The Latest: Amazon and Google at war behind smart gadgets
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on the CES technology show in Las Vegas (all times local):
12:50 p.m.
The CES technology show in Las Vegas is seemingly all robots, drones and smart gadgets. But its subtext is all about Google versus Amazon.
The two companies are waging war to establish their digital assistants as de facto standards for a new generation of voice-controlled devices. Their struggle underlies many of the product announcements and other events at the show.
Google has plastered digital billboards and the Las Vegas Monorail with ads, announced a new array of gadgets featuring its assistant and sent out an army of sneaker-wearing evangelists to extol its technology at partner booths.
Amazon, which grabbed an early lead in this market, opted for a more subtle approach. Executives from both companies have also been turning up at press conferences held by other companies.
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12:40 p.m.
What happens to all those internet-connected refrigerators, robots and other devices when the power goes out?
Thousands of people attending the world's biggest consumer technology show got a chance to test the battery life of the latest gadgets Wednesday when some showrooms and hallways went dark inside the vast Las Vegas Convention Center.
The power has been out for at least an hour in some areas of the annual CES event.
Conference organizers said on Twitter that it was an "isolated power outage" they were working to resolve.
Dozens of reporters queued quietly for lunch boxes in a darkened press room. The room was dimly lit thanks to emergency overhead lights and the glow of laptops running on battery power.
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11:20 a.m.
Tech leaders promoting new innovations at the CES gadget show can't get away from lingering questions about large-scale security flaws in the underlying computing platforms.
The industry has been reeling since last week's disclosure of flaws affecting processing chips built by Intel and other chipmakers. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich attempted to tamp down worries during an opening keynote Monday, but questions remain.
Even those whose products are peripherally affected are taking pains to explain their response.
At a media event Wednesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said his company's bread-and-butter graphic processing units are "immune" to the bugs, contrary to reports suggesting otherwise. He says confusion arose because of software fixes the company and many others are making to address the vulnerabilities.
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10 a.m.
A $5,000 ice cube maker might seem wasteful when your freezer could make ice, too.
But instead of being made with water, ice cubes from this machine are made entirely out of vodka or whiskey.
The machine, Beyond Zero, cools to a point where high-alcohol liquor freezes - much colder than the freezing point of water.
Its inventor, Jason Sherman, says it solves the age-old bartending problem of ice diluting drinks with water. Instead, ice merely melts into more alcohol.
The machines sell for about $5,000. But if you're a serious drinking, you'll probably want to add ice storage for about $5,000 more.
The high-priced freezer was on display at the CES tech show, which runs through Friday in Las Vegas.
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midnight
Today's vision of a smart home has more to do with what's technologically possible than what people really need.
Thus an endless parade of internet-connected wine openers, water bottles and refrigerators, and a dearth of automation that would clean and fold our laundry, pick up things around the house or assist aging people as their physical strength wanes.
Not that some tinkerers aren't trying to come up with life-changing tools. The annual CES gadget show that opened in Las Vegas on Tuesday is a showcase of the latest innovations from big corporations and tiny startups.
Some of these inventions could soon be useful to consumers. Others look outlandishly impractical - or maybe it's too soon to tell.