Tag: CES 2022

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung to showcase 12 startups at CES

Samsung always has a massive presence at CES, so it’s nice to see the company sharing the spotlight with some startups it helped fund.

Four in-house Samsung startups and eight external companies are supported in what the company calls a startup accelerator. Samsung says that it’s nurtured over 500 small companies over the past five years and these companies represent the tech giant’s commitment to finding new ideas.

The four in-house small companies are as follows:

  • Meta-Running, a metaverse platform to learn proper running form
  • Porkamix, a metaverse platform that provides an interactive concert experience
  • Soom, a new meditation experience with real-time feedback
  • Falette, a 3D digital transformation for home fabric products

The eight outside companies’ support are listed below:

  • NdotLight, a web-based 3D design solution
  • NEUBILITY, an urban delivery service through self-driving robots
  • 40FY, a digital mental health care app service from examination to treatment,
  • CELLICO, a micro-bionic eye for patients with retinal disease
  • Plask, an AI and browser-based motion capture and animation editing tool
  • Wrn Technologies, writing training and content creation services using Generative AI
  • Catius, a multi-turn conversational AI companion for children
  • Erangtek, an IoT micro repeater for home users to improve call quality

Source: Samsung

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Mobile Syrup

CES 2022, Halo Infinite and another year of tech [SyrupCast 250]

This week on the SyrupCast, the crew returns after an extended hiatus to talk about how low-key CES 2022 was.

To kick off the pod, Brad Bennett regales Patrick O’Rourke and Jon Lamont with news regarding Rogers’ new CEO, the  Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and the latest software update for the OnePlus Buds Pro. Finally, Brad wraps up by talking about his smart water bottle review.

Next, Patrick steers the team towards recapping CES 2022. While this year’s show was pretty dull, cool gadgets and several electric vehicle (EV) concept cars were still shown off.

Finally, the team talks about some of the games they’ve been playing over the holidays, with Patrick shining a light on Halo Infinite and Brad talking about finally catching up on The Last of Us Part II. If you’ve been a long-time SyrupCast listener, you already know that Jon spent time with Destiny 2, but he also started playing Stardew Valley again.

As always, you can listen to the show on your favourite podcast platform or watch the video version on our YouTube channel.

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Mobile Syrup

Razer has a new ‘Pro’ version of its Zephyr RGB face mask

Many companies like to use the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to show off conceptual products that will likely never be available to purchase. Razer is one such company, although it surprised us when it made the conceptual Project Hazel face mask available to buy last year.

Renamed to Razer Zephyr, the $149.99 smart mask boasts fan-powered N95 filters, transparent plastic, a face light to illuminate your mouth and, naturally, RGB. Despite looking like an unlockable cosmetic for your Cyberpunk 2077 character, the Zephyr mask sold out quickly.

At CES 2022, Razer unveiled an updated version of the Zephyr mask called the Zephyr Pro. It’s more or less identical to the original Zephyr, save that the Pro version has a built-in voice amplification tool.

If you’re thinking “didn’t the Zephyr mask already have that?” you’re not alone. I thought so too, but as Gizmodo notes, only the conceptual Project Hazel mask had the voice amplifier and Razer cut it from the Zephyr mask to hit a more accessible price point. The new Zephyr Pro costs $150 USD (about $50 USD more than than the original Zephyr mask) just for that added feature. It’s not clear how much the Zephyr Pro will cost in Canada, but I could see it getting a similar $50 price bump to a flat $200 (well, $199, but you get the point).

The Zephyr Pro also features an external button to turn voice amplification on and off, which Razer says can help save battery life.

That’s cool and all, but I still have the same concerns I did with the original Zephyr about how effective the mask actually is. Razer’s website says the Zephyr mask’s filter is “FDA-registered” — whatever that means — and Gizmodo points out Zephyr is not FDA-approved. I couldn’t find any information about Canadian Zephyr approval. The N95 filters should make the Zephyr and Zephyr Pro okay, but I’d say the jury is still out on this one.

You can learn more about the Zephyr Pro on Razer’s website and sign up for notifications when the mask becomes available. If you actually want to buy one of these, you’ll probably want to sign up since the original Zephyr sold out quickly.

Source: Razer Via: Gizmodo

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Mobile Syrup

HyperX’s first controller supports multiple platforms

HP’s gaming sub-brand, HyperX, a company primarily known for its PC peripherals, accessories and components, has unveiled its first-ever multi-platform controller called the HyperX Clutch at CES.

The controller, which is designed to keep the mobile gamer in mind uses a clamp-like phone grip to hold your smartphone in landscape mode. The phone grip is extendable, so it can hold phones as wide as 86mm, though the clamp-like grip can also be removed when not in use.

The HyperX Clutch uses an Xbox-style button layout and connects to your phone with Bluetooth 4.2. It also supports 2.4GHz wireless connection via a receiver that can be plugged into your PC, making the controller a versatile option for gamers on different platforms.

Additionally, the controller can also directly be plugged into your PC with a wire, allowing for a latency-free connection and simultaneous charging of the built-in battery.

The Clutch is planned to be released in March 2022 and will cost roughly $49.99 (about $63.52 CAD)

You can check out more news from CES 2022 here.

Image credit: HyperX

Source: HyperX

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Mobile Syrup

GM’s recently revealed first-edition Chevrolet Silverado EV is already sold out

GM finally revealed its anticipated Chevrolet Silverado electric vehicle at CES 2022.

The vehicle already seems to be a hit given the 2024 Silverado EV RST (First Edition) is entirely sold out. The electric truck, which has an estimated price of $119,948, isn’t slated to hit the market until Fall 2023.

According to Engadget, U.S. GM CEO Mary Barra said all the vehicles were purchased within 12 minutes of the Silverado EV going on sale. It’s currently unclear how many RST models were available to pre-order, but clearly, the love for the Silverado EV is strong.

The Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is an electric vehicle that’s estimated to be capable of travelling 640km on a full charge. The truck also offers four-wheel steering and is capable of towing up to 10,000lbs.

The regular model won’t hit the market until spring 2024 and starts at $52,448. If you’re still interested and don’t mind waiting, you can join the waitlist for that vehicle.

You can check out more news from CES 2022 here.

Via: Engadget

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung Display shows off Flex G and Flex S form factors at CES 2022

Berlin, Germany- September 6.,2017., Samsung exhibition pavilion

Samsung showed off a few pretty cool prototype foldable smartphones at CES 2022. Based on what we know so far, these prototypes sport the South Korean tech giant’s Flex S and Flex G panels and come in multiple forms.

According to SamMobile, the Flex S is a tri-folding phone that can fold in and out in the form of an S. This allows for the smartphone to fold into a large tablet. The Flex G, on the other hand, is more compact. It’s also tri-folding and folds inwards so that no part of the display is visible when fully folded.

While I love using the Z Fold 3, I’m sometimes worried about the outer display since it’s always exposed. This G-shaped form factor keeps the device’s display protected when you’re not using it.

It’s important to point out that these are prototype devices, so it’s possible that this display technology may never be actually featured in a commercial Samsung smartphone. That said, the inwards tri-folding design could be pretty cool.

You can check out more news from CES 2022 here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: SamMobile, Abhijeet Mishra (YouTube)

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Mobile Syrup

We’ll finally see the electric VW Microbus in March

Volkswagen has been slowly but surely shifting its lineup to electric vehicles (EVs), and it appears that the next EV is an electric Microbus.

It was five years ago that VW showed off the ID buzz, a concept car based on the iconic VW Microbus. After a lot of positive feedback, Volkswagen decided to actually produce the car. Then in November 2021, the automaker revealed a heavily camo’d out version of the vehicle.

Once the vehicle is officially revealed on March 9th, we’ll likely get a view of the finalized design both inside and out, plus the automaker might drop information related to the van’s range and charging features.

Volkswagen’s other major electric vehicle, the ID.4, has been available for a year and is expected to receive a wider release in 2022. While the new van/bus will utilize the same MEB battery platform as the ID.4, given it’s larger, it might be able to store more batteries.

You can check out more news from CES 2022 here.

Image credit: Volkswagen

Source: Volkswagen

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Mobile Syrup

Fossil will add Alexa to its Gen 6 smartwatch in the first half of 2022

Fossil announced two new versions of its Gen 6 Wear OS smartwatch at CES 2022 — one for gamers and one for Dutch jewelry enthusiasts. However, another announcement from the company that flew a little under the radar is that it will add support for Amazon Alexa to its Gen 6 watches.

As for when Fossil will add support, well, that’s not entirely clear. The company told 9to5Google in a statement that the Alexa update would arrive in the first half of 2022. It also told The Verge in a CES briefing that Alexa would come to Gen 6 smartwatches “early this year.” Moreover, The Verge’s Victoria Song received a Skagen Falster Gen 6 and the Razer X Fossil Gen 6 watches, both of which include an Alexa widget that simply displays a “coming soon” message.

With all that taken into account, that means Fossil could add Alexa to the Gen 6 smartwatch anytime between now and June. Presumably, Gen 6 owners won’t need to wait six months for the Alexa update, but we’ll see how it plays out.

The Verge also pointed out that Fossil teasing Alexa support may be a way to give customers something to look forward to until Wear OS 3 arrives (which could be anywhere from a few months to the end of the year). Plus, Alexa support would be a win both for Fossil and smartwatch customers. Currently, Apple Watches are Siri-only, Wear OS watches only have Google Assistant and Samsung watches force Bixby on users (although the Galaxy Watch 4 will eventually offer Google Assistant too). The only other smartwatches that offer a choice are Fitbit’s Sense and Versa watches.

In other words, most customers are limited to using whatever assistant ships on their smartwatch. Plus, Amazon’s Alexa is a relatively popular voice assistant, so Fossil’s move to support it will both give customers a choice in what assistant they use and give people access to Alexa on a smartwatch, which so far hasn’t been available outside of Fitbit’s smartwatches. Hopefully, this starts a trend with smartwatch makers and we see more watches offer a choice of on-wrist voice assistant.

Source: The Verge, 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

BMW slaps 31-inch screen onto rear ceiling of concept car

At CES 2022, BMW has been showing off all kinds of futuristic car tech, from a colour-changing paint job to this new giant in-car cinema display.

So far, the giant screen has only been shown off in concept form, but BMW says that it’s an 8K touch screen that runs Amazon’s Fire TV OS operating system. This means it should be able to stream content from just about every major content platform.

The videos will be streamed over the car’s internal 5G connection, and The Verge mentions that there are also small controls built into the door if you don’t want to tap the screen, especially if BMW decides to attach it to the roof.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a cinema display without sound, and BMW says that it has a 30-speaker system that can provide 4D sound since there can even be speakers in the seats themselves.

Demo of screen starts at 3:19 in video above. 

BMW also talks about being able to automatically shutter the car’s blinds to seal off any light when using the display to play movies.

While there’ a working prototype of this at CES 2022, it’s more like the back half of a car with a huge roof. This is likely to house all the hardware needed to show it off. In this version, the screen comes down like a little projector mat and blocks the rearview mirror, suggesting it can only be used when the vehicle is stopped.

With this in mind, the display looks like it’s designed to give drivers something to do while they wait for their car to charge. With that in mind, how much extra battery will it take to run a 30-speaker cinema setup for two hours? Because of this, I’m not quite sold on the concept yet.

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Intel reveals 12th Gen desktop CPU that can hit 5.5GHz

Intel followed up its earlier CES 2022 CPU announcement by revealing a desktop processor capable of boosting to 5.5GHz on a single core out-of-the-box.

After previously teasing the CPU, Intel has officially announced the 12th Gen Core i9-12900KS (as Tom’s Hardware notes, the ‘S’ likely means the chip will be a limited edition, which could make it hard to find). The ability to hit 5.5GHz on a single core marks a roughly 300MHz improvement over what Intel achieved on the i9-12900K.

Further, The Verge says that an on-stage demonstration from Intel showed the 12900KS running at a sustained 5.2GHz across all performance cores while running Hitman 3. While certainly impressive, Intel didn’t share details on the chip’s power draw or what cooling solution was used.

As for when you’ll be able to buy the i9-12900KS, well, probably not anytime soon. Intel’s executive vice president Gregory Bryant said that the CPU would ship to “OEM customers” during the presentation. That suggests the chip will be available in pre-built computers to start — it’s not clear if or when Intel will sell the CPU directly to customers who want to build their own PCs.

For more information about Intel’s latest CPUs, check out our coverage here. You can check out more news from CES 2022 here.

Image credit: Intel

Source: The Verge, Tom’s Hardware