Gadgetory

hello everybody and welcome to the scene at stage at CES 2017 today you're in for a treat Amaya Zack Turner I'm joined by Roger Chang and Ben Fox Ruben for a special super-sized edition over a bite sized news podcast at 3:59 if you're new to the show Roger and Ben break down the most important tech stories in about four minutes today we're gonna talk a lot longer about the Consumer Electronics Show because that's where we are then you seem to have some kind of smart coffee cup or fellas what is that over there yes it's quite delicious it's filled with coffee yeah this is this is the Lenovo smart assistant it was announced a couple days ago and this is essentially an Amazon echo but from Lenovo it's got the Alexa smart AI inside and you're gonna be able to do a lot of the same stuff that you would be able to do with an echo but this is provided by Lenovo I have to ask why not just get the echo so the pricing is a little bit different this thing starts at 129 so the echo starts at about 179 or 180 so they make the pricing a little bit different also it's got a bit of an interesting different look to it it looks a little bit more like a Google home down here but on top of that Amazon wants to do this and Lenovo wants to do this to try to sprinkle Alexa everywhere like all over the place so lenovo is interested in bringing Alexa to more places and Amazon was more than happy to do that we've seen this at the show all over the place war whirlpool did an integration with their appliances for just announced that they're adding Alexa into their automotive stuff Mattel I think it did like a smart baby monitor that's gonna help well your kids asleep it's great that you bring this up actually we have on our site a breakdown of all of the Alexa connected stuff we've got the cg C by GE lamp weird circular circular lamp you've got speakers you've got robot vacuum cleaners dish is integrating Alexa into its real control Alexa is everywhere what for the second year in a row Amazon has really dominated show without really having an official presence here right right yeah and it's it's interesting to see how quickly this is actually happened I mean home automation is thing that's been discussed and considered for the past couple of years now but there really hasn't been this platform to really bring it all together you know like what was I supposed to do have like 20 different remotes around my house to operate the lights and the this thing and that thing or whatever it's voice or at least it's been voiced now and Amazon is really taking advantage and saying hey look we're gonna do this we're gonna be the main platform and that's how you have things like this where Lenovo and a lot of these other guys are finding a way to get involved and get interested one other thing that's interesting that Lenovo told me is is that this is really just a first step for them they're interested in doing a lot more integrations bringing Amazon and Alexa technology into more of their stuff so what do you think Amazon's Alexa assistants the one that's actually getting all the traction there's Google home there's Microsoft Cortana and there's also people doing proprietary things like Samsung they have their why do you think it's Amazon because the thing is I believe they had something like 3000 skills about six months ago now they're about 7000 skills that's an invoice app so comfy bandwagon to hop on you've got millions of echo echo dots out there it was I believe the number one selling product on Amazon this holiday oh my god was it ever they told millions of them including the echo dot speakers looking to hitch my my product to a digital assistant I'm gonna go with the one that's got the biggest broadest base and right now that is Alexa sort of right I mean like a lot of people have iPhones right probably there is exactly so the problem there is is Siri hasn't had as many integrations and maybe Apple will do that there have obviously been rumors that Apple is planning to come out with something like this but it's just rumors at this point and at this point what is it the Google home just came out a couple months ago so I think there's still gonna be a little bit more time before we end up seeing something that's gonna be a platform as big of as Alexa if anybody actually even does catch-up and we definitely see some flexibility from Amazon and like letting a company like know Lenovo essentially make an echo clone it's a smart speaker she runs Alexa and it's cheaper so they're not worried so much about moving the hardware they're like look use our service that's what they're doing Apple there's no way in the heck they're going to let me bring up my favorite Alexa - great product and that is the LG insta view refrigerator refrigerator refrigerator it is yeah there's a Lexus it is awesome you knock on it that you knock on the touch screen it actually goes transparent so you can see what's inside you can ask it to order milk you can buy directly from your refrigerator it's it's pretty sweet where does this this fridge runs webOS we do that really old member so they LG bought it it's in the fridge but it also does have an alexis assistant you can ask it questions and it's is that overkill or that guys or is it it's overkill I have an echo speaker in my kitchen don't need it now how much is that fridge well what's couple thousand your echo speaker keep your milk cold no no we can know it God all right fine checkmate on that one LG I thought really wowed people with their press conference tons of great stuff I think the most impressive product I've seen so far is the the W television talk a little bit more about this Bridget alright now we had Samsung last year was saying hey we have this family hub right is this giant touchscreen and a fridge it's gonna run Android that's what they actually told me it's gonna have Alexa and then they backed off of both of those claims throughout the year they bought viv that AI company has ties to Syria because I think the creators of Bates and so they have their own thing they lost Alexa to LG essentially which i think is really kind of interesting the Samsung has their own thing now yeah say hi Samsung family they're also here to play catch-up I don't think they lost Alexa I think they probably made a conscious decision right Samsung really likes to work on their own proprietary stuff they have viv now and I imagine that in future versions of this fridge family hub fridge you're gonna see viv or whatever they're gonna call it but you're right it's only a missed opportunity at this show right you like come in and LG comes out with an Alexa powered fridge and Samsung has nothing to show so Stefan didn't really Wow many people were there show definitely more of a restraint show for them but I guess he kind of had to write her muted they started off with a not an apology an acknowledgment of the Galaxy Note 7 I've never heard the Galaxy Note 7 I'm kidding I'm kidding it was the story was blowing up everywhere you know the story it was a big big deal hot item you're sure it was alright just keep throwing the puns out there let's let's talk about that w television I wanted to talk about rock you know that that television it is 2.5 7 millimeters thick right inches inches point one five inches it's like a couple coins back together which is amazing the videos we have the video for it it doesn't do it justice you really have to be there a person to appreciate just how thin this thing is look at that we're just staring at the actual video because we're just so enamored with this so the actual screen is 2.5 2.5 70 millimeters thin like we were saying and the way you really see this in the video they do any justice if you go around the corner and you see it kind of looks like part of the wall because yes only about it's less than 4 millimeters away from you actually say the w kind of stands from wallpaper the idea is this TV blends into your home blends into the wall gives us sort of a seamless experience pretty awesome for one percent we're like just salivating over this thing because it's probably the coolest thing that we've seen so I see yes to see stuff like this that's that's just cool the 65 inch television weighs what is 18 pounds it doesn't require any studs behind it to mount it so you can put it anywhere which is nuts but they do have a ribbon cable to get the television attached to this big sound but it has all the port that's the question right like how do you connect all these power cords into this super thin computer or TV and they've got this really thin flat wire okay so how do we actually make it better I would recommend you be able to roll it up put it in your pocket bring it to your friends house so let's have LG work on that yeah it is foldable spoons there I mean I'm sure they have been working on foldable screens even screens this big I think the Rio from a concept perspective they're actually able to do that I was only half kidding yes they actually end up seeing that 2027 problem around just like rolls of screams let's go yep put on the wall and this this isn't a concept of ice guys that W is gonna ship in March and LG hasn't gone with the price yet although Katz was talking them catch motors are as their TV guru and it turns out it might be $2,000 more than the most expensive thing that LG showed off last year so the price we're looking at it's potentially $10,000 and that's what the 65 inch version if you the bigger one because there's a 77 inch version that might cause something about $25,000 in the New York office that'll be a fun time we're gonna be like get out of the way I want to see I want to say I will get no work done that day all right nice to know did you happen to see any blackberries while we're out here uh yes I much to my surprise in this cluster real moment found myself in a suite surrounded by blackberry teleported there yes that's that's how I travel in Vegas isn't that how you guys all get around I'm working on that all right so yes blackberry is once again making another comeback it defies all logic it should be dead it should been dead several times over yet it is back courtesy of a company that you probably know for televisions actually TCL now TCL that makes those awesome Roku TVs and actually exactly as an aside work who's liking a lot more than just TCL I know that I think Hisense has one and so are they making element TVs what are they doing also TCL also has a phone unit it's known as Alcatel most people don't really know what it is it's really a budget phone maker they really want to kind of break into the US market with a better brand and so using blackberry it's called the blackberry Mercurius code never a code name actually don't have an official code name they just said that's what the Internet's calling it so that's what we're gonna call it for now and we I did get a chance to hold it build quality is great it's metal phone it's a full full screen full touchscreen and it's got touch sorry it's got a keyboard actual physical keyboard underneath right like the past poor like the preview could swipe through the keyboard and navigate with that so it's it's a nice looking phone fingerprint sensor how confident are you that this is gonna bring blackberry back or are we gonna be back here next year talking about BlackBerry's mother come back not at all I mean very just get that out these guys have a huge challenge you know TCL or Alcatel you know they have a history of taking very little known brands and kind of propping them back up Alcatel is actually done really well on a bunch of phone market but this is a different beast right blackberry has so much baggage involved that it's really hard to see you know anyone picking up these phones yeah they say they're going to go after business summers first so that they still have security down that's one right baby so they're going after banks to go in after the government customers a lot of folks who are still using that core audience already you know like how are they actually gonna do that any differently so I think they're gonna they're gonna put more resources behind at least from what they're telling me there will be more resources more effort put the last year to blackberry kind of checked out when it came to the phone business right they were really focused on transforming themselves into a software and security business and the hardware side they're like yeah we still have that but like a part is in this thing because why would they bother to get in bed with black right other than the fact that just needs the money but why would they bother to be with this they could be making their own ready to Alcatel why would they bother with blackberry at all well if you look at it no one knows what Alcatel is no one knows what TCL is people at least know what blackberry is it's a brand awareness is not an issue it might not be to build TCL than to simply go hey remember blackberry and have remember Barry's for that well look it's the same company that I also bought the palm brand they've done nothing with it but they did by two years ago at CES TCL oh my gosh I the guy that they didn't they didn't do anything with it that's why you that's why we anything about it because yeah the heart of palm was webOS and LG took it then palm is like hey remember it's just the name so if you actually go to the URL it doesn't even exist maybe TCL is just really nostalgic that's at the head of the CCO is just like you know what why don't we do like that I'm gonna basically TCL's a baby boomer maybe they just wanted to buy a blackberry like we just I find what would get in bed with them so this is an aluminum phone it's supposed to have good keyboard yes blackberry keyboard we're we're expecting an announcement or at least more information come Mobile World Congress in February and I don't know when it'll actually ship but they promise that they'll have sort of a portfolio or a line of the product so be high-end will be a low-end version sort of meet everyone's needs but again it's really for business customers you're not gonna see this in stores for a while if ever it'll be sold directly through like an 18th year for Isaac I bet that when you went to the BlackBerry thing that they didn't have barf bags available now Ben though you were at the Intel frob manga you were at the Intel keynote and I believe near the leather comfy chairs their headset this is not related they offered you a barf bag or this - all the attendants you got to explain what yeah they delicately handed us barf bags we walked in this was a totally different kind of press conference than I'd been before you had these big comfy black leather chairs and in front of them you had this high-powered laptop with an oculus rift VR headset on top and they very delicately the people walking around very delicately handed out certain materials and right underneath was a barf bag and they told you a couple of times ahead of time they're like we're gonna do a bunch of different VR demonstrations and if at any point you feel queasy or nauseous take the headset off immediately do not try to stand up and by the way we've got these just in case I don't think anybody used a barf bag because I think the whole room would have howled if that ended up happening so we're looking at video right now we were transported to rural Vietnam what was particularly interesting about this video was that while you're in VR you could actually like stand up and kind of look look around what you were actually looking at so it wasn't so much a static 360 image but you could kind of look over or look around different things which requires this enormous amount of computing power because you're not just doing one 360 video you're doing multiple 360 videos depending on where your head is so people literally just started standing up and looking around and just to just to kind of get an impression of what it was what it was like and it was kind of surreal to do that I tried it out myself to kind of cool this was an Intel zone project a load that was they were using oculus rifts for the specific demo but they also showed off their own concept called project alloy which is a cordless all-in-one VR headset and they're hoping to come out with that with manufacturing partners maybe maybe sometime next year I would say end of year they were privatizing it that's the word I use for product eyes means they word productized by the end of the year so is it look out let my Scrabble it wouldn't count no it will now when Intel CEO said it means it's a word now so they've already they've already coined the terms right but what's interesting about project alloy it it's supposed to enable this new idea called merged reality where you take different things like let's say we've got the desk over here and the column over there you go and you put on the project alloy had set and it integrates all the things in the real world into a gaming environment or some other environment where let's say we're in like an alien shooter game we can actually hunker down behind this desk get up and like start shooting the aliens in the audience or something which offers mixed reality that's their term very similar very similar and you're absolutely right those those terms you know they're kind of interchangeable in many ways so yeah it was an interesting press conference different when I saw at least my watch the video you were there but the difference between merge reality Intel's version versus Microsoft augmented reality mixed reality Microsoft you can still see what's actually around you versus Intel what it would do like Ben was explaining that it would take the physical objects in the room and just mask them essentially so it would have the same height so you're not running into this table when you're gonna go around shooting aliens it'll change a coffee table or something else as well big down point for being in a VR system is whenever you're in the headset your conscious constantly aware of all the obstacles around you like you're just sort of tentatively moving around you're like am I gonna run into someone am I gonna fall I'm gonna trip all right I was doing that last night well at the the Power Rangers VR I took it with whole sack tracker to be a Power Ranger yesterday I got I got two I wasn't Power Ranger but I got to fly the Zord the the dinosaur t-rex Zord for about you with a ranger and the Mighty Morphin Power Man was the but from the movies so he's all amped up you're more emo emo with a little bit more what did you do what was in the I basically was in the cockpit of the Zord a kind of excuse you here the red red to talk about how powerful and awesome it is it flies up and then we think something cool is about to happen it ends please tell me that was there anybody else in that experience that was more after than you then yeah you know Ranger I'm a Power Ranger which you know it's really powerful Zordon and he seemed actually less enthusiastic about it than I did Sally in person or like it was he a virtual but is really just Bryan Cranston's face that's good weird it was like Walter White telling you that you empowers wonderful there I just kind of got thrown off by the Power Ranger things sounds crazy but yeah I don't think actually the same deal with the position tracking like I was actually able to move and this was a wireless headset I was able to get up move around duck I found myself actually like 10 feet away from the Power Rangers and I can actually walk closer to them so it was actually a pretty cool experience so the first time I tried I had reviewer had said I was in a little apartment on a chair I turned my head to see something else and bonk I hit the wall so I do like the idea of Intel actually saying hey by the way don't turn into that because I was wearing one of those David views well it's an interesting idea of like you know the merged and mixed reality like what what exactly is going to come next with VR and AR and how are we gonna integrate they I've heard this said so many times by different tech executives that the digital and the physical are merging together and these are the continuation of that so we're gonna see more of this as we move forward and the last thing I liked I liked about the Intel one is that you could actually see other players at the same time so you not just by yourself we're gonna have a lot more tomorrow army guys so I think it's gonna wrap it up for us you can find the 359 on iTunes SoundCloud Google Play and of course cnet.com with the 359 podcast Amaya's actor ed fox Ruben thanks for watching