It’s CES This Week—Here’s What to Expect
As hordes of gadget fiends gather at the world’s biggest consumer tech show in Las Vegas, here are the key themes to expect from the event.
Voice assistants: Amazon’s Alexa was a standout of last year’s CES. This year many gizmos will feature voice control—and Alexa will do battle with Google’s own helper, Assistant.
Cars, cars, cars: The show has become increasingly auto-dominated in recent years. As driverless tech matures, expect sensors, onboard computers, software, and concept vehicles aplenty.
AI everywhere: The show has an AI marketplace for the first time. With machine-learning hype at fever pitch, expect almost every firm to shoehorn AI into products.
More AR, less VR: Pure virtual reality continues to be a hard sell to consumers. Expect to see firms offer more augmented-reality concepts this week.
More of the same: CES ain’t CES without huge TVs, rollable screens, and weird gadgets—right?
Deep Dive
Computing
The US military wants to understand the most important software on Earth
Open-source code runs on every computer on the planet—and keeps America’s critical infrastructure going. DARPA is worried about how well it can be trusted
Corruption is sending shock waves through China’s chipmaking industry
The arrests of several top semiconductor fund executives could force the government to rethink how it invests in the sector.
The hacking industry faces the end of an era
But even if NSO Group is no more, there are plenty of rivals who will rush in to take its place. And the same old problems haven’t gone away.
Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities
Companies are pushing more server farms into the hearts of population centers.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.