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TECHNOLOGY A23
Monday 11 January 2016
From the high-flying to the practical: CES 2016 in brief
Bao Truong looks at a display of Samsung SUHD Quantum dot and Western Europe by up called uSens showed pany priced at $599 — or
display TVs at the Samsung booth during CES International, Fri- 2018. off a prototype headset $1,499 with the high-pow-
day, Jan. 8, 2016, in Las Vegas. attached to a Samsung ered computer necessary
TVs Galaxy S6 smartphone that to make it work. Facebook-
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) TV makers like Samsung, had forward-facing infra- owned Oculus began tak-
LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL red and optical cameras ing orders Wednesday for
RYAN NAKASHIMA itself. touted a new standard for so wearers could use their delivery starting at the end
KIM PIERCEALL Companies are making screens called HDR, or high hands to manipulate virtual of March.
TOM KRISHER drones smaller and smarter dynamic range, which objects.
Associated Press than ever for that high-tech show images with higher Google and Lenovo an- SMART HOME
LAS VEGAS (AP) — This selfie. Many can hover and contrast and more vivid nounced a consumer mo- More intelligent home ap-
year’s CES gadget show, shoot up to 4K video, and colors. The new tech cre- bile device would go on pliances that can tell peo-
like ones before it, showed several companies are ates another chicken-and- sale this summer that incor- ple how well they’re sleep-
off a mix of the dreamy working toward includ- egg problem for the TV in- poratestechnology from ing, order more dishwasher
and the practical in tech- ing a more difficult “follow dustry, as only a handful of its depth-sensing Project detergent and know how
nology. Gadget proto- me” function into drones movies and TV shows have Tango robotic sight tech- much ketchup is likely left in
types promised us fully au- so small they fall under the been reissued in a format nology. That could make the bottle were among the
tonomous vehicles carrying minimum weight requiring that takes advantage of it easy to do things like get gadgets on display at CES.
commuters on the streets registration by the Federal HDR. turn-by-turn directions in- Segway, the maker of the
and in the sky, while gizmos Aviation Administration. There are also disparate doors or measure dimen- two-wheel transporters
went on sale that aimed to standards that might end sions in a room just by using popular with city tour guide
solve daily problems like re- CONNECTED CARS up confusing consumers; the device’s cameras. companies, hopes that by
stocking your fridge. Here’s Automakers and parts sup- some flavors of HDR are But the biggest news was next year people might
a quick summary of the pliers took further steps to branded “premium” while the sticker-shock of Oculus’ add a personal robot to
highlights of CES 2016: make autonomous driv- others only processed HDR consumer version of its Rift their homes to carry the
ing a reality. Quanergy, signals but don’t relay all headset, which the com- groceries home.q
DRONES for instance, announced the benefits to the screen.
Drones might no longer a low-cost version of laser-
be just a toy for hobbyists based sensors called Lidar VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED
or weapons for the mili- that cuts the cost of outfit- REALITY
tary. Chinese drone maker ting autos with the technol- Some companies showed
Ehang Inc. unveiled what ogy to around $1,000 per off technology that com-
it called the world’s first car from about $70,000. bined augmented reality
drone capable of carry- Israeli company Mobileye — which superimposes dig-
ing a human passenger, and German company ital images and text on the
a four-armed quadcopter Here announced plans real world — and virtual
with eight propellers that to start making super-de- reality — which blocks out
it said has been on more tailed road maps based on the real world in a com-
than 100 test flights, includ- cameras and sensors that pletely immersive environ-
ing some with a human exist in cars today. Those ment using a headset and
passenger. maps will help autonomous headphones.
The idea is to set a course vehicles navigate in poor HTC says it’s launching the
and then sit back for about weather. Owned by Audi, latest version of its Vive
a 20-minute ride — assum- BMW and Mercedes, Here headset with a front-fac-
ing, of course, that regu- said it plans to have de- ing camera that allows
lators approve, which will tailed maps of the highway users to do real-life things
probably be a long haul networks in North America like take a drink or sit down
without taking it off. A start-
