Category: Hardware

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Looking Glass is targeting enterprises and eventually gamers with 8K holographic display

The first thing you need to note when writing about Looking Glass is that it’s incredibly difficult to photograph convincingly. It’s really exactly as you might assume, attempting to capture a 3D image in a 2D photo.

The second is that it’s really cool. I don’t want to be the “you gotta see it in person” guy, but, well, you gotta see it in person, guy (or lady). Lucas called it “bizarrely fascinating” when he looked at the Looking Glass box last year, comparing it to a “fishbowl of pixels.” Announced in November, the 8K display is a little more straightforward, at least as far as form factors are concerned. Instead of a box, it’s a screen, offering an animated 3D image.

The system has 33.2 million pixels, utilizing a 45-element light field to offer a truly impressive holographic effect. Though, there is a pretty clear range when the effect really looks good. Straight on to about 45-degrees is the Goldilocks zone. Beyond that, things get fuzzy. They also get a bit out of focus when the hologram extends too far out, as in the case of a 3D image of a man’s face. His nose extending out about six inches was pretty fuzzy.

The four-year-old company has raised around $14 million, with its Series A arriving in early February. There are some high-profile investors on board, including SOSV, Lux Capital and Foundry Group, which led the last round. There’s a certain benefit to a technology that leaves interested parties wowed when they leave the room.

“There’s thousands of systems in the world now and a lot of the developers that have purchased those systems are with big companies,” CEO and co-founder Shawn Frayne tells TechCrunch. “In a lot of ways they’re evangelists. They develop their own apps in some cases and used the utilities we build.”

Beyond enterprise uses, the Brooklyn-based startup is exploring consumer applications, as well, including basic things like video chat. Frayne says the company has had some discussions around gaming, as well, showing an impressive demo featuring a flashlight mounted on an HTC Vive controller. When pointed at the display, the faux light had an impressive effect of depth in the picture.

The tech is pretty unpractical for such down market uses, but a quick demo is an exciting peek into a future potential of more immersive shared experiences.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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Samsung’s Lite devices bring the headphone jack to flagship design (sort of)

Some devices need no explanation. The Galaxy S10 and Note 10 Line are not such devices. They’re more nebulous, walking an interesting line, between premium and mid-range. They’re a clear attempt by Samsung to change with a smartphone buying public that have balked at the idea of $1,000+ device.

Samsung announces ‘Lite’ versions of the Galaxy S10 and Note 10

On that front, they make plenty of sense. Things are, however, not so cut and dry. This is probably no better exemplified by the headphone jack situation. One (the Note 10) has one. One (the S10) doesn’t. It’s a bit of of a one foot in, one foot out approach to the technology that Samsung admittedly, has always been more cautious about abandoning than most.

The pragmatic reason for the decision, I think, is that the Note 10 Lite is the thicker of the two devices. Both feel like solid, flagship devices. The build quality is terrific on both. The Note, however, is noticeably chunkier, owing to the inclusion of the S Pen and a different screen technology. So Samsung saw an opportunity to have it both ways, plopping a headphone jack on the bottom.

The timing is interesting, as well. The company snuck out an announcement just ahead of CES. That both firmly missed the holiday season, while arriving about a month and a half ahead of its latest big phone reveal (the invitations for Unpacked went out the following day). There was also no pricing — and there still isn’t here in the States. That leaves open the question of where they slot in.

Are we talking slightly below the flagship tier? Or is this Samsung’s new vision for mid-tier? European pricing gives us a hint. At €599, that’s pretty significantly below the lowest tier version of its flagship counterparts. It’s also a pretty decent diction below the Galaxy S10e. It will be interesting to see if that model sticks around for the S11.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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A closer look at Ballie, Samsung’s friendly robotic ball

Okay, I’ve slept on it. I was skeptical at first, but after a good night’s sleep, let’s do this. I want a Ballie. All of the people and the pets in the below video seemed super into it. Where did I sign up?

Okay, let me back up a second. I’d like a little hands on time with the robotic ball first. Or at very least a more in-depth demo. But once we’ve gotten those out of the way, yeah, totally. Let’s do this. I want my own BB8. I’ve just seen enough of these home robots come and go to be super skeptical about the plausibility of such a product both coming to market and functioning as advertised.

Even the latest version of Aibo, which is extremely impressive as far as home robotics go, still feels like a lot of unfulfilled potential at a prohibitively steep price. That’s in spite of tremendous resources, multiple generations and years of iteration. It’s been an incredibly tough nut to crack, and the road to success (whatever that will ultimately mean) is paved with the bodies of adorable robotic companions that died long before the their time.

It’s not so much a lack of interest. Who watches a video like that and doesn’t think Ballie would be a fun addition? I would, however, argue that such products deliver unrealistic expectations about what such a product would ultimately look like and how it would ultimately function in a home setting.

Meet Ballie, Samsung’s rolling personal assistant that does…stuff

Baby steps. Bringing that long promised Bixby smart speaker to market early this year is a good place to start. Next step is a designating a handful of functionalities best served by a roaming robotic ball (security, reminders, package delivery alerts) and building those in. Then deliver a device that can function consistently at a realistic price point. I’m here for it, Ballie.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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Samsung’s knife-wielding robotic chef is all flash

Last year, we asked whether Samsung was getting serious about robotics. A year later, we’re not any closer to answering the question. This year’s presser played out roughly the same as last on the robotics front — all flash and little productizing to show for it.

Meet Ballie, Samsung’s rolling personal assistant that does…stuff

Samsung’s approach to robotics thus far appears to the model of many other big electronics companies. It’s flirtation with a technology that brings some sense of showmanship to the stage and booth. There’s no better example than Bot Chef. I got a preview of the tech in Samsung’s booth this week, pitched as “an extra set of hands in the kitchen.”

You can’t fault the technology for not being ready for prime time, at this point, of course. That’s not really the point yet. The question, however, is how serious Samsung is about bring bringing a pair of robot arms to kitchens across the globe to sauté tofu and liberally apply Sriracha. I would love to say “very,” and that the different demos were things the company was actively pursuing delivering on these products.

The futuristic theme of last night’s keynote, however, implied that the company is offering up hypotheticals for what a future could look like — not what it will. Even Ballie, which seems a more realistic addition to the company’s smart home strategy is also still very much conceptual. As with last year’s robot demos, I wasn’t able to get an answer from the company about how much of the robots’ functions were autonomous and how much were choreographed. It’s a cool demo regardless. But is it a serious one?

At the end of the day, I hope Samsung is getting serious about the category. The company has tremendous resources and a lot of smart people. If it really takes the leap, it could be a key player in making robotics more mainstream among consumers. For now, however, I’m unconvinced.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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TiVo announces a $49.99 device that combines streaming and live TV

TiVo is announcing a new device at the Consumer Electronics Show called the TiVo Stream 4K, which CEO Dave Shull described as launching the company “full on into the streaming wars.”

Shull said the device is a “tiny little HDMI puck” that’s designed to reach a much broader group than the existing TiVo customer base, providing both streaming and live TV content to cord cutters and cord shavers.

“We believe for users that see value in live TV, which is the majority of American households, they want something to unify and marry the worlds of live TV and streaming, instead of having separate set top boxes or separate apps,” added VP of Product Chris Thun.

The streaming side will include integrations with services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO and others, and will also include content from TiVo+, the free, ad-supported movie and TV service that the company launched last fall.

In fact, TiVo is also announcing the addition of 23 new channels to TiVo+, bringing the total count to 49. Those channels include a new News category with channels like USA Today, Cheddar and Top Stories by Newsy. GQ, Glamour, Wired, Tastemade, Bon Appetit, Funny or Die and The Chive are also launching new channels.

Meanwhile, on the live TV side, the TiVo Stream 4K will include live TV and cloud DVR through integration with Sling TV.

The streaming wars to come

As Thun showed me via demo video, once you’ve logged in to your various services, the device will allow you to navigate based on shows and movies, rather than hopping between different apps. It’s something that other streaming platforms like Roku and Apple TV also offer, but Thun noted that this takes advantage of TiVo’s personalization capabilities,  drawing on what he said is a wider range of knowledge about consumer preferences than any individual app has access to.

“The personalization theme underlines the entire product,” he said. “Across these carousels, it’s really using machine learning and AI to push the right movies and shows to me at the right time.”

TiVo says the Stream 4K (which is built on top of the Android TV operating system, and also includes a remote with voice control) will be available starting in April, with initial launch pricing of $49.99. And the company will  be working with cable and internet providers to offer the device to their broadband-only customers, with Schurz Communications signed up as the first co-marketing partner.

“We have the puck, but ideally I want this solution to be ubiquitous and embedded in every single device,” Shull said.

A former Weather Channel CEO, Shull joined TiVo as CEO back in May of 2019. In an interview about his vision for the company, he told me that he want to “embrace the chaos” of streaming by bringing “all this entertainment together — on-demand, live, digital — and make it fun to find, to watch TV again.”

Last month, the company announced a $3 billion merger with licensing company Xperi.

“This transformation for TiVo enabled the merger,” Shull said.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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Samsung hints at AR ambitions, shows off prototype glasses

What a weird Samsung press conference. The company didn’t waste time on the familiar. Things like Galaxy phones and washing machines got little love on stage tonight. Instead the company was focused on a workout exoskeleton and a friendly robotic call assistant.

Meet Ballie, Samsung’s rolling personal assistant that does…stuff

And then there’s was AR. The technology was more hinted at than outright explained. First it took part in the aforementioned GEMS workout, in which the wearer took out her pair of “Samsung AR glasses.” That demo involved an AR assistant that was, admittedly fairly creepy.

The subject was dropped a bit, only to come back to it a little while later. First there was am uplifting video featuring Gear VR headsets repurposed to help vision impaired users see their loved ones (definite tear jerker material), followed by what appeared to be a different take on the AR glasses, complete with a camera in the middle of the frames.

Meet Ballie, Samsung’s rolling personal assistant that does…stuff

Of course, we need to use the same caution here that we have with all of the other strange stuff shown off on stage tonight: this is all that prototypes. At best, it’s a potential roadmap. At worst, it’s speculative fiction. Either way, I wouldn’t wager a good deal of money on the the company replacing Gear VR with a pair of AR sunglasses this year.

That said, given larger industry trends, it’s completely understandable why the company is exploring such potential paths.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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Eargo’s latest hearing aid improves bandwidth and noise cancelation

Bay-area based medical device startup Eargo just announced its fourth gen product at CES. The Neo HiFi builds on past learnings from the six-year-old company. The improvements are mostly around sound quality, including increased bandwidth and improved wind noise reduction and feedback cancelation. Eargo says all of the above should combine to offer, “a more natural listening experience with a more full-bodied sound.”

Other new features include to the line’s “Flexi Palm design” — those funny little spikes on the end designed to keep the hearing aid better positioned in the ear. The app has been updated for easier adjustment to different listening environments. That’s currently available for iOS, with an Android version due out at the end of the month.

Eargo raises $52M for virtually invisible, rechargeable hearing aids

The new device is available for purchase now, through Eargo’s site. It’s not cheap, at $2,650, but the company offers monthly financing for the product. Starting in march, the price will jump up to $2,950.

Eargo released its first product in 2017, and has received some significant funding along the way. Last March’s $52 million Series D brought the total funding amount up to $135.6 million.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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Meet Ballie, Samsung’s rolling personal assistant that does…stuff

This time last year, we asked the question: is Samsung getting serious about robotics. I’m not sure we’re that much closer to an answer, but tonight’s CES keynote pointed to a company that clearly wants to convince us of as much. Though much like the demos shown off last year, tonight’s devices were concepts — indications of what a Samsung could bring to market if it was determined to do so.

Is Samsung getting serious about robotics?

The headliner is is Ballie (pronounced Ball-E). Still very much a concept, the device is Samsung’s take on Aibo. Instead of a robot dog, however, the “life companion robot” is simply a rolling ball designed to help out around the house. The robot, “understands you, supports you, and reacts to your needs..”

There’s not a ton of info about the robot, but it clearly has a camera on the front from navigating around the home. It utilizes on-device AI to perform a series of (mostly unannounced) tasks, including home security and fitness.

“We believe AI is the future of personalized care,” EVP Sebastian Seung said in a release. “We see on-device AI as central to truly personalized experiences. On-device AI puts you in control of your information and protects your privacy, while still delivering the power of personalization.”

Still very much a concept, there’s no word when — or even if — Ballie might come to market. At this point, Samsung mostly just wants us all to know that it’s working on it. That said, the underlying technology here certainly seems far more realistic that the devices it showed off on stage this time next year.

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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PlayStation 5 announced for holidays 2020

Turns out Sony is still able to pack a surprise or two into its CES press conference. The company just kicked off its event by announcing that the PlayStation 5 will be arriving — this holiday season.

Not a lot was revealed about the next-gen console, beyond a few basic features, including 3D audio (because Sony), haptic/adaptive triggers, ultra-high speed ssd, hardware based ray tracing and Blu-Ray (so, yeah, physical media).

Developing…

CES 2020 coverage - TechCrunch

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Get a load of these Dell PC concepts that you can’t buy

Concept PCs are a lot like concept cars. The idea comes from a decent enough place, but mostly they exist to make you feel bad an inadequate about your current dumb device. It’s a metaphor for life, really.

In that spirit, here are a trio of concept PCs that Dell debuted this week at CES. Honestly, none are too farfetched. One looks an awful lot like an existing product, and the other two are pretty reminiscent of recently announced products from competitors. Any of the three could seemingly have been announced as actual retail devices, but life is an endless stream increasing disappointment culminating in your inevitable, inescapable demise.

First up is the Alienware-branded UFO. Remember a paragraph ago when I told you that one of the products looked like an existing one? Well, this is that. It’s Alienware’s take on the Nintendo Switch (or any gaming portable, to be honest). Though one assumes that, were it ever to actually come to market, it would feature much beefier specs. One assumes.

Like the Switch, the gaming portable features detachable controllers (sound familiar?) and kickstand, so you can, say, play it on an airplane tray table (wipe it down first, though. Those things are the germiest part of the plane). There’s a 10th gen Intel chip inside this hypothetical product, powering an eight-inch, 1900×1200 display.

Concept Duet, meanwhile, is the sort of idea a number of PC manufacturers have been flirting with for a while. It’s a standard laptop form factor, only with a 13.4 inch display on either side. The benefits of such a form factor are pretty clear, and like the Lenovo, there appears to be a slip-on keyboard, so you don’t have to type on a touchscreen. The Concept Ori is in-line with the actual ThinkPad X1 Fold announced earlier today by Lenovo. It’s a 13 inch screen that folds in for a significantly more portable form factor.

“I’m excited about our new approach this year at CES, and we hope you enjoy this glimpse into our labs,” CTO Glen Robson says in a blog post. “This is only a small fraction of the ideas, experiences, hardware and software our teams are constantly developing. Who knows, if response is positive, you may see more of our early work in the future.”

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