LG has acquired a majority stake in Bear Robotics — an AI-powered service robot startup — to integrate with its own “CLOi” commercial robotics business. LG invested $60 million into the startup for a 21 percent stake last March, but the value of the new deal hasn’t been disclosed.
LG’s Lee Sam-soo says the investment reflects the company’s belief that robots have an “inevitable role in the future.”
The electronics giant has followed through on its promise to open the APIs for its ThinQ appliances, and Homey, which is owned by LG, is one of the first platforms to implement it.
The LG ThinQ app for Homey is available now for both cloud-based and hub-based setups and lets you add connected LG washers, dryers, TVs, and more to Homey and control them directly or with automations.
The Hue Sync TV app was previously only available for Samsung TVs, but now you can sync up your lighting with content playing on your LG TV (for a pretty hefty price, of course).
The app, which also comes with the option for a $3.99 per month subscription, is available on LG TVs with webOS 24 and newer.
This new Signature over-the-range microwave oven concept has a big 27-inch Android tablet for a door that can show you what’s cooking inside, on the stove, and can record your face for when you feel like putting on a cooking show. Watch The Verge’s Jennifer Tuohy find recipes on it at the CES show floor:
It’s “coming soon” to LG’s gaming portal, per a slide from LG’s CES keynote. You’ll need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to use it.
And I’m here for it! The StanbyME 2 comes with more pixels, more ports (2x USB-C and HDMI), and an extra 30 minutes of battery life.
But who cares about specs: the best part about it are the new accessories, one of which is a shoulder strap. I always wished my TV would come with one, and now it does. See it in action below.
The LG Radio+ streaming service is available on LG smart TVs running webOS 6.0 and above. It’s offered through a partnership with Radioline, and available in the US and South Korea, “giving users an all-in-one audio platform allowing effortless access to news, sports, music, and more,” including live stations and podcasts such as NPR, CNN Radio, Fox Radio, and The Joe Rogan Experience.
All of the company’s Blu-ray player models have been discontinued according to FlatpanelsHD, following similar exits from the industry from Oppo in 2018 and Samsung in 2019.
LG hasn’t released a new Blu-ray player for six years, but it’s still another small blow for the dwindling physical media industry.
[FlatpanelsHD]
The company has announced that “the first games playable with the LG Magic Remote” are Cut the Rope and Thief Puzzle. Both puzzle games are available now and “optimized for seamless play” with the motion-sensing remote.
The move will “enhance synergy” and “foster synergies” all while “creating greater synergy,” according to the announcement that mentions synergy seven times.
Your folding phone’s screen isn’t anywhere near this flexible, in case you’re wondering. They said we’d see the twistable, stretchable display at Seoul Fashion Week, and sure enough:
Back in 2022, LG Display revealed high-resolution displays that can be stretched, folded, and twisted, and now we see them imagined as material that can be used in clothing and accessories.
Korean designers Youn-Hee Park and Chung-Chung Lee have incorporated them into clothing and handbags and will present them at Seoul Fashion Week.
Unlike a regular ebook, these AI-enabled digital textbooks will supposedly assess students’ reading level and change the content based on the reader. South Korea expects to be the first country in the world to use these books starting in 2025.
LG used double-stacked OLED technology for in-car screens even before it popped up in Apple’s new iPad Pros. Next up are laptops like Dell’s new XPS 13 AI PC.
Here’s what LG claims tandem OLED does for laptops:
It can deliver double the lifespan and triple the brightness of a conventional single-layer OLED display, while reducing power consumption by up to 40 percent...LG Display has been able to make it around 40 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than existing OLED laptop screens
