CES Cool Products Include Lightweight PCs, 3D Food Printer, HDTVs

By Don Reisinger

Lenovo offered up a Windows notebook—the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon notebook PC—at CES that might appeal to enterprise customers. The device comes with a 14-inch screen and weighs 2.9 pounds. According to Lenovo, the Carbon will run on Intel’s Core i5 or i7 processors and run for 9.5 hours on a single charge. Enterprise customers might also like to hear that the computer comes with PCIe storage options.

Intel has officially placed its stake in the ground in the mobile marketplace. The company at CES unveiled its fifth-generation Intel Core processors. The company’s microarchitecture, known as “Broadwell,” is designed for mobile devices ranging from traditional notebooks to Ultrabooks, Chromebooks and even all-in-one PCs. Intel says Broadwell will offer outstanding battery life and strong performance. One other note from Intel’s announcements: The company has started shipping its 14nm tablet processor, code-named Cherry Trail, to vendors. Products running the chip will likely be available in the first half of the year.

The 2-inch tall HP Stream Mini PC is designed in some ways to compete with the Apple Mac Mini by offering a small desktop footprint and an atypical design. The Stream Mini runs a full version of Windows 8.1 and runs on the Intel Celeron processor line. The tiny computer features a 32GB solid-state drive out of the box. The Stream Mini won’t necessarily be a full-scale desktop PC replacement, but it could be a useful option for those who want a cheap alternative to their current Windows boxes.

Mercedes-Benz showed off what it believes is the future of car technology with the F 015. The concept car is autonomous, meaning owners will not need to drive the car themselves to get around town. In addition, it’s powered on hydrogen, rather than gasoline, presenting new opportunities for the car industry. The F 015 is at the very least an ambitious car concept, but if it ever sees the light of day, there may be many people who will want to check it out.

The LG G Flex 2 has so far been one of the most notable smartphone announcements at CES. The device has a 5.5-inch screen and a self-healing back plate that’s capable of safeguarding itself from regular dings and scratches. Perhaps the most important feature is the device’s curved design, which places the microphone closer to the owner’s mouth, providing better sound quality. It’s at least an interesting device, if nothing else.

Over the summer, Samsung acquired Internet of things company SmartThings to make a significant play for that space. At CES, Samsung announced that it will now offer a subscription service that will allow owners of smart devices, including Philips Hue light bulbs, August locks and Honeywell thermostats, to control everything through the SmartThings service. In addition, Samsung announced that the SmartThings home hub has been updated with better components that will make it work better and connect to more devices.

Samsung didn’t only talk about the Internet of things at CES. Samsung also announced a new line of Ultra High Definition SUHD televisions that it says will deliver picture quality by utilizing the company’s nano-crystal technology. According to Samsung, the nano-crystal semiconductor built into the televisions sends just the right amount of color and brightness to deliver a more realistic picture. Samsung says that its SUHDs are 2.5 times brighter than standard HDTVs and deliver 64 times more “color representation.”

Sony at one time had a Walkman that was the cornerstone of any person’s technology collection. But after the iPod killed the Walkman, Sony regrouped and tried (to no avail) to make its way back. At CES 2015, however, Sony unveiled the Walkman ZX2, a specialty music player that will launch in the spring and cost a whopping $1,120. Sony says the Walkman will focus solely on outstanding music quality. For that price, it better deliver.

Dish once again made a splash at CES, announcing a new over-the-top television service it’s calling Sling TV. The over-the-top service will allow users to watch live sports, news and other content on a wide range of devices. Sling TV will cost $20 per month, require no commitment to Dish, and include the ability to pause, rewind and fast-forward programs. In addition, a 3-Day Replay feature lets users go back and check out old programming.

This might be the most far-out idea of CES 2015, but XYZPrinting, the company behind the Da Vinci line of 3D printers, announced a 3D printer that uses food ingredients, such as chocolate or dough, to produce and decorate uncooked cookies or cakes. Users design decorations for their cookies or cakes, determine the size of their confections, pick an associated font, and the 3D printer takes care of the rest.