What if you took Segway's standard self-balancing technology, but you didn't even have to stand on it?
That's basically the promise of the new Segway S-Pod, a "vision for the future of mobility" that the company announced at CES 2020. It was supposedly was inspired by the Gyrosphere from Jurassic World, but let's be real — we just got one step closer to the futuristic lethargy of Wall-E.
From the press release:
The Segway S-Pod is a first-class smart transporting pod for enclosed campuses such as airports, theme parks and malls. It is a safe, self-balancing vehicle that is operated by an intuitive assistive navigation panel. With an adaptive center-of-gravity automatic control system, passengers can easily adjust the speed — up to 24 mph — by handling the knob to change the center of gravity in the pod. The S-Pod spins and rotates by the center smoothly for directional changes. The rider does not need to physically lean forward and back to accelerate or slow down.
I always figured that the Silicon Valley vision of the future would eventually bring us towards personalized robot car pods that are basically just trains with private seating. So at least this is a slight improvement on that?
No word on price yet.
Image via YouTube Read the rest
“Getting ratio’d, getting dunked on, the dynamics that happen that we think aren’t as healthy are definitely part of... our thinking about this.”
Looking for a reason to finally power down that annual orgy of future high-tech landfill poisons? Here ya go.
From Variety:
It’s official: Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser, will be on the CES 2020 keynote stage next month in Las Vegas.
Ivanka Trump will join a keynote discussion on jobs and the future of work with Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Assn., which produces CES (originally known as the Consumer Electronics Show). The talk is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 2 p.m. PT in the Venetian’s Palazzo Ballroom. Trump and Shapiro will discuss “employer-led strategies to reskill workers, create apprenticeships and develop K-12 STEM education programs,” according to the CTA.
Read the rest.
[Image: Screen capture of Ivanka's address to the RNC, 2016] Read the rest
Being able to dance and dodge my way out of attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every January is one of the most important acts of self-care I commit to all year long. While it's always nice to catch up with colleagues at CES, the crush of human misery, drunk assclowns looking to cheat on their partner while they're off the leash in Vegas, and the multiple viruses that make the rounds each year at the event are a few of my least favorite things. This year, however, I almost regret turning down the opportunity to eat at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill every day for a week in between appointments and trips to the Las Vegas Convention Center: LG Electronics is said to be unveiling a fancy new home beer-brewing kit.
From Tom's Guide:
Similar to other home brewing systems, the HomeBrew uses capsules that contain everything you need—malt, yeast, hops, and flavoring—which you insert into the machine, add water, and press a button.The machine then sets the correct brewing temperature and time, and in about two weeks, will produce up to 10.5 pints (1.3 gallons) of beer.At launch, five packets will be available: American IPA, American Pale Ale, English Stout, a Belgian Witbier and a Czech Pilsner. The HomeBrew also has a self-sanitizing process, to ensure that your batch of beer isn't skunked. An app will also let you monitor the progress of the brew. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of making beer at home.
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Internet of Shit (@internetofshit) is at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, the annual festival of stuff not made by Apple. This year's big themes include drones and home automation, but there's an ocean of bizarre, obviously-nightmarish Internet of Things crapgadgetry. And they found all of it.
Hot take: contraptions are what makes CES fun. When it's just this year's TV sets and spec-bumped laptops, CES is like staring in to the sun. Read the rest
The annual Consumer Electronics Show is under way in Las Vegas, and we're enjoying the sights and sounds at a distance. Vegas during CES is a lot to handle. Here are 10 images from Reuters photographers that capture some of the more interesting displays over the first few days of the tech showcase.
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Looks pretty dope. If you're at CES, you can drool all over it in person at the NVIDIA booth.
Yesterday at CES, Makerbot CEO Bre Pettis announced three new 3D printers, including a massive, fifth-generation Replicator capable of producing objects that are 45.7cm tall and 30.5cm wide/long. Interestingly, all three new models -- there's also a simple, one-button version and a desktop prosumer version -- sport clear plastic sides. 3D printers are very susceptible to disruption from even slight breezes (the wind cools the plastic between the nozzle and the previous layer) but there's a completely batshit patent on the totally obvious "invention" of putting see-through sides on a 3D printer, so in general printers don't ship with sides, and manufacturers don't publicly advise their customers to add plastic sides to their machines. Read the rest
Former Gizmodo gadget writer and chief editorial whip-cracker Brian Lam has covered many a CES in his time; since leaving Gawker media for ocean adventures and his Wirecutter electronics blog, I think his work has become much more interesting. He revisited CES this year, and produced exactly one post from it, highlighting interesting stuff he says he'd actually buy himself. The "luggage tracker" and HD camera are tugging at my credit card's heartstrings, too. Read the rest
This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas offered few surprises, giving reporters time to write interesting offbeat coverage. Stars in the firmament of boredom included Mat Honan, Brian Lam, and the marvelous CESTrailer Twitter account.
Every year, however, readers ask about the nitty-gritty details of the show, beyond the gadgets but short of the existential despair. Having not attended this year and thereby being free of fresh scars, I thought I'd have a stab at describing the mundane details of how it goes.
If nothing else, you won't be curious anymore. Read the rest
The Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas is ongoing, and it's been widely-hailed as the dullest in years. There are only three things you need to read about it.
Brian Lam at Wirecutter: The magical (and sometimes ridiculous) gadgets of tomorrow
The first thing I notice every year when I settle into a hotel at CES is that no matter how fancy the hotel, the tap water smells like eggs
Mat Honan at Gizmodo: Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter
CES attendees are overwhlemingly men. Men are filthy, especially when they've been drinking too much coffee and eating Vegas buffets. So I duck into the ladies' room.
@CESTrailer:
(OK, so Wired also has a great roundup of the new ultraportables, and The Verge is knocking it out the park on general coverage if you really need to know about the televisions. But everything else about CES sucks this year. Oh! Except this camera.) Read the rest
