Good morning, CES attendees!
The party’s over, friends. It’s been a long week of press conferences, meetings, gadget demos, and walking through endless hallways and show floors. Your feet are probably sore, the bags under your eyes have likely grown, but this is the home stretch. Today is the last day the show floors are open, so it’s the perfect time to check out anything you’ve missed, and it’s actually our favorite day to hit the convention center. The crowds will have thinned out, so it’ll be easier to get some time with the demos you saw earlier in the week but didn’t have the time to try out. We might take on that robot that plays table-tennis. Maybe we’ll see you there.
It’s been a relatively uneventful CES—at least compared to last year’s torrential floods and blackout—but there were a few noteworthy products and ideas. There was Bell’s giant autonomous helicopter; Samsung’s new line of robots; 8K televisions so beautiful you can’t perceive where it ends and reality begins; so many futuristic concept cars; HTC’s new VR headset; and even a quantum computer from IBM.
But some of the energy seemed to have been sucked out of the show this year. Perhaps it was the government shutdown causing speakers and exhibitors to cancel. Maybe it was the increased tensions from the US-China trade war. Or maybe we’ve finally injected Alexa and Google Assistant into every possible object. Perhaps technology is just stuck in a bit of a rut right now.
A little over a decade ago, the smartphone revolutionized the way we communicate and live, but now that just about every phone is really good (even the cheap ones), it’s supremely difficult for a manufacturer to differentiate its offerings without resorting to gimmicks. Instead, tech companies are less focused on putting new gadgets in your pocket and more focused on surrounding you with them. Smart speakers with voice assistants, smart home gadgets that actually work and connect in a unified way, along with more intelligent and interactive automobile entertainment systems, were everywhere at CES.
If there is a smartphone replacement, it’s not here yet. But if CES 2019 has shown us anything, it’s that there are still plenty of nooks and crannies to fit technology into our lives.
What everyone is talking about
LG’s undulating display. The South Korean manufacturer installed a massive set of curved HD screens and deafeningly loud speakers that showed footage of crashing waves, stars, and other impressively immersive scenes. The only problem was that the display, which marked the entrance to LG’s booth, also separated the North Hall from the Central Hall in the Las Vegas convention center, causing hundreds of people at any given moment to stop and stare in wonder, and create a massive fire hazard.
Entertainment that responds to a car’s movements. With connected cars becoming the next frontier for entertainment, companies are exploring virtual- and mixed-reality games that respond to the slight movements in a vehicle. Audi startup Holoride showcased a VR experience made in partnership with Disney, in which the content moves with the car to reduce motion sickness. Honda developed a suite of apps, including mixed-reality games, that also moved with the vehicle. Along the same lines, Audi turned a sedan into a 4D movie ride that translates the action in the film being watched into movements in the car.
Getting home. People have started leaving Vegas already, dropping their badges off for recycling, and cashing in their chips. If you’re heading to McCarran Airport today, make sure to give yourself more than ample time to make your flight: The airport is supremely busy every year at CES, and the ongoing government shutdown is not likely to speed things up.
Best in show
Clean water out of thin air. The Source hydropanel looks a lot like a solar panel, but it extracts and collects water vapor from the air around us. It doesn’t need cleaning, claims to be free of contaminants, and the only maintenance is swapping filters and mineral packs. Two panels make four to 10 liters of water per day, and have a 15-year expected life span.
The next generation of keyboards. Morph is a large, infinitely-customizable touchpad with different silicon overlays for traditional typing, video editing, beat sampling, and piano playing. You can also program your own custom macros and touch interfaces.
A hole new era for phones. Begone, foul notch. We got to see up close Huawei’s new Nova 4 phone, which trades the notch at the top of the phone for a small camera hole in the top left of the phone’s screen. It’s more discreet than it sounds, and takes up far less screen real estate for the same front-facing camera.
A television that really disappears. Bendable OLED displays have seemed like a far-off frontier for tech companies, and after Samsung’s strange prototype of a flexible smartphone in 2018 it seemed that the tech wasn’t ready for primetime. But this week LG announced that it’s putting the tech on sale, and in a large format: A TV that rolls up into a small box when it’s not being used. And it’s 4K.
CES-speak
Speakers and exhibitors bandied about a lot of jargon at this year’s CES. Here’s a short rundown.
Physital, meaning physical plus digital, could replace advertising as we know it, P&G’s chief brand officer Marc Pritchard suggested. He argued that technology that improves everyday products, like toothbrushes and skincare products, is often a better way to connect with consumers than commercials and other traditional advertising.
Infotainment, or information and entertainment, was back and bigger than ever this year, with auto brands including Audi, Hyundai Mobis, and Honda showcasing new in-car systems for watching movies, playing games, and booking restaurant reservations on the road.
8K, because who doesn’t like more Ks? While 4K means a horizontal display resolution of 3840 pixels, 8K means 7680 pixels across. And more pixels mean higher resolution. But really, there isn’t even a lot of 4K content out in the world yet, and it’s prohibitive to stream wirelessly (or even wired) because the files are so large. So don’t worry about rushing out to get a new 8K TV just yet.
10G is cable TV’s attempt to outdo wireless 5G service. Cable groups coined the term, which refers to a goal of reaching 10 gigabit speeds, at a time when wireless competitors are working on the fifth-generation of wireless technology.
Yesterday’s highlight reel
Too heavy for autonomy. Yamaha offered demonstrations of its self-driving golf carts in the lot between Central and South Halls, and Mike gave it a shot. The trip started out fine enough—onboard facial recognition software recognized him and the other riders, and took off. But when the vehicle went to turn around and head back to the start, it got stuck. It backed up and tried again three times before the human driver had to take over, turn it around, and get them back on course. He told the group that this was because of “improper load balancing” caused by larger passengers.
Samsung’s trip down memory lane. Although we’re already at a massive consumer electronics convention where Samsung has a huge presence, the company announced yesterday (Jan. 10) that it will host its own event in California next month, most likely to announce its next Galaxy smartphone. At one of its booths, it had a display showing many of its most ingenious phones over the years, all the way back to its first cellphone in 1988. If you want a blast from the past from when phones weren’t just indiscernible black rectangles, check out Samsung’s booth.
Brewing up some new tech. LG is releasing an automatic beer brewing machine in South Korea this spring that makes the brewing and fermentation process as easy as making a cup of coffee. LG will sell small boxes that include the necessary grain and hops, which are neatly packaged in Keurig-like pods. The process takes about three weeks and produces five liters of fresh beer.
Seen and heard
Two men on the monorail were talking. One picks up the other’s CES badge, which has a picture of a different man, and said, “Hey, is that Andrew?” The other replies, “Yeah, I kept trying to add my picture and it kept getting rejected.”
“AI and 5G are helping us solve real problems in the world,” one Intel booth attendant told conferences-goers. “Now if you want to check out our augmented reality Rubik’s cube, that’s just at the front of the booth.”
“Is there draft beer on tap?” two women asked a snack bar attendant at 11:30am. The pair left empty-handed after being informed there were only bottles.
“Beyond monitor, experience your baby in VR.”
CES by the numbers
Square feet of CES show floor: 2.5 million
Registered attendees: 182,000
Exhibiting companies: 4,400
Total internet traffic at the Las Vegas Convention Center from Jan. 7-9: 29.33 TB
Miles walked by Quartz reporters: 73.9
Dollars gambled: $0
Casinos visited: 11
Events attended: 16
Events missed: 27
Backup battery charging power used: 32,387 milliamp hours
Correction: In yesterday’s CES brief, we wrote that AMD CEO Lisa Su announced the Ryzen VII, its first 7nm GPU. The correct name is the Radeon VII. Ryzen is AMD’s CPU.
News from around the world
Alphabet was sued over allegations it covered up sexual misconduct. A shareholder lawsuit accused Google’s parent of shielding executives at the search giant who faced sexual misconduct complaints, including approving a $90 million payout to one of them on his departure. A New York Times (paywall) report late last year on Google’s handling of sexual misconduct prompted a global staff walkout in November.
China lowered its GDP growth target. Reuters reported that the world’s second-largest economy expects its GDP to grow between 6% and 6.5% in 2019, down from last year’s goal of “around” 6.5%. China needs at least 6.2% growth to meet officials’ 2020 goal of doubling GDP over a decade.
Andy Murray said he will retire from tennis. The 31-year-old Brit and three-time Grand Slam winner announced that this would be his last season, citing constant hip pain. Fighting back tears in Melbourne, Murray said the Australian Open, which begins next week, could be his last tournament.
Matters of debate
A small “big city” can have deeper connections. Cities that are less dense have tighter communities and provide more reasons to actually try connecting with your neighbors.
A simple Harvard rebranding signals a big change. Going from HBX to Harvard Business School Online shows how mainstream online learning has become.
India’s citizenship bill is effectively a Muslim ban. The amendment to the 1955 Citizenship Act is a thinly veiled attempt at cementing religious divisions, and a clear constitutional affront.
Surprising discoveries
Most fake news is spread by boomers. Adults older than 65—no matter their political leanings—tend to share way more misinformation on Facebook than any other demographic.
India’s young adults don’t care about romance. A Tinder survey says they prioritize travel, careers, solid friendships, and making their parents proud.
There’s not much untouched Earth left. Humans have modified 95% of the world’s surface, much more than a previous estimate of 81%.
Our best wishes for a great last day in Las Vegas. Please send any news, tips, poker chips, and self-driving golf carts 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.