Technology Trends From CES 2017 That Will Really Matter
Dozens of technology companies showcase their latest developments at the Consumer Electronics Show each year. Many of them never make it to store shelves, but it’s a great way to see how technology will evolve in the coming year. Here’s what you can expect in 2017 based on what we saw at CES.
Alexa and Google Assistant infiltrate everything
The Amazon Echo was a surprise hit when it first surfaced , but Google increased the competition last year by launching Google Assistant and putting it in Google Home’s own smart speaker . Gloves came off at CES this year. Google and Amazon strive to integrate their smart assistants with every gadget in your life.
So far, Amazon is winning. Soon you will be able to buy a myriad of non-Amazon devices with Alexa built-in, including a $ 140 speaker from Lenovo , several non-brand 4K TVs , GE’s TRON -style lamp , Ford cars, and LG’s weird robot, among many others.
If you have a device left in your home that Amazon hasn’t installed Alexa on, the company at least wants to control it using Alexa commands. Soon, you will be able to control your Samsung Robot Vacuum Cleaner, DISH Hopper DVR , and Whirlpool washers, dryers, refrigerators and ovens with one voice. You know, assuming ten years from now, you still have an Echo when you finally get to upgrading your fridge.
Google showed off a scaled-down version of the same game plan. Google Assistant is coming to Android TV , including a new version of NVIDIA SHIELD TV (and we were already impressed with the old version ). Android TV already supports Google voice commands, but this will allow you to enter commands using “Ok Google. »As long as the remote control can hear you even if you do not press the button first.
All of this points to one very important step in 2017: smart assistants will be everywhere . Amazon and to a lesser extent Google want you to view Alexa and Google as a virtual person in every room with you. Just speak out loud and they will help you with whatever you need. It’s an ambitious plan, but it probably still has a long way to go before it becomes reality.
Televisions are getting very thin and a new video format war is brewing
In 2016, 4K TVs became popular. While they’re cheap and common enough to have a look at if you’re already updating , the real future of television (and video) is HDR. HDR offers a better overall picture, a wider range of colors, and higher contrast than standard sets. TV makers have switched their hype machines from 4K to HDR this year.
LG, for example, has announced a new line of TVs that will include support for all four varieties of HDR. If you’ve read this and thought, “Are there four HDR formats?” the answer is yes, but don’t panic. Most TVs support one of two main features – HDR10 and Dolby Vision – and both are great upgrades from regular 4K video. Two new specs – Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) and Advanced HDR (also called SL-HDR1 ) are designed for streaming video, so they won’t impact your favorite movies and TV shows too much, but it will make a difference if you’re watching sports. or live broadcast.
Fortunately, TVs can support multiple formats at once. Buying a set that supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision will cover most of the media you watch, but HDR10 is good enough for pretty much everything you need. If you really want to get the most out of your investment, wait until kits that support all four specifications drop in price before buying a new TV. You’ll hear a lot more about HDR from the manufacturers this year, but it might be worth waiting until the 2017 holiday season, at least to buy a new set. Alternatively, if you want last year’s TVs at a good price, you can also shop during Super Bowl season.
If HDR isn’t enough to open your wallet, manufacturers like LG and Samsung are hoping they can seduce you with TVs that fit into your living room. The new model LG W7, dubbed “Wallpaper TV”, is about a tenth of an inch thick. He stores most of his electronics in the soundbar under the TV.
Meanwhile, Samsung showed off an ultra-thin TV disguised as a painting . When you are not watching it, the TV will display images instead of shutting down completely. It’s like something from Back to the Future . Chromecast devices and set-top boxes already display rotating images in standby mode, but Samsung Lifestyle TV treats your TV as just another decoration in your living room. If you’re the type to hide a large screen in your closet, or don’t like the look of a home theater in your living room, this trend towards incognito TVs might interest you.
Streaming TV and DVR Bundles Want to Replace Cable
Back in 2015, Sling TV hit the scene , promising to be Netflix live . It streams live channels over the Internet to your computer, TV or phone for one monthly fee. Playstation Vue introduced a similar service a couple of months later, but none of them were prime time ready. The Vue DVR was extremely limited, and the Sling had no DVR at all. Channel selection was scattered, many channels did not have video on demand, and you could not pause some of them. Fortunately, things are getting better.
At this year’s CES, Hulu showcased its own streaming service , which includes a built-in cloud-based DVR. Hulu is already streaming new episodes of many online shows. If you add live streaming to this library and record shows that Hulu isn’t streaming yet, you might be able to completely replace the cable. Best of all, Hulu has been able to strike a deal with the elusive CBS , which isn’t usually involved in streaming TV packages.
Hulu’s offer looks promising, but AT&T’s DirecTV Now app, which launched in November, is already trying to beat it. The service offers up to 120 direct Internet TV channels . More importantly, DirecTV plans to add DVR functionality this year. Meanwhile, Sling is already beta testing its DVR program , and Playstation Vue has its own DVR feature .
If you’ve refrained from cutting the cable until streaming TV is ripe, 2017 will be a good time to turn your attention again. Now that strong hitters like Hulu and AT&T enter the ring, you may finally be able to cut the cable forever without making the usual sacrifices like live sports and channel selection.
NVIDIA brings game streaming to Windows and Mac
Ever since OnLive died a gruesome death , NVIDIA has been trying to start home streaming games from scratch. In 2015, the company launched SHIELD TV, which impressed us when we tried it , which can stream PC games to your TV so you can play your favorite games while sitting on the couch. The service seemed pretty cool, but you still had to shell out $ 200 per box , which is hard to sell in the $ 50 Steam Link box world.
NVIDIA announced this year that it will provide the same services that SHIELD offers for any PC and Mac with GeForce Now . This is a big deal because it is now possible to play high quality PC games even if your computer does not meet the system requirements. You can play on your PC with a GTX 1060 or GTX 1080 and stream the video from the game back to your computer. Windows users can play games for which their computers are not powerful enough. Mac users can play Windows-only games. This is a great option for everyone.
Of course, this comes at a price. GeForce Now will cost $ 25 for 20 hours at 1060 or 10 hours at 1080. You should also bring your own game library. You can download Steam, GOG, Origin and Battle.net games from your existing library, install them on a remote computer, and play them on more powerful hardware. If you want to play a game that you do not own, you will first need to buy it from the respective stores and then pay hourly to play it.
This is very different from how GeForce Now works on SHIELD TV. There, you pay a flat $ 8 per month for access to a library of games that you can stream and play with a SHIELD controller (some games are more expensive). Ultimately, if you want to play games on the couch, get the new SHIELD TV. and pay the subscription fee. If you want to play games on your computer using your keyboard and mouse, you will soon be able to download GeForce Now.
Smart gadget companies are bored as hell
CES is a great look at what the tech world will look like this year. It’s also a parade of some of the strangest or most eclectic ideas we’ve ever seen. The tradition of inexplicable or niche gadgets is not going to decline this year.
Smart refrigerators are still relevant
LG and Samsung keep releasing new refrigerators with giant tablets in their doors for some reason. The newest ones run Windows or Android. While the concept of keeping track of whether your food has gone bad is cool, fixing, updating, or worrying about security fixes for your refrigerator isn’t. Keep in mind that refrigerators should last about 15 years . Meanwhile, Windows 7, released in 2009, will lose extended support by 2020 . Who knows which version of Android Google will be supporting fifteen years from now. If you buy a smart refrigerator today, you can expect it to be buggy and out of date for most of its lifespan, and inevitably join a botnet and participate in a massive DDoS attack .
Toast is tricky, so this smart toaster remembers things for you
If you’ve ever burnt toast by accident, you’ve probably grumbled to yourself a little, scraped off the burnt part, and promised to turn the knob down next time. Now, thanks to this Griffin Smart Toaster ($ 100), you can mess with your phone and struggle with tweaking your toaster’s Bluetooth settings. Your toast will probably burn anyway, but at least you have the data to explain why.
This is a $ 120 sticker printer.
This device will allow you to write notes on your phone and then print them on stickers. Costs $ 120 . Alternatively, here are five hundred stickers for $ 5 and 36 pens for $ 4 .
These are big trends we’ve seen, but CES is still going on over the weekend. If you want to keep an eye on all the in-depth coverage, head over to Gizmodo for a live stream.