CES 2014 Highlights – Gadgets Galore

The International CES 2014 took place from January 7-10, 2014, and this year set the record for the largest in the show’s history! There were two million square feet of exhibit space for more than 3,200 exhibitors. 150,000 industry professionals attended the show, including more than 35,000 from outside the United States. Here are some of the coolest things I found that came out of the show this year.

PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now will allow you to stream your PlayStation games to your PS4, PS3, PS Vita, televisions, tablets, and smartphones. This will be possible because of Sony’s purchase of Gaikai, the cloud gaming technology. All the games are hosted on the cloud, so all you need is a good internet connection and you’re set. You’ll be able to rent games or pay for a subscription. A closed beta launches at the end of this month, with a big rollout by the end of summer 2014. You can sign up for more information here.

Urb-e

This is much cooler than the Razor Scooter you wanted as a kid. The Urb-e has a twenty-mile range on a full battery charge, reaches speeds of up to 15mph, and is fairly cheap ($1,250) for a motorized scooter. It comes in two or three-wheeled models, weighs about 25 pounds, and uses an iPhone dock for a dashboard (which shows battery life and range). The company says that it’s the most compact electronic vehicle in the world! Reports say that if you’re taller, you might find this a little uncomfortable – but that could easily be remedied. They’ll be launching a Kickstarter soon.

Onewheel

This is a self-balancing, one-wheeled motorized skateboard designed with hoverboards in mind. It can go up to 12mph, and the battery lasts up to six miles on a single charge. You can back it on Kickstarter here! (PS Does the guy with the nice arms come with it, or…?)

50-inch 4K TV from Vizio for $999.99

This is the cheapest we’ve seen a 4K TV from a well-known brand so far, making the high-end picture quality in reach for more people. Also in 4K TV news, Samsung and LG both have 4K TVs that can bend themselves, which supposedly ups the picture quality even more. Netflix also announced that all of its original programming will be shot in 4K, and Breaking Bad is being remastered so it can be streamed in 4K as well.

Oculus Rift: Crystal Cove Edition

This new version of the Oculus Rift upgrades on previous prototypes and is moving toward becoming a viable peripheral for gamers everywhere (no matter how silly you might look with it on). This new version has a better resolution, better latency, blur reduction, and a better overall experience for the player. The Crystal Cove version implements positional tracking (are you crouching down?), whereas the previous prototype could only tell which way you were looking. The developers also say that the new build cuts down on simulation sickness.

Toyota I-Road

Now, personally I wouldn’t want to drive this car (it’s so tiny compared to everything else on the road!), but I can’t deny how cool it looks. It has an all-electric motor, a range of 25 miles, and has a top speed of about 28mph. It also apparently handles like a motorcycle (three-wheels), making me wonder if you’ll need a motorcycle license for it instead. You can only fit one person, and taller people will probably be really uncomfortable. Toyota is looking to market it in Asia and Europe for now, and even thinks that you might be able to drive it in bike lanes; I could see that.

Steam Machines

Valve will have 13 different producers of Steam Machines. Here are the manufacturers and their prices:

Alternate – $1,339
Cyberpower PC – $499 and up
Digital Storm – Bolt II – $2,584
Gigabyte – Brix Pro – TBD
Falcon Northwest – Tiki – $1,799-$6,000
iBuyPower – $499 and up
Materiel.net – $1,098
Origin PC – Chronos – TBD
Next Spa – TBD
Scan – NC10 – $1,090
Webhallen – $1,499
Zotac – $599
Maingear Spark – TBD
Alienware – TBD, probably around $500

For full system specs and what they all look like, go here.

T-Mobile Pays your Early Termination Fees

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced that the company will pay early termination fees of anyone switching to T-Mobile from Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T – up to $350 for the fee, plus an extra $300 for device credit.

Project Christine from Razer

Razer’s vision for Project Christine is to let anyone build their own PC, even if they have no technical knowledge. The modularity makes it highly customizable, and it looks like something H.R. Giger might make. Sign me up.

Mother

Mother and her sensor cookies allow you to monitor pretty much anything you want. The cookies measure motion and temperature and alert you when they notice a change. An example that’s been given is you could put a sensor on a medicine cabinet, and if you forget to open it and take your medicine, Mother will tell you. It can also be used as a security system. One mother and four cookies retail for $222. You can connect up to 24 cookies to Mother, but they’re $99 each. Cookies can be used for up to a year before needing to be replaced.