Gallery: Hot CES Gear: iPhone-Powered Toys, Running Headphones, and Your Next TV
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The madness of CES continues with the opening of the expo hall. For the first few days, all the coolest stuff is kept under wraps, and only the press is allowed to view it. But now is the time during the show when the doors open to the general public and every one of the attendees is welcome to this feast of the senses. So in celebration, here are ten cool products we saw on the first official day of the show floor's opening. __Above:__ Intel Smart Earbuds ------------------- These Smart Earbuds mark Intel's leap into wearables. Unlike the Jarvis headset that resembles the Bluetooth headsets we've finally all but eradicated from the heads of good people, Intel's Smart Earbuds look like something you'd actually want to wear. There's a tracker inside that syncs to both iOS and Android phones. It collects calorie, pace, distance, and time data. But more importantly, it tracks your heartbeat in real time and offers a visible history graph on your phone's screen. Plus, if you're falling below or going above your target heart rate, the system automatically plays a song to pump you up or calm you down. Intel won't sell the device itself. It plans to partner up with a company that's already handling activity trackers, like Nike, Strava, FitBit, or Jawbone. No word from on Intel on who exactly its future partner will be, but we should expect the the Smart Earbuds to arrive at retail this year. *— Roberto Baldwin* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
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Garmin vivofit -------------- Garmin has an array of GPS watches available for athletes. But now the company is getting into the general activity tracking space with a fitness tracking band called [Vivofit](http://sites.garmin.com/vivo/). Vivofit is rubberized and has a curved, always-on display. It tracks your movement of course — both when you're awake and while you're asleep — and sends the data to the Garmin Connect mobile app using Bluetooth LE. Vivofit is designed to have a one year battery life, so you don't have to worry about constantly charging and recharging. It's waterproof too, so sweat and showers ain't no thang. The band tries to use the movement data it collects to help you improve your daily lifestyle. You start each day greeted with an automatically generated goal based on your past behavior, and a red "move bar" appears during the day whenever you've been inactive for an hour or more to remind you to get up and walk around. You can also pair the band with an HRM to get more specialized heart-rate zone information about your activities, and more accurate calorie burning stats. Vivofit will ship in February for $130, or $170 with a heart rate monitor included. *— Christina Bonnington* *Photo: Jim Merithew/WIRED*
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WowWee's MiP robots ------------------- [WowWee's](http://www.wowwee.com/) tiny robots are like little Segways, scootin around like wonderful little freestanding weirdos. You can control them as a group or individually with an iOS app (No Android app yet, which is ironic). The MiP robots also have certain "pill" modes that give the robots coordinated moods. There's a Boxing mode that makes them throw punches, a Sleep mode that makes them all fall backwards in unison, and a Farty mode. You can also draw paths with the app and have the robots follow them. The robots were jointly developed by WowWee and the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab. They'll come out in May for 100 bucks each. *— Tim Moynihan* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
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LG Gallery OLED --------------- This here's the [LG Gallery OLED](http://www.lg.com/global/oledtv/index.html), a 55-inch television set that is actually flat. It's "only" a 1080p set. It still looks great, and unlike a curved TV, you can hang it on a wall. The "frame" around the set is a 2.2-channel, 100-watt speaker system. I love OLED a lot more than 4K. The combination of the two is the best, though. *— Tim Moynihan* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
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Sphero 2b --------- Sphero isn't just spherical anymore. Newly announced Sphero 2B is a two-wheeled, cylindrical roller, and while you pilot the think around on the ground using your iPhone for a bit of RC fun, the product's capabilities are expanding beyond the gaming space. Sphero 2B is twice as fast as Sphero 2.0, hitting speeds up to 10 mph. While 35 Sphero apps are compatible with the new model, the focus of Sphero 2B is on racing, driving, and multiplayer gaming. It can careen off ramps and get 3 feet of air. That's pretty rad. It's customizable, too: you can snap on different shells, wheel hubs, and tires. Slick tires are best for going fast and drifting; nubby tires work better off-road since they give you additional traction. You can also get different colors and styles hubs. Sphero's Ian Bernstein hopes that with the 2B's lower price tag (under $100), the toy will be adopted by educators and used to help teach middle school-age kids basic programming and math skills. *— Christina Bonnington* *Photo: Jim Merithew/WIRED*
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PowerUp 3.0 ----------- The iOS-controlled [PowerUp 3.0 paper airplane](http://www.poweruptoys.com/) is a Bluetooth-enabled bit of fun. The kit attaches to a paper airplane you build using the included folding template, or simply clip it to a plane of your own invention. A tiny engine at the back of the propels the plane forward while a tiny rudder turns it left and right. The flight of hand-folded aircraft is controlled by the app, which also handles all the complex adjustments to engine speed so the plane doesn't fall out of the sky while banking. With a range of 60 feet and up to 10 minutes of flight time, the $50 PowerUp 3.0 is ready for all your aerodynamic acrobatics. *— Roberto Baldwin* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
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Ozobot ------ This [little robot](http://www.ozobot.com/) combines the physical and digital gaming worlds — an intelligent game piece, if you will. At its most basic, it's a line-following bot. But it can follow over a thousand different line codes that give the robot instructions like speed up, slow down, or change colors. In the future, Ozobot hopes to introduce learning apps that go along with the robot, CEO Nader Hamda says. *— Christina Bonnington* *Photo: Jim Merithew/WIRED*
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Samsung's Curved Televisions ---------------------------- Meet a TV that goes from flat to curved at the click of a remote. Samsung's bendy bendy 4K set looks like it's breathing when it's in motion. It definitely pulls you into the picture when you're sitting up close and the edges start moving. Images on the sides of the screen take on a 3D effect. It's extremely cool and a little bit freaky. It's actually one of two bending TVs on display at the Samsung booth. There's an LED/LCD set as well as a bending OLED on display. They're both just concepts at this stage. *— Tim Moynihan* *Photo: Jim Merithew/WIRED*
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OD-11 ----- Swedish audio engineer Stig Carlsson designed some wacky-looking speakers back in the '60s and '70s. There's the [Kolboxen](http://www.carlssonplanet.com/coalscuttle.php?lang=sv&), which resembles a canon. And let's not forget the [OA-2212](http://www.carlssonplanet.com/oa2212.php) and its spiraling orgy of 32 drivers. The up-firing OD-11 was one of Carlsson's more spare and simple offerings, and now it's being resurrected and brought back to market by Swedish music design house [Teenage Engineering](http://www.teenageengineering.com/). While the positioning of the up-facing drivers remains mostly the same, the new version has been updated inside to include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 100-Watt Class D amp. You can link up to four of the speakers together wirelessly, and you can stream music from specific services or from your computer. Teenage Engineering has even added a beautiful analog wireless Bluetooth remote and a fantastic iOS app for controlling everything. Yeah, you might remember the OD-11 from last year's CES (it was supposed to ship summer 2013), but don't call this vaporware just yet. Word is the speakers will finally be shipping late March/early April. You can pre-order one now. *— Bryan Gardiner* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
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The Mophie Space Pack --------------------- This year, I'm stuck with a regular old Mophie Juice Pack and whatever storage I have left on my iPhone for photos and other media. But announced today is the [Mophie Space Pack](http://www.mophie.com/shop/space-pack-iphone-5s), the world's first battery pack that also boasts built-in storage and file management. Available in 16 and 32 GB versions, the Space Pack looks almost exactly like the Juice Pack Air except for the button on the back, which is used to signify battery level — on this model, it's silver. This button does double duty on the Space Pack, switching on its file management system. From there, you can take photos or videos or download files and have these stored locally inside the case — without wasting space on your iPhone. The interface, with files arranged into six buckets like documents, music, and videos, is straightforward to navigate. An "all files" bucket acts like a thumb drive. There, files are listed alphabetical and you can rename and move files. The local storage provided by the Space Pack is especially useful if you tend to run out of space on your phone a lot, or for when you don't have access to cloud storage devices like Dropbox or iCloud. And of course, like a Juice Pack, it provides double the battery life you'd normally get from your iPhone. Mophie is keeping the Space Pack iOS only for now, since Android already has better built-in file management and external storage options. The Space Pack is available for pre-order today and will ship March 14. It's $150 for the 16 GB model and the 32 GB version is $180 (the latter is $80 more than the regular Juice Pack Air). *— Christina Bonnington* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED*
