LATEST ADDITIONS

I tried to get a glimpse of Samsung’s curved 105-inch 2.35:1 widescreen TV on the show floor, but in the Samsung booth was packed and the area around the set inaccessible. But I got a later look at a closed-room Samsung demo. On the left here, to provide a size perspective, is Samsung’s Mike Wood—a one-time regular at Home Theater who has now forsaken balmy Southern California for the cold, windswept snowdrifts of the Garden State, where Samsung has its U.S. headquarters. On the right is current Sound & Vision editor in chief Rob Sabin.

Samsung has redesigned its smart remote for 2014. It offers voice, motion, and direct control as before, but with enhanced usability. The Smart Hub feature it controls now will let you surf the web as you watch TV and multitask in a split screen mode. Manufacturers have determined that most TV viewers are surfing the web on their computers and/or using their smart phones to talk, text, or surf as they watch TV. The show was alive with redesigned Internet TV features to satisfy this increasingly ADD social trend.

Over the years International CES has become a melting pot of every imaginable consumer technology. The show has been a showcase for aftermarket car stereo and entertainment since the ’70s and has in recent years evolved into a showcase for new-car tech—from superbly integrated and great sounding entertainment systems to sophisticated sensors and head-up displays to Internet and Bluetooth connectivity, and more. From BMW to Chrysler, a record nine automakers are occupying 140,000 square feet of exhibit space at 2014 CES, many with booths reminiscent of the New York Auto Show. Let’s take a look…

Most companies can ruggedize a speaker, give it some mild water-resistance and slap on a “water-resistant” sticker, and call it an outdoor product. BRAVEN has taken a much more serious approach in the new BRV-X and BRAVEN 855s.