Articles by Brian Heater
Reach Bionics Is Developing A VR System Controlled By The User’s Facial Expressions
It's still in its early protoyping stage, but it's fascinating nonetheless. Los Angeles-based Reach Bionics is on hand at CES this week showing off a VR peripheral prototype intended to put interaction with the virtual world onto the face of the user, controlling aspects of the interaction via facial expressions.
Robotic Luggage Designed To Follow Its Owner Around
It can also charge phones and perform a few other cool tricks. Wheeled luggage made getting around an airport a heck of a lot easier, but you still have to actually wheel the thing around.
A Robotic Bartender That Mixes Cocktails With The Tap Of A Smartphone
The Somabar mixes drinks in seconds. Attention, bartenders of the world. You've got some, er, stiff competition. Granted, it looks like any other plain kitchen appliance, but what we gave right here is the Somabar, an automatic cocktail maker controlled via smartphone.
This Is What A ‘Game Console For Dogs’ Looks Like
It's designed to stimulate a dog's brain functions. A few days back, I got a pitch for CleverPet, the "world's first game console for dogs.
You Can Only Get This Slick New OtterBox iPhone Case Through Apple
OtterBox's new iPhone case mixes protection with good looks. And it's actually pretty slick, at least so far as OtterBox's often ridiculously bulk cases go.
You Know What’s Really Big? A Ruggedized Battery Case for the iPhone 6s Plus
Like really, really big. The company is called Lifeproof for a reason. The new FRĒ Power case has all manner of rugged features built it. It can be submerged in up to two meters of water for an hour and can withstand a drop up to 6.
In Win's Completely Ridiculous Desktop Case Opens Up Like a Peacock
And it's pretty glorious to behold. Here's another gem from the CES international hall. The H-Tower is a completely ridiculous, totally unnecessary, and really cool brushed metal PC Tower that automatically opens and rotates like a desktop transformer.
A 3D Printer That Creates Textured Photos Via a Smartphone App
A fascinating an easy to use 3D printer from a startup you've never heard of. The international hall is likely one of the less well trafficked spots at CES, but the conflagration of primarily Asian country always tends to yield at least a few fascinating gems.
Olloclip’s Got An Intense New Modular Photo System For The iPhone
An $80 modular system that turns a smartphone into a mobile studio. Believe it or not, there's an iPhone in there somewhere. This beast is the Studio, the latest accessory from smartphone lens maker Olloclip.
Hands-On With Razer’s New Ultra Portable Turned Gaming PC
Plus one key peripheral. Yes, Razer's got a gaming ultrabook, and yes, there's a catch. A pretty big one, namely that big box you see in the left corner of the picture.
Hands-On With Griffin’s Clever New MagSafe-Style USB-C Power Cable
The adapter offers the best of both worlds. Oh, this is smart. Griffin's taken the initiative to bring the trusty old MagSafe back to the latest generation of MacBooks, which dropped the safety technology in favor of the soon-to-be ubiquitous USB-C standard.
Hey Kids, Want To Feel Old? Strap This Exoskeleton On
You can practically hear the decades tick away! The Genworth Aging Experience was one of the weirder PR pitches among the literal hundreds I received in the lead-up to CES.
A Look At EHang’s Giant Passenger Drone
The drone is as terrifying as it is neat. In the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, there are drones, and then there are DRONES. For the rest of the week, the space will be filled with all manner of UAV manufacturers attempting to set themselves apart from the pack.
Here’s The Shipping Version Of The Virtuix Omni VR Treadmill
It's a giant $700 platform that lets you move around in virtual reality. I had one of the more surreal moments of my tech writing career at E3 back in 2013, when a gaming startup invited me to a hotel suite to try out a new prototype they'd been working on.
Hands-On With Earin, the Truly Wireless Earbuds We’ve Been Looking For
We take a quick spin with the wireless headphones There's always been an inherent irony in referring to wireless earbuds as "wireless" when there's invariably a bit cord connecting the two of them.
TarDisk’s MacBook Storage-Expanding Card Adds Cloud Storage
The second generation version of the card adds the security of cloud backup. Not much to report on aesthetically, by the folks at the unfortunately named startup TarDisk hit CES with an upgraded version of their extremely cool SD Card-sized MacBook storage extender.
Hands-On With The Mio Slice, A Wearable That Utilizes A New Workout Metric
The Slice is the company's first wearable to utilize the PAI exercise metric. I know, I know, another fitness tracker launching at CES. This one's got something fairly interesting going for it, however.
WowWee Is Funding This Adorable Robotic Dog On Indiegogo
WowWee's got a new adorable robot. This is CHiP, the adorable robotic dog apparently named for a TV show about the California Highway Patrol (not really, of course.
HP's EliteBook Folio Is Drawing Comparisons To A Certain Ultrathin Laptop
It rhymes with Backbook Bear. I won't mention the other thin and light laptop that everyone seems to be comparing to the HP EliteBook Folio. I'll just leave some of these pictures here and let you draw your own conclusions.
Polaroid’s Got A Big Old 3D Printer That Looks Very, Very Polaroidy
It also boasts some pretty solid features. Here's a surprise from the CES show floor, the kind that stopped me in my tracks. It's a 3D printer.
Hands-On With The Le Max Pro, LeTV’s Massive New Flagship
It's big, it's beautiful, and it has some truly impressive specs. The Le Max Pro is a big phone. Like hard-for-a-lot-of-people-to-hold-in-one-hand big.
Ears-On With Jaybird’s Freedom Wireless Bluetooth Headphones
We take Jaybird's tiny new wireless headphones for a spin. I liked the Jaybird X2 a whole lot when I reviewed them a few months back, so I happily made a beeline to the company's booth to see what its got going on for this year's CES.
Eyes-On With GoPro’s Spherical VR Camera Array
We take a look at GoPro's entry into the virtual reality space. My first VR demo of the day and, I don't know, fifth or sixth of the of the week, thus far.
Wrists-On With Casio’s Ginormous New Rugged Smartwatch
Casio's got a big ole new smatwatch designed for the great outdoors. A quick note to smartwatch manufacturers: if your product is gigantic, find a gigantic wrist to model it and hopefully make it slightly less gigantic in the process.
A Look at the 3D Chromat Adrenaline Dress, Which Sports Moving Wings
The wings move according to the wearer's temperature, stress, and adrenaline levels. This is definitely the first time I've been able to say this at CES this week, but the following product actually made its debut on a fashion runway back in September, but here it is, and it's definitely sufficiently strange to warrant a writeup.
A Look At Intel’s Obstacle-Avoiding Drone
The Typhoon H utilizes the company's RealSense 3D camera to avoid things that get in its way. Intel made (pardon the pun) waves yesterday by demoing the Typhoon H, a drone created in collaboration with Yuneec that sports some pretty cool tricks, courtesy of the chip maker's RealSense 3D camera technology.
Here’s Samsung’s Two New Galaxy Gear S Classic Models Up Close
We get up close and moderately personal with Samsung's fancy upgrades to its Gear S2 Watch. Sure, the big news on the Galaxy Gear S2 front was the wearable's upcoming ability to work with iOS, but the smartwatch also got two new versions for users looking to class up their wrists a bit.
Hands-On With Samsung’s TabPro S 12-inch Windows Business Tablet
A closer look at Samsung's Surface/iPad Pro competitor. Here's Samsung's TabPro S, the company's shot at the emerging business tablet space currently ruled by the likes of the Microsoft Surface and iPad Pro.
Taking a Closer Look at Samsung’s $5,000 Smart Fridge
We take a look at the crazy, cool new refridgerator from Samsung. What if I told you the big hit of Samsung's 2016 CES was a refrigerator? You'd probably say something along the lines of, "yeah, I know, I was paying attention at the company's mostly lackluster event yesterday.
Martian Launches A Line Of Smartwatches And Jewelry For Women
Martian has female consumers in mind with its new line of smartwatches and connected jewelry. Martian has been one of the more interesting companies operating among a sea of samey smartwatches, bringing connected functionality to its ever-evolving line of analog timepieces.
