CES is about looking ahead, but there are some hot technologies that you can get your hands on this year.
Fox News has compiled a list of some of the latest and greatest you can buy almost immediately.
Laptops
Dell will roll out the redesign of its popular ultra-thin XPS 13 line at CES, according to CNET.
The XPS 13 has been consistently reviewed as one of the best laptops on the planet. Dell has managed to make the new XPS 13 thinner and lighter than the current model, Frank Azor, general manager for the Alienware gaming and XPS businesses at Dell, told Fox News. “Because of the smaller display borders, we were able to shrink the product overall,” Azor said.
The laptop also uses a new crystalline silica material with the white color woven in, like a fabric, in nine composite layers, Azor added.
CES 2018: TOP 5 TECH TRENDS
Smart Speakers
Google is now making a serious run at Amazon’s Echo lineup of products and its latest smart speaker just hit the market, the Google Home Max, a larger version of the $129 Google Home speaker.
The $399 Max sports dual 4.5-inch woofers, custom tweeters, and Smart Sound, which uses machine learning to automatically adjust the equalizer settings to match the acoustics of your room. Like other smart Google devices, including the Pixel phone and new Pixlebook laptop, it also comes with the voice-activated Google Assistant, an intelligent personal assistant.
“There’s a real war going on between Google and Amazon, which is a good thing because we need those companies in the lead with their devices to build a smart home around. Whereas before there about 100 companies and no one knew who to rally behind,” Dells’s Azor said, commenting on what he expects to stand out at CES.
In addition, LG will show off its ThinQ Speaker, LG’s first premium AI speaker with Google Assistant.
Smartphones
Samsung will be showing its new selfie-centric mid-range phones, the 5.6-inch Galaxy A8 and 6-inch Galaxy A8 Plus.
Both phones have dual front-facing 16 and 8 MP cameras with advanced lenses and image sensors, allowing portrait mode selfies and blurred backgrounds. The phones are expected to be available in the U.S. soon, though no date has been announced.
While there’s no official word on Samsung’s next flagship phone the Galaxy S9 — expected in February — the company may be offering a hint at CES of what’s to come via its newest chip technology.
The Exynos 9810 processor can "accurately recognize people or items in photos for fast image searching or categorization [and] scan a user’s face in 3D for hybrid face detection,” according to a statement from Samsung. The 3D face detection may be an upcoming feature that rivals Apple’s Face ID on its iPhone X.
'iPhone X PLUS' SHOULD LEAD CHARGE FOR APPLE IN 2018
Electric vehicles
The all-electric 2017 Chevy Bolt made a big splash at CES in 2016, hitting the market later that year. Since then, it has seen sustained sales. At this year's CES, the redesigned 2018 Nissan Leaf, with a battery-only range of 150 miles, should get some attention.
The Nissan Leaf goes on sale in early 2018 in the U.S. and is being assembled in the U.S. at the Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant in Smyrna, Tenn.
The Tesla Model 3, which has a starting price of $35,000, will have a big psychological impact at CES if only because it’s the hottest electric vehicle on the planet right now and the first lower-priced vehicle from Tesla available with self-driving technology.
Tesla has set a new production target of 2,500 Model 3s per week by the end of March.
HOW BAD GUYS GETS MALWARE INSIDE YOUR SMARTPHONE
TVs
LG will debut a slew of new TVs that will be available this year. The big-screen TVs include new a 32-inch class UHD 4K monitor with LG’s Nano IPS technology for better color accuracy and intensity. This monitor can display 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color spectrum, “comparable to monitors used to master Hollywood blockbusters,” the company said.
LG will also announce a new 34-inch class UltraWide monitor with a 5K resolution.
“Newer display technologies like OLED will also face off against more traditional LCD, which continues to improve with new technologies,” Paul Gagnon, an analyst at IHS Markit, told Fox News. “Smart TV continues to evolve and we expect this evolution to include integrated digital virtual assistants, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant."
Tech stocks climb for fourth day as New Year rally continues.
CES is about looking ahead, but there are some hot technologies that you can get your hands on this year.
Fox News has compiled a list of some of the latest and greatest you can buy almost immediately.
Laptops
Dell will roll out the redesign of its popular ultra-thin XPS 13 line at CES, according to CNET.
The XPS 13 has been consistently reviewed as one of the best laptops on the planet. Dell has managed to make the new XPS 13 thinner and lighter than the current model, Frank Azor, general manager for the Alienware gaming and XPS businesses at Dell, told Fox News. “Because of the smaller display borders, we were able to shrink the product overall,” Azor said.
The laptop also uses a new crystalline silica material with the white color woven in, like a fabric, in nine composite layers, Azor added.
CES 2018: TOP 5 TECH TRENDS
Smart Speakers
Google is now making a serious run at Amazon’s Echo lineup of products and its latest smart speaker just hit the market, the Google Home Max, a larger version of the $129 Google Home speaker.
The $399 Max sports dual 4.5-inch woofers, custom tweeters, and Smart Sound, which uses machine learning to automatically adjust the equalizer settings to match the acoustics of your room. Like other smart Google devices, including the Pixel phone and new Pixlebook laptop, it also comes with the voice-activated Google Assistant, an intelligent personal assistant.
“There’s a real war going on between Google and Amazon, which is a good thing because we need those companies in the lead with their devices to build a smart home around. Whereas before there about 100 companies and no one knew who to rally behind,” Dells’s Azor said, commenting on what he expects to stand out at CES.
In addition, LG will show off its ThinQ Speaker, LG’s first premium AI speaker with Google Assistant.
Smartphones
Samsung will be showing its new selfie-centric mid-range phones, the 5.6-inch Galaxy A8 and 6-inch Galaxy A8 Plus.
Both phones have dual front-facing 16 and 8 MP cameras with advanced lenses and image sensors, allowing portrait mode selfies and blurred backgrounds. The phones are expected to be available in the U.S. soon, though no date has been announced.
While there’s no official word on Samsung’s next flagship phone the Galaxy S9 — expected in February — the company may be offering a hint at CES of what’s to come via its newest chip technology.
The Exynos 9810 processor can "accurately recognize people or items in photos for fast image searching or categorization [and] scan a user’s face in 3D for hybrid face detection,” according to a statement from Samsung. The 3D face detection may be an upcoming feature that rivals Apple’s Face ID on its iPhone X.
'IPHONE X PLUS' SHOULD LEAD CHARGE FOR APPLE IN 2018
Electric vehicles
The all-electric 2017 Chevy Bolt made a big splash at CES in 2016, hitting the market later that year. Since then, it has seen sustained sales. At this year's CES, the redesigned 2018 Nissan Leaf, with a battery-only range of 150 miles, should get some attention.
The Nissan Leaf goes on sale in early 2018 in the U.S. and is being assembled in the U.S. at the Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant in Smyrna, Tenn.
The Tesla Model 3, which has a starting price of $35,000, will have a big psychological impact at CES if only because it’s the hottest electric vehicle on the planet right now and the first lower-priced vehicle from Tesla available with self-driving technology.
Tesla has set a new production target of 2,500 Model 3s per week by the end of March.
HOW BAD GUYS GETS MALWARE INSIDE YOUR SMARTPHONE
TVs
LG will debut a slew of new TVs that will be available this year. The big-screen TVs include new a 32-inch class UHD 4K monitor with LG’s Nano IPS technology for better color accuracy and intensity. This monitor can display 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color spectrum, “comparable to monitors used to master Hollywood blockbusters,” the company said.
LG will also announce a new 34-inch class UltraWide monitor with a 5K resolution.
“Newer display technologies like OLED will also face off against more traditional LCD, which continues to improve with new technologies,” Paul Gagnon, an analyst at IHS Markit, told Fox News. “Smart TV continues to evolve and we expect this evolution to include integrated digital virtual assistants, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant."
Tech stocks climb for fourth day as New Year rally continues
After another solid monthly jobs report, technology companies again led the way as U.S. stocks rose for the fourth day in a row to start 2018. They are on their longest new-year winning streak in eight years.
The Labor Department said employers added 148,000 jobs in December. That was a bit less than experts expected, but still underscored the continued health of the economy. Wages grew and factory managers received more new orders than in any month since 2004. Health care and consumer-focused companies also rose, and the weaker dollar gave industrial firms like Boeing and basic materials makers a lift.
Wages and worker productivity are rising at about the same rate, according to Ed Keon, managing director and portfolio manager of QMA, a fund manager owned by Prudential Financial. He said if that trend continues, company profits should stay solid and inflation won't be much of a risk to the economy.
Productivity growth has been weak in recent years, but it jumped 3 percent in the third quarter. Keon said new technologies may now be helping businesses in a bigger way.
"It's possible that we're on the verge of a new productivity revolution," he said. "If we are, that's good news for wages, it's good news for profits, it's good news for economic growth, and it's good news for the stock market."
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 19.16 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,743.15, and rose 2.6 percent for the week. The Dow Jones industrial average added 220.74 points, or 0.9 percent, to 25,295.87. The Nasdaq composite rose 58.64 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,136.56. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 4.29 point, or 0.3 percent, to 1,560.01.
The Dow industrials closed above 25,000 points for the first time Thursday and the Nasdaq breached 7,000 points earlier in the week.
The last time stocks rose for at least four consecutive days to start a new year was in 2010, when the S&P 500 finished higher for six days in a row. It rose 1.9 percent over that run.
While job growth has slowed somewhat with the economy close to full employment, solid economic growth in both the U.S. and major countries overseas is still supporting more hiring.
Apple gained $1.97, or 1.1 percent, to $175 and Alphabet, Google's parent company, picked up $14.53, or 1.3 percent, to $1,110.29. Chipmaker Xilinx jumped $3.66, or 5.2 percent, to $74.15 and eBay added $1.12, or 2.9 percent, to $39.69.
Consumer-focused and health care companies also stand to benefit from sustained economic growth. Amazon climbed $19.55, or 1.6 percent, to $1,229.14. Netflix advanced $4.36, or 2.1 percent, to $209.99. Used car retailer CarMax edged up $2.79, or 4.1 percent, to $71.04.
Among health care companies, Align Technology, which doubled last year, surged $7.77, or 3.3 percent, to $241.07 and contact lens and surgical products maker Cooper Companies gained $6.95, or 3.1 percent, to $230.50.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.47 percent from 2.45 percent. The yield on the 2-year note rose to 1.96 percent from 1.95 percent.
With the holiday season in the rearview mirror, companies began to report their most recent results. Wine, liquor and beer maker Constellation Brands fell $5.91, or 2.6 percent, to $219.88 after its third-quarter report disappointed investors. Retailer Francesca's plunged $1.55, or 20.7 percent, to $5.95 after it said it struggled over the holidays as fewer people came to stores and its shoppers spent less. It cut its profit and sales forecasts.
Barnes & Noble fell to its lowest price since 1994 after the bookseller said its sales slumped over the holidays. The struggles weren't limited to its physical stores as online sales dropped 4.5 percent. That's partly because Amazon continues to win over more and more people to its Prime membership program. Barnes & Noble sank 90 cents, or 13.8 percent, to $5.60.
Benchmark U.S. crude lost 57 cents to $61.44 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 45 cents to $67.62 per barrel in London.
Wholesale gasoline slid 2 cents to $1.79 a gallon. Heating oil declined 2 cents to $2.06 a gallon. Natural gas tumbled 9 cents, or 3 percent, to $2.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold rose 70 cents to $1,322.30 an ounce and silver picked up 2 cents to $17.29 an ounce. Copper slipped 3 cents to $3.23 a pound.
The dollar rose to 113.14 yen from 112.74 yen. The euro slipped to $1.2050 from $1.2072.
Germany's DAX gained 1.2 percent and the CAC 40 of France added 1.1 percent. The FTSE 100 in Britain rose 0.4 percent. South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.3 percent after North and South Korea agreed to hold their first official dialogue in more than two years next week to discuss ways to cooperate on the upcoming Winter Olympics in the South. Earlier, the United States and South Korea agreed to delay annual joint military exercises until after the Games, which will be held in February. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 0.3 percent.
Russia is testing new tech for its ICBMs that could defeat NATO missile defenses
A Topol-M missile launcher drives in Red Square during a Victory Day military parade in Moscow May 9, 2008. Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
1.Russia says it test-fired an ICBM with technology that could defeat Western missile defense systems.
2.The launch was the second such test Russia conducted in 2017, and the missile could have been equipped with hypersonic re-entry vehicles.
3.Russia has been very vocal about its disapproval of American missile defense systems in Europe and Asia.
The Russian Strategic Missile Forces, the branch of the military responsible for Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles, says they test-fired an RS-12M Topol ICBM in the closing days of 2017.
The firing took place at the Kapustin Yar practice range in the southern Astrakhan Region, just north west of the border with Kazakhstan.
Russia has been in the process of modernizing and revamping its ICBM arsenal and has inducted 80 new ICBMs in last five years, according to The Diplomat. From 2012-2017, Russia conducted over forty successful ICBM tests.
Notably, the RS-12M Topol missile was equipped with "perspective armament" that would allow it to overcome missile defense systems, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
"During the tests, specialists obtained experimental data that will be used in the interests of developing effective means of overcoming anti-ballistic missile defense and equipping the perspective grouping of Russian ballistic missiles with them," the Defense Ministry said, according to state-run media outlet TASS.
The launch was the second such test in 2017, and suggests that Russia is serious about finding ways to counter American anti-ballistic missile defenses.
Europe and Asia.
The Russian Strategic Missile Forces, the branch of the military responsible for Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles, says they test-fired an RS-12M Topol ICBM in the closing days of 2017.
The firing took place at the Kapustin Yar practice range in the southern Astrakhan Region, just north west of the border with Kazakhstan.
Russia has been in the process of modernizing and revamping its ICBM arsenal and has inducted 80 new ICBMs in last five years, according to The Diplomat. From 2012-2017, Russia conducted over forty successful ICBM tests.
Notably, the RS-12M Topol missile was equipped with "perspective armament" that would allow it to overcome missile defense systems, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
"During the tests, specialists obtained experimental data that will be used in the interests of developing effective means of overcoming anti-ballistic missile defense and equipping the perspective grouping of Russian ballistic missiles with them," the Defense Ministry said, according to state-run media outlet TASS.
The launch was the second such test in 2017, and suggests that Russia is serious about finding ways to counter American anti-ballistic missile defenses.
A screenshot of the launch of a RS-12M ICBM at the Kapustin Yar range in the Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Минобороны России/YouTube
Based off of previous tests, the technology on the missile could be a type of hypersonic glide vehicle. An HGV, as it's known, is a payload carrying capsule on the top of an ICBM that separates from the missile after it has reached its highest altitude, re-enters the atmosphere, and flies or glides to the target where it detonates.
What makes an HGV's so threatening is that it can move incredibly fast (possibly up to a mile a second) and fly so low that it could avoid detection from both land and space-based tracking systems.
Additionally, they are also maneuverable — being able to change direction and glide to targets. This means that an HGV does not have a predictable flight path, allowing it to keep its target a secret until the last few seconds before impact.
Russia has been very vocal about its objection to American deployments of anti-ballistic missile defenses, like Lockheed Martin's Aegis Ashore. The system is already deployed in Romania, is in the process of being built in Poland, and was just recently purchased by Japan.
The US is also testing hypersonic weapons itself — mainly hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs).
"Why do they need such weapons?" Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with top military officials in December 2017. "I believe they want it for one thing – blackmail – as it creates an illusion of a possible strike with impunity."
"They are searching for some violations on our part while consistently infringing on it themselves," Putin said.
China tested an HGV in November that could be ready for operational use, meaning they are no longer in the developing stage, which is where Russia and the US are currently.
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