Good morning, CES attendees!
Shake off those hangovers, the money you lost at the casinos, or the glitter you’re covered in from Cirque du Soleil: We’re into the business end of the conference now. It’s expected to be a lovely 61 degrees Fahrenheit today, so if you manage to pull yourself away from the show floors for a little bit, you’ll get a great view of Red Rock Canyon in the distance. Then again, there’s probably someone offering views of the mountains on Mars in VR inside the conference, so who needs the real thing?
What to watch for today
The keynotes are over. Most companies have made their announcements for the week, meaning the news cycle is set to slow down and attendees can spend more time on the show floor. Expect longer lines and more crowded exhibits.
Winners emerge. There are a bunch of gadget competitions happening today, including Last Gadget Standing in the North Hall of LVCC at 10:30am, which aims to pick the product “most likely to change the face of technology.” Elsewhere, Shark Tank’s Daymond John will host a startup pitch competition at Eureka Park in the Sands Expo at 10am. (You can also check out the gadgets CES itself thinks are the best in the Venetian at any time.)
Time to party. As the week wears on, the meetings tend to get fewer and further between, and people have more time to enjoy Vegas proper. Many of the city’s mega-clubs will be hosting massive artists the rest of the week. Drake will perform at the XS at the Encore, and EDM super-DJ Tiësto will be spinning at Hakkasan at the MGM Grand.
What everyone is talking about
False alarm. At around 2:30pm Wednesday, an alarm started blaring through the South Hall of the LVCC. A robotic voice over the speakers told us the alarm was being investigated and to remain calm. Attendees took the message very literally, as almost no one seemed to react at all, which was quite surreal, especially given the mass shooting in Vegas just over a year ago. After a few minutes, the alarm subsided and we were informed it was a false alarm, thankfully.
AT&T addresses its 5G controversy. After updating AT&T customers’ phones with fake 5G service indicators, CEO John Donovan defended the move. “If I occupy beachfront real estate in my competitors’ heads, that makes me smile,” Donovan said at his keynote yesterday, after being panned by Verizon and T-Mobile. Cool.
AMD promises better chips. AMD CEO Lisa Su announced that the Ryzen VII, its first 7nm GPU, will go on sale this February. It’s a clear sign that the company wants to compete with GPU powerhouse Nvidia, which has dominated the market in both gaming and AI infrastructure. The competitor fired back with some serious shade. “It was kind of underwhelming,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told press after the AMD announcement. “I think they just thought of it this morning.”
5G and connected cars are “freight trains” headed toward TV. TV companies like Viacom and AT&T are preparing for the next big shift in the way people consume video. 5G wireless service, which is still a few years out, could turn mobile into the main TV set for a generation of cord-cutters who aren’t signing up for traditional TV services, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish said on Wednesday. The media chief said he’s looking toward connected, self-driving cars to increase the amount of time people spend with entertainment over the next 2-5 years. “The last vestige of video-free consumption is the automobile,” said Bakish. “And that’s coming.”
5G? Pshh. Bring on 10G. Meanwhile, cable groups including the NTCA started promoting a confusing new effort called 10G that has no real relation to 5G wireless service. While 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology, 10G refers to 10 gigabit per second data transfer speed. If you have a blazing fast wired connection at home today, you might hit 1 gigabit per second; 10 gigabit data lines are typically used in datacenters. As of now, this campaign is smoke and mirrors from cable companies threatened by the idea of wireless future.
Chart interlude
Has the US-China trade war started to take a toll? Fewer Chinese companies with their hometowns in their names attended CES this year, suggesting a possibly smaller contingent overall.
Yesterday’s highlight reel
Cute-sounding, commodified surveillance. Facial recognition and biometric surveillance company Puppy has a live demonstration of its technology in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. It might need a little work, though, as it classified our 26-year-old Dave Gershgorn as 37, 38, and then 40 years old.
TVs that disappear. Thin TVs are so 2018—now companies including LG, Skyworth, and Samsung want TVs to disappear when they’re not being used. LG’s Signature OLED TV R has a flexible display that actually rolls up into the base, and Skyworth’s TV is a clear piece of glass that turns into a translucent display when turned on. Samsung’s revision of its Frame TV ups the resolution to 4K and appears to be a painting while not in use.
Twitter wants to turn the NBA into its American Idol. The NBA, which is one of the most popular sports leagues on Twitter, announced a new partnership with the social network and Turner Sports for a second-screen experience during the current NBA season. Fans will be able to vote on Twitter for a player they want to follow—such as Lebron James or Steph Curry—and then live-stream the second half of the games on Twitter through the lens of that player. The experience kicks off with the NBA All-Star game on Feb. 17, and will be featured in about 20 games.
A wall we can all agree on. While the US government is currently partially shut down, as president Trump demands funding for a southern border wall, there was one far less contentious (though almost as unrealistic) wall being shown at CES. Samsung showed off The Wall, a 219-inch HD display that could easily fill up the entire side of an apartment. It’s not available for purchase just yet, but it will likely cost only slightly less than Trump’s version.
Third-party Alexa devices get super-hearing. Semiconductor company NXP announced the Amazon Alexa Premium Far-Field Voice Development Kit, which will give third parties access to the same kind of speech detection that Amazon uses in its seven-microphone Alexa devices.
Soap goes high-tech. Consumer products company Procter & Gamble exhibited at CES for the first time this year and showcased technology from Olay, Gillette, Oral B, SK-II, and other brands. One of the most innovative products it showed off was a line of soaps, detergents, and other cleaning products that don’t use plastic packaging. The product line, called DS3, doesn’t contain water. The products look like thin, square swatches that activate when you soak them underwater. They launched on IndieGogo and the company shipped the first line of products for testing in December.
Seen and heard
While checking out the Alexa-connected Numi 2.0 toilet from Kohler, a spokesperson told us, “Alexa will spray, but won’t wipe.”
Best slogan of CES 2019: “In me the tiger sniffs the rose.” The company sells Bluetooth headphones.
Mike met a sneezing polar bear.
Wesley Snipes, famed vampire hunter, was spotted in Eureka Park checking out a car that can make espresso.
This bionic wizard was also checking things out in Eureka Park:
Someone seems to have forgotten that CES was this week. Hopefully they got their deposit back.
John Deere has an extremely large harvester on the show floor, roughly the size of 300 Daves:
News from around the world
An election winner was announced in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi was provisionally declared the new president of the African country. His victory could still be challenged, but if things go smoothly it will be the first democratic transition of power since the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
Major job cuts were flagged at Ford and Jaguar. Ford said it will reduce “surplus” labor in Europe, implying thousands of job losses in the region, where it employs 54,000 people and profit dropped by more than 80% last year. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, expected layoffs at Jaguar Land Rover come amid reduced demand in China and a drop in diesel sales.
A German banking startup became Europe’s most valuable fintech firm. A new round of fundraising valued Berlin-based N26 at $2.7 billion, three times what it fetched less than a year ago (subscription). The digital bank plans an “aggressive” expansion in the US this year.
Matters of debate
Don’t reply to every email. It’s more effective to stay in touch with those who matter in your life than to strive for inbox zero.
US Democrats should elevate new candidates. Older white men are still the challengers of choice to Donald Trump.
iMessage should be available on all devices. Apple could put its belief in privacy as a human right into practice by allowing wider use of its proprietary messaging service.
Surprising discoveries
Mona Lisa isn’t looking at you—but at your right ear, or somewhere above your shoulder. German researchers found that the painting’s gaze is 10 degrees off from looking at viewers head on.
Scientists are creating super healthy, gene-edited spicy tomatoes. The fruit contains nutrients that promote weight loss and provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits.
Mites that ate llama poop offer clues to the history of the Inca Empire. Scientists are researching llama dung washed into a lake in Peru, where it fed oribatid mites.
Our best wishes for another successful day in Las Vegas. Please send any news, tips, connected toilets, and invisible TVs to us, Dave, Ashley, and Mike. The best way to keep up with news while you’re on the go this week is the Quartz app for iPhone and Android.