New Tech

Once again, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is upon us, bringing thousands of tech workers, journalists, startup founders, bloggers and early adopters to Las Vegas to hawk and gawk at the most useful, wonderful and weird new gadgets. This year was as sci-fi cool as always, with translucent televisions, wall-crawling robots, artificial-intelligence-powered vehicles and more. We’ve chosen eight of the neatest and most functional-seeming of this year’s batch to share with you, from solar-powered EVs to

Walking assist robot

Walking is a valuable form of exercise, but for many people it’s a challenge, whether because of aging, illness or muscle weakness. That’s why South Korean robotics company WIRobotics created WIM, a robotic assist device you strap around your waist and legs. It reduces the energy needed to walk by about 20 percent, potentially allowing walkers to go farther and feel less tired. The A.I. technology analyzes gait and predicts…

Other ways to search

As well as introducing a way to search by video, Google has also released several other updates.

It says it has improved its shopping results, which will now incorporate reviews and pricing information from different sellers.

And it is also introducing a competitor to the music-identifying app Shazam, which is owned by Apple.

The rival tool, accessible through Circle to Search on an Android device, will let people identify songs from a website they're on or a show they're streaming without leaving the app.