Thanksgiving, Christmas, CES 2014. That's how we're splitting up the next three months as we prepare for a whirlwind of feasting, wrapping paper and the hottest tech on the planet.
With an eye on those crazy days in January, we're readying ourselves for a typhoon of phones, tablets, laptops, gaming tech, TVs, wearables, refrigerators and whatever other home appliances companies can stick a computer into.
From January 7 to January 10, CES 2014 will invade the Las Vegas Convention Center per usual, and we're gearing up to see everything from "must have" to "please, get that away from me." There are the usual Day One keynotes and press events on January 6, plus several pre-show going-ons on January 5 that we'll be covering too.
Below you'll find the latest inklings of what we expect from the upcoming show. We'll regularly refresh this page, so check back during the coming months for all the latest about the most high-profile tech show of the year.
Samsung to show new Galaxy phones?
Samsung hardly misses the chance to shine a spotlight on itself, and its presence at CES 2013 was no different. We saw Youm, its flexible display tech prototype, more TVs than need be listed here and former President Bill Clinton. So yes, Samsung left an impression.
For 2014, we're zeroing in on two bits of consumer tech in particular: the Galaxy Round and Galaxy S5.
Reports suggest that with slowing sales of the Galaxy S4, Samsung has decided to push the Galaxy S5's release date up to a possible launch during CES 2014. With a potential 64-bit chip, 16MP camera and all-metal body, consumers may forgive the oddly-timed release and clamor for the new Android machine anyway.
As for the Galaxy Round, even though it's reportedly a prototype at this point, Samsung should have plenty to say on its ability to create bendy devices. Whether we see another curved phone, hear about a full Round roll out or see something else entirely isn't yet known, but with LG nipping at its heals with its own curved phone, Samsung's turn at CES should show us more on the flexible display front.
As for the rest of the tech, Sammy will likely unveil its latest and greatest television sets (Vegas turns into TV town during every CES), cameras, home appliances and laptops, but reports aren't yet firm for these categories just yet.
Microsoft's bigger presence, but not triumphant return
"Microsoft is back at CES!" or so was the flavor of many headlines in early October. Turns out the company isn't making the spectacular CES splash it was made out to be, as it quickly downplayed its plans for the 2014 show to The Verge.
That's not to say Microsoft won't be out in force in LV, as the company confirmed it will have "a substantial set of rooms for meetings with our partners." It's in these rooms we expect OEMs and press alike to learn more about the adoption of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 RT, sales of Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, what's the score with Nokia and much more.
During CES 2013, Microsoft showed off a pre-production Surface Pro, and we'd be hard pressed to think it won't have a new piece of tablet, smartphone or phablet to generate some pre-release buzz.
Let's not rule out Microsoft hosting a press event or two, even though it's staying off the main keynote circuit.
Sony speaks to next-gen gadgets
Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai is slated to deliver a keynote address as part of the Tech Titans keynote series, "where CEOs from the most powerful companies in technology present their vision for revolutions in products, services and networks."
Sony will be coming off a holiday season where it saw the release of the PS4, and with a few high-powered phones rumored for release in November, look for Hirai to drop sales figures and talk about Sony's role in pushing hardware innovation forward.
More to that point, the company is reportedly working on a virtual reality headset modeled in the vein of the Oculus Rift. According to Eurogamer, Sony's targeting a 2014 release for its VR dream.
A keynote where he's supposed to talk about his "vision for revolutions in products, services and networks?" Sounds like CES 2014 is a plausible place for next-gen PS4 accessory to rear its head.
Steam Machines may become more than vapor
After much teasing throughout the years, Steam finally unveiled its concept for the console, called Steam Machines. However, despite giving us previews of the Steam controller and Steam OS, we still have yet to see a Steam Machine.
Valve is slowing getting into the game, and plans to give 300 lucky Steam users a beta version of its own Steam Box to test out, though further details haven't been released yet (we did say slowly).
While we should get a good look at the Steam Box before CES, we expect that with the attention Valve garnerned at last year's show, the company won't leave its Steam Machine at home, especially since there will be a Steam developer's conference the week after in Seattle.
Wearables and fitness tech ahoy
If the thought of computers and exercise seems like an oxymoron, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, fitness tech will see a much bigger presence during CES, with the Digital Fitness Area being expanded by 30% to include more space for new tech.
Though fitness bands like the Fitbit Force and Nike Fuelband are already familiar faces, we'll probably see more bands and other types of wearable tech battle it out for our attention.
Speaking of wearable tech, the Pebble made a splash at CES 2013 where its release was finally announced - cut to fall 2013 and a wave of others like the Sony Smartwatch 2, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Qualcomm Toq have joined the fancy watch scene. With rumors of the Google watch and Apple's iWatch hot on their heels, we definitely expect to see more smartwatches pop up during the show.
Beyond the wrist, high fashion - or just fashion in the form wearable tech - will also make waves. Karen Chupka, senior vice president of CES, said to look out for "... jackets that adjust based on outside temperatures to solar-charging handbags and more, innovations in wearable technology are shaping the [tech] industry" at the 2014 show.
Perhaps we'll see and try out functional and fashionable tech that we won't be too embarrassed to wear (looking at you, Google Glass).
The 3D printing explosion
It's not a tech expo without a 3D printing demo going on somewhere (see: IDF 2013), but CES 2014 is taking it to a whole new level with a larger-than-ever area dedicated to the machines that let you print your own bowls.
According to CNET, Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronic Association, said on October 1 that the 3D printing tech zone is sold out for exhibitors. The area is meant to complement others dedicated to motion tech, robotics and more.
Will we see the tech expand printing do-dads, guns and heart valves? We hope to find out in Vegas.
Did we mention there will be TVs?
If there's one thing you can always count on seeing at CES, it's the beastly TVs that get bigger - and better - every year.
Ultra HD 4K TVs will be back on hand to look at (or look up at) during CES 2014. A quick refresher: Ultra HD aims to deliver four times the resolution of today's full High-Definition TVs, with more than eight million pixels of resolution.
We expect the bigwigs - Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Sharp - plus smaller guys like Hisense to return in full form to show off bigger, better and brighter Ultra HD TVs.
We've already received an invitation to one TV maker's press conference on January 6, though we're sure Hisense will also discuss its foray into new devices, namely tablets.
However, the 6.2-inch display naturally has a lower, but still impressive, pixel density of 473ppi thanks it its larger size.
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