Griffin is trying its hand at smart kitchen appliances

You can forget smart fridges that will set you back thousands of dollars, because there’s now a more affordable way to start getting your kitchen connected. Mobile accessories company Griffin Technology today announced its move into “AppPowered” appliances with its new home range. Unveiling a smart toaster, a connected coffee maker and even a futuristic WiFi mirror, its new smart appliances aim to make your life easier on the cheap, thanks to mobile integration.

Claiming to help you “toast smarter,” the new Bluetooth-enabled toaster lets users adjust temperature and create presets for different bread types from their smartphone, even allowing them to choose how dark they want their toast. Griffin’s new connected coffee maker also works over Bluetooth, allowing you to adjust coffee strength and quantity through its companion mobile app. Both the connected toaster and connected coffee maker will go on sale before the summer, costing $100 each. Apparently we’ve been toasting stupid this whole time, who knew?

Griffin’s most intriguing product, however, is less reasonably priced. Retailing at $1,000, the company’s connected mirror looks like something straight out of a sci-fi novel. Working over WiFi, this smart mirror shows you the time, weather, news and updates from other smart Griffin devices. Via the app, you can choose how much information is displayed and even turn if off completely in a hangover-friendly move.

Working via the app, you can choose how much information to display on the mirror and even turn off the display completely in a hangover-friendly move. If you’ve ever wanted to be reminded of how late you’re running while squeezing a zit out of your face, then your prayers will be answered in “late” 2017.

While Griffin is expanding into a whole new category, it hasn’t forgotten about bread and butter mobile accessories. The company is also launching a couple of new mobile chargers that remind users to charge when they hit a pre-defined battery percentage. Because who has time to read anymore? The PowerBlock Beacon and PowerJolt Beacon will be out by summer, costing $40 and $30, respectively.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Apple is investing $1 billion in Softbank’s Vision Fund

At best, most consumers know Softbank as the Japanese phone carrier that owns Sprint — but the company is much bigger than that. Softbank has its hands in robotics, smart vehicles, processors and more. It even invests in other companies, and recently set up the Softbank Vision Fund with the goal of pouring billions of dollars into promising start ups. Now that fund is getting another investor: Apple.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has pledged to invest $1 billion in Softbank’s Vision Fund. “We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple,” spokeswoman Krisitn Huguet said. Softbank is expected to use the find to invest in smart objects, and IoT connected projects — an area Apple has mostly stayed away from.

It’s a good way for Apple to grab some stake in an area of technology it’s otherwise left alone, but don’t expect a lot more contributions from the company. When Tim Cook first commented on Softbank’s fund back in July, he noted an investment might be incoming, but that it won’t be “something that you’ll see a whole string of from us.”

Source: WSJ

Live from Samsung’s CES 2017 keynote!

It’s no secret that Samsung didn’t have the best 2016, so you know the company is ready to start the new year on a high note. While it already introduced a couple of products ahead of CES 2017, there should be some surprises at its keynote today. To make sure you don’t miss any announcements from the event, bookmark this page and join our liveblog at 2PM PT/5PM ET.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

How to follow Engadget at CES 2017

ICYMI, the Engadget Team has assembled in Las Vegas for CES 2017! Yes, we’ll be exhaustively covering press conferences and showing you the weirdest gadgets known to man. But, we’ll also be documenting our experiences (from every literal angle) across our many social media channels. So without further ado, below are links to all of Engadget’s social media channels and a list of the editors you should follow for liveblogs and live-tweets from CES 2017’s many (many) events.

PS: Don’t forget to check the tag #EngadgetCES on the social channel of your choice and “@” us if you’d like to chat.

Follow our coverage

• Facebook
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List of all the staff at CES 2017

• Michael Gorman – @Numeson
• Christopher Trout – @Mr_Trout
• Dana Wollman – @danawollman
• Terrence O’Brien – @TerrenceOBrien
• James Trew – @itstrew
• Mallory Johns – @mmsuperflyjr
• Richard Lawler – @Rjcc
• Nicole Lee – @nicole
• Aaron Souppouris – @AaronIsSocial
• Mat Smith – @thatmatsmith
• Devindra Hardawar – @devindra
• Jessica Conditt – @JessConditt
• Mona Lalwani – @monalalwani
• Roberto Baldwin – @strngwys
• Daniel Cooper – @danielwcooper
• Nathan Ingraham – @nateingraham
• Edgar Alvarez – @abcdedgar
• Chris Velazco – @chrisvelazco
• Cherlynn Low – @cherlynnlow
• Jon Turi – @jonturi
• Billy Steele – @wmsteele
• Andrew Tarantola – @terrortola
• Michael Morris – @MichaelLeeM
• Olivia Speranza – @oliviasperanza
• Shivani Khattar – @shivanikhattar
• Kerry Davis – @mskerryd
• Jose del Corral – @j0se
• Stefan Rimola – @lok1vip
• Nick Summers – @nisummers

Samsung and Google built their ideal Chromebook

Late last year, I lamented that Google didn’t make Chromebooks a priority over the holiday season. With Android apps and the Google Play Store coming to the platform, it seemed like a perfect time to push Chrome OS. As this morning’s leak showed, I just needed to wait another month: Samsung and Google have just announced the Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro, a pair of laptops that strive to present the best Chrome OS experience a user can have.

Let’s get the difference between the two models out of the way early: The cheaper Chromebook Plus uses an ARM processor while the Chromebook Pro features an Intel Core M3 processor. Neither is the most powerful out there, but in my quick tests, the Chromebook Pro seemed plenty snappy. I will note that an ARM processor is probably never going to provide the best Chromebook experience one can have, but I’ll grudgingly reserve judgement until really testing it out.

But everything else about the two computers is the same. Both have 12.3-inch displays with 2,400 x 1,600 screen resolution (and the same 3:2 aspect ratio of the Chromebook Pixel). But instead of making everything super tiny, the display scales things down to 1,200 x 800 by default. Don’t worry, though, everything is super crisp and clear. Fortunately if you need more real estate, there are plenty of options here. Four gigs of RAM and 32GB of internal storage round out the basic spec sheet, and battery life is rated at eight hours.

As you might expect, the screen is a touchscreen, all the better to use Android apps. In fact, this is the first Chromebook that’ll come with Google Play pre-installed. The Chromebook Plus is scheduled to launch first, in February, and the Play Store will still be in beta. But when the Pro launches later this spring, it will come out of beta running with full Android Nougat support. These laptops truly represent the coming-out party of Android apps on Chrome OS.

The screen has another unique trick to the Chromebook space, as well — it’s the first screen to support a stylus. Samsung has a lot of experience with the stylus, and it comes to bear here. There’s a slot on the side of the computer to tuck the stylus in, and when you want to start writing you can pop it out, Galaxy Note style. Indeed, the stylus is basically identical to what Samsung has offered on the Note series in recent years.

To make for a better note-taking experience, the Chromebook Plus and Pro both can flip their screens all the way around and work as a tablet. I’ve always been a bit dubious of the reversible screen tablet form factor, but these Chromebooks are light enough to make it workable, if not the most comfortable experience. At 2.38 pounds, you’re not going to want to hold this up for long, but putting it down on the desk to take notes is works just fine.

Once you start taking notes, Google’s newest contribution to Chrome OS becomes clear. The Google Keep app has been redesigned with handwriting in mind. Using the company’s vast amount of machine learning data, it can analyze your notes and make them searchable, so your handwritten notes are just as easy to find as things you type out. Those notes sync back to the cloud and are available and searchable in the Keep mobile app for iOS and Android, as well.

Google is also using its machine learning chops to improve handwriting recognition and latency when writing notes. By analyzing a huge sample of handwritten notes, the Keep app can predict what you’re most likely to be writing based on the first few letters you start drawing. It sounds similar to the autocomplete word suggestions that the iOS and Android keyboards give users, but just tuned to work with handwriting. Google says that thanks to this machine-learning assist, the Samsung Chromebooks have less latency than the Surface Pro when writing words.

We were able to try writing both with and without Google’s assisted writing feature, and there was no question: It’s much faster and more accurate to take notes with it on. It made my chicken-scratch writing look a bit clearer, and things just flowed out of the stylus much better — but it didn’t feel unnatural, like the software was getting ahead of what I was writing.

From a physical, build-quality perspective, the Chromebook Plus and Pro are the nicest pair of Chromebooks that I’ve seen this side of the Pixel. The all-aluminum construction makes them feel solid and strong, and the keyboard and trackpad both felt good in the all-too-short time I spent with them. I’m used to using a 13-inch laptop, so everything felt a little small here, but it wasn’t too jarring and I expect most people will adjust pretty quickly. Fortunately, the keyboard is basically full-size, so typing won’t be compromised.

As for ports, the Plus and Pro are going all-in on USB-C, for both charging and connectivity. There are only two on board, but that’s pretty standard for most Chromebooks these days. There’s also a microSD card slot and a headphone jack, and that’s all you’ll get.

The last thing to know about the Chromebook Plus and Pro is that they won’t come cheap. I wouldn’t have expected them to either; the construction here is on par with $1,000 laptops, at least at first glance. The Plus starts at $449, and it’s reasonable to expect the Intel M3-toting Pro to cost $100 more (though Samsung had nothing to announce on that front yet).

That puts this computer into a place that few Chromebooks have ever seen. The closest comparison is probably HP’s Chromebook 13, which starts at $500 and goes up significantly from there. But Samsung’s new Chromebooks appear to have more solid construction, are lighter and — most importantly — are ready for Google Play, which will significantly expand the functionality of Chrome OS. Google says it remains committed to the Chromebook Pixel line, but until it releases another model in that lineup, it’s fair to say that Samsung’s Chromebook Pro has assumed the mantle of everything a Chromebook can be in 2017. Of course, we’ll need to give it a thorough review to make sure it delivers on that promise.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Samsung’s new 15-inch Notebook 9 is a shockingly light workhorse

Samsung’s Notebook 9 series laptops are best known for their light weight, and this year is no exception. The company announced a spate of super-sleek notebooks before the show started, but we took the updated 15-inch Notebook 9 for a spin and it was immediately clear that portability fanatics will find a lot to like here.

It’s one thing to read about how light this thing is — it’s another thing entirely to actually feel it for yourself. When I first picked up the 15-inch Notebook 9, I honestly thought it was a dummy model Samsung forgot to put away. (The fact that the screen was on should’ve been a give-away, but what can I say — I was a little shocked.) In case you haven’t been keeping count, this particular Notebook 9 variant weighs in at only 2.17 pounds, or just a few hairs heavier than Apple’s 12-inch MacBook. This stunningly light body was made possible because of a magnesium alloy that allows for great durability (or so Samsung says) without the added ounces. Samsung’s It’s been a day since I played with the machine and I still can’t quite get it out of my head.

More importantly, the 15-inch Notebook 9 doesn’t force you to choose between power and portability. You’ll be working with one of Intel’s 7th generation i7 chipsets and up to 8GB of DDR4 dual-channel RAM — I didn’t get to spend a ton of time with the machine, but it certainly felt snappy enough as opened Chrome tab after Chrome tab and tried to treat it like a jerk. We’ll have more nuanced impressions on performance after we get a final production unit, but for now it seems safe to say the Notebook should slot into your daily workflow without much trouble. For those of you who need a little extra oomph for your gaming, Samsung also has a variant on deck with a dedicated NVIDIA 940MX GPU — just know that machine is about half a pound heavier than the base model. No matter what graphics processor drives those visuals, they generally look pretty great on Samsung’s 15-inch, 1080p screen — did anyone expect anything different from them?

There’s a full complement of ports here too — 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0 and HDMI — but the Notebook 9 uses a Type C port for power. Your phone charger will do in a pinch if you need power, but you should make sure to keep that included 45W power adapter handy, as it should fully recharge the machine in about 80 minutes.

There’s at least one potential problem though: as far as looks go, the Notebook 9 is unassuming at best. The body is bathed in a nondescript silver, without much to break up the visual monotony beyond a Samsung logo slapped on the front. Style mavens might not need to apply, but the folks who value functionality over sheer style probably won’t mind the trade-off much (if at all). In fact, the overall strength of this package is enough to make me consider ditching the 12-inch MacBook I’ve been traveling with lately. We’re counting on nabbing one for review soon, so stay tuned as we dive deeper into Samsung’s latest work.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Samsung ventures into PC gaming with the Notebook Odysseys

Samsung makes perfectly nice PCs and all, but to date it hasn’t ever really courted the growing gamer market. Well, that changes today: the company officially revealed its new Notebook Odyssey, its first ever dedicated gaming laptop. Well, laptops — there’s a 15.6-inch model and a real whopper with a 17.3-inch display.

We spent most of our time with the 15.6-inch version as its the model closest to shipping, and it looks… well, exactly like what you’d expect a gaming laptop to look like. In other words, expect lots of black with red trim, complete with a red backlit keyboard. You’ll find all the usual ports running around the machine, including a single USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, HDMI and Ethernet, though I’m a little surprised Samsung didn’t go a little crazier with ports. It’s a pretty beefy machine, after all. That said, it’s a surprisingly portable beast at 5.5 pounds — I closed up a demo model and walked around the show room for a while without feeling the typical gaming rig fatigue.

Like the more pedestrian Notebook 9, the Odyssey also runs with Intel’s 7th generation Core i7 processors, but here you can squeeze in up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a multiple storage options — one machine can take SSDs up to 256GB and hard drives up to 1TB at the same time. Don’t worry about squeezing pretty visuals out of the thing, either: it ships with one of NVIDIA’s full-power GTX1050 GPUs. Samsung kindly let us play some Overwatch on a demo machine (that new Oasis map, natch), and the whole thing was pleasantly buttery. I’m not sold on the look but there’s definitely plenty of power in sealed away in this frame.

If your games need even more room to breathe, Samsung will eventually have you covered. That 17.3-inch model is still in the works, and it’ll come with a multi-color backlit keyboard and a bright, 300 nit display, just because. The thing is, Samsung hasn’t officially locked down the final specs and pricing yet. Oh well — nothing wrong with a company keeping some cards close to its metaphorical chest. We do, however, know that it’ll support up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM and SSDs up to 512GB (the 1TB limitation on hard drives still applies).

Time in Samsung’s demo room was limited, but Samsung first steps into PC gaming seem to be strong ones. If you’re feeling good about Samsung’s approach, you’ll be able to get the smaller Odyssey for $1199 and up this February — we’re not sure when the bigger beast will be available yet.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

CES 2017: Withings Debuts HomeKit-Enabled ‘Home Plus’ Baby Monitor and Security Camera

At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, Withings introduced the next-generation version of its “Home” smart security camera and baby monitor, which adds HomeKit compatibility.

The new “Home Plus” is one of the first security cameras on the market to integrate with HomeKit, allowing it to interface with other HomeKit-enabled products and be accessed through Apple’s own Home app.

Like many security cameras on the market, the Home Plus streams HD video to a smartphone or tablet, allowing users to keep an eye on their homes when away, or on their children when in a different room. The Home Plus sends notifications out when there’s unusual noise and movement, and it’s able to monitor indoor pollution.

Design wise, the Withings Home Plus looks similar to the original Withings Home, introduced in 2015, with a wood enclosure and white accents that house a wide-angle camera. It has the same HD camera with night vision support and the ability to store video for up to 48 hours with no subscription plan needed.

Withings plans to make the Home Plus available for purchase during the first quarter of 2017. It will be priced at $199.

Withings has also begun selling its new Withings Steel HR, an analog fitness tracking watch with a built-in heart rate monitor. First introduced in September, the Withings Steel HR looks like a traditional watch, but features heart rate and activity tracking. The Steel HR is available for $179.95 to $199.95 from the Withings website.

Tags: Withings, CES 2017
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Energous Says Its Truly Wireless Charging Technology Will Ship Later This Year — In Next iPhone?

Amid rumors that Apple will release its first iPhone models with wireless charging capabilities as early as this year, its possible partner Energous has told The Verge that its first truly wireless transmitters will begin shipping by the end of 2017, over two years after it first introduced the technology.

Energous CEO Steve Rizzone also dropped yet another hint suggesting its partner is indeed Apple. “One of the largest consumer electronic companies in the world,” he said. “I cannot tell you who it is, but I can virtual guarantee that you have products from this company on your person, sitting on your desk, or at home.”

Energous is the company behind WattUp, a truly wire-free, over-the-air charging technology that uses radio frequencies to charge devices from up to 15 feet away. If you walked into a room with a WattUp transmitter, for example, a smartphone with a built-in WattUp receiver would automatically begin charging.

Energous today announced that its WattUp technology will be embedded in six products on display at CES 2017 this week, such as the Chipolo Plus Bluetooth tracker and a SK Telesys hearing aid, but these implementations will require small, contact-based, portable transmitters rather than the larger, truly wireless transmitters coming.

The company said these early devices integrated with WattUp receiver technology will be able to seamlessly transition from being charged by the contact-based transmitters to forthcoming larger transmitters that offer over-the-air charging at-a-distance of up to 15 feet, seemingly by the end of this year.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest Apple and Energous have partnered on wireless charging. Energous has claimed it is working with “one of the top five consumer electronics companies,” it has relationships with Apple manufacturers TSMC and Foxconn, and both Apple and Energous are members of ANSI.

Energous certification documents dating back to 2014 were also uncovered with an “Apple compliance testing” listing, and Apple supplier Dialog Semiconductor recently made a $10 million investment in Energous. Dialog makes power management chips and is said to get as much as three quarters of its business from Apple.

The deal Energous made reportedly gives its mystery partner first dibs on shipping its truly wireless charging technology “inside of phones, laptops, tablets, and certain wearables and accessories,” and given the multiple rumors from credible sources, it appears one of those products could be the next iPhone.

Given that Apple has removed the headphone jack on iPhone 7 models, leaving the Lightning connector with the double duty of charging and connecting wired headphones, the move towards wireless charging would be appropriate.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tags: wireless charging, Energous
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CES 2017: HomeKit-Enabled Mood Lighting ‘Nanoleaf Aurora’ Gains Music Rhythm Module

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Nanoleaf is showing off its latest product, the Nanoleaf Aurora. The Nanoleaf Aurora is a HomeKit-enabled accent lighting setup that consists of a number of different triangle-shaped panels that can be lit up in different shades to provide ambient mood lighting.

While the Nanoleaf Aurora has been available for purchase for a few months, Nanoleaf is introducing a new Aurora product at CES, the Aurora Rhythm, an audio visualizer module that connects to the Aurora and allows the lights to fluctuate in time with music beats.

The Aurora Rhythm is a plug-in module that attaches to an existing Aurora display. Its built-in audio sensors pick up on music and transform beats and melodies into color displays. Nanoleaf says it will pair well with all kinds of music and audio, from party tunes to soft romantic music to video games.

“Adding the audio visualizer to the Aurora was the natural next step for Nanoleaf,” states Gimmy Chu, CEO and Co-Founder of Nanoleaf. “The most overwhelming piece of feedback we’ve received since the Aurora launch has been ‘does this sync with music?’” Visuals play an incredible part in our experiences, but our senses extend so much further than that. Sound, along with sight, is one of the most interactive senses we have. With the Aurora Rhythm, these two sensory experiences can now come together, harmonizing creativity and inspiring self-expression.”

The Nanoleaf app, which works with the Aurora lighting system, is also being updated with “Rhythm Scenes” that will add the ability to better customize lighting scenes.

Nanoleaf plans to debut the Aurora Rhythm in the summer of 2017, and the Rhythm Scenes will be available soon. Pricing for the Aurora Rhythm has not been announced, but the original Aurora Smarter Kit can be purchased from the Nanoleaf website for $199.99.

Tags: Nanoleaf, CES 2017
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