Profound Emerging Technology

Microvision has the display piece. (meaning, Microvision has the best near eye display.... I've tried everything I could get my hands on at CES three times, nothing is comparable to the old thing that Microvision had.)

Things done in "AR" are eventually going to be delivered on near eye displays. Microvision's near eye display is the best.

Financial Times
Apple ARKit

Apple CEO Tim Cook took in a demonstration of Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify’s augmented reality capabilities during a visit to Toronto, while touting his company’s investment in the emerging technology.

“I believe that AR is the most profound technology of the future,” Cook said in an interview. “It amplifies human performance. It amplifies humans, not substitutes, and doesn’t isolate. I’m a huge believer in it.”

*****

Shopify chief executive Tobias Lütke said that his company is planning to use Apple’s ARKit to become the largest AR-enabled ecommerce platform. The goal is to offer small businesses the latest in technology, something that is usually reserved for large, well-resourced companies.

“What Shopify then can do is that we know this is going to happen, we can establish some patterns, and we can get this productized to the point where it’s going to be a single clink for every store,”Lütke said.

“The internet ought to be a force for democratization, but yet we see the story over and over again that it actually is placed into the hands of the companies already at scale and often one of the forces that puts the smaller businesses out of business.”

Cook’s visit coincides with an announcement that Apple’s delayed entry into the smart speaker market will be available for sale in parts of the world starting Feb. 9. The HomePod is available for pre-order in the United States, Britain and Australia on Friday. No word yet on when it will arrive in Canada.

Apple has allowed Amazon and Google a head start when it comes to smart speakers, which has led some industry watchers to warn that it’ll be an uphill battle to catch up.

“They already are late to the game and know that, so they want to put their best foot forward at this point,” said Manish Nargas, a consumer and moble research analyst for IDC Canada.

This is cool....

Looks like a good application. Not sure if this iteration is MVIS. MVIS could make applications like this small portable and focus-free.

Product adoption

Some may be prone to mope because the fuse it lit, and the rocket has yet to launch.

Not even the most awesome products hit the ground in a frenzy. A recent example is Instantpot : Founded in 2009, started moving in 2014, a frenzy in 2017. (Overnight success! says the media.)

We're moving, Moviphone has had deliverables for 29 days. (And already got great press over it.)

Good charts of adoption are difficult to find ( partly because, as you'll see, they're difficult to fit on a screen and be readable at both ends.)

So, I found this page from PetaPixel. It has a couple of very interesting charts of adoption.

This is of CAMERA Sales.... Sucks to be in cameras? unless you think you just went back to sort of normal from a decade of amazing.

Just remember when you're looking at this, that people only take pictures because they like to SHARE them.

If we add cameras that are included on cellphones, we get a bit of a different picture. The GOLD area is cameras on phones..... except they fade out at the top of the graph.

Well, happily, they put something on there so we could see the top of the graph --- but the screen graphics kind of break down. Well, there you are with cellphones included.

That's how a market grows, how it can grow.... and in my humble opinion, Picoprojection is in the year 2003 on this graph. (Don't forget there's also near eye displays, LiDAR, Interactive Displays, and whatever the Black Box project is.)

CES Moviphone

This is Mohammad from Moviphone.

We had a nice conversation, he shared a bit with me. I don't feel like I can share most of it... he didn't sign up for an interview and I didn't say I'd quote him.

Let's just say he's really happy with how things are going (remember -- at this point he has stock for only two weeks.) Got lots of good attention -- and he's already working on round two. (Yes, he's going to try one with DLP)

The most interesting thing I'm comfortable repeating -- planning a phone with the Interactive Engine -- and that there were some interesting plans for that. If I can find the details or other references for what he mentioned, I'll post them.

order of multitude increase in market cap...?

Proactive Investors

MicroVision Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MVIS) latest demonstration of its laser-projection systems at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas put the company’s best foot forward in the eyes of an H.C. Wainright & Co. analyst.

“Some might argue attaining a measure of commercial success with projection interactivity could drive the company to an order of multitude increase in market cap, and we suggest that enabling interactivity in projection has significant import in everyday applications, such as supplementing voice-activated commands with touch-enabled projection interaction in smart home systems,” Kevin Dede wrote in a research note Monday.

The note also touted the potential impact of new and improved real-time digital 3D rendering using the company’s new PSE-0400li3-101 sensing engine.

“This year's demonstration was remarkably advanced,” Dede wrote, though he also acknowledged that the “exact application isn't immediately clear to us, but is less important than the direct customer relationship and the ability to meet requested specifications.”

These innovations, however, build on the foundation of the maker of ultra-miniature projection displays’ established proficiency in laser-based projection, Dede wrote, as interactivity remains the “touchstone of the company’s technology development.”

New CEO impresses

The CES show was also an opportunity for the analyst to deliver first impressions of newly installed CEO Perry Mulligan, who impressed Dede with his “professional demeanor and the positive prospect that his large company experience could have on MicroVision's collegial, but forced-to-go-mainstream culture.”

Mulligan stepped into the role about two months ago, after seven years on the board.

“We think the change, overall, should be good for MicroVision given the positive direction … the company is currently managing,” Dede wrote, adding the Mulligan’s supply chain-optimization expertise could lead to “better economic outcomes.

The Wainright analysts reiterated the firm's 'buy' rating and US$3.50 price target on the shares.

Apple.... multiple downgrades.

I've noted it here before.... 
Apple's $500 upgrade allows you to make a poop emoji take on your own expression. 

This is a $500 Upgrade
The phones go fast enough for everyone already, and most of the new features are things other people have done. So they slow their old phones down to encourage upgrades. (no such problems in the Android world.)
There is a very nice new feature they could add.... and they could deliver it for less than $500...

No idea if they're onboard yet, but this is the time we can start looking for "fast followers."

CNBC

IPhone demand will disappoint this year, according to another Wall Street analyst.

Atlantic Equities lowered its rating for Apple shares to neutral from overweight on Monday, predicting weaker-than-expected sales for the company's March quarter. This follows a downgrade of the popular stock last week by Longbow Research.

We see "signs that iPhone demand is starting to soften, limited visibility into the potential for future iPhone cycles and emerging challenges to the smartphone's dominance at the centre of consumer technology, we believe the stock's multiple will compress, limiting upside potential," analyst James Cordwell wrote in a note to clients. We are "lowering our March qtr revenue estimates and are now below consensus for Q2-Q418."

Meta & Ultrahaptics & Other Augmented Reality. -- CES

I had a chance to test Meta with Ultrahaptics. This combination is amazing. You really can feel something in the middle of space. The haptic effect is in space, and they make it go with ultrasound.

The display of the meta is pretty good (relative to other AR) but in my experience still distant from what Microvision is capable of. He knew the name Microvision but deflected any deeper inquiries. It's obvious that the two companies have some connections -- how many and how deep I don't know, but Microvision has to be on Meta's Radar, and the other way around as well.

The headset is not comfortable to wear, It's heavy and it made my head feel unbalanced. The field of view left a lot to be desired. It's also a tethered system... so far....Microsoft is ahead of them in that department, but the whole space has a lot of moving parts. (the control interface, the software, the display, applications, etc.) So far, best near eye display I've seen is Microvision's -- and it's WAY ahead of anything else I've seen. 

The haptics works through a kind of mat --- so the area is limited.

This is still an emerging technology that has a LOT of interest from a lot of people.... and there are very good reasons for the interest. -- Increased productivity, and the ability to see 3D images. (see MRI video below) There's a lot to be done on the software side... and it will need a better display which Microvision can supply.


Asked David for a picture so I could be sure to remember just who I talked to.

If you have ever looked at MRI films and tried to understand what they were about, this should look amazing. Now imagine being able to walk around it and get it from different perspectives.... I saw that with the Hololens...  (but again, the hololens display could use some significant improvement.) 

5G

Qualcomm - Wired

One, Two, Three Four Five

Sometime in the next two or three years, if all goes to plan, Qualcomm will play a leading role in building the world a new wireless network. LTE and 4G will be replaced by 5G, a new system that uses the super-high-frequency millimeter-wave spectrum to send way more data, way more quickly. "It's faster than what's in your home, faster than what's at work," says Sherif Hanna, Qualcomm's director of product marketing. You'll be able to download movies in a few seconds, or stream high-res VR content. Internet speeds will effectively stop being an issue.

5G

Scary

Near Eye Display.

Pico Projection.

Interactive Pico Projection

LiDAR

Whatever the "Black Box" is.

CES -- Partial Debrief.

I had a lot going on the last few days and wasn't able to give a CES debrief the time it  deserved (so there was none).

This is the Hololens I had the opportunity to try. The company was using it and Oculus to look in brains.

Cool stuff, but the display needs work.





Just a taste of how busy the show is. This is ONE hallway in the Main area of the Las Vegas Convention center, and there were nine major display areas -- and hallways like this to connect them.

Sometimes the booth numbers were difficult to find. (One of the more than 9 maps.... there were also suites, outdoor areas, and other spaces divided up for display and meetings.)

Which leads to walking days like this.... 

Other days, not so dramatic, because of a lot of time waiting in line.  It took 40 minutes to get to the Vuzix Blade.

The Vuzix Blade.... more like a HUD that you wear than Augmented Reality. Cool Alexa integration, looks like they'll have some handy software. Something to watch as an eyewear solution, but not as a display competitor.

Hololamp has a cool tool, and we know that Microvision is in their toolbox. They said an issue with brightness.

I think that Engine Two brings them out strongly. Their projector now is quite large and intrusive, and it doesn't need to be. (their touch interactivity left something to be desired as well.  But This as a tool could be very useful and fun.

Check out their Hololamp youTube Channel

Haier -- << the link there shows a projection Air Conditioner... I was probably ten feet away from it, but missed it.

Below is the ASU smart-cast watch. I think there's going to be very limited use of this -- at least in this view, it doesn't add much to the watch experience for its size. (use it to share pictures, or for teachers-- maybe.)

They admitted a strange relationship of this engine -- which is not MVIS, but is related to the Bosch Engine. The Bosch engine was featured in the lamp kind of product below -- the two mirror solution. It has lousy resolution. (showed a picture of someone at the front door, for example, who was unrecognizable.... the resolution is 480.)

I suspect the Bosch Engine is also produced by STM (It looks very similar.) and STM basically panned that engine at their presentation in Seattle.

[This was corrected by someone at Bosch: Thank you for your visit at Bosch booth during CES. I want to correct one comment on this side. You saw the ASU watch at our booth. The engine is produced not by STM then by Bosch. Could you please correct your comment on this side?
Thank you and best regards] 

There are more moving parts to this space than it's possible to keep track of. (I'm not concerned about these iterations they're just showing that people are interested in the technology, and MicroVision's projector is clearly better -- brighter and higher resolution.

QD Laser the Retissa -- I only got a quick try with this. It does make an interesting floating image, and they tell me that the image is there and in focus no matter what the visual acuity of the wearer. (If you have to wear coke-bottle glasses, this still works perfectly.)

Unfortunately there was a very significant language barrier (OR they didn't want to answer my questions.)

I don't know if it's Microvision or not, but looks to be.

QDLASER Website

Found the Sanbot -- Notice that it will use "Alexa for home use" and that it has a projector in the back of its head. It's MicroVision's stuff. (Sony engine) The picture here doesn't do the picture on the wall justice.

This is as good a picture I could get of Goertek. 

Someone's solid state car sensor. I'm going to stick my neck out and say the point cloud isn't that good.

Another display of sensors.

And a familiar looking Heads Up Display. (We're dealing with software. (I'm not seeing any tell-tale scan lines.) Of course it was impossible to see everything. It would have been impossible to see all of the auto area.

Tried every kind of Augmented reality display I could get my hands on... Microvision doesn't have much to worry about there.... AR NEEDS MicroVision.

GM Self Driving Car

One use slower than we thought

One faster.

Yahoo News

Detroit (AFP) - Regulators will "carefully and responsibly" review General Motors' request to test an autonomous car without a steering wheel, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Sunday.

"It is now coming to the stage with the rapid advancement of self-driving technology that this request is now a reality," Chao said on the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show.

"So we will view the petition carefully and responsibly."​

GM on Friday unveiled the Cruise AV, an autonomous vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, announcing it had asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to exempt it from a number of federal standards that cannot be met with a driverless car.

GM executives have said they planned to introduce a large-scale fleet of self-driving taxis by 2019, a timeframe some analysts consider ambitious.

GM released images of the Cruise AV and video of the interior with a strikingly spacious windshield devoid of a steering wheel.

"It's quite a striking image when people see it for the first time," GM president Dan Ammann told AFP on the sidelines of a GM event Saturday.

"I think people will want to engage with the technology and understand it and experience it," Ammann said.

"But I think what's really most powerful about what the technology can offer is an increase in safety on the road. And once people understand that and see and experience it, we think the adoption will be there."

"Its hard to generalize" about whether the public is ready for autonomous cars, Ammann said. "Some people are more than ready. And other people will be watching and seeing how it evolves."

Moviphone

On Twitter

Time Magazine

Android Central

C|Net


XDA Developers (From July)

Liliputing

Android Authority

Gizmochina

Android Guys

AreaMobile(German)

Android Headlines (July)

Phone Arena

Android World (Netherlands)

GizChina

The Android Soul


Tablets Magazine

Confirmation of Thesis....

Have some urgent business to take care of before I can compile everything. What I saw confirms my thesis: Summed up best with these older posts.

There's a TON of Value here.

Microvision is involved in the busiest technologies at this year's CES:

Personal assistants -- Self driving cars -- Mobile Phones -- Augmented Reality -- Internet of things. Where those things were at CES, there were lines of people trying to see it.

Fairest of them all.

Bleeding Edge to leading edge.

FAST Followers.... 

What is the value of these businesses?
Pico Projection	Price Calculator
Interactive Pico Projection?
Near Eye Displays
LiDAR
"Black Box"
Total

What do you think it's worth (or how much more than it's trading for?)

Of course to find the right company now, you'd look to something that was going to be a key component of an up and coming new technology. 

• Mobile technology is still in its infancy -- find the next must-have feature, and you're golden. 
• Personal assistants, like the Amazon Echo or the Google Home are gaining popularity, and will likely become more and more common, and more widely available everywhere -- especially if video features can be conveniently added to them. 
• The Internet of Things is talked about everywhere, more and more powerful computers are being put in everyday items. If you're old enough to remember the 1990's a powerful personal computer of the 1990's was required to play the game "DOOM" -- but that computing horsepower is now available in a thermostat. [Doom on a Thermostat] The thing about that computing horsepower is that people need a good way to interact with it, that will be a key component.
• Augmented Reality, the ability to enhance the world you see with computer generated information, is so new most people have seen little of it except perhaps an experience with Pokemon Go. They're getting great results with this technology in industry, greatly increasing productivity -- and it's a wild fantasy of gamers. It will be bigger than Virtual Reality -- it brings people together, or it can. Virtual reality isolates them. 
• Self Driving Cars and Automation: I know self-driving cars are controversial -- they're not going to happen all at once though. They're going to happen a little at a time. More and more sensors will appear, the ability to automate some functions of the car, and the ability of the car to process the sensors' information and intervene when necessary is going to increase. No one is complaining about cars automatically NOT hitting pedestrians, or parking themselves, or alerting us when there's another car in our blind spot. This happens through primarily sensors that can detect and identify other objects.

Facebook Portal During CES

Facebook developing ‘Portal’ gadget which will let it put microphones and cameras in people’s homes
In George Orwell’s 1984, the oppressive rulers of Oceania use devices called telescreens to closely monitor and repress citizens. Now Facebook looks set to follow in the Party’s footsteps by putting its own firm’s microphones and cameras into people’s homes. The social network is planning to release its first ever piece of consumer hardware which will be called Portal and cost a whopping $499 (£368), a website called Cheddar has claimed.

The device will feature a 15inch screen, a wide-angle camera with facial recognition and microphones to allow voice control. It’s expected to use facial recognition to allow people to log into their accounts without having to type in passwords and will be dedicated to video chat. The gadget has been designed by a shadowy Facebook department called Building 8 that’s also working on mind-reading technology.

‘Rather than position the device as a smart assistant akin to Amazon’s Echo speakers, Facebook intends to pitch Portal as a way for families and friends to stay connected through video chatting and other social features,’ the website wrote. ‘Facebook plans a formal product introduction in early May at its annual developer conference and hopes to ship the device in the second half of 2018.’ Apart from the potentially grave privacy implications of letting Facebook’s cameras and microphones into your home, there’s another clear fault with the gadget: it costs almost as much as an iPhone or iPad but probably does a lot less. Although Facebook has not officially commented, Andrew Bosworth, the company’s vice president of augmented and virtual reality, wrote on Twitter: ‘Can’t comment on speculation but can confirm it’s going to be an exciting year for AR/VR’.

Building 8 is a top secret Facebook division which used to be headed up by Regina E. Dugan, former boss of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is dedicated to military research. Last year, Facebook admitted its own research wing was working on technology which can read people’s minds at 100 words per minute. Will Big Zucker end up watching us all?

CHEDDAR

EXCLUSIVE: Facebook Dives into Home Device Market with Video Chat Product Named "Portal"

January 9, 2018

Facebook is about to jump into the consumer hardware business in a big way with a video chat device named "Portal," which will put it in direct competition with Amazon’s hugely popular line of Echo voice-controlled devices, Cheddar has learned.

The device is designed to work in the home and represents Facebook’s first serious foray into selling consumer hardware, people familiar with the matter said. Rather than position the device as a smart assistant akin to Amazon’s Echo speakers, Facebook intends to pitch Portal as a way for families and friends to stay connected through video chatting and other social features.

Facebook plans a formal product introduction in early May at its annual developer conference and hopes to ship the device in the second half of 2018.

Like Amazon’s screen-equipped Echo Show, Facebook’s Portal is designed to work indoors and be controlled through voice commands. According to people familiar with Facebook’s plans, Portal will be equipped with a wide-angle lens that is capable of recognizing individual faces and associating them with their Facebook accounts.

The world’s largest social network has been using facial recognition for years and recently started notifying users if their faces appear in photos they aren’t tagged in.

Facebook also intends to let Portal access outside streaming services like Spotify and Netflix. The company recently signed sweeping music licensing deals with Sony/ATV and Universal Music Group.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

Portal will be the first product to emerge from Facebook’s troubled consumer hardware lab, Building 8. Regina Dugan, the former Google and DARPA exec Facebook hired to lead the division, suddenly departed last year after 18 months on the job. Her exit came as numerous other high-level staffers left the division in 2017.

Veteran Facebook ad exec Andrew Bosworth was appointed last summer to lead all of the company’s hardware efforts, including its separate Oculus virtual reality business.

With Building 8, Facebook hopes to eventually sell a suite of consumer products that can compete with offerings from the likes of Amazon, Google, and Apple. Facebook employees have internally referred to the video chat device with the codename "Aloha" but recently settled on the name Portal — an indication that product development has progressed even as there’s been turnover in Building 8’s upper ranks.

Facebook is currently planning to price Portal at $499 but could decide to lower the price to further spur consumer adoption. (Amazon, by contrast, sells the Echo Show for $230.) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told employees that he doesn’t care if the device generates profit but rather wants it to change user behavior and encourage phone-like usage among owners.

Portal will be sold by Facebook through pop-up stores and online, people familiar with the matter said. Facebook’s Oculus VR division is separately planning to release a cheaper standalone headset called Oculus Go this year.

Reporting by Alex Heath, Cheddar Senior Reporter.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/9/16868802/facebook-portal-amazon-echo-show-competitor-home-video-chat-screen

CES Day 2

18,500 steps...  Shout-out to Dr. Bill.

A little tired.

Saw whole augmented reality area. Some of the devices are cool, but the displays are dismal next to the capabilities of Microvision.

Some have resolution, but none have field of view. Decent picture with 10degree field of view on a heavy headset isn't much to get excited about.

The Vuzix Blade is a cool device --- the display is decent for what it is, but it seems more like an enhanced google glass. Very small, but decent display with very limited field of view. More a wearable HUD than "Augmented Reality."

Everything else I tried had limited field of view. 

Saw MicroVision in the SanBot, which they say is selling well, and the projector is a very popular feature.

More attention for Moviphone.... 

MoviPhone 1

Time Magazine

MoviPhone Attention

This is what it looks like when you start getting hype, and this is what it looks like just before you get fast followers.

Those companies that were nervous about sticking their necks out and seeing how something like this would be received are watching this closely.

Yes, at the booth they assured me it can work with Verizon.

Also how we find new investors.



CNET

One of the absolute joys about CES is discovering a random jewel among the hundreds of exhibition booths. That's the case with the company Wireless Mobi Solution (WMS) from San Diego. Its jewel: a midrange Android phone with a built-in HD projector.

The phone is called the Moviphone and as the name so rudimentarily suggests, it's all about movies. And what better way to watch a movie than projecting it onto a wall as big as you can? The 50-lumen projector supports a 720p HD image that can be projected up 100 inches in size.

IBTimes

The Moviphone is being trialled at CES this year and includes a unique feature. Included in the phone – meaning it is not a peripheral – is a 720p HD projector. On the move and want to watch a movie with big screen frills? The Pico projector can display a movie up to 100 inches in size.

The phone also comes packed with a 16-megapixel camera, Android 7.0 Nougat and a fingerprint scanner. Don't worry too much about that stuff though, the reason to buy this phone is definitely the projector. It will cost you $599 (£440 in the UK, but it is rarely a straight conversion).

Vuzix Alexa powered AR Glasses

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vuzix® Corporation -- Vuzix® Corporation (VUZI), ("Vuzix" or, the "Company"), a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies for the consumer and enterprise markets, is pleased to announce that the Company will showcase its next-generation wearable technology smart glasses and augmented reality products at CES 2018, including the Vuzix Blade™, which was awarded four International CES Innovation 2018 awards. 


Vuzix to unveil first Alexa-enabled smart glasses next week — and the company's stock is popping

• The $1,000 glasses are aimed at a "prosumer" market, such as golfers or business customers, the company said, but will eventually come down in price and incorporate new features.
• Vuzix has a long-standing presence as a wearables maker in the enterprise technology market but is now looking toward consumers.
• Vuzix's is one of many augmented-reality products expected out of CES, a consumer electronics trade show taking place in Las Vegas next week.

From Vuzix 10K

We currently purchase almost all of the microdisplays used in our products from Kopin and Microvision. Our relationship with these microdisplay suppliers is generally on a purchase order basis and neither firm has a contractual obligation to provide adequate supply or acceptable pricing to us on a long-term basis. We procure a small percentage of our microdisplays from other sources such as Syndiant and Texas Instruments. While we do not manufacture our components, we own the tooling that is used to make our custom components with the exception of certain authentication chips and connectors that may be required to support industry standard device connectivity. We believe that we are not dependent on our relationships with any supplier other than Kopin or Microvision. Kopin before we sold the defense divisions had also been a significant customer of our night vision display electronics modules and owns just under 3% of our common stock. Some of our accessory products are sourced from third parties as finished goods. We typically have them print our Vuzix brand name on these products of they are co-branded. Such third party products represented less than 5% of our sales in 2015.

CES Day 1

  26,000 steps (so far.)




Stopped at the booth, saw the phone. Was getting good attention.

IBTimes


Tried: 

Hololens |  Meta | QD Laser

Still nothing that holds a candle to Nomad.

Conclusion -- AR NEEDS MICROVISION.  The capabilities are amazing, what they will eventually allow is awesome -- but their displays are so far not very good. 

QD laser will be amazing for people with limited sight. 

Talked to Amazon people -- including who "certifies" devices for Alexa. That space is going to be huge, and it's going to be a lot different than most of us think.

Saw the Hololamp. Also very nice device. 

Too tired to type much more, and someone owes me a steak.

Self Driving Shuttle

I had a chance to ride a self-driving car a few minutes ago. Very interesting.

It went pretty slow, but followed a course exactly. The onboard attendant (not pictured) seemed to be having a bad night with people badgering him with specific technical questions. (He couldn't answer pretty basic things I asked him. ) The car did come with an X-Box controller, incase there was a more complex decision required (like going around a breakdown. 

The machine was programmed to go around a particular course, and did it very well. It was communicating with the lights so it knew when to stop -- and then proceed. At one intersection, the shuttle started forward at a green light, and someone ran the red. The shuttle stopped perfectly, and proceeded when the thread was gone. 

AAA Self Driving Shuttle

Met this guy on board. 

Arian(sp?) was the greeter on the street.  (hey, free rides in an autonomous shuttle.)

Google taking over CES?

Hey Google

Engadget

Google doesn't usually have a big presence at CES, but that's changed in a big way this year. You can't help but notice that the monorail circling the Las Vegas Convention Center bears huge letters saying "Hey Google!" Just below, Google has set up a huge, multistory monument to the Google Assistant booth in the convention-center parking lot. It's still under construction so it's hard to say exactly what's going on in there. (Also, there's a superfluous spiraling slide on the side of the booth and a weird Google Assistant ball-pit game near the convention center's main entrance.)

LG Rolling out Robots

CNBC

Tech giant is rolling out new robots to replace workers in hotels, airports and supermarkets

• South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday it will showcase three new "concept robots" at next week's consumer electronics show in Las Vegas
• A McKinsey report released in November said that up to 800 million workers could be affected globally by automation and the rise of artificial intelligence
• Tech companies are testing robots to carry out various tasks that could affect the services industry, which employs nearly 50 percent of the global workforce, according to the International Labour Organization

The Verge

Drinks Suitcases & ShoppingLG is intent on making useful robots. Last year at CES it unveiled a pair of bots designed to clean up in airports and help travelers find their way around. Today, it announced a trio of new robots designed to help carry stuff — from drinks to suitcases to shopping.