2013

LAS VEGAS--There's no question that flexible screens are the future, along with the bendable products that go with them. Corning, maker of Gorilla Glass 3, was kind enough to drop by our CNET booth at CES to show me Willow Glass, its take on bendable glass so thin you can curve it in a deep arc without breaking.

Willow Glass is as thick as a business card -- only 0.1 millimeter thick -- and as malleable as promised. I could easily bend it within its plastic laminate cover, but at this early stage in development, I wasn't … Read more

LAS VEGAS--When the company behind the gesture technology in the Kinect came to CES a year ago to show how its 3D sensors can enable people to control their TVs with simple gestures, its execs talked about how their sensors eventually would be embedded in mobile devices, opening up a range of possible applications.

At CES 2013, that company, Israeli-based PrimeSense, showed off the tiny sensor it says will soon make that a reality.

PrimeSense's new 3D sensor, called Capri, is 10 times smaller than its current sensor and, according to the company, the smallest in the world. The … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Eton has unveiled a few different solar charging Bluetooth speakers here in Las Vegas. Earlier we highlighted the Rokus XL, but here's a closer look at the Rugged Rukus, the company's more compact model, which is due to hit stores in the next few months for $99.99.

The lightweight Rugged Rukus has a splashproof rubberized exterior, a 20-square-inch solar panel and a USB port for charging cell phones.

The internal lithium ion battery gives you about 8 hours of audio streaming via its wireless Bluetooth connection and it takes about 5 hours to charge in full … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Don't believe the image makers.

They tell you that pictures are all, that a thousand words won't make up for one visual.

Yet what hurts us most? The pictures people take of us? Or the words they say to us?

So while exhibitors at CES try to inflame you with their glamor and their allure it's worth focusing for a moment on what they're actually saying. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The LCD touch screen has become commonplace in cars, but the technology suffers from limited shaping. Texas Instruments used its Digital Light Processor (DLP) technology to come up with a display that could take a wide variety of shapes in the car, and allow touch control for people wearing gloves.

In its exhibition area at CES 2013, Texas Instruments had a car dashboard mounted on a stand to show off the concept. A very large screen followed the curves of the dashboard down the center stack, capable of showing car functions such as navigation, phone, and audio. Just like … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- When the head of ZTE's North American business, Lixin Cheng, approached the U.S. carriers about building smartphones more than two years ago, he was met with skepticism.

During Cheng's meetings here at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the carrier executives have told him: "Show me more."

It's indicative of the tremendous strides that ZTE has made in its relationships with the carriers, even as its brand continues to fly under the radar for consumers. After toiling in relative anonymity for the last two years building low-end and mass-market smartphones, the … Read more

LAS VEGAS--No need go into freak-out mode next time your favorite animal goes astray. Tracker Technologies is offering a handy locator solution with its MSP340 pet tracker.

We've seen other trackers before, such as Tagg, but this collar-based tracker, also known as the tbpt Tracker, works with an Android app that the company is showing off at CES 2013.

You attach the waterproof GPS/GSM collar to your pooch, and then forget about it.

If Rover bolts from the yard, activate the free app to figure out where he is.

Using the map function on the app, you can … Read more

LAS VEGAS--As their name suggests, SleepPhones (tagline: "pajamas for your ears") are designed for those who want to lie down while listening to music with a pair of headphones. Traditional headphones or earphones tend to get in the way or feel uncomfortable, especially when you rest on your side.

The current version of the SleepPhones, released in 2007, is essentially a pair of earphones hidden within a soft fleece headband. Most people will probably wear it like a hairband, though I can see the product being used as an eye mask for sleeping on a plane. Over the years, the material and speakers have been improved, but the cord remains. This limitation somehow doesn't give as much freedom in terms of head movement, and you have to keep the player close by. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--It's clear that computers, and tablets, are evolving. In a show full of some very big ideas, the Razer Edge gaming tablet takes the concept of tablet PCs championed by Windows 8 and devices like the Microsoft Surface and applies them to gaming. In doing so, it succeeds in showing us where tablets, computing, and even entertainment will be heading very soon. That's why it won Best of Show this year, and why it compelled us to award it as the best in its category. The Edge is evolutionary computing, but in a product that is very real, with little that's left to proprietary question marks.

The Edge went head-to-head with fellow gaming tablet nominee, the Nvidia Shield. The Shield got a splashy CES press conference unveiling and got many of us talking about the future of tablets and gaming. We were thrilled, in the middle of this conversation, to spend time with the Razer Edge and discover that this device offers a lot of what the Shield promises -- a gaming tablet with an attachable game pad that offers a variety of streaming and media features -- as soon as February. … Read more