Digital Trends Top Tech of CES 2018 Award Winners

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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!

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!

Vital Moto Mod and Livermorium Keyboard Moto Mod hands-on review

A few modular smartphone projects may have come and gone, but Motorola is holding strong with the snappable Moto Mods on its Moto Z smartphone family. There’s a good collection of Motorola handsets that support these mods — from the midrange Moto Z2 Play to the flagship Moto Z2 Force smartphones — and two new Moto Mods announced at CES 2018 mean there are now more than 15 mods available.

The latest additions are Vital Inc.’s Vital Moto Mod, which measures five metrics including heart rate, blood pressure, and core body temperature; and Livermorium’s Keyboard Mod, which adds a physical keyboard to the attached Moto Z phone. In our Vital Moto Mod and Livermorium Keyboard Moto Mod hands-on review, we see if it’s worth swapping to the Moto Z family to try these mods out.

Vital Moto Mod

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Vital Moto Mod is a glimpse of a future that’s much closer than you may realize. It’s a health-focused device that doesn’t really need to be a Moto Mod, but it’s easier for Vital USA Inc. to bring the product to market with the help of Lenovo and Motorola. The Moto Mod tracks five vitals: heart rate; pulse oximetry (SpO2), or the amount of oxygen in the blood; respiratory rate, or the number of breaths you take per minute; core body temperature; and blood pressure.

The reason why it stands alone as its own product is because it connects to a Moto Z phone via Bluetooth — most mods usually secure a connection through pogo pins. You can still slap the Vital Moto Mod to the back of a Moto Z smartphone and it will connect magnetically, but it also works when it’s off the phone. Naturally, the Vital Moto Mod works exclusively with Moto Z phones, but you can imagine — and Vital Inc. confirmed this — that a product down the line would be available for just about any smartphone on the market.

Vital Inc. said the data is incredibly accurate, but the mod doesn’t replace your doctor.

The mod is ridiculously chunky, but it’s not a problem because it doesn’t need to be attached to your phone all the time. To track all your vitals, simply insert your left index finger through the blood pressure monitor on the back, and hold your hand and the mod up close to your chest. The hole your finger is in contracts just like a normal blood pressure monitor on your arm.

You have to keep still for about 110 seconds to let it track several things, and when you’re done, you can lift the mod up to your forehead and stay still for a few seconds just to get your core body temperature. The process is dead simple, and largely involves just a few minutes of your time — like a visit to the doctor. It worked without a hitch for me, and my vitals are surprisingly in a healthy range.

Vital Inc. said the data is incredibly accurate, but the mod doesn’t replace your doctor. It’s meant more to help keep track of your health, and see when your vitals change based on the level of your daily activity — you can even share this data with your physician. In the app, you can see the readings as well as graphs that show you if your health is above or below average. There’s room for improvement here, though, as we think the app could benefit from a coach or more tools to help you understand what some of these numbers mean.

The data stored by Vital is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which means you’re in charge of who has access to your medical information. The ability to track all these vitals within a matter of minutes, and store this data for historical record, is impressive. We can’t wait for this device to work with various smartphones, as it provides a real benefit.

The Vital Moto Mod is expected to launch early this year, and price hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s likely to cost somewhere in the $300 to $400 range.

Livermorium Moto Mod

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Livermorium Moto Mod spawned from Motorola’s “Transform the Smartphone” Indiegogo campaign that challenged people to come up with unique and useful Moto Mods. Livermorium raised the most funds for its Keyboard Moto Mod. It does exactly what the name suggests — add a keyboard to your Moto Z smartphone.

If you’re longing for phones like the T-Mobile Sidekick, then this is a mod for you. Magnetically attach the mod to the back of a compatible Moto Z phone, and simply slide out the back to reveal a full, backlit QWERTY keyboard. You can angle the keyboard toward you so it’s more comfortable to hold, and you can easily turn off the backlight.

It felt comfortable to use, with satisfying buttons and enough room between the keys — it didn’t feel cramped. You’ll find Android navigation keys on the keyboard itself, and while it could activate the native Android split-screen mode, it did not activate Google Assistant — you’ll have to use the touchscreen or your voice.

The Indiegogo campaign model featured a battery in the mod to add even more value, but it looks like the first batches the company is shipping do not have a battery. That’s a shame, because the mod is already incredibly thick. That’s the biggest downside of the Keyboard Moto Mod, because it feels like you’re holding a brick when it’s attached to a phone.

Die-hard physical keyboard fans will certainly be interested, but considering the mod costs $100 and the fact that Moto Z phones aren’t exactly cheap, we recommend finding a phone with an embedded physical keyboard. Did you hear? BlackBerry’s doing well — or opt for Samsung’s smart QWERTY keyboard cover.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Moto Mod with Amazon Alexa review
• Vital Inc.’s new Moto Mod measures five vital signs in a matter of two minutes
• Livermorium’s new Moto Mod will bring back BlackBerry-style physical keyboard
• Prints photos in seconds with the Polaroid Insta-Share Printer Moto Mod
• Motorola Moto Gamepad review

Tersa Steam can clean a shirt before you finish your morning coffee

The Tersa Steam began, as so many inventions do, with a problem. “The three founders, we lived in a fraternity house our first year on campus in undergrad, and we shared a room with five guys, a house with about 60 guys, and one washing machine,” Tersa CEO Charlie Warden told Digital Trends at CES 2018. A nightmare scenario, but it led to a clever idea. “…we wanted something cool to hang on the wall to clean our towels, underwear, shirts, shorts, anything we needed to stay fresh,” Warden continued.

That something ended up being the Tersa Steam, a wall-mounted steam cleaner that cleans clothes quickly, and leaves them smelling good. We wanted to keep it chemical-free,” Warden said, to avoid creating splotches on clothes. The Tersa uses a simple combination of water and hydrosols, which Warden describes as “runoff from the cologne and perfume manufacturing process.”

The hydrosols are contained in biodegradable pods. To clean a shirt, the user simply opens the Tersa and places it inside, inserts a pod, and then the steamer blasts the clothes with steam, killing bacteria, smoothing out wrinkles, and infusing the shirt with the smell of the pod. Finally, the Tersa dries things out. The cleaning cycle takes 10 minutes, perfect when you need a fresh shirt before work.

Tersa launched on Indiegogo, and is still available for pre-sale. The pre-sale price is $399. Once the product hits retail, the price will jump to $499.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Dirty display? Here’s how to clean a laptop screen without risk of damage
• This little machine can clean your clothes with 10 liters of water and no power
• Here’s how to clean a Keurig in just a few simple steps
• Here’s how to clean an oven without harsh chemicals
• Never clean a toilet again — SpinX robot does the dirty job

DJI didn’t unveil any new drones at CES, but it’s Osmo stabilizer is pretty cool

While most of us associate DJI more with their line of popular and best-selling drones, the company actually has other products, including first-person-view (FPV) goggles and a selfie-stick-like product called the Osmo.

The Osmo Mobile 2, a stabilizer intended for use with smartphones, and the Ronin S stabilizer are the two biggest announcements at CES 2018 for DJI. Michael Perry, the company’s managing director for the North American market, stopped by the Digital Trends booth at CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon to talk about these products.

With the Osmo Mobile 2, battery life is increased to 15 hours, a dramatic increase over the 4.5 hours of the first-generation stabilizer. With so many video creators turning to their smartphones to create content, the better battery power makes it possible to use the Osmo Mobile 2 for an entire day’s worth of filming without having to stop for a recharge.

Other notable features include the capability to use the stabilizer in portrait mode, and a dramatically lower price point of $129, $70 cheaper than the first-generation model. Perry told us that DJI expects the much cheaper price point to allow a broader range of consumers to take advantage of the cinematic-like qualities of stabilizers to make stunning videos.

While you may have come here hoping for a bit of drone news from DJI, you’ll be disappointed. The company instead seems to be focusing on more than just physical products. For example, since CES 2017, DJI has spent a considerable amount of time focusing on getting over what Perry calls the “intuitiveness barrier” when it comes to drones, as well as working on better camera technology.

Perry told us that DJI and the drone industry will likely make improving camera technology a priority over the next few years, versus producing drones to which you attach a GoPro or other camera.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 5 tech trends you’ll be talking about in 2018
• The all-screen Apple iPhone X is here, and it’s the new iPhone you’ll want
• Qualcomm’s LTE PCs could be the biggest revolution since laptops got Wi-Fi
• DJI Talks About Its Osmo Camera Stabilizer at CES
• ‘Gears of War 4’ review

Logan Paul loses Google ad deal and YouTube Red projects

After facing backlash for remaining tight-lipped over Logan Paul’s controversial Aokigahara forest video, YouTube has finally spoken. The company has limited the social media star’s ability to earn money from its platform, starting by cancelling his lucrative Google Preferred ad deal. Google’s Preferred program allows brands to publish ads in the videos of the top five percent creators on YouTube. So while Paul can still monetize his videos, he won’t be earning the same money per click like he used to.

In addition, YouTube has also put Paul’s original projects for its ad-free streaming service on hold, including the sequel to his dystopian sci-fi film The Thinning. It was supposed to launch on YouTube Red later this year, but now it’s unclear whether it will ever be released. His character’s fate in Red comedy Foursome also remains unclear, since YouTube has chosen not to feature him in season four.

Paul was heavily criticized for posting a video showing him and his friends laughing and joking around upon coming upon a dead body inside the Japanese forest. (Aokigahara near Mt. Fuji is known as one of the most prevalent suicide sites in the world.) Critics slammed him for being disrespectful of the suicide victim and claiming that his video was meant to raise mental health awareness.

Source: Kotaku, Hollywood Reporter

Malware charged for 13-year spying spree

You don’t need an elaborate crime ring (or a government agency) to write malware that spies on others — sometimes, just one person can be responsible. The US Department of Justice has charged Ohio resident Philip Durachinsky with 16 crimes for allegedly writing malware, nicknamed “Fruitfly,” that gave him unfettered access to the PCs of “thousands” of individuals and institutions between 2003 and January 2017. Reportedly, he not only stole sensitive data to use for fraud and blackmail (such as logins, embarrassing chats and medical records) but took screenshots, logged keystrokes and spied on people through their webcams.

The DOJ also alleged that Durachinsky used victims’ PCs as a kind of malicious search engine. Fruitfly would alert him when users typed in words associated with porn, helping him save “millions” of images and take “detailed notes.” The charges (which mostly cover violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Wiretap Act) include an indictment for the production of child porn, but it’s not clear to what degree the images or the eavesdropping were involved.

Whether or not the charges are validated in court, the claims serve as not-so-subtle reminders that backdoor malware can sometimes be created for entirely personal reasons, not just by gangs looking for profit or spies collecting intelligence. You don’t have to be an obvious target to be a victim, and good security policies are important even if you don’t think you have anything particularly valuable.

Source: Department of Justice

This phone’s in-display fingerprint sensor is a taste of things to come

I just picked up a Vivo phone, laid my thumb on its screen and voila: I unlocked it. That might not sound like much, but titans like Apple and Samsung have reportedly struggled to squeeze fingerprint sensors beneath their own displays. And yet here I am, with a prototype phone from a company most have never heard of, touching a finger to glass and watching a phone come to life.

What’s really impressive is how conceptually elegant this setup is. The whole thing is made possible by a Synaptic CMOS sensor — which is basically just a very tiny camera — laminated to the back of an OLED panel. (LCDs are a no-go because of their backlights.) The light from the OLED display itself illuminates your fingerprint, which the sensor “sees” and checks against the print stored on the phone. Of course, none of this will matter to the people who actually try it. Aside from the fact that you can’t actually see the sensor, it works just like you’d expect it to.

That’s not to say it worked all the time, though — at first the sensor often didn’t recognize my finger. This phone definitely isn’t ready to go on sale, so it’s hard to say if my frequent failed attempts were because of non-final software or a sensor that just didn’t work very well. Thankfully, whatever the issue was seemed to resolve itself.

Now, I’m very taken with how clever this approach is, but it also has some potentially fundamental pain points. For one, people screw up their screens all the time. A crack running across the display or a few well-placed scratches could mean what the sensor sees no longer matches up with the stored image of your fingerprint. Then again, it seems likely that you could login another way and re-register your finger to make that stored print the new normal. (A Synaptics rep stopped short of confirming this outright.)

More importantly, the sensor might not recognize your fingerprint if it’s distorted — say, if you’re pressing your finger onto the screen harder than you were when you registered it. Needless to say, this is going to take a lot of getting used to — hopefully, it won’t be too long before we get to try a sensor like this in a more polished phone.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

The ASUS ‘Bezel-free kit’ is a messy multi-monitor solution

A quick trip to Asus’ off-site location at CES 2018 revealed routers, gaming PCs, the NVIDIA Big Format Gaming Display and its new bezel-hiding kit. That last one helps gamers (or productivity hounds seeking an edge) to link monitors together, while also using optics to hide the seam where each bezel meets. There are no filters, software or effects at play here — it’s simply an optical device that refracts light around the monitors’ plastic edges.

So how well does it work in practice? That depends on your expectations. It’s in no way a competitor for the seamless bliss of extreme widescreen curved monitors that can truly envelop gamers in another world. But, it does hide the seam and, with time, could eventually fade into the background of many games. The blurry lines where the monitors meet aren’t that much worse than a car’s A-pillar, however, at first, they stick out considerably.

We’d need an extended play session to figure out if they remain noticeable (and perhaps some tweaking to make sure each monitor is calibrated evenly.) There’s no word on how much the Bezel-free kit will cost, but it’s expected to go on sale later this year.

ASUS:

Bezel-free Kit is an accessory that enables gamers with multiple-monitor setups to visually eliminate the gaps where their displays connect, creating the appearance of one extra-large, wraparound monitor for a totally immersive gaming experience. Bezel-free Kit consists of vertical lenses and easy-to-attach mounts that connect the edge of each monitor at a 130-degree angle — the angle determined through extensive testing to provide the best viewing experience. An optical device that requires no software or power to operate, Bezel-free Kit uses light refraction to make the monitor edges disappear to the viewer. It provides an innovative, simple and effective method of increasing field of view and dramatically enhancing gameplay.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Deepframe brings augmented reality to a huge screen

It’s easy to feel a bit disillusioned with all of the hype around augmented reality. We’ve seen basic examples of AR take off, with apps like Pokemon Go, but that’s not exactly immersive. AR glasses, meanwhile, are still finding their legs. But Realfiction believes there’s another approach: Its large 64-inch screen called Deepframe. It basically takes the AR experience we’ve seen from things like Meta’s glasses, and transforms it into something that a whole crowd of people can see. While it’s not something you’d ever get at home, it could change the way we interact with stores and museums.

Like other AR solutions, Deepframe relies on optics for its magic. It actually reflects the output from a display in front of it — in my demo, it was from a 65-inch 4K OLED. The Deepframe itself doesn’t have any electronics. With this setup, you’ll be able to scale the resolution of what the screen shows just by upgrading your source display (for example, an 8K TV would be even sharper). In addition to the standalone Deepframe, potential customers can also embed it into an existing window or structure.

So what can you do with a screen like this? Since its main focus is on AR, it’s entirely meant to bring digital objects into the real world. I saw a CG velociraptor hopping around the screen, and I was surprised by how sharp it appeared on the screen. It wasn’t exactly life-like, but it looked like it was almost in the room with me. I also briefly chatted with Realfiction CEO Clas Dyrholm through the display (he was in a separate room), which felt like chatting with a Star Wars hologram. At one point, he made the dinosaur instantly appear alongside him, something that looked like it would take hours of rendering just a few years ago.

Devindra Hardawar/AOL

Realfiction has been delivering limited holographs to stores for years, but Dyrholm sees Deepframe as a huge step beyond that. It’s something museum guides could use to interact with digital objects and characters, giving attendees a size comparison between them and a giraffe, for example. In stores, customers could use the display to interact with expensive or hard to find items. As one example, Realfiction created a demo for a car company that doesn’t have showfloor space for actual cars. Instead, customers can use Deepframe to take a look at new vehicles, and even customize them in AR with a mobile app.

I also briefly went behind the scenes to turn myself into a Deepframe hologram. For the most part, I was surprised by how simple the company’s setup was. In the room next to the display, there was a Canon DSLR capturing video and pushingit through a gaming laptop, which then processed it into AR imagery. A small webcam in front of the Deepframe itself let me see who was watching the screen, and I was able to chat with them through a microphone. A small remote let me turn my holographic AR stream on and off, and also make the velociraptor appear beside it.

Experiencing Deepframe was enough to make me think it has potential. It gets rid of the cumbersome equipment requirement for AR, and instead gives us a simple window into the digital world. While the company isn’t talking about exact pricing yet, Clas says customers should be able to get Deepframe up and running for about $50,000 to $60,000. Obviously, that’s far out of reach for most potential buyers today, but there are certainly deep-pocketed early adopters who might take the leap.