A running list of notable announcements from #CES2018

Welcome, tech fans. If you’re as lazy as I am and can’t be bothered jumping from site to site to catch the main news points from #CES2018, you might be interested in a quick recap of some of the biggest announcements from the conference (or at least the ones that piqued my interest) I’m going to break this down company by company and will add to it as the week progresses.

For those who want to join me live, I’m also sharing content live from Las Vegas across and Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (feliciacoco).

Enjoy!

THE BIG GUYS

INTEL :

Loihi, Intel’s groundbreaking neuromorphic research chip

• On security concerns around Meltdown + Spectre: CEO Brian Krzanich said customer data had not been exploited, with updates issued for 90% of products within this week, the remaining by the end of January.
• AI & VR to transform the world of sport: Collabs with the NBA, NFL and Winter Olympics will see immersive virtual experiences delivered to consumers around the world via Inter True View and True VR (thanks to hundreds of cameras capturing data rich ‘voxels’- think pixels on steroids). The coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics will be the largest VR experience ever, with over 1800 hours across 30 events worth of content to be delivered via the NBC network.
• The launch of Intel Volumetric Content Studio: A dedicated space packed with AI/ VR tech to enable a new way to record and capture film from any perspective.
• Advancements in Quantum and Neuromorphic Computing: latest chips: “Tangle Lake,” a 49-qubit superconducting quantum test chip and ‘Loihi’, a neuromorphic chip that learns like a brain
• New thinner, faster 8th Gen Core Processors with Radeon RX Vega M Graphics
• Partnerships with Mobileye and NavInfo as part of autonomous vehicle program
• Drones: The company showed off a fleet of 100 Shooting Star Mini Drones for light shows (which can be controlled by a single person)
• Volocopter- a human sized autonomous drone, pegged to be the the airtaxi, with hopes to be transporting us in 5 years.

SAMSUNG :

Samsung’s SmartThings Cloud will be the foundation of its IoT ecosystem.

• Major commitments to AI, IoT, 5G and connected devices as part of the company’s go-forward growth strategy. By 2020 will all Samsung devices will be intelligent (think Bixby) and IoT compatible with Samsung Smart Things cloud. 90% are already compatible.
• Intelligent TVs: Bixby- infused TV sets across the board. Most notably an obnoxiously big 146-inch micro-LED screen dubbed “The Wall”
• Samsung Flip- a giant interactive whiteboard
• Smart Fridges: AI powered smart fridges that will act as the hub of the house, allowing you to send messages to the family, track what’s in the fridge, when it expires and the recipes you can make with its contents.
• New A8 phone: a 5.6-inch, full HD Super AMOLED display, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, 16MP rear camera handset.

LG :

LG’s Rollable OLED TV canyon on display at CES

• Rollable OLED TVs: Super flexy TV prototypes that could see us roll-up tvs and story them in the cupboard when we’re done watching Oprah.
• Cloi: LG’s take on the AI robot/assistant that failed miserably on stage.
• LG Signature OLED TV 4K HDR Smart TV (W8) and OLED TV 4K HDR Smart TV (E8)
• LG ThinQ Speaker (WK7)- LG’s shot at the smart speaker with Google Assistant to power its smart home hub.
• LG InstaView ThinQ Smart Refrigerator: The first fridge to have Amazon Alexa built in so you can order your groceries without stepping foot in Safeway. Built in cameras and a touch screen allow users to see inside without opening the door.

GOOGLE:

Google painted the city with its Google Assistant ad campaign

• The giant announced new actions features to Assistant’s Android Auto allowing users voice enabled access directions, reminders, music and more. Kia will be amongst the first to adopt these.
• On smart audio, Google’s Assistant-ready kit will be deployed by a suite of third parties including Sony, LG, Lenovo, JBL, Panasonic, Bang & Olufsen and more.

CHIPS

NVIDIA :

Nvidia will venture into the autonomous driving space alongside Uber

• Announced a partnership with Uber for autonomous driving: Uber has selected Nvidia as its artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology provider
• Xavier autonomous driving chip: “the world’s most powerful system on a chip” to be shipped to customers this quarter
• New “Big Format Gaming” display tech to be available this summer.
• An open beta for its game streaming platform which will allows users to play high-end video games on their computers with minimal lag, even without top of the range graphics cards and processors.

AMD:

AMD is delivering higher performance chips across its suite of processors

• 2018 will see AMD maintain focus on high-performance computing at different price points.
• An unlikely partnership with Intel will see next-gen laptop chips adopt Radeon RX Vega graphics, meaning better performance without having to buy a top of the line computer.
• Based on 2017’s Ryzen design, AMD will integrate new built in graphics chips for mobile and desktop products over the next two months. Second Generation Ryzen Desktop processors will land in April.
• H2 2018 will see an update to the company’s high performance Threadripper processors, alongside the arrival of Second Generation Ryzen Pro Desktop processors.
• A revision to Zen chips and Vega chips will see smaller, faster and more energy efficient processors by 2019, with size reduced from 12 and 14 nanometers to 7.

QUALCOMM:

From automotive tech to voice assistants, 2018 will be a big year for Qualcomm

• Revealed QC5100, a small chip that runs at triple the speed and more efficiently than predecessors, which means a massive boost in sound quality for wireless audio devices.
• New kit to incorporate voice assistants into new devices, compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana.
• Faster chips for Google, HTC, LG, Samsung, and Sony smartphones.
• More tech for cars including internet connectivity, navigation and entertainment systems for a range of models.

COMPUTER WARS

ACER, DELL + ASUS:

A selection of some of the snazziest product Acer, Dell and Asus unveiled at CES2018

• Acer will release an upgraded version of the Swift 7 Ultrabook in late 2018, pegged to be the world’s thinnest laptop, will built in 4G LTE.
• Dell unveiled the thinner, lighter 2018 Dell XPS 13 with Intel 8th-gen Core i series chips, with rose gold finish now available. Dell’s XPS 15 also got a facelift, now as a 2-in-1.
• Asus unveiled Chromebox 3, a small-form-factor PC that will run Chrome OS with support for dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Gigabit LAN. Basically you can look forward to better quality video streaming.