special edition of the Quartz Daily Brief for CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics trade show, with more than 180,000 people expected to descend upon Las Vegas this year.
Right now, cardboard is the most common sight as exhibitors scramble to set up their booths for the other 179,999 people descending upon the showroom floor this morning.
It’s been a damp start to proceedings in Sin City. As rain fell over the desert, there was an odd yellowish smog hanging low over the casino skyscrapers, as the day gave way to the neon-soaked night. The sportsbooks were working overtime during the college football championship, creating a nice contrast between the techies and the betting set.
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What to watch for today
More rain. For those hoping to escape the inclement weather hitting most of the US, we have some bad news. It’ll be in the 40s and 50s to kick off the conference with a good bit of rain (at least as far as deserts are concerned). Good news is you weren’t going to see any daylight anyway from inside the convention.
Ford makes its case. Ford CEO Jim Hackett delivers the morning’s keynote. The 115-year-old company is positioning itself as a mobility solutions innovator, as it fends off long-time rivals and tech entrants like Google, Uber, and Tesla.
Huawei breaks into the US. Despite reports that AT&T has pulled out of plans to sell Huawei’s mobile devices, the company is slated to present its plan for entering the US market at a press event with its CEO. The company has struggled in the US due to its reported ties to the Chinese military, and its US business looks even more precarious without the backing of a major carrier.
What everyone is talking about
Microchips are hot. The little enhancements announced by chipmakers at this year’s CES could mean the difference between a fully self-driving car that works, and one that doesn’t. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced a new generation of in-car computers, a platform called Xavier, that it claims is the first powerful enough to support fully autonomous driving. Nvidia hardware has also been quietly powering Uber’s autonomous car project, Huang said. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich (who only spent a measly two minutes talking about the company’s security breach) upped his company’s automotive chops, announcing a 100-car test fleet, as well as that its partners BMW, Nissan, and Volkswagen are starting to deploy its self-driving sensors on real cars. And Qualcomm is trying to capitalize on the truly wireless earbud craze currently owned by Apple, by announcing a chip custom-built for tiny audio-capable devices.
Alexa vs. Google Assistant. Google is buying up ad space all over Las Vegas this week, but our pick for the winner of CES 2017 has the bigger presence here yet again. Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, which started life in its Echo smart speakers, is now being jammed into car entertainment systems, light switches that look like HAL 9000, and, for some reason, a shower head.
The usual suspects are back. No CES would be complete without an otherworldly TV screen—and a smart fridge or two. 2018 is no exception. Samsung unveiled a massive 146-inch TV it’s calling “The Wall,” and LG showed off a 65-inch 4K screen that rolls up. Both companies announced smart fridges that feature large touchscreens and voice assistants. Finally, you can converse with your fridge.
News from around the world
North and South Korea held breakthrough talks. Delegates from the two countries met for the first time since December 2015 in the border village of Panmunjom. North Korea said it would send a delegation of senior officials and athletes to the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, while South Korea proposed a reunion next month for families divided by the Korean War.
SpaceX may have botched the launch of a US spy satellite. The secret payload, code-named Zuma, was launched from Florida on board a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reported (paywall) that some industry and government officials believe the satellite is lost.
Samsung fell short of predictions. The South Korean electronics giant said it expects to post a record profit for the final quarter of 2017, with sales up 64% from the same quarter last year—but that’s 5% shy of what analysts expected. Prices for memory chips, which have helped Samsung’s fortunes soar, are starting to fall as smartphone demand cools.
Matters of debate
The Meltdown and Spectre bugs are good for the tech sector. They will accelerate the shift to cloud computing and spur more secure operating systems.
Language classes in the US are finally useful. American classrooms are starting to acknowledge the political and cultural importance of Asia and the Middle East.
LEDs are having a big impact on climate change. They reduced carbon emissions by 570 million tons in 2017—equivalent to closing more than 160 coal power plants.
Surprising discoveries
Trypophobia may not be a real phobia. Self-described trypophobes aren’t afraid of clusters of small holes, but rather just disgusted.
Weight Watchers’ stock price jumped more than 13% after Oprah’s Golden Globes speech. Its stock has increased nearly 700% since she revealed her stake in the company in 2015.
US hotels are phasing out the “do not disturb” sign. Staff at Disney Resorts and other properties are checking on guests at least once every 24 hours, due in part to security concerns.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, hacked computer chips, and Amazon Echoes to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.