Vuzix built the smartglasses Google wishes it did

Attention, crestfallen Google Glass enthusiasts: Your redemption has arrived.

While most of the tech world dismissed the “smartglasses” concept when Google put Glass to bed back in 2015, Vuzix continued toiling away on the form factor it has been working on since long before Google ever took an interest. The result, at long last: A pair of smartglasses you may actually want to wear.

No, we can’t guarantee your safety in a crowded San Francisco bar should you decide to wade into the ungentrified masses with the Vuzix Blade on a Saturday night. But we can say the sleek new shades are both eminently less punchable, and more functional than Glass ever was.

The Blade use Vuzix’s proprietary waveguide technology to superimpose bright, crystal-clear images directly in your line of sight. Unlike Glass, there’s no awkward arm jutting front of your eye. With the display turned off, the Blade glasses look like any other. Despite the tinted look you see in photos, you’ll have no issues wearing them indoors.

Nick Mokey/Digital Trends

Nick Mokey/Digital Trends

Nick Mokey/Digital Trends

We wouldn’t go so far as to call them “stylish,” but next to just about any other form of techified eyewear, the Blade are at least normalish. You might even mistake them for a pair of Oakleys, if it weren’t for the light glowing around the fat temples.

How do they work? In an insane way you would probably never believe if you didn’t see it with your own eyes. A tiny LED projector in the temple shoots an image sideways into the lens, which has been laser-etched with tiny dots at specific depths that catch the “sideways” image and light it up in your field of view. If that all sounds a little ridiculous, it is. But that’s why Vuzix has been working on it for years, and why the end product looks so damn good. The same tech appeared in last year’s AR3000 smartglasses, but Vuzix marketed those more toward businesses.

When the display flicks on, you’ll get the usual there-and-not “ghost” effect of something seen only in one eye, until you look squarely at the image and freeze it into focus. Vuzix wouldn’t cite an exact resolution for the display, but the images unquestionably look better than anything we’ve ever seen on Glass – comparable in resolution to the HoloLens, Vuzix says.

Nick Mokey/Digital Trends

You can use this little display to look at everything from photos to video, maps, and email. Pretty standard stuff, sure, but Vuzix already has an app store with third-party options for Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, and all the other staples you would expect, cooked up for previous Vuzix eyewear. You navigate through apps with an intuitive, touch-sensitive pad on the temple: swipe to navigate, tap to select.

Of course, the Blade still has some obvious shortcomings. Notably, battery life would still be as short as 90 minutes in extreme use-case scenarios, like watching movies. That’s not what they’re intended for, of course, but it illustrates one of the sacrifices made to keep them so sleek.

Will you start spotting Vuzix eyewear around town in 2018? At $1,000 a pop for the developer kit, probably not. But the Blade may make a compelling option for Glass devotees cast out by Google’s apparent indifference. And if the current design isn’t doing it for you, there’s hope: Vuzix owns the patents for the killer display that makes these glasses stand out, and wouldn’t rule out licensing it to other companies. All it would take is a deep-pocketed Apple, Samsung, or LG to snap it up to put this promising waveguide tech to work in something else entirely.

Editors’ Recommendations

• ‘Smart’ sunglasses from Vuzix work with Android and iOS, will debut at CES
• Engineered for fighter pilots, Everysight Raptor AR goggles are built for bikers
• Apple iPhone X review
• Felix Gray’s new anti-glare specs make you look good while protecting your eyes
• Snapchat Spectacles: Everything you need to know

TimeFlip Magnet hands-on review

Research Center:
TimeFlip Magnet

No-one wants to waste time. We lead busy lives and must get used to multi-tasking and managing varied tasks, sometimes setting strict time limits on how long we spend doing something. This is the case for entrepreneurs, anyone who works at home, parents observing how long their kids spend watching TV over doing homework, and even for bosses checking office productivity (boo).

The thing is, checking how long you work on something is often a hit-or-miss mix of checking the clock, setting an alarm, or some other convoluted way that often ends up being forgotten or ignored. That’s where the TimeFlip Magnet comes in. It’s a simple idea that could transform the way you track time. Our TimeFlip hands-on review appropriately took place at CES 2018, where it’s notoriously hard to manage time, and such a device would come in handy, if only to see how little sleep everyone gets.

TimeFlip Magnet looks like a large, multi-sided plastic dice. Each side is blank when it arrives, ready to attach one of the custom stickers that comes in the pack — each using icons to show common tasks, like email and social networking — but you can create your own that are specific for you too. The dice-like case contains the TimeFlip Magnet module, which has an accelerometer inside, and is powered by a coin-cell battery that should last for up to a year. It connects to the TimeFlip app using Bluetooth.

You’re just about to start work on an overflowing email inbox, and only want to dedicate a certain amount of time to it before having lunch for an hour. Place the TimeFlip magnet with the email icon facing up, and the app begins tracking your time. When you’re done, and are ready to have lunch, turn the TimeFlip Magnet round to the side marked break, or food, and the app automatically switches to the new task. A circular graph in the app shows a breakdown of how you spend your time, which is also viewable on a web interface. The app also integrates with a variety of different task management systems, including Trello, Todoist, and Zendesk.

It’s a simple idea that could transform the way you track time.

It’s incredibly simple, and because it’s automated, there’s a far lower chance of you ignoring it. It’s also easily customised with either your own stickers or using a non-permanent marker to write ever-changing tasks on each side. If you’re really keen, an entirely new case can be 3D printed, ready for the TimeFlip Magnet module clipped inside. The name references the magnets used to keep the whole dice structure together.

The TimeFlip Magnet appeals because it’s easy. In the same way that fitness trackers aren’t used when they’re too complicated or time-intensive, we don’t want to spend time measuring our time either. It’s good to see a device that doesn’t get too deeply involved in adding features, or complicating things in the name of, “adding value.” It does one thing, and appears to do it well. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing device, and we’d like to have seen other colors or designs. It’s also fairly expensive at $50.

TimeFlip Magnet Compared To

Star Wars: Jedi Challenges

Ventev Wirelesspro

Insta360 One

Samsung DeX Station

Oaxis InkCase i7 Plus

Ampy Move

Neo Smartpen N2

Motrr Galileo

Typo keyboard case

Moga Mobile Gaming Controller

Hasbro My3D

Iomega SuperHero

BlackBerry Presenter

Callpod Chargepod

Griffin Elan Holster

You can buy the TimeFlip Magnet through the company’s website now, where it has a shipping time of around four weeks at the time of writing. If you struggle with managing time, or want to keep a check on someone else’s time without adding a cumbersome or annoying new task, then it’s worth investigating.

They’re smart AF, and Nvidia’s monstrous BFGD monitors are a BFD

What if the TV tuner was removed from your television? Technically, it would no longer be a TV. But would you notice? Even if you did notice, would you care?

Probably not. Millions of people have cut the cord from their cable service, instead relying on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video for entertainment. Game consoles have also stepped into the void left by old-fashioned, scheduled programming. There are more gamers than ever, playing longer than ever.

In short, the way people use televisions has changed. Maybe it’s time for the TV too change, too. Nvidia’s Big Format G-Sync Displays (BFGD), which debuted on the show floor at CES 2018, show one possible future for the TV, a future that focuses on gaming, streaming video, and smooth delivery of any content thrown at it.

Just don’t call it a monitor

It would be tempting to dismiss the BFGDs as 65-inch monitors. They’re designed to connect over DisplayPort 1.4, instead of HDMI (though HDMI is present for audio), and the early marketing positions them as the ultimate accessory for a PC-gaming den.

That sells the BFGDs short. Yeah, they’re targeting the PC, but they also have an Nvidia Shield built in. The Shield, if you’re not familiar, is a cross between a Roku and a bare-bones Android game console. It can handle all the online streaming apps you’d expect from an entertainment box, as well as play games – both Android titles, and games available through Nvidia’s GeForce Now subscription streaming service.

Think of it as a smart TV without a TV tuner. A very smart TV. It’s not embroiled in any stupid competition between streaming services’ corporate overlords. It can play popular games without any additional hardware. And it’ll receive all the same updates as the Shield console, which should mean a steady stream of new features over the years.

A different approach to image quality

The smart features that’ll come bundled in every BFGD are far more modern than the hodgepodge interfaces that ship with many televisions, but that’s less than half of what makes them great. The real secret sauce can be found in the BFGDs’ radically different approach to image quality.

Think of it as a smart TV without a TV tuner. A very smart TV.

A typical, top-tier television from LG, Samsung, or Vizio is built to deliver maximum visual punch. It seeks to maximize contrast, serve a wide color gamut, and minimize artifacts. The results are undeniably spectacular, but there’s a downside. Modern televisions have high latency and confusing image quality settings, and can suffer unusual frame pacing problems when they’re not fed ideal content.

BFGDs are different. They do have HDR, 4K resolution and, according to Nvidia, are built with a panel that uses a technique similar to Samsung’s Quantum Dots. Yet they’re also fast and fluid. Every BFGD will offer at least a 120Hz refresh rate. Latency numbers aren’t being quoted yet, but Nvidia told us that even 16 milliseconds would be considered “really quite high.” LG and Samsung’s best displays can’t dip below 20 milliseconds, even when turned to game mode.

Then there’s Nvidia’s not-so-secret weapon: G-Sync. It synchronizes the refresh rate of a BFGD with the input framerate of whatever G-Sync-capable device it’s connected to, including the built-in Shield. That synchronization can occur with any content, including video. It doesn’t matter if a video was shot at 24, 60, 120, or 29.997 frames per second – it will always display smoothly, without any added stutter or lag caused by the display.

BFGDs could be a BFD

Acer, Asus, and HP are lined up to build the first BFGDs, all of them 65-inchers using the same panel. I doubt they’ll sell anywhere near the volume of modern televisions. At least, not at first. But if Nvidia and its partners can deliver on the BFGD’s promise, it won’t just be PC gamers who take notice.

You can expect to see the first BFGDs in the second half of 2018. Pricing hasn’t been announced.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 65 inches. 4K. 120Hz. Nvidia’s BFGD is all the monitor you will ever need
• Razer Phone vs. iPhone X: Android newcomer takes on Apple’s finest
• Watch LG’s 65-inch rollable OLED TV curl up like a poster, disappear from sight
• LED vs. LCD TVs explained: What’s the difference?
• OLED is dead on the laptop at CES 2018, but there’s still hope

Android 8.0 Oreo is once again rolling out to the OnePlus 5

After a slight hiccup, Android 8.0 Oreo is rolling out to the OnePlus 5.

OnePlus promised it would update the OnePlus 5 to Android 8.0 Oreo before the end of 2017, and began updating the devices near the end of December. That update had to be cancelled due to an unspecified bug, but the show is now back on.

OxygenOS 5.0.1 should now be rolling out to OnePlus 5 users. In addition to the usual Oreo features, the phone is also updated to the December 2017 security patch and has a new camera UI. OnePlus notes that the update will fail to install on phones with an unlocked bootloader. If that’s your phone, backup your files before re-locking your bootloader. If you want to download the update on your own, it’s available on OnePlus’s site and can be sideloaded using the same method to sideload an update on Pixel phones.

Have you received Oreo on your OnePlus 5? Let us know down below!

OnePlus 5T: Everything you need to know!

Amsterdam will limit Airbnb rentals to 30 days per year

Last year, Amsterdam limited Airbnb rentals to no more than 60 days in a calendar year but that is about to be halved according to a report from DutchNews.nl. The city’s executive board agreed to the proposed shortened limit today and housing alderman Laurens Ivens said, “I recognize that reducing the length of time is not the solution to city congestion but it will reduce the problems caused by tourists in some areas and will make it less inviting to use your home as a way to earn money.”

Amsterdam isn’t the only city to impose rental limits on Airbnb hosts. London set a 90-day limit last year and Paris has set a maximum of 120 days per year. New York state has had a long-standing law against short term rentals, making any rental less than 30 days illegal. And in 2016 it took that a step further, declaring ads for short term rentals, like those posted on Airbnb, Kayak and others, also illegal. New York has butted heads with Airbnb a few times, as has San Francisco.

In response to Amsterdam’s new 30-day limit, Airbnb’s public policy manager for the Netherlands and Nordics, Bo de Koning, said in a statement, “The Airbnb community – which consists of 19,000 Amsterdam hosts – is disappointed by your announcement this morning to favour big hotels over local families who occasionally share their homes.”

The new limit will go into effect next year.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: DutchNews.nl

Apple orders sci-fi drama from ‘Hunger Games’ director

Apple is pulling out all the stops when it comes to landing original shows. Deadline has learned that the tech firm has ordered an “epic, world-building” sci-fi drama series that would not only be written by Steven Knight, the creator of British crime drama Peaky Blinders, but would be directed by The Hunger Games’ Francis Lawrence. It’s not known who would star or even how long the initial run would be (it’ll “likely” consist of eight episodes), but it would come from the same scripted series unit that gave Apple the Octavia Spencer thriller Are You Sleeping?

This is the fourth scripted show Apple has obtained since hiring the execs who secured Breaking Bad to run its video programming team. It’s still not certain what Apple intends to do with these productions once they’re ready (start a direct Netflix rival? Tack them on to Apple Music?), but See is consistent with the company’s pattern so far: it’s interested in productions with big names attached, whether they’re in front of or behind the camera. It reportedly has $1 billion to spend on originals, and the focus appears to be on quality over quantity.

Source: Deadline

The future of weed? Cloudious 9’s Hydrology 9 combines vaping and smoking

Weed culture is a particularly interesting pocket of Americana, with heavily stratified groups of consumers separated by their preferred method for getting high. Handheld vaporizers have become popular among low-key stoners over the past few years, while less discreet users might prefer joints, blunts, or bongs — “water pipes,” if we’re being technical.

The amusingly named Cloudious 9, a Fremont, California-based startup (and one of surprisingly few cannabis companies at CES this year), wants to bring those groups together via the Hydrology 9, a gadget that splits the difference between vaporizers and water pipes, all while looking like a contemporary pepper grinder. We invited Cloudious 9’s founder and CEO, Richard Huang, to come by our booth at CES  and show off his invention.

The Hydrology 9 largely operates like a vaporizer; open the bottom of the unit, put in some (preferably ground) flower, and the microchip processor precisely monitors oven temperature to ensure you’re not inhaling unwanted carcinogens during use. “You can see it as the modern version of a water pipe,” says Huang. “We saw that a lot of companies in the cannabis space are racing to create the smallest, most portable vaporizer, but the water pipe [market] is underserved. Our target audience could be anybody, but especially casual users who don’t want to have a big ol’ bong in their house.”

While most modern vaporizers feature small, straw-like mouthpieces, the Hydrology 9’s detachable, borosilicate glass mouthpiece is intended for your lips to fit inside (like with typical water pipes). With a magnetized cap, you can be sure dust will never get in when you’re not looking. The H9 is built from borosilicate glass and “spacecraft-grade” aluminum alloy, and outfitted with precise heating control that allows users to select from five separate temperature levels.

What sets the H9 apart from most vaporizers is its water chamber, which is sealed with a unique, 360-degree antileak mechanism. Vapor flows through the water chamber, so users get both the “cooling effect” of a water pipe and the clean vapor of a vaporizer. Hydrology 9 is currently available for $250 via the Cloudious 9 website or at select retailers nationwide.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Nokia 9 rumors suggest a strong 2018 for the reinvigorated company
• Samsung confirms Galaxy Note 9, plans to upgrade the S Pen
• How did we get here? 9 major milestones in the history of killer robots
• Samsung refreshes its Notebook 9 laptops for 2018, adds model supporting S Pen
• Samsung Notebook 9 Pen hands-on review

Intel ‘Hades Canyon’ NUC hands-on review

Research Center:
Intel ‘Hades Canyon’ NUC

At CES 2017, we saw Intel’s first NUC built for gamers. Called Skull Canyon, the NUC combined an Intel quad-core with the company’s most powerful Iris integrated graphics. It was supposed to be a showcase of Iris’ potential – but it didn’t quite work out. Our review found performance left much to be desired, and driver woes meant some games never launched properly.

Intel is back at CES 2018 with another gaming-focused NUC, Hades Canyon. But this year, it’s not using its own integrated graphics, but instead features Intel Core i7-8809G. That’s the most powerful version of Intel’s 8th-gen Core with AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics, and while we haven’t tested it yet, its specifications look promising. The Vega GPU includes 24 compute units. The Vega 56 graphics card, as its name suggests, has 56 – and it can play some games at 4K resolution. Intel’s own data suggests the i7-8809G will compete well with Nvidia’s GTX 1060. Intel even says Hades Canyon will be able to handle VR. Given its specifications, it may just meet the minimum requirements for most headsets – but even that would be impressive.

Matt Smith/Digital Trends

Matt Smith/Digital Trends

That makes Hades Canyon instantly look like a winner. Yes, the size of the system has more than doubled over last year, but it’s still only 1.2 liters. That’s smaller than the Alienware Alpha, or any of Zotac’s pint-sized gaming desktops. Size aside, its has kept a broad, rectangular look that gives plenty of space to cram in ports. A lot of ports. That includes a dual DisplayPort, dual Thunderbolt, and dual Ethernet. Up to six displays can be connected simultaneously, which is an incredible number for such a small system, and twice as much as last year’s Skull Canyon NUC.

Great hardware needs great drivers.

Like other NUCs, Hades Canyon supports a surprising amount of customization. Removing six screws lets you lift off the top, providing access to the RAM, two m.2 hard drive slots, the Wi-Fi card, and a few other minor ports. The RAM slots were filled on the unit we saw, but there was room to add a second hard drive. The Intel 8th-gen Core with AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics is soldered on, of course, so it can’t be replaced, but the system’s upgradability is otherwise much better than you might expect.

And there’s one more cool touch – a light-up skull. The new NUC may not be called Skull Canyon, but Intel has kept the cool skull logo. This time, though, its backlit – which makes it twice as awesome, of course. It also makes the logo customizable. Want to change the color? You can do that? Want to turn it off entirely? You can do that, too. I’m sure some will think it silly, but I think it’s a nice touch that most gamers will enjoy.

On paper, the Hades Canyon NUC sounds good. It has a fast processor, reasonably fast graphics, and gobs of connectivity, all in a small form factor. Yet there’s still reason to be skeptical. Great hardware needs great drivers. While the driver interface will be identical to AMD hardware – only branded as Intel – we’re told driver releases will come from Intel. We’ll just have to wait and see how that goes. AMD releases drivers frequently, of course, and we’d like to see Intel deliver at a similar cadence, but that hasn’t happened in the past.

Intel will need to get serious about drivers if it hopes for Hades Canyon to stand a chance in hell, but the project otherwise looks promising. And if Intel does prove reliable, this NUC could inspire a new wave of small, console-like gaming PCs. That would be a win for everyone.

Hades Canyon will ship in March starting at $799 for the less powerful Core i7-8705G edition, or $999 for the Core i7-8809G.

Intel ‘Hades Canyon’ NUC Compared To

Intel NUC Core i7

Samsung Series 3 Chromebox

HP Envy 23

Lenovo IdeaCentre Q180

HP Omni 27

HP TouchSmart 520-1070

HP TouchSmart 610

Asus EeeBox EB1501

Acer AspireRevo

HP Pavilion Slimline s5160f

Maingear Dash

VidaBox RoomMate

Apple Mac mini Dual Core 1.66GHz

Enpower Media Center Xpress EN-MX1

Gateway 610XL

Asus Zenbook 13 (2018) hands-on review

Research Center:
Asus Zenbook 13 (2018)

Asus has more Zenbooks than anyone can keep track of, but it’s newest is a standout. The Zenbook 13, is an ultra-thin clamshell that just might be one of the lightest laptop you’ve ever held. It’s not to be confused with the Zenbook 13 from 2017, which was a heavier product, with options for a 4K display and discrete graphics card.

The new Zenbook 13 has neither of those. Asus is clearly selling this laptop based on the crazy-light design. However, there’s more to a laptop than just it’s dimensions — here’s how the rest of it stacks up.

The Asus you know, with something new

We haven’t always been the biggest cheerleaders of Asus’ laptop design. It’s often a little bland, and the company rarely attempts to change the formula. That’s fine when you’re talking about a budget laptop like the Zenbook UX330UA, but when you’re spending over a thousand dollars, you should expect more from the look of your laptop.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Asus must be aware of that perception, because the new Zenbook 13 is a total revamp. The Zenbook 13 doesn’t make any drastic shakeups, but the designers have done enough here and there to make it feel fresh. It has a black (or dark blue), matte finish, rather than the super-glossy texture of many other Zenbooks. It’s still brushed metal, but the non-reflective surface makes it more subtle this time around. Angles are sharpened, and the bezels have been slimmed down.

At 0.55 inches thick, it’s not quite as tiny as something like the HP Spectre 13, or even the Dell XPS 13. Asus used that extra space smartly to include full-size ports like HDMI and USB-A, which are becoming increasingly rare in laptops like these. The Zenbook 13 also includes a microSD card slot and USB-C port (3.1). It’s a great selection of connectivity that should please many — both people who use legacy USB accessories, and those who want future-proofing in their I/O.

Portability is off the charts

But again, the real thing to talk about here is the thinness and weight of the Zenbook 13. At 2.17 pounds, it’s one of the lightest laptops ever made, with only a handful of competitors that have ever gone lighter. It’s so light that when you pick it up, you immediately feel the difference between picking it up compared to a MacBook Pro, Dell XPS 13, or even the 2017 Zenbook 13. Some might even think it’s almost too light, but unlike many laptops this airy, it doesn’t feel flimsy.

One thing is for sure. You’ll hardly notice the extra weight in your bag.

The display didn’t wobble in the slightest, and there wasn’t a hint of flex in the keyboard, which is where you will spend most of your time. Impressively, we could even lift the display with one hand. We did notice a bit of bend and flex in the lid. It was most noticeable when the laptop was set open on a table, as well as on the corners of the lid. While that’s not great, the rest of the laptop does feel sturdy and well-built.

With battery claims of up to 15 hours, the Zenbook will follow you wherever you go. We’ll have to wait until we can put the Zenbook 13’s 50 watt-hour battery to the test, but one thing is for sure. You’ll hardly notice the extra weight in your bag.

Runs fast, looks good

Under the hood you’ll find the usual suspects. There’s 8th-gen Core i5 CPUs and 8GB of RAM as a base configuration, going up to a Core i7 and 16GB of RAM from there. We haven’t been able to benchmark this laptop’s processing power yet, but we suspect that it will perform honorably, like similar machines with those same components. The Zenbook 13 also starts with 256GB of SSD storage and comes with an attractive, FHD display. There’s no option for 4K or touchscreen here — you’ll have to go back to the 2017 Zenbook 13 for that.

Asus Zenbook 13 (2018) Compared To

Asus Zenbook Pro UX550VE

Asus Zenbook UX330UA-AH54

HP ZBook Studio G4

Microsoft Surface Book with…

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2017)

Acer Aspire VX 5-591G 5652

Dell Latitude E5470

Dell XPS 15 9560

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (2017)

Lenovo Yoga 910

Acer Swift 7 SF713-51-M90J

Asus Zenbook 3 UX390UA

Lenovo Ideapad 710S

LG Gram 15 Z960

Gateway 200XL

The touchpad and keyboard are similar to those inputs we’ve seen on other newer Zenbooks, featuring 1.4mm of travel and nice backlighting. The Windows Precision touchpad is good enough, but its feel is nothing to write home about. We did, however, notice that it did a better job with palm rejection than the trackpad did on the UX330UA.

Asus’ Zenbook 13 is a laptop that a lot of people will like, and some people will love. It starts at $999 for the Core i5 version with 8GB of RAM, and can be configured upward from there. For reference, you’ll pay exactly that for a similar configuration on the new Dell XPS 13. Asus couldn’t give us a firm date, but you should expect to be able to pick this one up within the next few months.

Digital Trends Top Tech of CES 2018 Award Winners

Share

When it rains, it pours. And on the first day of CES 2018, the monstrous gadget expo that drew an astounding 184,000 people to Las Vegas this year, it rained. Hard. Traffic snarled, Google’s parking lot tent at the Las Vegas Convention Center flooded, drones were grounded, autonomous cars sat parked.

The next day, a power outage plunged the entire show floor into darkness.

It would be fair to say that CES 2018 gave us plenty of ominous reasons to remember it, but fortunately for us, there also were plenty of fun things to see when the lights were on. From the usual spate of wall-sized TVs to servile robots, crazy-fast PCs, and new VR headsets, all the usual culprits were in attendance. But we set out to find the best of the best for our annual Top Tech of CES awards.

Digital Trends section editors trudged through downpours, waded through darkness, and choked down gallons of press room coffee to uncover the tech that will define 2018. We discovered a tech world on the precipice of tilting into a new era of autonomous cars, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and connected everything. As those fledgling technologies mature, there’s also plenty of exciting news from established categories, including some of the most promising computers we’ve ever seen, cameras that let anybody shoot like a pro, and new phone sensors that will make the next generation even sleeker.

Here’s what we found!