Author: TechBrunch
CES 2025 kicks off on January 7th, but many of the biggest events and announcements actually begin today through a series of live streams and press conferences. The annual Las Vegas event sets the tone for the consumer electronics and automotive industries for the year. As always, TechCrunch is there to sniff out stories from the most exciting startups and tech giants. And you can follow the live broadcast here. If you really want to watch some of the action without paying for a hotel or flight, many of the event's biggest keynotes will be streamed. The show will officially…
Agriculture, which consumes about 70% of the world's freshwater, faces increasing water scarcity and inefficient irrigation systems. Traditional irrigation methods not only lead to wasted water and nutrients, but also cause lower crop yields, food insecurity and unnecessary carbon emissions. Full Nature Farms, a Hong Kong-based agricultural technology startup, thinks there's a better way. At CES 2025, the company announced its Rocket 2.0 smart irrigation platform, a system that uses data and AI to reduce water costs by 30%, reduce energy consumption, and improve crop yields. CEO Ray Locke founded Full Nature Farms in 2019. Before that, he founded Evergreens…
For the past few years, the Las Vegas Convention Center auditorium has had a terrible installation of AR/VR/XR smart glasses. While some of the biggest names in the technology industry, such as Apple and Google, have struggled to gain traction in this space, accessible technology remains relatively untapped. There are many things we need to do to make the space more comfortable for more people. Soliddd is one of the startups exploring the relationship between smart glasses and accessibility. This week at CES 2025, the company will be showcasing a prototype version of its upcoming SolidddVision glasses. The Brooklyn-based startup…
Fresh off its worst year since going public in 1971, Intel is unveiling new chips at CES 2025 that it hopes will turn its fortunes around. The product announcement is Intel's largest since its board of directors fired CEO Pat Gelsinger. That's not the only reason the stakes are high. Intel's 13th and 14th generation Core CPUs suffered from overheating issues that took nearly a year to resolve. Needless to say, Intel has a lot to prove. The latest processors in the company's Core portfolio range from the Core 3 for light tasks to the more powerful Core Ultra 200H,…
Generative AI models have reached a baseline ability to generate at least passable videos from a single image or short sentence. Companies developing products based on these models claim that anyone with images or recordings can create stylish promotional videos. Also, videos usually perform better than still images or documents. Avatar, backed by Peak XV and Tiger Global, released a new tool on Monday called Velocity. Create product videos directly based on product links. The company will compete with companies like Amazon and Google, which are also experimenting with AI-powered video tools for advertising. The startup ethos behind these tools…
Samsung's CES reporter is always a weirdo. Korean electronics giants generally maintain a dry attitude when it comes to home appliances. After all, the company is expected to announce its latest flagship device, the Galaxy S25, towards the end of January. CES 2025 will continue the company's TV and consumer electronics tradition. There are also possibilities, such as consumer robots that will probably never see the light of day. Samsung has adopted the tagline “AI for All: Everyday, Everywhere” for its presentation, which begins today, January 6th at 2pm PT / 5pm ET. We will include embedding when it becomes…
Elvie, a female-founded hardware startup, has unveiled a new app-controlled smart bouncer that gently transforms into a basket net while carrying a baby. With the new Elvie Rise, announced at CES 2025 on Monday, parents and caregivers no longer have to move babies between cradling, sleep and play products. The startup is known for its portfolio of women's health products, including connected breast pumps and smart pelvic floor exercisers, and is now expanding into the sleep category with its latest product. In bouncer mode, the product uses Elvie's SootheLoop technology to record and repeat the bounce initially established by a…
AMD is fully committed to its efforts at CES 2025. While chipmaker Nvidia remains at the forefront of the AI boom, its competitor is sucking the oxygen out of every room it graces. So how will AMD counter Nvidia's reported RTX 5000 announcement? The company will need to show off its own next-generation GPUs. As part of the ongoing rebranding, the RDNA 4 cards may arrive as the RX 8000 or RX 9000 series. No matter the company's name or numbers, AMD will face some challenges at this year's show. The presser will begin early on January 6th at 11am…
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company is currently losing money because its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan has more users than expected. In a series of posts about X, Altman wrote, “The price was set by me personally and I thought I could make some profit.” OpenAI released ChatGPT Pro late last year. In addition to granting access to o1 Pro mode, an upgraded version of OpenAI's o1 “inference” AI model, ChatGPT Pro lifts rate limits on several of the company's other tools, including the Sora video generator . Although OpenAI has raised about $20 billion since its founding, it…
At CES 2025, Samsung announced that it will bring popular features from its phones and tablets to TVs. Live Translate does exactly what it says on the box, providing users with real-time translations of live broadcasts. The feature works in seven different languages, although it's not entirely clear which ones at the time of publication. In its current form, the system works by translating the subtitles on the broadcast rather than listening to the audio directly. Live Translate was introduced in early 2024 as part of the Galaxy S24 launch. Currently, it works in 13 different languages on the front…