Google’s Gemini VP Sissie Hsiao took the stage to show us how Gemini Live will now allow users to ask questions about images or PDFs onscreen. She also says Galaxy S25 owners will get six months of Google’s Gemini Advanced plan to try out the latest Gemini models and features. Not quite the year that Pixel 9 owners get, but nice!
Samsung is doubling down on the “AI will change your life” stuff. TM Roh calls it a “paradigm shift,” and it seems like “paradigm” was even the internal codename for the S25 phones — at least that’s the name that I spotted on a spec sheet last night. Setting the bar pretty high here!
We’re here in San Jose ready to see some new Galaxy phones! This is the second year in a row Samsung is hosting this event in a hockey arena, and all I’m saying is I’d better hear some air horns this time.
I appreciated Professor Hany Farid’s comments about AI photo manipulation in this recent episode of WBUR’s On Point. He addressed Pixel camera lead Isaac Reynolds — the segment’s first guest — and Google’s hypothesis about helping people create memories, not photos. I also contributed a few thoughts to the conversation, including the word “boogers.” Take a listen.
Delta’s CES keynote at the Sphere was truly an experience for all five senses. Wind whipped through my hair as a plane turned on a runway, and at one point, the place filled with the smell of hazelnut coffee as an Uber Eats driver “delivered” drinks to the speakers onstage. This recap doesn’t capture that aroma, but you’ll get an idea of the whole spectacle.
I was about to complain about the lack of cameras at Nikon’s CES booth when I came across this display. It’s a modified Z9 inside a special thermal blanket, and it will accompany astronauts to the moon as part of the Artemis III mission. The big, simplified buttons will be easier to press with massive gloves on. Super cool!
