CES Live

Controlling your digital life from your smartphone, or even by voice, is great, but there are times when it'd be a whole lot more convenient to reach out and stab a physical button. That's the idea behind Flic, crowdfunding success from late last year, and here at CES to show off what you can do with a tiny stick-on button, long-lasting battery, and a few simple conditional rules. Flic's primary target is smartphone users looking to gain swifter access to a couple of key features, but as I played with the rubber-coated key I realized it comes surprisingly close to the perfect IoT control.

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Acclaimed audio makers Bang & Olufsen are no strangers to the mobile industry, but here at CES 2015 they are unveiling some rather interesting products that represent a few firsts. Among these is the Play H8 headphones. B & O are positioning this as their first wireless headphones, but they are definitely more than just that. Not only do they offer active noise cancellation for an even better listening experience, they also have a touch interface that makes it easier to control your music on the go.

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Bang & Olufsen has a few wares on display here at CES 2015, but undoubtedly the most eye-catching piece of them all is the BeoSound Moment, a sound system, practically a sound system controller in the form of a large tablet-like slab, that has a few gimmicks up its sleeve. Of all those features, the most prominent, because also the most visible, is the wooden side, which features what B & O calls the world's first touch-sensitive wood interface. Fortunately, that isn't its only great feature.

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We've always believed that aside from benefiting the masses, technology should also be of use to those who are physically handicapped in one way or another. ReSound is one of those companies that have taken up that call and have produced quite an assortment of hearing aids that not only help people to hear better, they also help them stay connected with the latest trends in media streaming. ReSound also has a rather smart app that really drives home the "smart" point.

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Not, this isn't Johnny 5, but you might as well mistake it for him if not for the lack of tank treads for mobility. But then again you can probably add those to Meccanoid G15 KS later on as well. This 4-foot robot at CES 2015 is more than just a 4-foot robot. He's (or It's) a completely programmable, interactive, and configurable mechanoid that is being advertised as a personal robot for makers, players, and even, quite amusingly, fanatics.

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3Doodler may have only been looking for $30k in crowdfunding for their second-gen 3D art pen, but with ten times that amount raised in a matter of hours the stakes are high. Completely redesigned from top to tip, the body frame is thinner, quieter, and most importantly easier to handle. The new JetPack accessory is a portable battery power pack that follows you so you’re not forced to hug a wall anymore. Question is, has 3Doodler done enough to warrant an upgrade? I went hands-on to find out.

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This day definitely has a lot of gaming in it, with a bunch of announcement from the likes of Razer taking up our CES 2015 attention. Gaming accessory maker Mad Catz is definitely not going to be left behind. We go hands on with its new L.Y.N.X. Bluetooth controller that can support devices of almost any size, up to 7 inches to be precise, but can still amazingly fit in your front pocket when not needed. Oh, and it can do a lot more than just let you play games.

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The automotive status symbol may no longer be the fob on your keyring but the smartwatch on your wrist, and we’ve got up close with the LG-made wearable Audi casually revealed during its CES keynote. R&D chief Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg used the watch to summon a self-driving Prologue to the stage, the touchscreen timepiece similar in appearance to LG’s existing circular-screened Android Wear model, but updated to suit the German marque’s automotive needs. Audi exclusively demonstrated the new smartwatch to SlashGear, and explained to me why it’s more than just a G Watch R with a custom skin.

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Someone at Qualcomm has the right idea: buy a brand spanking new Maserati, fit it out with the latest in QNX-running, Snapdragon-powered infotainment, and call it a business expense. The company brought its latest concept for the connected dashboard to CES 2015 for the first time, pairing the Snapdragon 602A car-centric chipset with BlackBerry-owned QNX's latest entertainment, safety, speech recognition, and gesture control systems. Qualcomm's argument is that, if next-gen automotive dashboards really are going to gain traction, it'll take a company with a strong presence in chips to push it, and that's why it thinks its 360-degree watching, radar toting prototype will prove convincing.

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Smartwatches are popping up everywhere here at CES 2015, even in cars! As reported earlier, Hyundai is indeed bringing its Blue Link system to the showroom floor and it is bringing it to your wrist. The Android Wear incarnation of the app, as expected, lets you control certain functions of your Blue Link-enabled Hyundai car by talking to your wrist, which probably brings to mind many a spy or sci-fi show. We take a hands-on, or a wrist-on rather, tour of what Hyundai has in mind when it comes to wearables.

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Our smartphones today are being unlocked by a variety of secure methods, ranging from the traditional pin code, to fingerprints, to voice. What if those same secure methods were available to secure our doors as well? Except for the fingerprint part, Schlage pretty much has you covered. Here at CES 2015, we take a quick hands-on of the company's new generation of smart locks that keeps your door and your phone connected, even when you're far away. It even has one that can be unlocked just using your voice.

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While Livescribe might not have a shiny new gadget to show off at CES 2015, it still has some very big news to share. Finally the company has turned its eyes to one of the most populous user bases in the mobile industry, announcing the upcoming release of the Android version of its Livescribe+ app. Starting spring, Livescribe users will no longer feel chained to only one mobile platform, freely switching between their iOS or Android device of choice, if they're actually making that choice.

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