By
Paula ParisiDecember 7, 2023
Looking Glass has since 2014 been working to bring holographic display into regular consumer use. Now the Brooklyn-based company thinks it’s found the killer app to make that happen: Looking Glass Go, a pocket-sized display that has a $300 MSRP for June 2024 delivery and features a six-inch screen and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to enable receipt of “holograms from the cloud.” The Looking Glass Go allows you to “shoot instant spatial photos with your phone” and view them as holograms — “including holographic AIs you can customize, powered by ChatGPT,” the company says. Continue reading Looking Glass Readies Launch of Mobile Holographic Display
By
Paula ParisiSeptember 22, 2023
Amazon announced a wide range of compelling news at its annual Devices and Services event this week. The company is adding artificial intelligence to its virtual assistant Alexa and unveiled next-generation Echo Frames smart glasses that let you take the voice assistant “on the go.” AI also provides “enhanced conversational voice search” with the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max. The company’s eero Max 7 Wi-Fi system and new Echo Hub are also stand-outs from the holiday shopping primer, which streamed live from Amazon’s new corporate compound in Arlington, Virginia, ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, October 10-11. Continue reading Amazon Debuts AI for Alexa and Fire TV Max 4K at Fall Event
By
Paula ParisiSeptember 6, 2023
Samsung and LG have entered into a smart home pact that enables each firm’s large home appliances to be controlled by the other’s app. This collaboration sprang from the Home Connectivity Alliance, of which Samsung was a founding member in late 2021. As a result, LG’s ThinQ app will indicate when the door has been left open on a Samsung Family Hub smart fridge. Likewise, Samsung’s SmartThings app can instruct your LG dishwasher to turn on at a specific setting. Samsung was also talking-up 6G and artificial intelligence at this week’s IFA 2023 electronics trade show in Berlin. Continue reading Samsung and LG to Launch Interoperable Smart Home Apps
By
Paula ParisiAugust 28, 2023
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced its new wireless gaming device, the PlayStation Portal remote player, will debut in time for the holiday season. The handheld unit streams PlayStation 5 games over Wi-Fi, displaying the action on an eight-inch LCD screen in 1080p resolution at 60 fps. The player will be priced at $199.99. Sony is positioning the PlayStation Portal as ideal for multigame households where players share a TV or want to play PS5 games in another room of the house. Since the Portal operates by mirroring the PS5, it can also display other media. Continue reading Sony’s Wireless PlayStation Portal Coming to Market This Fall
By
Paula ParisiAugust 21, 2023
The StanbyME Go from LG Electronics USA is a 27-inch portable smart touchscreen and LCD TV housed in a suitcase that runs for up to three hours on a full charge. Featuring four built-in speakers, screen mirroring (with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, iOS and Android) and voice controls, LG is touting its new mobile device as an “all-in-one entertainment option.” The 1080p display swivels, tilts and rotates in landscape or portrait orientation, and even includes a table mode for playing games. Priced at $1,000, it accommodates a full range of streaming apps courtesy of LG webOS. Continue reading StanbyME Go: LG Debuts a Portable, Multi-Purpose LCD TV
By
Paula ParisiAugust 8, 2023
Chinese tech firm Rokid released is first AR glasses in 2017, and is now making available an attachment called Rokid Station that brings an immersive 215-inch Android TV virtual screen experience to its new Rokid Max augmented reality eyewear. The Rokid Max glasses list for $439, but bundled with the Rokid Station the price is $529 (via preorder). The Rokid Max glasses feature micro OLED screens that can project what appears to be a 215-inch screen positioned about 10 feet from the user, creating the illusion of an immersive viewing experience. Continue reading Rokid Debuts Portable Android TV Device for Its AR Glasses
By
Paula ParisiMarch 31, 2023
Amazon has opened Sidewalk, its low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN), to developers. Introduced in 2019, Amazon’s early focus was using Sidewalk to optimize Ring cameras and Level smart locks. The company quietly extended coverage to what it says is 90 percent of the U.S. population, and indicates it is now ready to connect “the next billion devices.” Sidewalk can be useful for a multitude of IoT devices that need Internet connectivity yet can’t always rely on a robust four-bar signal, or just don’t require a lot of bandwidth or power. Continue reading Amazon Opens Low-Power Sidewalk Network to Developers
By
Paula ParisiFebruary 13, 2023
Netflix is expanding its paid sharing program to Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. The program, which was tested last year in several Latin American markets, is the company’s attempt to crackdown on the unauthorized password sharing that deprives the company of what one analyst estimates is billions of dollars per year. Where the program is live, subscribers can pay to add non-household members to their account at the rate of an extra CAD$7.99 a month per person in Canada, NZD$7.99 in New Zealand, Euro 3.99 in Portugal, and Euro 5.99 in Spain. Continue reading Netflix Password Sharing Plan Added in Four Global Markets
By
Paula ParisiJanuary 17, 2023
The upcoming Razer Edge, a gaming handheld built for streaming, may change how players interact with cloud games. With a 6.8-inch AMOLED display at 2,400 x 1,080 FHD+ resolution with a 144Hz refresh rate, the Razer Edge and Razer Edge 5G from Verizon start at $360 and are designed for ever-connected mobile play. Razer says its latest handhelds are the first developed exclusively for the latest Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform. They include active cooling “for long gaming sessions playing top AAA titles and native games on the go without having to compromise performance.” Continue reading CES: Razer Edge Cloud Gaming Handheld Arrives January 26
By
Rachel Joy VictorJanuary 12, 2023
While smart home technologies have often made a strong showing at CES, adoption has been hampered by issues of interoperability. This year at CES saw the widespread reveal of Matter (originally known as Project CHIP), a new smart home standard designed to support interoperability. Matter was originally announced in 2019 as a partnership between Apple, Google and Amazon to create an open-source smart home standard. Today, if CES 2023 is any indication, the standard is becoming more prevalent across a wide variety of connected devices and different product sectors. Continue reading CES: Matter Smart Home Protocol Marks Major Trend in 2023
By
Paula ParisiJanuary 8, 2023
Displace is a new wireless TV that promises to take the pain out of mounting a flat screen. Powered by a proprietary hot-swappable battery system, the 55-inch 4K flat screens are under 20 pounds and can be affixed “to any surface” using an active-loop vacuum technology. Transportable and configurable, multiple Displace TVs can be used in combination “to form any sized TV,” according to the startup, which debuted the system at CES 2023. Each Displace TV comes with four rechargeable batteries, each averaging about a month of life for an average usage of six hours per day. Continue reading CES: Displace Demos First Totally Wireless OLED Flat Screen
By
Paula ParisiJanuary 4, 2023
LED lighting firm Nanoleaf is debuting innovations at CES that include “learning smart light switches” under the banner Sense+ Controls. The devices span categories such as hardwired Smart Light Switch, Wireless Smart Light Switch and Nala Learning Bridge, all of which work with Matter, a global interoperability protocol designed to help smart homes run smoothly, running on the low-powered Thread mesh networking standard. The new Sense+ Controls products feature motion and ambient lighting sensors that automate routines. The Nala Learning Bridge facilitates color-differentiated, soft-glow night lights and connects via Thread to Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Continue reading CES: Nanoleaf Debuts New Matter-Compliant Smart Lighting
By
Paula ParisiNovember 7, 2022
The new Apple TV 4K went on sale online and in stores last week, offering improvements over what some say is the best streaming hardware available. The 2022 model has an A15 Bionic processor, a significant update over the A12 inside the previous model, which shipped in May. A 16-core neural engine and added RAM are among the upgrades. Starting at $129 for Wi-Fi only with 64GB of RAM, there is also a higher-end $149 version with 128GB that is Wi-Fi and Ethernet compatible and has a Thread IoT modem that supports Matter. Continue reading New Apple TV 4K Touts Upgrades Including A15 Bionic Chip
By
Paula ParisiOctober 6, 2022
The Connectivity Standards Alliance has announced the release of the Matter 1.0 specification, a global connectivity standard for the Internet of Things, simultaneously opening the product certification program, administered through authorized test labs. Member companies “now have a complete program for bringing the next generation of interoperable products that work across brands and platforms to market with greater privacy, security, and simplicity for consumers,” said CSA. The Matter standard was developed so the devices from companies including Google, Apple and Amazon can communicate with each other via a local controller device. Continue reading CSA Releases Global Connectivity Spec for Internet of Things
By
Paula ParisiSeptember 30, 2022
A Kindle that lets you annotate text, a “no-contact” sleep tracker and a refresh on the Fire TV Cube were among the new products Amazon showcased at its annual fall hardware event this week. Updates for Echo smart speakers, an expanded Ring camera inventory and updates to its Eero Wi-Fi extender line were also in the spotlight. Home devices that enable “a silent infrastructure of ambient intelligence to do just about anything” was the through line, according to Wired, with news ranging from pet detection for Astro the robot to a feature called Alexa Shop the Look. Continue reading Amazon Promotes Device Updates at Its Fall Hardware Event