David Copperfield: ‘I come to CES to get inspired’

CES is many things to many people. For the most part, it’s the grease that keeps the mechanics of technology running for the rest of the year. For some, though, it’s a veritable treasure trove of potential magic. Literally. David Copperfield, a stalwart on the Las Vegas strip and legendary magician isn’t just a fan of the show, he walks the floor every year looking for technology he can use in his illusions. Naturally, he wouldn’t tell us exactly what he’s incorporated into his act, but we bet it’s more magical than a voice activated trash can.

David, and his Exectutive Producer Chris Kenner also brought along some historical artifacts to show the technology in use almost two hundred years ago. The clever engineering and simple effect are principles that David clearly gets excited about. In the video above, he also reveals how modern technology like the internet and YouTube both help and hinder the magic process.

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

Regulators approve VW plan to fix 70,000 more diesel vehicles

Before it can reinvent itself as an EV automaker, Volkswagen still has to clean up the remnants of the ongoing Dieselgate scandal that has cost the company billions in buyback programs, repairs and class action settlements. With so many different models affected, VW has also had a difficult time getting regulators to approve it fixes. However, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board announced Friday that they have approved the company’s plans to repair about 70,000 Generation 3 2-liter engine vehicles.

The approved program means VW can offer customers the choice of either selling back their vehicle or having it repaired, but only covers the model year 2015 diesel versions of the Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Golf, Golf SportWagen, Jetta, Passat and the Audi A3. Owners who want to have their vehicle fixed should know that the repair is a two-step plan: first you’ll need to bring the vehicle to a VW dealer to remove the “defeat device” that was fooling emissions tests. The second phase includes further software and hardware changes that aren’t available yet, but which should be rolling out in a year. Be aware, that diesel ride of yours is also going to need a new diesel particulate filter, diesel oxidation catalyst, and NOx catalyst to get it in line with current regulations, all of which should be covered under the repair plan.

Via: Consumerist

Source: EPA

George Hotz wants Comma AI to be the Android of autonomous driving

Hacker, entrepreneur, rabble rouser and freeform rapper George Hotz joined us on the Engadget stage at CES to talk about the decision to open source his autonomous-car research and the state of self driving. He also weighed in on California’s regulatory system (he’s not a fan) and how he’s excited about the future of augmented reality.

Circuit Cubes make engineering basics a snap for kids

Kids that fall in love with technology and engineering have never had it better. There’s no shortage of websites and tutorial videos and hardware kits meant to teach them the fundamentals of crafting their very own gadgets, but I’d argue few are as elegant — or as fun — as Tenka Labs’ Circuit Cubes. They’re tiny modules laden with magnets, batteries, sensors and other fun little components, but since they’re cubes, they allow players to build complex, multifunctional structures in three dimensions. Imagine a mash-up between LittleBits and Lego and you’re on the right track.

In fact, the Cubes have more in common with Lego than just their build-friendly concept. Each of them is designed to fit connect perfectly to standard Lego blocks, meaning kids (or you, or anyone) can build even more elaborate structures by taking a couple kits and smashing them all together. Tenka Labs’ booth in Eureka park was a testament to how seemingly simple it is to combine Circuit Cubes and Lego bricks — a tiny AT-AT-inspired walker lumbered around as though it was searching for the Rebel base on Hoth, and next to it sat a contraption built by a 6th grade girl that ran through messages written on a loop of paper.

What’s really neat about the Circuit Cubes is that they very subtly teach kids the basics of designing electronics. Peer closely enough at some of these blocks and you’ll see some silver lines etched into them — those represent the flow of current. Let’s say you’re trying to build a simple noisemaker — you’d attach a battery block to a switch to a tiny speaker so the whole thing doesn’t just blare at you non-stop. If you don’t orient the switch properly when you connect it (like I did the first time I tried) the current won’t pass from the battery through switch block so the speaker will never turn on. The fix takes mere moments, but it imparts an important lesson in circuit design in a way that feels really intuitive.

I’ve played with a handful of similar kits in the past (many times at CES, no less), and I can’t remember the last time I’ve had as much fun piecing little doodads together. Granted, my creations were childishly basic at best, but there’s a very specific kind of joy that comes with working out the right sequence and seeing some hardware do exactly what you hoped it would. Alas, co-founders Nate McDonald and John Schuster couldn’t tell me when the first Circuit Cubes kits would launch — all they said was “soon”. After a relaxing time hanging out at their booth and building stuff, though, I’m tempted to say these will be worth the wait.

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

A game of ‘Whac-a-Mole’ can tell if you’re concussed

When Reflexion Interactive’s Matt Roda was in high school, he suffered a severe concussion during a hockey game that laid him out for months. At the time, his coach put him back in the game after asking asinine questions like who was president and what year it was. The experience inspired him and his friends to begin investigating a better way for high schools to detect concussions without buying expensive gear. A few years later, and the Reflexion Edge was born.

Reflexion Edge is a billboard-style display that spans about five feet wide and has a grid of LEDs on the front. The idea is that players will, at the start of the season, conduct a series of short spatial awareness and cognition tests standing in front of it. For instance, tapping a single light as it activates — a test felt like a pretty boring version of Whac-A-Mole without the comedy animal violence. Once a baseline has been found for each player, they can do follow-up tests through the season that take just 30 seconds.

More importantly, should a player suffer a suspected concussion, the team hopes that the Edge can diagnose it within half a minute. They simply replay the test on the side of the field and if their stats deviate too much from the baseline, they’re sent to the emergency room. Now, it’s a little rough-and-ready and not the most accurate, but then most high schools don’t have the funds to pay for expensive scanning gear. In fact, the prototype version of the device cost less than a thousand dollars.

One idea that the team are kicking around is that the device, when not being used as a diagnostic tool, could be used as a billboard. That way, high schools could recoup some of the cost through the ads that would run on it during games. Alternatively, they could sell the device at cost and make money through a subscription during the sports season.

The three friends are now each at a different college (Case Western, Penn State and Cornell) but continue to develop the device in their spare time. They’re planning to spend the rest of the year running a clinical study to validate the efficacy of the Edge and, if all goes to plan, have it ready for sale by 2018.

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

These connected shoes could help you run faster, smarter and safer

Power laces and 3D-printed materials aren’t the only things shaping the future of footwear. If Sensoria and Vivobarefoot have their way, people could soon be wearing shoes packed with tech to help them run faster, smarter and safer. At CES 2017, the companies revealed a concept pair of sneakers that feature two removable chips and four pressure sensors near the heel area of each shoe. Not only can the system measure speed, pace and track you via GPS, but it’s also smart enough to learn your stride rate and foot-landing technique.

But what exactly can you do with this information? Well, there are companion web and mobile apps that use artificial intelligence to develop a training plan just for you, using details it knows about your overall running form. In theory, that should translate to you being a more efficient runner and, perhaps most importantly, less prone to injuries. What makes the idea even more interesting is that Sensoria and Vivobarefoot want to share their project with others, especially lifestyle and sportswear brands.

The shoe is only a prototype right now, so there’s no way to know if it actually works as advertised. That said, Sensoria and Vivobarefoot definitely have their mind in the right place, though we’ll have to wait to test the sneakers to see if they’re everything they aspire to be.

‘Super Mario Bros. 3’ is harder with a live audience

Old school video games are hard. That’s what we learned after booting up a NES Classic edition for today’s gaming challenge live from the Engadget stage at CES. Feminist Frequency’s Carolyn Petit joined me on stage to thoroughly thrash me at games from yesteryear, while her colleague Anita Sarkeesian talked smack from the sidelines. We played Super Mario Bros.3 , Bubble Bobble and Balloon Fight. The challenge was further raised by some temperamental game controllers. Oh the thrill of gaming before a live audience!

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

Never worry about leaving the stove top on ever again

The first time someone says “smart stove knobs,” you instantly conclude that the technology world needs stopping. But while the Inirv React’s concept seems gently ridiculous, the product itself makes you wonder why nobody thought of this before. Essentially, it’s a series of powered dials that sit on your gas hob and will let you turn them off remotely with your smartphone. Even more impressive, however, is that a nearby sensor can do it automatically if it senses heat, gas or that you’ve left the house.

Each knob is mechanically powered and will physically turn itself to the off position, making it ideal for any existing hob top. A unit packs a battery that’s good for six months of life before you’ll need to recharge it, as well as the sensor that’s mounted close to your cooker like a smoke alarm. Inside, there’s a motion detector (to sense if you’re actually around) as well as a gas, smoke and heat sensor that will shut the hob off. Own this and you’ll never again have to worry about if you’ve left the gas on while out at the theater.

The company is currently crowdfunding the gadget on Kickstarter and early birds can snag the four units and a sensor for $239. If you wait until the campaign has ended, however, it’ll wind up costing you $299, although that’s probably cheaper than the cost of burning your house down. Each sensor can take up to eight knobs at once, should you be sufficiently baller to have that big a kitchen, and the products should begin shipping by the end of the year.

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

Source: Kickstarter

CES 2017: Yale to Add HomeKit to Select Smart Locks by Late March

Lock manufacturer Yale at CES 2017 this week announced that its lineup of Real Living Assure smart locks will be compatible with HomeKit by the end of March. By then, new Assure locks will be sold with a HomeKit module, which will also be available to purchase separately to add to existing Assure locks.

HomeKit support will enable users to lock and unlock their homes by using Apple’s new Home app on iOS 10 or the free Yale Assure companion app (U.S. and Canada only) for iPhone and iPad. Homeowners can also use Siri voice commands such as “Hey Siri, lock the front door” and “Hey Siri, is my front door locked?”

Users are also able to check a lock’s battery and current lock status, create up to 12 unique pin codes, customize lock and notification settings, name a lock, and add a new lock through the Yale Assure app. Users with a third-generation Apple TV or later can control HomeKit accessories in the Home app while away from home.

The deadbolt locks feature a backlit capacitive touchscreen keypad for keyless entry. If a smartphone is unavailable, users can enter a unique 4-8 digit pin code to enter the home. The Bluetooth-enabled lock is powered by four AA batteries included, or users can touch a 9V battery to the battery terminals at the bottom as a backup option.

Yale said the HomeKit module will also be compatible with its recently launched nexTouch Wireless smart lock targeted at small business owners. The new HomeKit-enabled smart locks and standalone HomeKit module are expected to be available for purchase on Yale’s website at some point in March. Pricing was not disclosed.

The non-HomeKit Real Living Assure locks retail for $199.99 on Yale’s website in polished brass, satin nickel, and dark gray colors. ZigBee and Z-Wave modules are also available for $50 each. Here’s an installation video.

Other HomeKit-enabled smart locks include the Schlage Sense and August Smart Lock.

Tags: HomeKit, CES 2017, Yale
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Elac Adante AS-61GB Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The $2,500 Elac Adante could be all the high-end speaker you ever need.

Ty Pendlebury/CNET

At CES last year, out of the dozens of products I saw at the show, the one thing that blew me away was the Elac Uni-Fi UF5. It’s a crazy-good $500 bookshelf speaker that easily worries models three times its price. It’s my favorite speaker of 2016.

When I heard that Elac of America’s Andrew Jones had designed a new set of “cost no object” speakers as a follow-up I was intrigued. Given his alliance with Elac in Germany, would he be incorporating some of its designs? A super tweeter? Or a concentric driver with a ribbon tweeter?

The resulting Adante, which the inventor demonstrated here at CES 2017, wasn’t some sort of compromise between the two divisions, this was steadfastly an Andrew Jones speaker. And of course it borrowed from Jones’ extensive history in the audio trade.

Ty Pendlebury/CNET

The Adante range has three speakers: the $2,500 stand mount, the $2,000 AC-61GV center speaker, and a $5,000 AF-61GW floorstander. All will be shipping in the US in the second quarter of 2017.

Firstly, the finish of the speakers is like nothing we’ve seen from Elac America before. Aesthetically it brings to mind the work Jones did with TAD, specifically the Compact Evolution One. The unit Jones demonstrated here in Vegas had a brushed aluminum faceplate with aluminum drivers, and while the cabinet was finished in gloss black, the final version will also be available in gloss white or walnut.

One thing you notice when you look at the cabinet is there aren’t any ports, just a pair of binding posts on the back. In addition to the concentric/midrange tweeter setup the bass woofer is actually a pretty ingenious system of drivers (which Jones says he borrowed from Kef). He’s put a traditional 6-inch driver inside a ported box, and then tucked that inside the closed speaker cabinet. This system then drives an 8-inch passive driver on the outside. Translation? Smoother, more extended bass and better efficiency.

Also… rodents don’t get in there. It’s a thing, really! It happened to me.

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The demonstration units differ from the final design, which was also on display but not auditioned, as he said he had been tossing up between using titanium and aluminum for the drivers. The final design will be the contrasting titanium. Jones says the speaker he demonstrated is about 70 to 80 per cent of where it should be in terms of performance.

Listening to the Adante speakers reminded me of the Uni-Fis that had made me grin so uncontrollably the year before. The Adante has the same effortless imaging, voices are incredibly present and yet it has an even broader soundstage than before. And, the one thing Uni-Fi had missing: that bass!

I was a big fan of the Bowers and Wilkins 805 D3, and CNET’s Audiophiliac even more so. It is a crazily transparent speaker, and it breathes life into quality recordings. What it can’t do is bass. While the Adante didn’t seem as transparent — though I am dying to hear them against each other — it could do deep bass. The gentle synth “BOM” in the middle of “Yulunga” by Dead Can Dance shook the Elac listening room. I haven’t heard another stand mount speaker that sounds like this.

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Of the many tracks we listened to the one that impressed me most, however, was a cover of Tom Waits’ “Way Down In the Hole” by John Campbell. The track had an amazing sense of space with the vocal track commandeering the room while percussion percolated like sheets of shimmering water behind him. Meanwhile the underpinning bass track made my thighs vibrate, and I’ll admit that was a little bit of an odd sensation.

As with last year’s demonstration of the Uni-Fi UF5, the amplification Jones used this time cost many times the price of the speakers, plus he’d included a custom-built industrial power conditioner for good measure.

Will you need to go this crazy if you’re looking to buy a set of these? Jones said a good receiver from the major companies — think Yamaha Aventage, Sony ES or Integra — should be enough to power these speakers. But as with the Uni-Fi, the better the amp the better your results will be. My rule of thumb is usually to spend as much on the amp as you would on the two front speakers, but we’ll see how this holds when we test a pair for ourselves. The Adante is more efficient than the Uni-Fi due to its closed design and so should be a little easier to drive.

While the speaker needs some work — vocals could be a little too overbearing, for example — the speaker is nonetheless a worthy follow-up to the Uni-Fi UB5. If you’re looking to buy a high-end speaker in the next year or two, the Elac Adante is exactly the first place I would look. I’m so excited to test these!