by Nicole Lee | @nicole | January 7th 2015 at 3:50 pm

Introducing the Best of CES 2015 finalists!

15

CES 2015 is finally here and boy, have we been busy the past few days. Engadget's editors have

been hard at work pounding the show floor here in Las Vegas to bring you what we think should

win the coveted Best of CES awards. Now, we're ready to announce our finalists for all 15

categories, which range from best home theater product to the most innovative tech we've seen

at the show. Tomorrow, we'll announce our winners of each category, along with who will win the

Best of the Best award. The recipient for that will be chosen amongst the category winners.

But we want to know what you think too. So there's an additional category called People's

Choice, where you can vote for your favorite product in our pool of finalists. To vote, simply head

on over to this poll to make your voice heard. The product with the most votes will win a special

People's Choice award, which will also be given out tomorrow at a ceremony onstage.

BEST STARTUP

Gogoro

Imagine a world where you don't have to plug

in your electric vehicle to charge it. That's the

vision behind Gogoro, a new startup by former

HTC execs that envisions citywide networks of

battery stations so that getting new batteries for

your EV can be done in seconds. It also

introduced a brand-new electric scooter that's

as futuristic as the company's vision.

Zolt

Zolt replaces your bulky laptop power brick

with something significantly smaller. And as a

bonus, it can also charge two other devices

while your laptop is powering up.

AmpStrip

AmpStrip packs in a heart rate sensor, step

tracker and sleep tracker in a single Band-Aid-

shaped sticker. Yes, a sticker.

BEST DIGITAL HEALTH & FITNESS PRODUCT

Cambridge Consultants XelfleX

Cambridge Consultants is a British R&D firm

that produces wacky products from mad ideas.

This year, the company has built a fitness shirt

that, rather than just monitoring your heart rate,

can do super-cheap motion capture with fiber

optic cables.

Bragi Dash

Bragi's "The Dash" smart headphones were a

big hit when they launched on Kickstarter last

year, raising over $3 million. Here at CES, the

waterproof, touch-controlled, media-playing,

fitness-tracking, do-it-all earbuds have been

shown to the public for the first time.

Garmin Vivoactive Quell wearable pain reliever

The Garmin Vivoactive is the company's first-

ever dedicated smartwatch that has a color

touchscreen and the ability to get emails, texts,

notifications and more. Staying true to Garmin's

roots, it also has a built-in GPS radio, a

waterproof design and apparently has

tremendously long battery life.

Quell's new wearable pain reliever sends small

electrical pulses to your pained calves. It can

be worn 24/7 and promises 40 hours of pain

relief in a single charge.

BEST WEARABLE

Parrot Zik Sport

Parrot's new Zik Sport headphones are noise-

Lenovo Vibe Band VB10

Lenovo's beautiful Vibe Band VP10 gives a new

canceling Bluetooth headphones that offer a

heart rate sensor, pedometer and a five-hour

battery.

spin on the standard wearable by offering

Bluetooth notifications on an E Ink screen. It

also tracks your steps, calories, distance

traveled and sleep quality. Plus, it's waterproof

and comes in an array of stylish metallic colors.

Alcatel OneTouch Watch

Alcatel OneTouch's smartwatch bucks the

dominant wearables trend by skipping Android

Wear in favor of its own proprietary software.

What that means is that it can't run some of the

more out-there apps we've seen, but do you

really need a watch to be able to start your car?

With stylish looks, solid features and a cheap

price, it's certainly an interesting device.

Bragi Dash

Bragi's Dash smart headphones are so

impressive, that they deserved to be in the

wearables category, too. They're waterproof

and touch-controlled and can do things like

play media and track your fitness.

BEST AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Mercedes F 015 Luxury in Motion QNX Digital Mirrors

Mercedes has taken the idea of the self-driving

car to luxurious extremes with the F 015 Luxury

in Motion. Since there's no need for a driver,

passengers can sit face to face to chat and

anyone can control the car through remote

units and gestures. There are even color-

coded LEDs and, yes, hardwood floors.

QNX continues to wow with its ADAS

(Advanced Driver Assist Systems)

improvements. New on this year's demo car

are all-digital rear and side-view mirrors. These

new displays eliminate blind spots and, as an

added perk, light up green if the coast is clear

for a lane change.

BMW 360-degree collision detection

If all vehicles came equipped with BMW's new

360-degree collision-detection technology,

there might not ever be accidents on the road.

It uses an array of scanners to figure out its

Audi's in-car Android tablet

Audi finally offered us a glimpse at its "retail"

Audi Tablet. Scheduled to ship as an option on

the 2016 Q7, this unibody aluminum tablet is

quite likely the finest handheld we've ever

surroundings and the equipped car will do the

best it can to avoid any and all obstacles.

used. Not only is the matte display beautiful to

behold, but it's also been crash tested.

BEST HOME THEATER PRODUCT

Sling TV

Dish's Sling TV is a cord-cutter's dream.

Expected to launch next month, it's pulled

together channels like ESPN, CNN, TBS, TNT,

Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Travel Channel,

Food Network, ABC Family, HGTV, Disney

Channel basic -- and that's just for $20-per-

month package.

Samsung 'ring' speakers

With a compact design drawn straight out of

science fiction, Samsung's pair of new

speakers have a ring radiator that pumps music

in every direction.

TiVo OnePass

Maybe you remember TiVo Season Pass. Well,

now it pulls in episodes not just from what has

or will be broadcast, but also puts any episodes

available already on internet sources on the

same screen. Old binge-viewing habits meet

new.

BEST (CONNECTED) HOME PRODUCT

Energous WattUp

A wireless router that can charge your devices

too? It sounds crazy, but that's exactly what

Parrot Pot

The Parrot Pot is a smart ceramic pot that'll

dispense the exact amount of water that your

Energous' new WattUp system does. Using a

blend of RF, Bluetooth and patent-pending

tech, WattUp could finally make true wireless

charging a reality.

plant needs. That, combined with its 8,000-

plant database, means you don't need a green

thumb to have a beautiful, thriving house plant

in your home.

Misfit Bolt

The Misfit Bolt is a smart lightbulb that can

change to different colors at your whim. You

can pair it to Misfit's own Shine wearable or the

Beddit sleep tracker to wake you up with a

simulated sunrise. Best of all: You can get

started with just a single $50 WiFi-connected

bulb.

BEST SOFTWARE / APP

Sling TV Lenovo WriteIt

Sling TV is a new service from Dish designed

especially for cord-cutters -- at last, you don't

need a cable subscription to watch cable

content. To go along with that, there'll also be

Sling TV apps for set-top boxes like the Roku,

as well as Android and iOS.

Handwriting recognition on tablets has always

been a tough nut to crack, but Lenovo might

have finally done it. WriteIt is a new Windows

app developed by the company that could

actually understand and translate complex

written scrawls into text.

BEST INNOVATION (DISRUPTIVE TECH)

Mercedes F 015 Luxury in Motion

Mercedes' luscious Luxury in Motion concept is

a self-driving car that lets passengers face each

Energous WattUp

We've nominated this as a Best Connected

Home product, but Energous' WattUp wireless

other. Since there's no need for a driver,

anyone can control the car with remote units

and gestures. It's so fancy that it even has

color-coded LEDs and hardwood floors.

charging system deserves to be on this list too.

Not only does it broadcast WiFi through the

home, but it'll also charge devices -- no wires

necessary.

Intel's RealSense Technology

Intel first showed off its RealSense 3D camera

last year, but it's only now becoming

ubiquitous; the technology can be found in

many flagships announced this week at CES,

from tablets to laptops to all-in-one desktops.

The use cases run the gamut too: So far, we've

seen RealSense used for gaming, green-

screening conference calls, building 3D

models and adjusting the focus in pictures.

Gogoro

Gogoro's introduction of its SmartScooter and

battery-swapping infrastructure is so innovative

that it needed to be in this category too. The

ability to easily swap out old batteries for new

ones could make electric vehicles much more

mainstream and, in turn, transform urban

transport as we know it.

BEST MOBILE DEVICE

Dell Venue 8 7000 series tablet LG G Flex 2

Dell's Venue 8 7000 is an 8.4-inch Android

tablet with a super-high-res 2,560 x 1,600

screen and a depth-sensing camera. It has an

8-megapixel rear camera plus two 720p

ancillary ones that can capture different

variations of each shot.

LG's curved phone gets upgraded in all the

best ways. A higher-resolution screen that's

consciously smaller, higher-quality design and

internals that include a top-of-the-range mobile

processor from Qualcomm. Oh, and there's

also a beautiful red color option.

NVIDIA Tegra X1

Your next smartphone could come loaded with

the newly announced NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip, a

next-gen mobile chipset that's the first to offer a

teraflop of processing power.

BEST TV PRODUCT

LG Art Slim 4K OLED

LG usually introduces beautiful televisions at

CES, and this year is no different. The new

"Floating Art Slim" OLED TVs are gorgeous and

are available in both flat and curved shapes.

Sharp 'Beyond 4K' LCD

Sharp's new 4K TVs showcase an interesting

pixel-splitting trick that apparently results in a

near-8K picture. It also promises better

upscaling and an improved LED backlight.

Samsung 65-inch SUHD TV

It's not CES without a Samsung television, and

this year the company has come out with a

gorgeous curved model that uses nanocrystal

semiconductors for a crisper, more colorful

image.

Sony XBR-X940C

Sony's latest Bravia televisions are some of the

thinnest we've seen yet, measuring out to only

4.9mm thick. They also have a new X1 4K

processor that apparently upgrades the picture

quality of any 4K source.

BEST GAMING PRODUCT

Razer Forge TV

Razer's Forge TV is an Android TV box. But

unlike the rest, it can stream PC games. With

Android onboard it also folds in access to

Spotify, Netflix and all the rest. A dedicated

gamer TV box.

Skechers Game Kicks

It's the Simon memory game, but this time it's

on the side of a sneaker -- wearable gaming, of

a sort. Unfortunately, they only come in kids'

sizes.

NVIDIA X1 chip

NVIDIA's X1 chip is its most powerful mobile

processor yet. Expect to see it in NVIDIA

hardware (say, the next Shield) as well as a

whole range of devices beyond just gaming.

BEST OFFBEAT PRODUCT

ReST Smart Bed

The ReST bed is pretty smart. It auto adjusts by

deflating and inflating as you turn around at

night, with 18 air sensors monitoring the

pressure of the mattress. The future of beds still

isn't cheap, but perhaps a perfect night's rest is

priceless.

Belty smart belt

Belty is an activity and fitness tracker in a

slightly different form factor, with the added

ability to monitor changes in waist size. Cooler

yet, it features a motorized buckle that loosens

and tightens, maintaining a consistent level of

comfort, based on your seating position and

how much you've managed to put away at

lunch.

Fogo flashlight Skechers as a Simon game

Smart everything. This time, smart flashlights.

The Fogo does the fundamental flashlight

things, but also adds in GPS, a walkie-talkie and

auto-adjusting brightness -- because it can. All

this, and the creators told us that this is just the

start.

It's the Simon memory game, but this time it's

on the side of a sneaker -- wearable gaming, of

a sort. Unfortunately, they only come in kids'

sizes.

BEST MAKER-FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY

MakerBot composite filaments

Combining the elements of plastic printing with

other materials has been done before, but with

3Doodler 2.0

The 3Doodler sequel improves on the original

substantially. More control, substantially smaller

the gravitas of MakerBot, it's more exciting.

With iron composite filaments, you can even

magnetize your products. Use maplewood

filaments, and there's a faint scent of the wood

still there. Your homemade prototypes got an

upgrade.

and less power hungry, it looks less like a

prototype and more like a viable present for the

artist you know.

CocoJet

Chocolate printing, combining the 3D-printing

knowledge 3D Systems with, love it or hate it,

Hershey chocolate. The machine can use

white, milk and dark chocolate, heating a

special mix and printing shapes in an

environmentally controlled 3D printer.

BEST PC

Lenovo LaVie HZ550 Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook

At 1.7 pounds, Lenovo's LaVie HZ550 is now

the lightest 13-inch laptop in the world. But

what does that mean, exactly? Put it this way:

When we first got hands-on, we thought we

were handling a dummy unit with no

components inside. In fact, though, this thing is

very real, with a full-fledged fifth-gen Intel Core

processor thrumming inside. So far as we can

tell, the only trade-off is the lack of a

touchscreen, but even then Lenovo has a

solution: Its just-announced LaVie HZ750 is the

lightest convertible 13-inch laptop.

Dell's redesigned XPS 13 Ultrabook might not

be the lightest 13-inch laptop in the world (that

honor goes to Lenovo), but it might well be the

smallest. Thanks to some nearly invisible

bezels that measure just 5mm wide, Dell was

able to cram a 13-inch display into an 11-inch

laptop. The result is a 2.6-pound machine that's

more than a third of a pound lighter than the

MacBook Air, with a smaller footprint, to boot.

ASUS 'Chi' detachable laptop

We've seen detachable laptops, but ASUS'

12.5-inch Chi hybrid still manages to impress. At

0.3 inch thick for just the tablet (or 0.65 inch

with the keyboard dock), it's even thinner than

the similarly sized Surface Pro 3. Making all this

possible is Intel's low-power Core M chip,

which allows for not just skinny designs, but

fanless ones too. Best of all, perhaps, is the

price: Even with a 2,560 x 1,440 screen option,

it'll ring in at just $799 -- not bad at all for what's

essentially a flagship Ultrabook with a

detachable keyboard.

BEST ROBOT OR DRONE

AirDog

We've seen plenty of camera-friendly drones at

CES this year, but AirDog's is unique. Like

others, it's designed to follow you, but with a

waterproof, wrist-worn controller, and sonar to

prevent ground collisions, this one's a true

action-sport hero.

Zano

Zano is a tiny drone that can launch from your

wrist. Kickstarter made the prototype happen,

and now it's a very real proposition.

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sim

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The cool kids are not in CES. they are baking the future now. it is moov, a coaching fitness

wearable. https://twitter.com/mbsimon/status/552956031429398528

Like Reply

Please X1 devices roll out quickly...

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Keurig's soda machine will let you make Dr. Pepper drinks

21

Keurig just got a big edge over SodaStream in the make-it-yourself beverage wars. The normally

coffee-focused company has reached an exclusive deal that will let you make some of the Dr.

Pepper Snapple group's drinks in its upcoming Keurig Cold machine, which arrives this fall.

There's no mention of the exact brands, but it wouldn't be surprising if you get pod-based

versions of big names besides Dr. Pepper or Snapple, like Canada Dry and Crush. Between this

and a pact last year with Coca-Cola, about the only recognizable soft drinks you won't make with

Keurig's machine are from Pepsi, which has been testing versions of its beverages with

SodaStream. It's too soon to know if these on-demand versions of major drinks will taste like the

real thing, but you at least won't have to settle for generic recipes when making fizzy liquids at

home.

[Image credit: Frankieleon, Flickr]

VIA: Wall Street Journal

SOURCE: Keurig Green Mountain

appliance, appliances, beverage, coke, dr.pepper, drink, drpepper, household, keurig, keurigcold,keuriggreenmountain, pop, snapple, soda, sodastream, softdrink, softdrinks, video

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