Google has teamed up with more automakers to offer vehicles that come pre-installed with Google apps, the company revealed today at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. Nissan, Ford and Lincoln are rolling out select models with built-in Google Maps, Assistant and Play Store — among other applications — this year, while Porsche is expected to follow suit in 2025. They're the upcoming addition to the growing list of auto brands embracing tighter Google integration, which includes Honda, Volvo, Polestar, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Renault.
The company has also announced new features for cars with built-in Google apps. One of those features rolling out today is the ability to send trips users have planned on their Android or iOS Google Maps app to their cars. That way, they'll no longer need to plug in multi-stop trips on their car's Google Maps again after they've already plotted it meticulously on their phones. In addition, Chrome is making its way to select Polestar and Volvo cars today as part of a beta release, allowing users to browse websites and even access their bookmarks while they're parked. The browser will be available for more cars later this year.
Google is also adding PBS KIDS and Crunchyroll to its list of apps for vehicles to give users and their kids access to more entertainment content. And to give drivers a quick way to keep an eye on changing weather conditions, Google's built-in apps for cars now includes The Weather Channel's. It will provide users with hourly forecasts, as well as alerts and a "Trip View" radar on their dashboard, so they no longer have to check their phones. Finally, Google has announced that it's expanding its digital car keys' availability to select Volvo cars soon, allowing owners to unlock, lock and even start their cars with their Android phone.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-apps-are-coming-to-select-ford-nissan-and-lincoln-vehicles-in-2024-180007640.html?src=rss
Vehicle-based voice assistants are the next great frontier, incorporating artificial intelligence into the driving experience. At CES 2024, Amazon and BMW announced a partnership to significantly improve the pre-existing experience, marrying a large language model (LLM) with Alexa and the actual driver’s manual. The end result? You can ask the Alexa-powered chatbot anything about your car and receive accurate real-time information. That’s right. That thick and unwieldy manual can stay in the glovebox, for good.
Amazon says this tool offers a “more natural way of getting to know your new car.” You can ask how various features work, like the parking assistance system, and get conversational answers. Both companies suggest that this voice technology will “strip away complexity and minimize distractions in the car.”
It’s not just an information delivery system. You can also ask the bot to take actions on your behalf, like entering a specific drive mode. Additionally, this will fully integrate with the infotainment system, so you’ll be able to ask the assistant to turn on music, navigate to a destination, change the internal temperature and just about anything else.
BMW has been using Amazon Alexa in its infotainment systems for years, but this is a significant step forward. The companies previously announced a partnership to build a custom BMW in-vehicle voice assistant that used Alexa as a framework, and this looks to be part of that effort.
There’s something of an arms race with this tech. Volkswagen announced something similar in Las Vegas this week. It plans on merging ChatGPT with its current IDA voice assistant, and this feature will begin showing up in forthcoming vehicles. Mercedes also made an announcement regarding ChatGPT integration last year.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-and-bmw-are-replacing-the-drivers-manual-with-ai-173031770.html?src=rss
Between the ASUS ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go and the Steam Deck, AMD has a virtual monopoly over the chips powering high-end gaming handhelds. But for the Claw, MSI is partnering up with Intel to bring a little more balance to the portable PC performance wars.
On paper and in its design, MSI’s Claw shares a lot with the ROG Ally. It has a 7-inch full HD LCD screen with 500 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. (I asked an MSI rep if the Claw also supports VRR, but they didn’t have an immediate answer, so stay tuned.) Even its case looks very familiar, with both handhelds sporting almost identical chassis, button layouts and power buttons with built-in fingerprint sensors, except that the Claw is black and has much bigger grips, which makes it way more comfortable to hold.
But that’s where the similarities come to an end, because on the inside, the Claw is powered by either an Intel Core Ultra 7 or Core Ultra 5 chip depending on the configuration. That’s a pretty big departure amongst the sea of AMD-based alternatives, and may have some people wondering if Intel’s first foray into high-end gaming handhelds can keep up. That’s because in addition to a new chip, developers will be relying on Intel’s integrated Arc graphics and a library of drivers that simply aren’t as deep or as well tested as AMD’s. It’s also unclear how much the NPU inside Intel’s latest chip will help with things like XeSS super sampling, which is sure to play a big part in the Claw’s capabilities.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
However, even on the pre-production models with unfinished software (including beta drivers) that I tested things were surprisingly smooth. Launching games was snappy and I only ran into a small handful of hitches. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pull up MSI’s built-in performance monitor, as its MSI Center game launcher is still a work in progress. A spokesperson I talked to claimed that, during internal testing, the Claw delivered 20 to 25 percent higher frame rates than an equivalent AMD-based handheld in 14 out of 15 popular titles. That’s a pretty big claim but, if those figures carry over to a larger library of modern games, AMD might soon find itself playing catch-up. But, that’s a big if.
Another benefit of going with an Intel chip is that it allows MSI to include a Thunderbolt 4 port (Thunderbolt is a proprietary connector owned by Intel), which brings super fast data speeds and the option of hooking up an external graphics dock if you want even more performance. MSI is even using one of Intel’s Killer modems that includes support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, so wireless connectivity is pretty much as good as it gets.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Also, while I didn’t have enough time to test its longevity, the 53Whr battery should give the Claw some significant advantages over the ROG Ally, which has just a40Whr pack. There’s huge mesh vents on its back too, which should help keep MSI’s handheld and your hands from getting too sweaty. Also, both the Claw’s buttons and joysticks use precise hall effect sensors, compared to the Ally whose sticks relies on potentiometers. In a lot of ways, the Claw feels like what a mid-life refresh for the Ally might look like, assuming ASUS felt like switching from AMD to Intel.
Even this early there’s a lot to like about MSI’s new Intel-based handheld. And when you factor in that the Claw starts at $699 with a Core Ultra 5 chip, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, $749 for a faster model with a Core Ultra 7 CPU or $799 for one with a 1TB SSD, it looks to be pretty competitive regarding pricing as well.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Unfortunately, there’s no word on an official release, though MSI says it’s shooting for a window closer to the end of Q1 instead of Q2. And as someone who loved the huge wave of gaming handhelds we got last year, it’s really encouraging to see MSI carry that momentum into 2024 with the Claw.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-intel-powered-msi-claw-is-challenging-amds-handheld-gaming-monopoly-ces-2024-171643042.html?src=rss
I'm convinced that CES is a grilling show now, and Weber is the primary reason for that. In 2020, the company demoed its SmokeFire pellet grills and Smart Grilling Hub, both of which are powered by its Weber Connect platform. The Wi-Fi-enabled tech brought remote monitoring, step-by-step guidance and other conveniences to the company's product lineup. Weber has since expanded those smart features to some gas grills, and at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, it's adding two more models to the Connect roster.
The Searwood is an all-new smart pellet grill that will replace the SmokeFire in North America. Besides doing low-and-slow smoking and high-heat searing like most pellet grills can, this model is also designed to be used with the lid open. This allows you to use griddle inserts for breakfast and smash burgers. The Searwood has a dedicated mode that you'll enable when you need to keep the lid up, and you can set the heat level (1-10) rather than setting an overall grill temp. According to the company, a 2 would be good for something like pancakes, while a 7 might work well for bacon and 10 could be used to put a finishing sear on a steak.
The company redesigned the controller on Searwood, building it to constantly monitor and adjust to better maintain the target temperature during the cook. The display offers larger numbers for the grill temp, while also showing food probe temperatures and cook time on the same panel. The larger Searwood 600 XL also displays pellet levels so you know when you need to replenish the hopper. Searwood has a wide temperature range of 180 degrees Fahrenheit to 600 degrees, so it's still capable of slow-smoked brisket, high-heat seared proteins and everything in between.
As part of the new design, Weber opted for a cast aluminum construction for the Searwood like it has used for its gas grills. That brings enhanced weatherproofing, but it also helps with more even distribution of heat. The company's Flavorizer bar is still inside and a reconfigured pellet hopper helps with fuel loading. Weber also brought over its Pull and Clean drip pan system to this pellet grill, making grease and ash removal easier. The company even says you won't need a shop vac to clean Searwood, a claim I look forward to testing.
The Searwood 600 and Searwood 600 XL will be available for $899 and $1,199 this spring. Both of those are cheaper that the second-gen SmokeFire models the company currently offers.
Weber Summit (2024)
Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget
In addition to a brand new smart pellet grill for CES, Weber also added tons of connected smart features to its high-end Summit gas grills. Before now, if you wanted access to remote monitoring and the step-by-step guidance of built-in Weber Connect while cooking with gas, you had to buy a Genesis model. The company has greatly expanded its smart features for the Summit, via tech it calls SmartControl. This setup allows you to use either your phone or the grill's large, full-color touchscreen display to set and change grill temp, select your cooking method (direct on indirect) and monitor quick start and preheating so you know when the grill is ready. You can also keep tabs on fuel levels, continuously view cooking progress, get alerts when food is ready and shut down the grill without touching it.
Depending on which cooking method you select, the display will show you where you need to place your food to achieve the proper results. You do still have to approach the grill to turn it on, which is done with a single press after you set your desired temperature. All of the old burner knobs are gone as the new Summit automatically sets the level based on your temp and cooking method selections. There are up and down buttons for manually adjusting the burners though, as well as a dedicated button for igniting the top-mounted infrared broiler. But, you can also do that by swiping right on the touch display. The adjustable top grate also has the cooking area for the broiler outlined so you know where to place food for the best results.
Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget
Another aspect of the SmartControl tech is the ability to control gas flow to individual burners. The setup constantly monitors and immediately reacts to temperature changes to maintain the desired level and prevent over or undercooking foods. There's an integrated electronic gas valve system that serves as the foundation for SmartControl, continuously sensing flame presence across both the main burners and the broiler. It can also automatically trigger re-ignition as needed or shut the grill down when it isn't achieved.
Weber redesigned its fuel-monitoring tech underneath the Summit too. Now there's a scale of sorts that more accurately measures gas levels. There's ample storage space underneath and a built-in rotisserie base along with a side burner for cooking sauces and sides. The Summit works with Weber Crafted accessories like a pizza stone to expand the capabilities of the grill even further.
The 2024 Weber Summit grills will be available this spring in the US starting at $3,899.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/weber-reveals-its-more-affordable-more-versatile-searwood-smart-grill-at-ces-2024-150053207.html?src=rss
Laptop RAM is facing a conundrum. The SODIMM standard — which is basically a shrunken form of desktop RAM modules — is almost 25 years old and facing an upcoming speed wall. With the demand for thinner machines, laptop makers have also started soldering LPDDR RAM directly onto motherboards, or bundling it into mobile SoCs like Apple Silicon, both of which make upgrades impossible. At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Micron says it's the first to market with a compelling alternative: LPCAMM2 RAM modules using LPDDR5X.
Sure, it's an acronym salad, but there's a chance that Micron's technology, along with other CAMM2 offerings, could be a huge memory upgrade for laptops. The news comes after the JEDEC standards body officially published the CAMM2 standard in December, and Samsung claimed it was the first to announce an LPCAMM module last September.
But Micron and Samsung didn't get to LPCAMM on their own. Sensing a clear need for a new spin on RAM designs, Dell has been developing an in-house alternative to SODIMMs (Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Modules) over the past few years dubbed CAMM, or Compression Attached Memory Module. Instead of large memory sticks, CAMM places memory chips on a module that's screwed into a PC's motherboard. The result is memory that takes up far less space, and has the potential to be faster and dramatically more efficient since it can reach the CPU with shorter traces. Dell tested out non-standard CAMM modules on the Precision 7670 in 2022, which led to a bit of an internet firestorm.
Micron claims its modules with LPDDR5X RAM (available in 16GB to 64GB) take up 64 percent less space than SODIMM memory, use 61 percent less power and are 71 percent faster in PCMark 10 essential workloads. The CAMM2 standard supports both DDR5 for mainstream machines, as well as LPDDR5 and 5X for "a broader range of notebooks and certain server market segments," according to JEDEC. LPDDR has been more common in laptops because it can run at low power levels while still offering high-speed data transfers.
In addition to the speed and power benefits, CAMM2 modules re-open the doors for RAM upgrades and repairability for consumers and IT workers, something that has been lost as soldered memory has become more common. As much as we love Apple's latest MacBooks, the inability to add more RAM will always keep them from being truly perfect.
The only downside with CAMM2 is that swapping out the modules requires dealing with several screws. That's a small price to pay for the possibility of upgrades, in my opinion, and those screws also make RAM far more secure than SODIMMs. (As an IT worker, I often had to reseat laptop RAM modules several times a month. I don't miss those days.)
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/micron-debuts-lpcamm2-laptop-ram-that-could-finally-replace-sodimm-140018881.html?src=rss
The long, cold winter days of January are meant for shutting out the world, and to properly do so, you need a great pair of headphones. Fortunately, Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones are currently on sale for $300, down from $400 — a 25 percent discount. If you've considered them in the past, now is the time to pick up a pair: Our favorite wireless headphones are about $30 less than their typical sale price and have very rarely dropped lower. The only slight caveat of this deal: It's only available on the classic Black Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones.
We have been rightfully obsessed with Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones since they first came on the scene in May 2022. They earned a 95 in our review thanks to features like their 30-hour battery life and improved noise canceling with double the number of processors and microphones for ANC compared to its predecessor, the M4.
The WH-1000XM5's sound quality has improved with the help of new 30mm carbon drivers, providing more clarity and a punchier bass. Even using the DSEE extreme has almost no impact on the condition of what comes through the speakers. Sony also cut the headphone's weight by a minimal 0.14 ounces, yet it has a much lighter feel and better weight distribution overall. Even the synthetic leather ear cushions are snug and comfortable.
As it often does in Las Vegas, Sony focused its CES 2024 keynote on some of the company's more esoteric products. To start with, it rolled out the Afeela electric car first introduced last year at CES, but did it with some gaming panache by driving it using a PlayStation DualSense controller. Otherwise, it mostly talked about how the in-vehicle experience is getting smarter thanks to our old friend, artificial intelligence (AI).
Sony also unveiled something else we weren't expecting, namely a new mixed reality headset. Unlike the PlayStation VR 2 consumer model, though, this one is designed for "spatial content creation," so it's designed more for developers, creators and artists than users.
It's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip (so it doesn't need to be tethered to a computer) and comes with a controller wand and a smaller ring-sized peripheral. It also sports dual 4K OLEDS microdisplays for a "crisp viewing experience" and allows for "user and space tracking" for mixed reality experiences. There's no word on price, but we should know more when it goes on sale later in 2024.
The company also discussed its latest offerings from Sony Pictures entertainment, some PlayStation stats and more. The press conference went on for 46 minutes, but we've cut it down to just six so you can get the gist as quickly as possible.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-sonys-ces-2024-keynote-in-under-6-minutes-110037656.html?src=rss
CES 2024 may not have officially started yet, but the news is already in full swing. The show’s official dates are January 9-12, with the 8th usually being a day of press conferences ahead of the convention centers opening to attendees. Which makes this… Day 0 of CES 2024.
The announcements on this day usually gives us an idea of what to expect for the rest of the week, and this year we’re already seeing some emerging trends. Samsung and LG both brought us transparent display tech, we saw a slew of pet and kitchen gadgets, while vibrating and massage chairs have taken over the showfloor. Here’s a recap of the biggest news out of CES 2024 so far.
Let’s start with the companies that couldn’t even wait till we were in Vegas to share their news.
On January 3rd, just one day after people returned to work on the New Year, LG announced it would be bringing its new DukeBox smart speaker to the show. The DukeBox features vacuum tube audio placed behind a transparent OLED screen, allowing you to see the vacuum pipes for a retro vibe even as something is on the display. LG also teased a two-legged AI-powered robot, a 27-inch OLED gaming monitor that goes up to 480Hz, its latest 4K OLED TVs with AI processors, Gram laptops with AI features and the CineBeam Qube 4K projector.
We’ve now seen many of these things in person and I’ll tell you more about them in a bit, but other PC and gaming peripheral companies also teased their wares prior to the show. Dell, for example, showed its new XPS 13, 14 and 16 laptops alongside a curved 40-inch 5K monitor that it says offers “five-star comfort.”
For instance, Samsung had a whole truckload of new products to share. Yes, it did announce most of its news ahead of CES, but a lot of it was really interesting. The one that stole most of our attention was the world’s first transparent MicroLED screen — that's a screen you can see through even as it displays content, and is completely clear when nothing is on. According to our senior reporter Sam Rutherford, who saw the screens up close last night at Samsung’s First Look showcase, the transparent MicroLED panel was significantly brighter and noticeably clearer than the transparent LCD and OLED screens next to it.
Samsung also launched a new speaker version of its Frame TV, called the Music Frame. This is basically a photo frame that can hold a photograph or art print, while also hiding a solid speaker within. It basically masquerades as home decor, but that doesn’t diminish its capability. It has two woofers, two tweeters and two mid-range drivers, and also supports Dolby’s Atmos audio. You can pair it with your existing home audio system or use it standalone.
That’s not all Samsung unveiled. It also showed off Premiere projectors that can turn any surface into an interactive display, as well as its 2024 TV lineup that features plenty of AI.
Samsung’s main rival at CES is LG, since both companies tend to show off an incredibly similar portfolio of products. This year, LG also came to the game with transparency as its secret weapon, showing off the “world’s first wireless transparent OLED TV.” According to Billy Steele, who’s seen this OLED T TV, “some of the visuals are a bit unsettling,” but because the transparent background made it feel like things on display, like a singer, seemed like they were actually in the room. He said image quality was bright and sharp, though, and that it was comparable to Samsung’s MicroLED version. Though LG’s set seems more ready for public consumption, the company did not share pricing information, just that it’ll be ready to sell the OLED T this year.
LG also brought the other products I mentioned earlier and I was able to check out the new Gram Pro laptops in person at the Unveiled showcase last night. They’re impressively thin and light, as usual, and trying to do bicep curls with them is really not a challenge.
We also saw a slew of kitchen and pet products at Unveiled, including GE’s Profile smart indoor smoker that cooks meats and imparts a woody flavor without actually smoking up your apartment. The Flappie AI cat door, meanwhile, uses AI to see if your cat is coming back to your house with a rodent and automatically lock so it can’t come inside with the gross gift.
There’s so much more that I can barely cover in this single recap article, so I urge you to check out our liveblog, which we update all the time with the latest news. This has only been a collection of news from the day before the day before the show officially opens, and we’ve barely begun. Stick around as we continue to cover the biggest news and trawl through the convention to find you the most noteworthy developments from CES 2024.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ces-2024-day-0-recap-all-the-biggest-news-and-the-most-transparent-tvs-051811355.html?src=rss
CES has increasingly become a grilling show, with companies constantly finding ways to bring more tech to your deck or patio. One company that's added a dash of AI to its spice rack is Seergrills, a UK-based startup comprised of engineers and product developers. Its flagship model, the Perfecta, can cook a one-inch-thick ribeye steak in 90 seconds. Overall, the company says the grill, a unit that looks more like a see-through counter-top oven, cooks foods around 10 times faster than conventional cooking methods.
Inside, dual vertical infrared burners cook both sides simultaneously, which not only expedites the process, but it also eliminates the need to flip. Seergrills says the burners top out at 1,652 degrees Fahrenheit and the unit can even ensure edges are crisp thanks to 360-degree heating. A built-in AI chef takes the desired doneness and sear level into account, calculating the proper cooking time and temp based on the food. Sensors detect the thickness of things like steak and chicken to prevent over or undercooking and the burners automatically move toward and away from foods as needed during the process. The entire smart setup is what Seergrills calls NeuralFire, with a quad-core processor and host of sensors for gathering cooking data.
Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget
The vertical orientation nixes any flareups, according to the company, as only smoke and water vapor are exhausted out of the top, with fat and grease collected in a dishwasher-safe drip pan at the bottom. The Perfecta also has oven and rotisserie modes, so you can cook pizza and roasted chicken with ease. There's a Chef Mode too, offering full control over the unit. Plus, the company has designed a grill cart for a full outdoor setup. Due to the power of the burners, the Perfecta runs on gas, with a 12-volt electrical cord for the onboard electronics. Those include a touch screen for entering your desired cooking parameters. Since this is an outdoor grill after all, we weren't able to see it cooking at a tradeshow table. but the company says it will be available to early buyers before the end of the year.
Seergrills is planning to ship the Perfecta in Q4 of 2024 at a price of $3,500. Early adopters can save $1,000 through the end of CES.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-perfecta-grill-uses-ai-to-help-cook-a-steak-in-90-seconds-041030578.html?src=rss
We didn’t have to wait long to get more details about Sony's new mixed reality headset. Just after Sony teased the “spatial content creation” device onstage at CES 2024, we got a fresh look, and a few more details about the headset during Siemens’ keynote in Las Vegas.
The two companies are teaming up on the device as part of a broader vision to enable an “industrial metaverse” where mixed reality plays a central role in businesses’ manufacturing and design processes. It’s still not clear what the device is actually called — Siemens’ press release refers to it only as “Sony’s new spatial content creation system,” — but the company shared that the headset will be available beginning “later in 2024.”
We also got a new look at the headset itself which, according to Siemens, is equipped with “4K OLED microdisplays.” And, as we noted during Sony’s keynote, the device will be enabled with some unusual-looking controllers. It appears there’s one worn on the finger and another, larger controller that looks more like a typical VR controller.
The two companies also showed off a number of potential use cases for the tech. For example, Red Bull Racing’s engineering and design teams will use the headset to visualize the cockpit of a Formula One car (the Red Bull rep onstage said it was still “early days for us at the moment” regarding the tech).
Siemens is pitching the headset as a tool to enable what the company has dubbed the “industrial metaverse,” which CEO Dr. Roland Busch defined as “an immersive space where people and AI can collaborate in real time to solve real world problems.”
The keynote seemed to confirm that the headset is intended to be used in industrial and professional settings rather than consumer ones. As expected, this is not an Apple Vision Pro competitor. But it could still open up some interesting new possibilities for mixed reality that may be more appealing than VR workstations.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-new-spatial-headset-will-power-whatever-the-industrial-metaverse-is-040838964.html?src=rss