CES 2023 Live Blog: Talking Cars, LG Displays, Robots Dogs and a Smartwatch That Cares - CNET

2023-01-06 16:50:06 By : Mr. Tom Zhang

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CES 2023 Live Blog: Talking Cars, LG Displays, Robots Dogs and a Smartwatch That Cares - CNET

CES is known as the world's biggest consumer electronics show. In 2023 it's well and truly lived up to that moniker.

CES 2023 is here once again, bringing all sorts of news about futuristic gadgets and gizmos from companies the world over. This year, LG showed off a color-changing fridge  while BMW brought out a color-changing car . If you want massive televisions, Samsung has you covered . And if you're looking for the tech industry's take on a car, Sony (yes, Sony) says it'll launch its own branded EV in 2026 .

It's a lot to keep up with, which is why we at CNET are tracking all the announcements for you, right here. If you'd prefer a more digestible roundup of must-sees , we've got that too.

Read more: CES 2023's Wildest Highlights: Stunning Cars, 3D Laptops and Shape-Shifting Screens

LG Display always offers some interesting concepts at CES, and this year is no different. CNET Editor David Katzmaier saw an array of different products during his private tour, including a gaming rig with curved OLED display and another one flanked by circular speakers. The oddest offering was the LG Glow, which was a vertically oriented display showing a crackling fire. Why you would want to emulate a campfire experience is anyone's guess, but that's CES for you. 

He's friendly and playful, but you won't have to clean up after him.

Adopting a pet can be incredibly rewarding, as your family grows with a new personality -- often wagging its tail whenever you come home. Now, Dog-E from tech toymaker WowWee ($80), launched this week, wants to simulate that idea by giving its app-connected robot dogs a unique set of characteristics out of 1 million possible combinations of lights, sounds and personality traits. 

"The puppy then comes to life in a 'minting' process as kids pet and play with it, gradually revealing its specific personality," CNET's Bree Fowler writes. "Some dogs will always be hungry, while others might be more playful or shy, WowWee says. You can train the dog to do tricks, give kisses and 'talk' by displaying text and emojis when it wags its tail."

Dog-E is available for preorder now, and arrives at retailers in the fall of 2023.

Read more: We Found the Most Adorable New Gizmo of CES 2023

Google wants to make it easier to share media between your Android devices.

One of the more popular features from Apple's devices is their ability to switch music playing on AirPods , for example, to your car through CarPlay or to a Mac computer at your desk, or to a HomePod music speaker when you walk in the room. 

Now, Google is creating a similar program it calls Media Notifications , which will allow a phone powered by Google's Android software to easily share music to a speaker running Android, regardless of which company made the actual device. Google hasn't said when these features will launch, but a company executive said it'll happen "naturally, through little nudges and prompts" on the screen.

"This is an ongoing investment," Erik Kay, Google's vice president of engineering for Android, told CNET's Lisa Eadicicco in an exclusive interview. "We get to the point where pretty much any feature that shows up on the phone or shows up on a watch is going to inherently be a multi-device feature over time." 

Read more: Android Is Catching Up to Apple in an Important Way

The Citizen CZ Smart watch

Smartwatches already track our heart rates, our blood-oxygen levels, our movement and even how deeply we're diving in the ocean . So it makes sense that the next frontier would be to identify how alert we are, and whether we're fatigued. That's what Citizen's CZ Smart watch will aim to do when it arrives in the US this March , starting at $350. 

"The company says its new smartwatches use tools built based on research from the NASA Ames Research Center Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory to assess fatigue and alertness levels," CNET's Lisa Eadicicco writes. "The Citizen CZ Smart watch is just the latest example of how smartwatch makers are attempting to explore the way factors like sleep and stress impact our physical health."

Read more: Citizen's Newest Wearable Uses AI to Gauge Your Alertness and Fatigue

The XR Elite is a VR headset with mixed reality that looks almost, at some angles, like glasses.

HTC is at it again with a new virtual reality headset, the Vive XR Elite, which CNET Editor Scott Stein says follows the Quest Pro playbook. The $1,099 headset is available for preorder on Thursday, but arrives in February. The hardware is a lot less bulky that earlier versions of the Vive, which required a cable line to a PC and required separate sensors in the room. 

Like the Quest Pro 2, it runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 chip. HTC has faded from the public view since it focused on the business market for its Vive headsets. It's unclear who the Vive XR Elite is for, since getting consumers to adopt virtual reality has been a mixed bag. 

Read more: HTC Vive XR Elite: Another Mixed-Reality Headset Arriving Ahead of Apple

The Alienware x14 is the thinnest 14-inch gaming laptop.

Dell's Alienware brand has always strived for an otherworldly vibe , and this year the tech giant has announced what it says is the thinnest 14-inch gaming laptop on the planet (and perhaps beyond). It's not just thin, though: It also boasts powerful chips from Intel, AMD and Nvidia, allowing it to play games on the go without feeling like you're carrying a boat anchor .

"They all have a new foot design to allow for better cooling and greater comfort when used on your lap," CNET's Joshua Goldman writes. "They all have taller 16:10 displays, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision support, full-HD webcams and a thermal material on the CPU and GPU for optimized heat dissipation."

Read more: Alienware Unveils Its Thinnest and Most Powerful Gaming Laptops Yet

There are few tech brands that have survived longer than "Think," which has devotees whose laptops and desktops are known as popular workhorses of the business world stretching back to when the company was owned by IBM, and even after it was sold to Lenovo nearly two decades ago .

Now, Lenovo thinks is the right time to introduce a business-focused ThinkPhone, designed with security, durability and productivity in mind. Like Apple's iPhones and Mac computers, the ThinkPhone has a separate processor for securing passwords and other sensitive data. The ThinkPhone also has Gorilla Glass Victus, surrounded by fibers that Motorola says is stronger than steel.

"Like most modern phones, the ThinkPhone has IP68 water resistance," CNET's Lisa Eadicicco writes. It's being released "in the coming months" in the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Asia.

Read more: Motorola's New Phone Is for People Who Really, Really Love Their Lenovo ThinkPad

This device can print color onto your hair. #CES2022 pic.twitter.com/lOuz9HM0Hs

You've heard of temporary tattoos ? 

Well, Prinker, a company who created a temporary tattoo machine several years ago, is now showing off a device that will allow you to print color onto your hair. It prints using the same water-resistant cosmetic ink to color parts of your hair different colors. 

The colors are washable, just like Prinker's temporary tattoos, the company said .

Gaming devices brand Razer showed off a new $400 handheld video game device called the Edge , which is due to arrive later this month to take on Nintendo's super-popular $300 Switch. Like the Switch and its $400 Steam Deck frenemy, the Edge is a tablet with controllers attached to its ends. 

Unlike either console though, the Edge is powered by Google's Android software, meaning that in order to play visually complex "console quality" games, players will need to rely on game streaming services like the $15 per month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate , $10 per month PlayStation Plus or $10 per month Nvidia GeForce Now , which allow people to play video games in a similar way they stream movies on Netflix .

"With something like the Edge, it all depends on how good it is at what it does. I can't quite tell that yet," CNET's Scott Stein wrote after trying the device out.

Read more: Razer Edge Game Handheld Arrives Jan. 26, Preorders Opening Now

Stellantis' Ram truck brand showed off a concept for a new electric truck that suggests how the company's thinking about embedding tech in its designs in the future . It has features like a passenger cabin that can fold into a cargo bed, something competitors like GM's Chevrolet and GMC both have too. 

It also has some futuristic ideas like a steering wheel that can fold out of the way while the truck is driving itself , and an exterior projector to help a team quickly look at designs for a house, or perhaps watch a movie after a long day of work. 

The company didn't offer many details, other than to say it has dual electric drive motors and 800-volt electric architecture that'd allow fast charging of up to 100 miles of range after 10 minutes of charge.

"Ram's first battery electric pickup arrives ready to compete with Ford, Chevrolet and Rivian in 2024," writes CNET's Antuan Goodwin. "A production-ready debut is expected along with power, range and efficiency estimates in the coming months."

Read more: Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Electric Pickup Concept Debuts at CES

Qualcomm's next top-tier mobile chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, has performance improvements, better AI, hardware ray tracing and support for Wi-Fi 7 wireless internet.

One of Apple's most significant new features for the iPhone 14 may start to arrive on other company's phones over the next year, thanks to chips from Qualcomm called "Snapdragon Satellite." 

The service uses orbital communication satellites from the company Iridium, which has a constellation of 66 satellites floating around the Earth, ready to relay emergency texts virtually anywhere on the planet.

"Like Apple's Emergency SOS feature, Snapdragon Satellite will come standard on phones and won't be routed through a third-party service," CNET's David Lumb writes. "And like Apple's feature, you'll simply need to angle your phone to the sky for the best chance of linking up with a satellite to send your emergency message."

The system is set for release later this year, though no phone-makers have said if they'll support it yet.

Read more: iPhone-Like Emergency Texts via Satellite Coming to Android in 2023

Each year, CES seems to have more useful robots to show off, and this year one of them came from Aeolus, whose Aeo robot is designed to be able to deliver food and medicine." Its appendages are strong enough to lift an 8-pound cooler and gentle enough to hold a phone without dropping or crushing it with its mechanical robot arms," CNET's Bree Fowler reported.

"In addition to elder care facilities, Aeolus is hoping to get its robots into places like offices and schools for help with security patrols," she added. 

Pricing hasn't been announced, but the company hopes to rent out its Aeo robots as a service rather selling them.

Read more: This Humanoid Robot Could Change the Game for Schools, Hospitals and Seniors

GE's new smart mixer features dozens of guided recipes aimed at making you a more confident.

While CES is certainly filled with offbeat tech, ranging from color-changing cars to toilet bowl pee sensors , sometimes we see more practical products too. In this case, GE is showing off its Profile smart mixer, which is currently on sale at Crate & Barrel for $999 . (It'll make it to other retailers in the coming months.)

"I didn't have a chance to bake anything with the stand mixer myself," writes CNET's Jessica Dolcourt, "But I did mash a bunch of buttons to turn a paddle over some butter, lift the bowl mechanism and snap several attachments, like a balloon whisk, in and out."

Still, she came away impressed. "The mixer's mechanical and 'smart' designs felt thoughtful and genuinely useful, from the way the attachments most easily click (versus rotating) into place, to the built-in scale that reads weight out to you in the unit of your choice, so you don't have to grab a separate food scale and bowl to weigh out precise ingredients before dumping them into the stand mixer," she added. "Time and dirty dishes saved!"

Read more: The New Gadget I Geeked Out on This Week Wasn't a TV or Laptop

Glasses-free 3D comes to Asus laptops.

The first Avatar film kicked off a wave of interest in 3D televisions and screens after it came out in 2009. That trend ultimately died off . 

That is, until CES 2023, where the tech industry is making another push -- coincidentally as Avatar's sequel, Avatar: The Way of the Water , is topping the box office.

"The 3D is generated via a layer of lenticular lenses bonded to it -- to refract the emitted light to different eyes -- and Acer combines it with eye tracking to figure out how to orient the object," writes CNET's Lori Grunin. 

The company will likely increase the price of Asus's Vivobook Pro 16X OLED by about $500 when it arrives late this year.

Read more: Watch 3D Images Leap Out of this Asus Laptop Screen

Electric bikes are already all the rage for commuters , but they can be unwieldy. After all, they do have a battery, which adds weight to the frame that needs to hold up to both a person, their backpack, and the punishment of a city street. 

Well, Japanese bike maker Icoma may have an answer with its $4,000 Tatamel Electric Bike , coming later this year, which folds down into the size of a briefcase. 

"It it isn't often you see an electric bike that can fold up like a Transformer to the size of a suitcase and fit under a desk," CNET's Imad Khan writes. "I shouldn't be surprised. The founders, Takamitsu Ikoma and Takuma Ogata, used to work at Takara Tomy, the company that produces Transformers action figures in Japan."

Read more: A Transformers-Inspired EV Bike That Folds Up to Fit Under Your Desk

Otter's answer to the popular phone grip makes it flush with your phone when not in use.

Phone grips rapidly spread across the country over the past couple years, becoming one of the go-to accessories particularly among the "I'm much cooler than you" crowd while also offering a bit of nostalgia for people who miss the ubiquity of Pogs. But few companies have offered an alternative beyond sticking a kinda bulky piece of plastic on the back of your phone . That's where OtterBox plans to offer another idea.

The company used CES to show off a $60 accessory coming in February called the OtterGrip , which retracts back into the case and sits flush when not in use. "OtterBox says the OtterGrip's stem is made out of 50% recycled materials and has a 'a soft-to-the-touch, comfortable experience, but is also dynamically flexible enough to enable multiple finger usage and durable for extended use,' CNET's David Carnoy writes. "The grip also rotates 360-degrees to give you more flexibility with how you want to hold your phone in your hand."

The OtterGrip will ship in February in a variety of color options.

It also works with MagSafe, allowing you to use the OtterBox with a car mount, for example, or a charging stand without having to fiddle with changing around accessories.

Read more: OtterBox's New MagSafe OtterGrip Case Integrates an Innovative Grip for iPhones

Amazon's Ring subsidiary, most known for its video doorbells, is thinking beyond the home for its next big product. It's called a Ring Car Cam , a $250 dual-sided camera that keeps an eye on your car's interior as well as the road. 

"That's significantly more expensive than a lot of dashcams already on the market," wrote CNET's Ry Crist, but it also has features others don't, including built-in connectivity and interconnectivity with Ring's apps and ecosystem. "In Ring's eyes, expanding into automotive security was a natural next step for the brand, and one that lines up with customer demand." 

The device has a microphone you can use to activate a recording a with a quick voice command, "Alexa, record." Or you can disable the microphone, as well as the interior-facing camera, by sliding a privacy shutter over the lens. Crist called that feature in particular "a welcome addition for a product from Ring, which last year revealed that it reserves the right to share user footage with law enforcement without user consent during emergency situations."

Preorders begin Thursday at a $50 discount, or $200, before the price jumps back to $250 when it launches in February. Ring will also charge $6 per month Ring Protect Go subscription to enable LTE connectivity, but it's not required.

Read more: Ring's Newest Gadget at CES 2023 Is a Dashcam for Your Car

Pyxel: The robot dog you code. 

CNET's Bree Fowler has seen her share of coding toys over the years, which is why it's worth listening when she writes about the Pyxel robot dog.

"The codeable robot dog from Educational Insights, on display this week at CES, teaches kids to program in the kid-friendly Blockly language, as well as the more sophisticated Python," she wrote. "Designed for kids ages 8 and up, kids can use the Pyxel's app to make their doggie do tricks like sit, speak and shake, as well as run around and light up in various colors."

We haven't had a chance to test the Pyxel yet, but it'll be going on sale this spring for $125.

Read more: A Cute Little Dog My Kids Can Code

The eKinekt BD 3 bike desk is powered through energy created by your pedaling. 

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic helped popularize working from home, the idea of getting a workout at work was catching on. People were already converting standing desks to treadmill desks , and some companies had even begun creating under-desk ellipticals .

So it's only natural someone would think to hook up a battery to one of these devices, and put all that workout energy to good use. That's the idea behind Acer's $999 eKinekt BD 3 bike, coming later this year, which aims to turn your pedal power into battery charge to keep your laptop going throughout the day. Fortunately Acer understands the nightmare scenario of being forced to pedal to keep our computers going even when we're in the emotional doldrums. So, the company made the battery large enough that the laptop can keep you going even if your legs stop moving.

"When setting up your bike, you can pick from two modes: working mode or sports mode," CNET's Giselle Castro-Sloboda writes. "These selections make it easy for you to decide if you want to use the bike for actual work or to focus on getting some movement during your breaks."

Read more: This Desk-Bike Combo Charges Your Laptop While You Peddle

Virtual reality has a lot of promise. The technology brings a screen so close to your eyes that it tricks your brain into thinking you're in whatever computer-generated world it's displaying. That could mean diving the depths with blue whales, navigating the stars with a spaceship or exploring the real-life ruins of the abandoned city around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster .

But six years after Facebook (now Meta) released its first Oculus (now also called Meta) headset to the public, kicking off VR's modern revival , companies are still figuring out how to make it more compelling. One answer is haptics, which use computer-controlled gloves and other wearables to extend VR's illusion beyond our eyes, to touch as well. 

CNET's Scott Stein tried the bHaptics TactGlove. He said the $300 gloves, which work with the Meta Quest 2 through Bluetooth, are the smallest ones he's tried yet. "It actually makes me feel like you're touching stuff," he says. The challenge, though, is getting developers to jump on board and make them useful. 

"What apps are going to take advantage of this?" he asked. Still, he hopes making tech like this smaller and more affordable might offer an answer.

Foldable technology offers a ton of promise. After all, most sci-fi imagines that technology will in some way shrink down into foldable and easily pocketable devices that can basically do everything for us. But how do we actually get there?

Samsung announced an unusual new type of foldable screen this week that, based on its initial description, was hard to understand. "A foldable that also stretched?" I said out loud during a CNET meeting. "Does that mean it can fold and separately expand in size?"

None of us really seemed to know, though we all had guesses based on Samsung's description, associated images and our understanding of physics. Now we finally have a demo and it is indeed a foldable screen on one side, and an expandable screen on the other. If you're still confused, that's OK. It really is one of those "you've got to see it to understand it" type of devices.

CNET's Eli Blumenthal has done just that. You can read more about his experiences in his commentary, I'm Excited About Foldable Phones Again, Thanks to Samsung .

The device is easy to use, and feels like a pulse oximeter.

Wearables like the Apple Watch , Fitbit , Samsung Galaxy Watch and others already brought all sorts of sensors from our wrists, including heart rate monitors, blood oxygen trackers, ECG testers and temperature sensors. So why not add blood pressure testers too?

We're not quite there yet, but CNET's Scott Stein reported on a new device from Valencell, which promises a calibration-free blood pressure monitor that can work merely by attaching a little device to your finger. 

"Companies like Omron have made inflatable-cuff watches (which work), and others have tried to turn smartwatch heart rate sensors into blood pressure tools (which need calibration with an actual cuff)," he writes. Of Valencell's tech, Stein added, "It's a lot more portable than a cuff and, if it works as promised, it could be a huge help."

Read more: I Have High Hopes for This Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitor. Here's Why

Some early looks at BMW's dashboard HUD concept ideas.

Zipse closes out the keynote with another nod to the upcoming "Neue Klasse" vehicles. Today, he's confirmed that an Advanced Head-Up Display is coming to that new generation and should hit the road by 2025. I'll be keeping a close eye out for more details. 

I'm told that, like the i Vision DEE, the HUD will be full width (pillar-to-pillar) and visible to all passengers in the car. It probably won't feature the full take-over-the-windshield level of mixed reality, but it will almost certainly be more extensive than any HUD we've seen before while also sticking to the automaker's "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road" philosophy. 

And that's a wrap folks.

BMW's DEE integrates last year's iX Flow E Ink color-changing outdoor panels for a rainbow of color options.

E Ink is extremely low energy; it only draws current when changing states, which, according to BMW, makes it surprisingly practical, even for electric cars. E Ink is also reflective, which means it looks pretty good in direct light. The automaker imagines a future where the paint could, perhaps, flash as a warning in an emergency or just allow drivers to switch up their style on a whim. The body of the car could even communicate information with the driver by changing its color or pattern.

DEE is cycling between classic BMW liveries, a rainbow color scheme and a bold checkerboard pattern before rolling off stage and then returning without the telltale E Ink seams. I believe they have two cars backstage.

CES 2022's BMW iX Flow concept, recollected at CES 2023.

Zipse is back talking about the BMW iX Flow , which debuted at CES last year. The concept used E Ink technology to change from black to white in an instant.

"Black and white is cool, but life is colorful," Zipse says before stepping away so DEE can take the stage again. The concept rolls out covered with new full color E Ink panels changing from white to purple to yellow. I'm told that 32 colors are available at the touch of a button. 240 segments are able to be controlled independently allowing wild and garish patterns and color schemes. Even the wheels have E Ink dishes with multiple segments.

Schwarzenegger is onstage now. He's talking about his love for clean energy and clean cars dating back to his policies as governor of California.

The Terminator himself is cracking wise about how ironic it was that BMW approached him to champion its vehicle powered by artificial intelligence. He's comparing DEE to the Terminator in T2 that worked with humans to save humanity.

"Let's terminate pollution once and for all," Schwarzenegger says in support of BMW's goal to transition to a fully sustainable, all-electric brand. The jokes write themselves, folks.

Inside of DEE, there's a steering wheel but no dashboard screen. Instead, the concept features a full width head-up display that stretches from pillar to pillar. Users will be able to select from five different levels of immersion with the concept's Mixed Reality Slider.

Selecting Level 1 on this dashboard touch slider presents the lowest level of information on the HUD. Only the things you need for driving (speedometer, battery level, etc.) are displayed in a thin strip along the lower edge of the screen. Stepping up to Levels 2 and 3 add more information (maybe communication info or a navigation overlay) to the display occupying more and more of the windshield.

Level 4 and 5 add virtual elements to the view out of the windshield. Think replacing a boring traffic jam with a digital landscape while DEE drives autonomously.

BMW wants to bring customizable dashboards to more of its cars by 2025.

Knight Rider's KITT just joined DEE on stage, followed by Herbie the Love Bug. Both cars are known for their very human onscreen personalities and attitude. They're having a cheeky conversation -- Herbie via beeps and door slams. BMW's presenter is explaining how DEE's voice assistant's sassy personality is augmented by its "phygital" (physical + digital) animated face.

The BMW i Vision DEE is a concept car with a personality. BMW imagines the car as a companion with a personality of its own. It's a sleek, minimalist sedan that features simplified elements of BMW classic design. Zipse and Dee (which stands for Digital Emotion Experience) are co-presenting now, talking back and forth a bit. The concept's elongated kidney grille uses E Ink technology to give DEE animated eyes that seem to blink as the car speaks.

BMW's AI concept vehicle, Dee.

Here's BMW's concept car with a personality, the i Vision Dee.

The next generation of cars isn't about who has the biggest screen, according to BMW's Zipse. He is describing an emotional relationship with a car that learns and grows with the driver. The car will also facilitate a connection to the digital, virtual worlds.

And now Arnold Schwarzenegger is waxing poetic about the joy of cars with souls and the good old days… OK, then.

Zipse is teasing a new concept car that is a "Digital Emotional Experience." It will be electric, it will be circular (meaning sustainable and recyclable) and it will be digital. The automaker is rethinking the car from the wheels up. This next generation of BMW cars will be called the "Neue Klasse."

BMW is the next and final keynote of the day. We're expecting to see what's next from the German automaker as it continues to evolve its infotainment tech and advance its electrification plans. BMW Chairman Oliver Zipse should be taking the stage any moment now.

Stay tuned for the final CES keynote of media day, BMW. It kicks off at 8:30 p.m. PT (11:30 p.m. ET). 

AMD CEO Lisa Su holds up the massive MI300 chip.

Here's some seriously hefty chip technology, the AMD Instinct MI300 for AI tasks. It combines multiple CPU and GPU chiplets with 3D stacking -- an advanced packaging technology that's increasingly important as chipmakers struggle with Moore's Law limits. It's got more than 146 billion transistors, which is huge (more than Intel's competing Ponte Vecchio). It has 128GB of HBM3 high-bandwidth memory. MI300 is in the labs and will be sampling to customers shortly, going on sale for AI and high-performance computing in the second half of the year. You'll never buy one, but this kind of chip powers a lot of the most exciting things like ChatGPT chatbot. "It's the best time to be in semiconductors and the best time to be in tech," Su concludes as she finishes her keynote.

AMD CEO Lisa Su touts the Alveo V70 artificial accelerator. 

Su pitches AMD's new Alveo V70 inference engine, an AI chip that runs AI tasks like object recognition (as opposed to training, a different and more taxing AI task) in data centers. It ticks along at 400 trillion operations per second. AMD is taking preorders today, with availability this spring. AMD has solid AI performance scores, but analysts ding it for thin software support compared with leader Nvidia.

Weta used Epyc chips to render Avatar: The Way of the Water.

Su is tooting the performance advantages of AMD's fourth-gen Epyc server chips, and she's not blowing smoke. Intel still leads in data center processors sales, but even its execs admit it won't catch up to AMD's technology until 2024. These servers are the beefy machines that are stacked by the hundred or thousand in data centers around the world. AMD power efficiency is a big part of AMD's advantage now.

AMD talks about how effects studio Meta used its Epyc processor to help render scenes from Avatar: Way of the Water. 

On to everybody's favorite buzzword, sustainable computing. It really is important, especially given how much electrical power data centers gobble these days. For Avatar: the Way of Water, "the artists at Weta FX used AMD technology to build those stunning visuals," AMD's Su says. One key factor is power consumption, Weta says.

STEM education is key, especially for women, Coleman says. Being an astronaut "never occurred to me until astronaut Sally Ride talked at MIT," which she and Su both attended. "That's when the light bulb really went off for me. She was a person I could really relate to. It was a revelation that maybe I, too, could be qualified for that."

Nasa Astronaut Cady Coleman joins AMD CEO Lisa Su on stage. 

The recent Artemis mission launched its Orion spacecraft on a 26-day journey around the moon, testing integrated systems for navigation and reentry, Coleman says. The next mission will have humans aboard, too. AMD's FPGAs are used for engine controllers, displays and command systems and handle data from the Orion capsule's 5,000 sensors. "We don't want to launch with many years ago technology," Colemans says.

Now on stage: Cady Coleman, a materials scientist and former astronaut who was on two space shuttle missions (launching the Chandra X-ray Observatory telescope) and spent six months on the ISS. How are Xilinx FPGAs involved? Coleman: "A whole new toolbox of tools." Space stations and rovers take years to design and spacecraft have to be designed long before they're deployed. That means programmable (and reprogrammable) chips are important for updates. The Perseverence Mars rover uses FPGAs for object recognition, terrain avoidance, and rock and soil sample analysis, she says.

Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson on stage. 

Magic Leap is now 6061 certified, which means it's the only AR headset maker permitted to show up in operating rooms, Johnson says. That product use should arrive later this year.

Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson talks about the AMD-powered Magic Leap 2 AR headset. 

For augmented reality, we have Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson on stage. VR is great for gaming and entertainment, but AR is good for merging digital content with your physical world, she says. That can mean "a surgical plan where you can overlay on the patient a guide for the surgeon who is operating," for example. "Health care has probably some of the most advanced AR uses." The Magic Leap 2 optical stack offers a large field of view, crisp text and "dynamic dimming" to help in situations like operating rooms, she says. "We needed a high performance processor," and AMD got the deal because of Zen CPU cores and Radeon GPUs.

Clarius likes AMD's Zync FPGAs for portable handheld ultrasound machines. It uses AI in some unspecified way, Clarius says.

On to AMD's work with "adaptive computing," which is a polite term for FPGA chips. That stands for field programmable gate arrays, a cool but expensive and abstruse technology that lets computer engineers reprogram the actual chip hardware. It offers serious speed and flexibility benefits, which is why AMD acquired a top FPGA maker, Xilinx. Health care, automotive, telecommunications and AI are some big uses for FPGAs.

Bob DeSantis, chief product officer of Intuitive, joins AMD CEO Lisa Su to discuss adaptive computing's role in medical procedures. 

A medical company called Intuitive has an FPGA-based surgical platform called Da Vinci. These surgical platforms involve medical procedures done by robots controlled with pedals and hand grips. They offer lots of tools for squeezing, grabbing, clamping and, one imagines, cutting. "That is truly wonderful," says AMD's Su. AMD is a "key component," with low latency (lag) a critical feature. AMD FPGAs power precise motion control, vision system and safety mechanisms.

AMD CEO Lisa Su talks up the 3D V-Cache capabilities of its high-end Ryzen chips.

Desktop PCs, a stronger market for AMD, and its memory-boosting 3D V-cache technology is coming to higher-end processors than last year's Ryzen 7 5800X 3D. We'll see the novel chip packaging approach to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and top-end 7950X3D, "our fastest 3D stacked chip ever," Su says. It has 16 cores, boost speed up to 5.7GHz, and a "huge" 144MB cache thanks to 3D V-Cache.

Lenovo Executive Matt Zielinski joins AMD CEO Lisa Su to talk about Ryzen powering its Legion Pro Series laptops. 

Now we have another partner, EVP Matt Zielinski from Lenovo, maker of Thinkpad laptops. Lenovo Legion PCs: "The best gaming hardware and experiences on the planet." Tomorrow, Lenovo will announce its first Legion Pro laptops with AMD Ryzen 7045HX processors. "AI elevates gaming": improves network bandwidth, increases frames per second, lowers power consumption, Zielinski says. Lenovo will sell 50 different AMD-powered laptops, desktops and workstations in 2023.

AMD shows off its Ryzen lineup for February. 

"We love gamers," Su says, touting AMD's Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs. She mentions that AMD is used in newer Teslas. The 7045HX gaming chip has 16 cores, hits up to 5.4GHz speeds, and has up to 80MB on-chip memory. But Su touts it being useful for content creators. It'll ship with Radeon 7600M XT GPUs starting in February.

Lores disappoints anyone hoping for details on its coming Ryzen 7040-based laptops, coming this spring. "I am really more excited than I have ever been."

HP's Dragonfly Pro laptop is designed for freelancers. 

HP's new Dragonfly Pro laptop, announced Wednesday, is aimed at freelancers. "Having a long battery life is tremendously important," and owners need to access information wherever they are, Lores said. "Communication is critical," so it's got techniques to improve audio and video.

HP CEO Enrique Lores joins AMD CEO Lisa Su during her CES keynote. 

HP CEO Enrique Lores: "We are experiencing probably the biggest change in how people work in our lifetimes... in 5 years, 50% of workforce will be freelancers."

HP CEO Enrique Lores speaking at the AMD keynote. 

Now onto hybrid work, which in my experience with the PC market translates to "videoconferencing needs to work better." Sure enough, Su talks about problems people have with audio and video. So here's HP CEO Enrique Lores to talk about it. 

Microsoft executive Panos Panay offers a tease over how AI will impact what's next from his company. 

What's next, Su asks? Panay: "Just like the mouse helped reinvent the graphical user interface... AI is going to reinvent how you do everything on Windows, quite literally... We've never seen these intense workloads at this scale."

Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay on stage during AMD's CES keynote.

Microsoft's Panos Panay: "AMD has been at the forefront of compute for a very long time and continues to be. Now AMD is also at the forefront of AI technology with Ryzen. We can now run massive models that required large GPUs more efficiently on AMD-powered devices." AI helps videoconferencing with background blur in portrait modes, automatic framing, noise suppression. With Ryzen hardware acceleration, "You sacrifice no battery life and essentially no performance."

Microsoft Executive Panos Panay joins AMD CEO Lisa Su at CES.

Microsoft EVP Panos Panay touts his company's partnership with AMD, including AMD-powered Xbox gaming processors. Also the work on computing options for Microsoft's Azure cloud computing service. As for the Ryzen 7040, he says, "AI is the defining technology of our time."

The first Ryzen 7040 notebooks available in March with more than 250 laptop designs in the pipeline, Su says.

AMD CEO Lisa Su holding up the new Ryzen chip. 

AMD's AI accelerator is 30% faster than Apple and 45% faster than Intel, Su says. "The Ryzen 7040 series will enable more than 30 hours of battery life, which is simply fantastic."

AMD CEO Lisa Su announces the new Risen 7040 series of graphics processors.

Su touts CPUs, GPUs and AI accelerator chips for its ability to span the full range of computing systems that need to run all over the place. New at CES is the Ryzen 7040 laptop processor with AI acceleration technology built in. "A dedicated on-chip engine we call Ryzen AI." It runs up to 12 trillion AI operations per second. It's got 25 billion transistors and is built with a 4-nanometer manufacturing process -- TSMC's, presumably.

AMD CEO Lisa Su talking about the importance of chips. 

Lisa Su takes the stage: "Semiconductors are essential to everything we do ... Chips are a critical enabler of everything in our modern life." Yes, we all saw that when supply chains broke down in during the pandemic and carmakers' inability to sell vehicles was blocked by a few cheap, low-end chips.

AMD CEO Lisa Su speaking at CES. 

AMD's intro video focuses on AI, AR, scientific computing, computer graphics, renewable energy and various other computing frontiers.

We're starting with CES organizer Gary Shapiro, plugging AMD's work in scientific research. "She's a real and true immigrant success story," he says of Su, who immigrated from Taiwan and worked at Texas Instruments, IBM and Freescale Semiconductor before taking over AMD.

OK, next up is another big name in tech at CES: AMD CEO Lisa Su. She's been at the chip designer's helm during a remarkable recovery. Some of AMD's success has been because of Intel's major missteps in manufacturing, but the company also had a solid suite of PC and server processors that have been very competitive, especially for powerful machines with lots of processing cores. Those are popular with gamers and people who edit videos and photos. Things haven't been so good the last few months though, with the PC market once again in decline thanks to inflation and the end of our pandemic PC buying spree.

AMD CEO Lisa Su holds her keynote at 6:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. ET).

Here's a video of Sony revealing the Afeela car at CES.

Qualcomm scaled its mobile phone technology to Sony's mobility platform. The Afeela car's software and connectivity are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Digital Chassis.

Sony also partnered with Epic Games to develop a "gaming engine for driving."

In a video montage, game developers, music producers and sport experience producers discuss how the virtual world can improve entertainment across media categories.

Sony shows off footage from the new Gran Turismo movie, based on the venerable video game franchise.

CNET's Dan Van Boom has all the details and the full teaser here .

The Sony Afeela is a self-driving car built on AI technologies, and it's designed with safety in mind. The Afeela is packed with cameras, sensors and radar.

In partnership with Honda Mobility, Sony showed off its Afeela car prototype. Sony announced that the vehicle will be available for preorder in early 2025, with US customers receiving orders in 2026.

The PS5 "Project Leonardo" is a new controller that give players with disabilities more options for crafting their own playing experience. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said, "Project Leonardo is our codename for a new PlayStation 5 accessibility kit that will allow players with disabilities to play more easily, more comfortably and for longer periods."

Like Microsoft's similar Xbox Adaptive Controller, the kit works right out of the box and is made up of swappable components and a suite of software options for PS5. It can be used as a standalone controller or paired with another Project Leonardo controller or DualSense wireless controller. Sony did not announce a price or when it will be available.

Sony gives an update on the PlayStation VR 2 . The headset will launch on Feb. 22.

Sony Pictures has 10 films in production based on PlayStation games, including Gran Turismo. The film is being shot with Sony cameras.

Hello, there! Welcome to CNET's live blog for Sony's global press conference at CES 2023. The event kicked off with Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony's chairman, president and CEO.

This is the end of the press conference, and while there was zero mention of the company's TVs, here's what we know:

Samsung has detailed how artificial intelligence will help people interact with their smart home, including ordering their robot vacuum around. 

"So I might say, 'Please go clean under the table where we had dinner' and a chatbot with spatial AI will clean up any crumbs from under the table," said Samsung's Sebastian Seung.

In what is now becoming a theme of CES 2023, Samsung has announced its own smart car platform, called Harman Ready Care. It will be used to sync music as well as communicate with the SmartThings home. 

LG revealed its own service pitched at car manufacturers this morning called Cockpit Computer. These two systems appear to compete with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Philips' Jasper Vervoort has announced a partnership with Samsung that will let your TV's screen sync with your Hue smart lights. The Philips Hue Sync app will be available on TVs from tomorrow. It offers similar functionality to the Hue Play , but doesn't require a separate box.

Samsung has a new smart device called the Family Hub Plus, which is a fridge-based version of the Google Nest Hub . It offers a built-in screen and is able to communicate with Samsung's SmartThings platform. It even lets family members chat to each other.

LG also has a new feature called PetCare it talked about earlier, but Samsung's new Pet Care goes one further with sensors in smart vacuums and TVs in order to monitor and even entertain your dog.

SmartThings Home Monitor is a new feature of Samsung's smart home system, and looks to be a competitor to LG's new ThinQ Up product.

"You can can also connect SmartThings Home Monitor with partner devices to detect smoke or water leaks," says Samsung's Inhee Chung.

Samsung is announcing a partnership with Patagonia in order to reduce microplastics in the water supply. Patagonia's Vincent Stanley says the two companies have worked together on a washing machine that filters out the microplastics from shampoos and other consumer products.

"When it comes to energy efficiency, Samsung is a longstanding leader, with more than a decade of Energy Star Award leadership, and a rare recipient of the Energy Star Award for corporate commitment," says James Kwon from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

"I'm excited to say that Samsung's connected home experience that puts energy savings first is the first mass-market smart home energy management system to earn the Energy Star certification," he adds. 

JH Han, CEO and head of device experience division at Samsung Electronics, is on stage. He says the company is "helping people focus on what matters to them."

That's a wrap for TCL, and while we didn't see any new foldable concepts, we did chat with Streit ahead of CES 2023 about what's absent from TCL's big lineup: a foldable phone. The company shelved the nearly ready Chicago Project clamshell in 2021, but now, it could actually spin up production on a $750 foldable -- but there are a few reasons why TCL won't bring the cheapest foldable to the market . 

Host Erin Andrews closes out TCL's event.

TCL's press conference finishes up with host Erin Andrews plugging the company's booth on the show floor.

TCL's device lineup with prices.

Streit teases that the TCL 40 series will be coming to the US market, with more details coming at Mobile World Congress. The TCL 40 phones announced today cost between $129 to $219.

The TCL 40 series continue the company's tradition of high-value Android phones at low prices with several models to choose from, though some won't be shown today (likely for a reveal next month at MWC).

The TCL 408 is the most affordable model, at around $129, with a 50-megapixel main camera and macro camera. 

The TCL 40 SE, at around $169, adds a depth camera for portrait shots and has a 90Hz refresh rate (though with an unimpressive 720p resolution) on a 6.75-inch screen. It has fairly large storage for the price, either 128GB or 256GB, which can be expanded via its microSD slot. 

The third phone announced today, the TCL 40 R 5G, starts at around $219, making it the cheapest 5G phone from TCL yet. While it only starts at 32GB of storage, it can be expanded to 512GB via microSD.

TCL is debuting its 40 Series phones . The three phones include a 50-megapixel main camera, with differences including 5G compatibility on the higher end TCL 40 R.

While we're all waiting for Apple Glasses to herald a new era of augmented reality, TCL's got a new concept showing what kind of hat it's ready to throw in the AR/VR ring. The RayNeo X2 AR Glasses have thick frames but are still more stylish and have thinner stems than most AR glasses out there. It has full-color Micro-LED screens, and TCL says it can do real-time language translation.

CNET's Scott Stein even got hands-on time with the RayNeo X2 -- check out his early thoughts here, including on its lightweight design.

TCL is bringing wearable displays to the US market.

TCL is bringing its NxtWear S wearable display headset to the US, priced at $399.

TCL is revealing its augmented reality glasses, the RayNeo X2.

TCL's RayNeo X2 augmented reality glasses take the stage, which were demoed by our colleague Scott Stein. The glasses include an auto-transcribe feature.

Streit said a NxtPaper Phone concept is being considered, to bring the display technology into the mobile space.

The TCL NxtPaper 12 Pro is the brand's top-end tablet, while the TCL Book X 12 is a two-in-one Windows laptop. To round out its novel products, TCL introduced a concept phone that looks just like its regular handsets -- but has its NxtPaper display tech, which the company has used for its e-reader-like tablets for the tech's tactile feel and lower blue light for easier nighttime reading.

Streit noted that the company launched its first self-branded phones three years ago, and they've launched dozens of phones and tablets since. While the company had released very affordable handsets under the Alcatel brand, it debuted its first TCL phones at CES 2020.

TCL says its NxtPaper tablet mimics the feel of paper on the display.

TCL's Stefan Streit at CES 2023.

TCL's Stefan Streit is moving the press conference onto mobile announcements, starting with TCL's NxtPaper display technology.

TCL soundbars are teased during the CES briefing.

Ramirez teases S- and Q-series soundbars, but says there isn't time during this event to go further into them.

Features for the TCL QM8.

TCL's QM8 includes the most features of the three Q-series televisions.

The TCL Q7 feature list.

The TCL Q7 feature list includes a number of gaming-specific features and Imax Enhanced certification.

Ramirez glossed over a few new features to its more affordable TVs, like 4K to its S4 model, but focused on  the more premium Q-series (for QLED). The Q-series adds new Game Accelerator feature for gaming with faster refresh rates up to 120Hz for the TCL Q6 model and 25Hz for the TCL Q7. The premium Q8 has mini-LED with double the peak nits (brightness) of last year's model, up to 5x more dimming zones (up to 2,300), a built-in subwoofer and Wi-Fi 6. The QM8, coming later in the year, adds even more dimming zones.

Gamers do love higher frame rates, but they've mostly been limited to pricey monitors and expensive TVs. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X capable of higher frame rates, gamers with more limited budgets will be able to get more from their consoles.

Feature list for the TCL Q6.

Ramirez presents a feature list for the TCL Q6.

TCL Vice President of Product Marketing and Development of Home Theater Scott Ramirez.

TCL's Scott Ramirez from the company's home theater line arrives on stage to go over the different groups of televisions coming from TCL. Ramirez is starting with the Q6.

Hamdorf quickly mentioned TCL's folding phone concepts, including a triple-fold. The brand loves its concepts (none of which have made it to production), but we did get a hands-on in February last year with the TCL Fold n' Roll concept that, well, folds and rolls out. While it had a working display, there's still no indication that it's headed to market.

TCL's Senior Vice President Chris Hamdorf.

TCL's Chris Hamdorf comes onto the stage with Andrews to begin moving the conference toward the company's television lineup.

Zhang points out that the company's in-house panel production for LCD, OLED and Mini-LED screens gives it an edge to release bigger, better TVs, tablets and phones at lower prices. It knows its lane.

TCL North America President Mark Zhang at CES 2023.

Erin Andrews is introducing TCL North America President Mark Zhang, who walks onto the stage to lead into product announcements.

Erin Andrews at TCL's CES 2023 stage.

TCL's CES 2023 press conference kicks off with host Erin Andrews walking onto the stage.

We're going to take a breather, skipping Brunswick, and will resume at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) with TCL. See you then. 

Well, that was a lot. Hsu ended the press event and thanked everyone for watching. 

For a deeper dive on Asus' announcements:

Asus' 3D Laptop Screen Enters the OLED Dimension

Asus ROG Swift Gaming Monitors Hit 540Hz, 240Hz OLED in 1440p

Asus Reveals Hands-Free 3D OLED Screen With Spatial Vision

Asus Joins the 18-inch Gaming Laptop Club

Asus' CES Laptop Lineup Brings 3D Screens and Retackles Microbes

Asus Unveils All-New ROG RTX 40 Laptops at CES 2023

Asus's TUF lineup of military-grade laptops. 

Asus' Tuf Gaming F15 and F17 laptops will be updated to 13th-gen Intel processors, but there will also be Tuf Gaming A15 and A17 models with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 Zen 4 processor. All four models are offered with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU with an MUX switch for using just the integrated graphics. There will also be an A16 Advantage Edition with AMD Radeon graphics, too, for fans who don't want Intel or Nvidia anywhere near their gaming experience. 

The next-gen Zenbook Pro 16X OLED premium laptop was co-engineered with Intel and uses an all-new Supernova system-on-module design. The SoM reduces the motherboard core area by 38%, which increases overall cooling efficiency. That also means there's more room for discrete graphics components, allowing for faster speeds. Also, because the SoM is integrated, memory speeds can run up to 7,500MHz. 

Asus says it has the world's first 3D OLED display. 

One of Asus' upcoming ProArt laptops will feature the first OLED screen capable of displaying 3D images without the need for glasses. The display is paired with stereo eye-tracking cameras above the laptop's display. It's compatible with most creator software and file formats and will be compatible with OpenXR. 

I got a chance to use this and it's pretty incredible. It still requires you to sit in a sweet spot, but the eye-tracking worked well so that what was onscreen would move with your eyes. You can easily zoom in and out so you can get a closer look at something -- particularly handy for modeling. And yes, it can be used for gaming, too.

Asus has a new high-powered laptop for creators. 

Jen Chuang, senior director of creative partnerships, is discussing the updates coming to Asus' ProArt line of laptops designed for creators. The displays are Pantone-validated to make sure what is seen on the screen is what it looks like in real life. Asus is continuing its partnership with Xrite and Pantone, making it possible for creators to access Pantone color libraries, harmonies and color spaces through Asus' ProArt Creator Hub. The Hub has been redesigned for 2023 with a color-management feature to match colors and build palettes. 

Asus touts the OLED displays in its laptops. 

Now Asus Vice President and Head of Personal Computers Rex Lee is announcing the latest ProArt Studiobook, Zenbook and Vivobook laptops. They'll be available with 13th-gen Intel or AMD 7000-series processors and Nvidia RTX 40-series GPUs. And OLED displays will be an option on those lines, too. Asus started shifting to using more OLEDs last year and it's starting to look like regular LCDs will soon be an exception. 

The latest models will be built with more sustainable materials, they'll be made to meet military durability standards and will be coated with a new antimicrobial treatment.

Asus talks up its Antimicrobial Guard Plus feature. 

Asus is still thinking about the impact of COVID-19, and talked about its Antimicrobial Guard Plus feature, which combats the spread of other viruses.

Asus's Vibe CX34 Flip Chromebook.

Asus was one of the first to launch a Chromebook made for cloud gaming and now it's launched its second, the CX34 Flip. It's an all-white two-in-one Chromebook with color-blocked WASD keys and RGB backlit keyboard. All of its Chromebooks will be EPEAT-certified for sustainability this year.

Here's Asus's Chromebook lineup for the year. 

Here's the full Chromebook lineup. 

Director of Technical Marketing Sascha Krohn is now discussing Asus' latest flagship business laptop, the Expertbook B9. The 2022 model was its first carbon-neutral laptop and for 2023, Asus used a new lithium-magnesium manufacturing process that reduces waste while increasing rigidity. It's one of the lightest 14-inch laptops available, lighter than most 13-inch laptops. It also has an OLED display and 13th-gen Intel processors.

Asus kicks off its CES keynote with a discussion about sustainability. 

Hi there, and welcome to the CNET live blog for Asus' Seeing an Incredible Future launch event at CES 2023. The event kicked off with Asus Co-CEO S.Y. Hsu talking about the company's sustainability efforts.

We're skipping the Hisense press conference and will resume the live blog at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) when Asus holds its CES keynote. Stay tuned. 

Cho thanks everyone for coming and concludes the LG press conference.

Here are some of the products the company is launching at the show:

LG is detailing a new Cockpit Computer for cars, which will let you check if your stove is on or call roadside assistance. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are the obvious competitors to LG's pitch to car companies. 

The LG Refrigerator with MoodUp has LED doors with 190,000 colors and can change in time to your music. Come over, we're having disco kitchen tonight!

Read More: LG's Wild New Party Fridge Has Color-Changing Doors and a Bluetooth Speaker

LG is showing a video detailing its smart home ThinQ Up feature, which appears to be a new app to integrate all your appliances. A PetCare feature, for example, enables you to set a new cycle for your washing machine from your TV.

Some 2023 LG TVs will enable users to view their security cams and even call ADT from a specialized button on the remote.

LG says its G3 OLEDs will feature a boost in brightness over the previous generation.  

The 55-, 65- and 77-inch G3 models will increase brightness by up to 70% versus the G2.

Read More: LG's Newest Generation OLED TVs Up the Brightness Factor

CES 2023 Live Blog: Talking Cars, LG Displays, Robots Dogs and a Smartwatch That Cares - CNET

Iron Transformer Streaming gaming services are coming to LG TVs, including Amazon Luna and Nvidia's GeForce Now.