The Best Highlights From CES' Media Days
These are some of the most interesting things we saw during CES' pre-show.
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Credit: Samsung Newsroom/YouTube
CES hasn't even officially started yet, and yet the news and announcements are rolling in in full force. While roughly 4,000 exhibitors big and small are all trying to make themselves heard this week, some key stories have broken through the noise so far. Here's what's on our radar:
Apple's Vision Pro is officially available to preorder
Credit: Apple
Apple doesn't even show up to CES, and yet, they know how to make a splash during CES. The company revealed on Monday that Vision Pro will be available to purchase starting Feb. 2, but you can preorder it Jan. 19.
LG's Transparent OLED TV
Credit: LG Electronics
One of the showstoppers from today's event was LG's transparent OLED TV, appropriately named OLED T. This TV can be used like any other when you want to watch shows and movies, but has a "curtain" that rises away to reveal a transparent display.
It's a neat concept: You could place the OLED T in front of a window, for example, so that during the day you can see right through it to take in your view, and at night, you can switch it back into OLED mode.
LG announces a smart robot hub
Credit: Product image courtesy of LG
Another great announcement from LG concerns its "AI Agent," which is, at its core, a cute robot. This little robot is actually an interactive smart hub, able to analyze your house to adjust smart devices accordingly. That said, it wasn't the only AI robot unveiled today ...
Samsung unveils Ballie
Credit: Samsung Newsroom/YouTube
Ballie, first revealed at CES 2020, is back. Samsung has a new design for its AI smart hub robot, which looks a little like a tennis ball on wheels. It's quite charming, to be honest, and it has a projector. Well played, Samsung.
AMD's "extreme gaming" processors
Credit: AMD
AMD has new desktop processors and GPUs to show off this week. First up, the Ryzen 7 8700G, which comes with eight cores, 16 threads, 24MB of Cache, and integrated Radeon 780M graphics. Next, the mid-grade Ryzen 5 8600G has six cores, 12 threads, 22MB of Cache and integrated Radeon 760M graphics. Speaking of graphics, the new AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT offers 1080p gaming at under $350.
Nvidia's "Super" graphics cards
Credit: Nvidia/YouTube
Nvidia has some powerful GPUs for anyone who has found graphics card prices to be astronomical lately. Nvidia's RTX 4070 Super is coming Jan. 17 for just $599. Nvidia also has some more power for your penny in the RTX 4080 Super and RTX 4070 Ti Super: These cards will be here towards the end of January for $999 and $799, respectively. You can learn more about these cards from our write up here.
Audio developments at CES
Credit: Samsung
While everyone and their mother is talking about AI this week, one area that's getting a lot of attention is audio. Samsung has a picture frame that is actually a speaker; Mirai made a curved speaker to make dialogue easier to hear; Anker unveiled the first open-ear earbuds with waterproofing; Soundblade has a speaker that fits under your monitor; and Mymanu has earbuds with offline translation, just to name a few.
That's just a taste of the news thus far, and only a fraction of what's to come. Stayed tuned for all things CES this week!
Jake Peterson
Senior Technology Editor
Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor. He has a BFA in Film & TV from NYU, where he specialized in writing. Jake has been helping people with their technology professionally since 2016, beginning as technical specialist at New York’s 5th Avenue Apple Store, then as a writer for the website Gadget Hacks. In that time, he wrote and edited thousands of news and how-to articles about iPhones and Androids, including reporting on live demos from product launches from Samsung and Google. In 2021, he moved to Lifehacker and covers everything from the best uses of AI in your daily life to which MacBook to buy. His team covers all things tech, including smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions. He lives in Connecticut.
