HeyWhatsNew: CES 2024 Is the Highlight of the Week, and Every Major Brand Is Making an Appearance
What’s up, Heyuppers? Welcome to a new year of HeyWhatsNew. We’re expecting plenty of new tech and updates to grace us in the upcoming weeks and months, but without further adieu, let’s see what the tech world has given us in the week beginning 08/01/2024.
CES 2024 Is Giving Us Something from Everyone
The festival known as the most powerful tech event in the world is currently taking place in Las Vegas and will continue until the 12th. According to the CES Conference Program, the event will shine a spotlight on the latest advancements in digital health & sustainability, Generative AI, gaming, vehicle & space tech, cybersecurity, and the future of money.
Keynote speakers at this year’s event include Walmart CEO Doug McMillon who will speak about the future of tech in the retail space, as well as Siemens CEO Dr. Ronald Busch who will be showcasing technology enabling leading brands to improve our lives.
New Samsung 3D Gaming Monitor Doesn’t Need Glasses
Samsung’s new gaming gadget named the 2D/3D Gaming Monitor is an innovative piece of tech that was unveiled at CES 2024 that, according to HypeBeast, went on to win the award for Best of Innovation in Gaming and eSports at the event.
The monitor is powered by the same tech behind VR headsets like face and eye tracking, minus the headgear, adding depth to the display and delivering an immersive and dimensional view of VR games. The monitor can also function in the standard 2D mode, allowing it to be utilized for playing regular games as well.
Sony Announces New PS5 Colors
Last year, Sony announced their Deep Earth collection of covers for the PlayStation 5 with color options coming in Volcanic Red, Cobalt Blue, and Sterling Silver. At this year’s CES event, the company took the opportunity to announce the covers for the newer PlayStation 5 Slim.
The covers, which have the same Deep Earth colors, are set to go on sale soon for a retail price of $54.99 which is slightly less than the standard size cover which retails for $60. According to an announcement made by Sony in December, more than 50 million PS5s have been sold to date.
Asus Announces the AirVision M1 Wearable Screen
In a different approach to Samsung’s headgear-less 3D screen, Asus has announced plans to release the AirVision M1 glasses which are more of a wearable screen than a VR/AR gadget. According to an article on Engadget, the AirVision M1 is a wearable display that can generate multiple virtual screens to help users tackle several tasks simultaneously.
The device connects to a PC or smartphone from which users can pin multiple screens in one of three aspect ratios. The glasses also have a built-in noise-canceling microphone and speaker system. Asus has yet to reveal the AirVision M’s retail price.
WhatsApp Announces a New Beta Version with Updated Features
This week, WhatsApp announced the release of the latest version of the app Android, and the iOS version a few days later. According to reports, one of the most notable updates which are still in Beta mode, is giving users more freedom of creativity with stickers. Another important update allows users to have more information about business accounts for security reasons.
WABetaInfo has created a channel for Android beta testers to share new features and bugs they may encounter on the latest update, and there is no report on when the official versions will be released to the broader market.
Qualcomm Is Teaming Up with Samsung and Google
Qualcomm has announced that its new Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip will power future generations of Samsung and Google Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) gadgets. The new version of the chip builds upon the features of the previous Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, hence the “plus”, and it’s set to deliver more realistic MR and VR experiences.
Vice President and Head of Technology Strategy at Samsung Electronics, Inkang Song, said in a statement that the company is thrilled to collaborate with tech giants Google and Qualcomm to revolutionize the industry. He expressed his excitement by saying “We aim to create the best-in-class XR experience for Galaxy users.”
Microsoft Copilot Is Trailing Far Behind ChatGPT In Downloads
Despite offering users free access to the same features as the paid version of OpenAI’s GPT-4, statistics reveal that consumers still prefer ChatGPT over Microsoft’s newer text-generating bot Copilot. As of January 5, Copilot reportedly has 2.1 million downloads which is a fraction of ChatGPT’s 4.2 million downloads in the same period.
Speculations for the lack of growth point to the fact that ChatGPT has a dedicated fan base that is comfortable with the technology and may be hesitant to switch to another bot. Another reason may be due to the time Microsoft decided to launch the bot, with experts stating that the launch may have possibly drowned in the spirit of the holiday season.
That concludes this year’s first edition of HeyWhatsNew, join us again next week for a roundup of the latest tech news and updates affecting the world.
