CES Day 5: Highlights from the show floor – The Verge

Mahindra’s new scooter is a cloud-connected joy ride

2016-01-09T13:45:02-05:00

You might know what Mahindra is if you live in the United States, but there's a pretty good chance that you don't. The massive conglomerate is a major car manufacturer in India, a big player in the tractor industry, and even fields a team in all-electric racing series Formula E. Mahindra has recently started making electric scooters, too, and so the company brought its latest one to CES to show it off.

The GenZe 2.0 isn't particularly eye-catching, at least in white. But it's a polished scooter, and it's remarkably easy to use. It has a low center of gravity thanks to the 30-pound battery that sits right below the seat, and it's extremely c …

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Who is WiseWear’s $395 luxury smart bracelet even for?

2016-01-08T22:26:11-05:00

It's no secret that the market is flush with terrible wearables - functional pieces that are a total eyesore. Even a lot of wearables that aren't ugly per se aren't exactly beautiful accessories that one would naturally pair with a nice outfit. Legendary designer Iris Apfel's WiseWear smart jewelry line is definitely in response to that problem.

The line, which includes three different brass smart bracelets that come plated in your choice of 18-carat gold or palladium, really is cool-looking jewelry in its own right. If you didn't know it was a connected bracelet you wouldn't know it was a connected bracelet - you know?

Beautiful, but inacc …

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Oculus founder Palmer Luckey: we’re still not competing with Sony and HTC

2016-01-08T20:12:56-05:00

It's been three years since we saw the Oculus Rift for the first time at CES - it won our Best in Show award in both 2013 and 2014. Now, it's on the cusp of seeing a final consumer release. We sat down with Oculus founder Palmer Luckey the day after Rift preorders opened, and for the first time in years, we didn't have to ask him about pricing and release dates. Instead, we got to hear his take on the state of VR at CES, the best way to interact with virtual worlds, the future of augmented reality, and why Oculus still isn't in competition with other headset makers.

"I don't think there's going to be a lot of people who would have bought a …

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These 3D-printed urns are a much cooler way to celebrate the life of your loved one

2016-01-08T19:23:57-05:00

Someday, in the hopefully very distant future, after many years of love, laughter, turmoil, and CES conventions, your soul will evacuate this mortal plane and you will cease to be what is considered alive. When that fateful day occurs, your loved ones will be tasked with finding a final resting place for the body you left behind. Right now the options aren't plentiful: there's the standard coffin or an urn, which haven't changed much in style over the years. But now, thanks to the magic of 3D printing, your final resting place can be much more creative and personalized.

A company called Foreverence, which is showcasing at CES 2016, speciali …

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Tobii lets you play Assassin’s Creed with your eyes

2016-01-08T18:19:16-05:00

At a certain point during my meeting with Tobii, I decide that the unassuming Swedish eye tracking company has some of the creepiest tech at CES. Putting on glasses fitted with tiny cameras, I look around a hotel suite - focusing in turn on the raised hand of Tobii Tech president Oscar Werner, the camera in front of me, a tablet, and a promotional pamphlet. As I read the pamphlet, I become keenly aware of the fact that these glasses can tell exactly how my eyes are moving. I run my them along the lines of text with exaggerated speed and motion. I'm reading fast! my eyes say. And paying attention! Once I'm done, I don't remember a word.

"What …

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Can this smart lock solve America’s gun troubles?

2016-01-08T18:02:55-05:00

Smart guns have been in the news this week, boosted by an executive action from President Obama calling for increased research into the field. But the technology to prevent guns from being used in the wrong hands isn't new - researchers have been working on it for decades. Yet widespread adoption of smart guns have been rejected for a variety of reasons, especially over fear that any smart lock could be hacked.

The heated political debate over the right to bear arms has certainly limited funding and development for smart gun locks, but it was still surprising to find out that at CES 2016 - the biggest consumer electronics show in the world …

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Touchless haptic feedback completely freaked me out at CES

2016-01-08T17:45:46-05:00

Audio giant Harman brought a bunch of weird experimental products and ideas to CES this year, headlined by the bizarre Rinspeed Σtos concept car, which I expected to be the coolest thing at its booth. I was wrong.

Tucked away in a corner of Harman's space was a JBL L16 Bluetooth speaker that had been retrofitted with a Leap Motion sensor and a large array of transmitters on top. When I placed my hand about a foot or two above the array, I could feel a tight, focused puff of air hitting it.

The thing is, there's no air.

This proof-of-concept device is actually blasting me with ultrasonic waves that feel freakishly like a stream of air. I'm …

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The best thing I saw at CES 2016 was the humanity

2016-01-08T17:05:15-05:00

CES is a magical and strange place. Everywhere you look there are people who have spent years trying to get here, booths with thousands if not millions of dollars poured into their displays, and lots and lots of gadgets. Many of these gadgets are garbage, some of them are cool, but all of them represent an overwhelming mass of human work. Every now and then as you fight the crowds on show floor, you're struck by the knowledge that the sea of humanity you're wading through is deep.

For all the shallowness of the spectacle, imagining the depth of human effort it takes to create it all can set you back on your heels.

And I'm not just talking …

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Technics has the best new headphones at CES

2016-01-08T16:15:14-05:00

Two big slabs of wrought aluminum wrap around my favorite pair of headphones here at CES 2016: the Technics EAH-T700s. I've spent this morning touring all the headphone makers' suites at The Venetian, exploring what the latest and greatest sounds like, but once I came upon this pair I just had to stop.

On first inspection, the T700s look like one of those over-engineered German sedans that have 68-way adjustable seats - each ear pad pivots 90 degrees and also slides back and forth as well as up and down - which usually makes me wary that the default design just isn't all that great. But that worry was immediately dispelled when I put them o …

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Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are coming for the smart home

2016-01-08T15:40:27-05:00

If you wanted to build a smart home anytime in the last decade, you turned to one of two places: ZigBee or Z-Wave. Both are connectivity standards tailor made for the smart home, each connecting the hundreds of products approved for their systems. You've probably never heard of them, but you've definitely heard of their new competitors: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. As the niche smart home industry starts to grow, everyone wants a piece of it. And more established standards are coming for them.

"Everything they've been talking about, we've been doing already."

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth both plan to make some big changes over the next year or two that'll al …

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