Summary: Molly Wood and Tim Stevens join the show to talk about what’s coming up at CES and why everybody gets so excited about it, while at the same time calling it irrelevant every year. […] Using a Screen Reader? click here Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org. Please SUBSCRIBE HERE. A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible. If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you! Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme! Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo! Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit Show Notes Today’s guest: Tim Stevens, CNET Editor at Large focused on tech products and automotive & Molly Wood personal technology columnist for The New York Times Watch for Tim’s CES work here! http://www.cnet.com/ces/ Molly’s CES preview will be posting later today at: http://www.nytimes.com/bits and she will be doing lots and lots of CES stories so stay tuned! Headlines The Next Web reports Xiaomi released details of the Redmi 2, an update to its Redmi 1S phone. The 2 has 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 Quadcore processor, supports LTE, ups the front0-facing camera to 2 MP and has a 2,200 mAh battery, while running Xiaomi’s MIUI 6 version of Android. The phone will sell in China for 699 RMB. Xiaomi announced yesterday it sold 6.1 million phones in 2014. Swiss Watchmaker Withings has announced a more affordable version of it Activité smartwatch called the Activité Pop made of cheaper PVD_coated metal with a silcone strap. The Pop will sell for $150 quite a bit less than the $450 of the regular Activité. The Pop comes in Azure, Shark Gray and Sand and tracks sleep, steps and swimming. It also syncs to Withings’ Health Mate app for iOS. Android is coming soon. The Verge reports The Pop goes on sale at Best Buy Jan. 5. PC Mag reports on several new hard drives released by Seagate and LaCie. Among the highlights, the Seagate Seven is a superslim external 2.5-inch USB 3.0 500 GB drive available by late January for for $99.99. The LaCie Mirros packs a 1 TB flash drive in a Gorilla Glass 3 case designed by Pauline Deltour with a matching ebony wood stand. It should arrive in late January for $279.99. There’s also a 500 GB Wifi-enabaled Seagate Wireless in February for $129.99. The Seagate Personal Cloud home NAS in 3, 4 and 5 TB or two-drive bay models at 4, 6 and 8 TB, in late January, though no pricing yet. And LaCie Rugged RAID4TB array in Q1 for $449.99. Acer made its 15.6-inch Chromebook official coming to the US starting at $249.99. GigaOm reports displays range from 1366 x 768 tp 1920 x 1080 and storage in 16 or 32 GB varieties. You can also choose between 2 and 4 GB of RAM and between 5th-gen Celeron or Core i3 Broadwell chip. All the screen size doesn’t come light though as the ChromeBook 15 weighs in at 4.85 pounds. According to the Washington Post, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told fellow FCC commissioner before Christmas that he intends to circulate a draft proposal of Open internet Guidelines internally in February with an eye towards voting on the guidelines within weeks. FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart confirmed the timetable to the Post. Reuters reports that Intel invested $24.8 million in Net-connected eyewear company Vuzix Friday. Last month fashion eyewear designer Luxottica announced a partnership with INtel to bring tech into fashion brands. Intel also has deals to develop wearable devices with Fossil Group and Opening Ceremony for things like watches and bracelets. Acer also highlighted its V 17 Nitro laptop with Intel’s RealSense 3D camera. The 3D sensor can let you control games and apps with hand motions. It also can scan objects, including your face. for inclusion in software or for 3D printing projects. Otherwise its a standard Acer 17-inch desk
