Techmeme: ASUS updates its ZenBook models, Transformer Pro 2-in-1, three new versions of its Zen AiO all-in-one desktop, and more with Intel's Kaby Lake chips (Nick Statt/The Verge)

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January 3, 2017, 2:45 PM

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Valentina Palladino / Ars Technica:

Lenovo launches VR-ready Legion gaming notebooks and the $129 Alexa-powered Smart Assistant speaker, updates Thinkpad X1 workstations and Miix detachables — Channeling its inner gamer who simultaneously wants a smarter home. — LAS VEGAS—Lenovo prepared a few surprises for its CES lineup.

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Amazon partners with three Chinese manufacturers to launch Amazon Fire-powered 4K TVs, to be sold online and in select retail stores later this year — Amazon is now making its own TV — sort of, anyway: The e-commerce giant has teamed up with Seiki, Westinghouse and Element Electronics …

More: PR Newswire, Liliputing, and CNET

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

Amazon pushes Alexa-everywhere strategy at CES, with integrations for Dish's Hopper DVR, Whirlpool appliances, Lenovo assistant devices, more — A bevy of vendors are integrating Amazon's Alexa digital assistant technology. Artificial intelligence matters, but distribution, developers, and integration may matter more.

More: HD Guru, Engadget, The Verge, The Verge, USA Today, GeekWire, CNET, About DISH, TechCrunch, The Verge, BGR, and Wired

Mollie Ruiz-Hopper / Windows Blog:

Acer debuts new high-end PCs including a 21-inch curved screen gaming laptop with GeForce GTX 1080 GPU, eye-tracking, 7th-gen Intel i7, 64GB RAM, $9K price tag — Ahead of CES 2017, Acer announced an impressive new lineup of Windows 10 PCs focused on performance and entertainment.

More: The Verge, Digital Trends, Engadget, VentureBeat, Windows Central, The Fire Hose, Engadget, Neowin, Laptop Mag, and On MSFT

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Acer debuts 11-inch N7 Chromebook with 12-hour battery, military-grade durability, fanless design, $230 price tag — Acer today expanded its 11-inch lineup with the Chromebook 11 N7 (C731), available later this month. Still priced at $230, like its C730 predecessor, the new model adds durability features …

More: Engadget, Windows Central, BetaNews, TechCrunch, Laptop Mag, InfoWorld, The Verge, and Gotta Be Mobile

Mark Walton / Ars Technica UK:

Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake review: minimal upgrades mean high-end desktop CPU performance remains at a standstill — With identical performance to Skylake, Intel brings desktop performance to a standstill. — The Intel Core i7-7700K is what happens when a chip company stops trying.

More: Intel Newsroom, AnandTech, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, BGR, Windows Central, Engadget, On MSFT, Liliputing, and Slashdot

Tweets: @edzitron, @stevesi, @stevesi, and @stevesi

Alaina Yee / PCWorld:

HP unveils 34-inch Envy with 3440x1440 IPS curved display, Intel i7 Kaby Lake CPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, and AMD Radeon RX 460 GPU, starting at $1,730 — All-in-ones could be a lot sleeker than they are. Most current designs squeeze every component into the display section …

More: Windows Central, AppleInsider, Forbes, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, TechRadar.com, SlashGear, Mashable, and Ubergizmo

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

HP updates 15.4-inch Spectre x360 with Kaby Lake, fast charging, larger battery, 4K display, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C, starting at $1,280

More: Digital Trends, Laptop Mag, VentureBeat, PCWorld, and Engadget

Dave Gershgorn / Quartz:

Japanese insurance company to replace 34 claim staff with IBM Watson Explorer in January for $1.7M up front, $128K/year, saving $1.1M /year in employee salaries — Most of the attention around automation focuses on how factory robots and self-driving cars may fundamentally change our workforce …

More: The Mainichi, Silicon Republic, and SiliconANGLE. Thanks:@ravichandrans25

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Asus debuts the compact VR-ready VivoPC X desktop with i5 Kaby Lake, Nvidia GTX 1060, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, coming in March for $799 — One of the big drawbacks of VR is having to set up a headset close to a big and powerful gaming PC. Asus is trying to address that with a compact desktop PC that's designed …

More: ZDNet, Engadget, Windows Central, Liliputing, UploadVR, and Laptop Mag

Nick Statt / The Verge:

ASUS updates its ZenBook models, Transformer Pro 2-in-1, three new versions of its Zen AiO all-in-one desktop, and more with Intel's Kaby Lake chips

More: PCWorld, Windows Central, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, AnandTech, AnandTech, VentureBeat, PCWorld, On MSFT, Liliputing, Forbes, Wccftech, HotHardware, Auto World News, GameSpot, and ExtremeTech

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Intel takes 15% stake in HERE to develop autonomous positioning systems based on Intel tech; terms undisclosed but stake worth $390M at 2015 HERE sale valuation — Here, the mapping and location services company once owned by Nokia and sold for €2.5 billion to a car-maker consortium of Audi …

More: Intel Newsroom, Engadget, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, Recode, Reuters, and HERE

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Dell updates Inspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop and Alienware's 13-inch, 15-inch, 17-inch models with Intel's Kaby Lake chips — Dell is launching four new gaming laptops today based on Intel's newest Kaby Lake processors. — The Round Rock, Texas-based company unveiled the laptops at CES 2017 …

More: The Verge, Laptop Mag, Digital Trends, and Inquirer

Mark Spoonauer / Laptop Mag:

Dell's XPS 13 2-in-1 starts at $1K, has compact fanless design, fingerprint reader, support for optional stylus, and decent battery life of about 8.5 hours

More: Windows Blog, The Verge, Windows Central, TechCrunch, Laptop Mag, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, InfoWorld, Engadget, Inquirer, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, ZDNet, Tom's Hardware, The Next Web, SiliconANGLE, Liliputing, ITworld.com, and Gotta Be Mobile

Tweets: @mims, @stevesi, and @vladsavov

Thanks:@mspoonauer

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:

Dish's AirTV set-top box provides 4K streaming for Sling TV, Netflix, and YouTube, also has an over-the-air antenna for live TV — Finding quality 4K content is still rather difficult, but that isn't keeping hardware manufacturers from building devices to support the format.

More: Android Police, PCWorld, Gizmodo, BGR, 9to5Google, Android Authority, Recode, TechCrunch, Android Central, and The Verge. See also Mediagazer

The Verge:

What to expect at CES 2017: a deluge of wireless audio and VR devices, drones, TVs, and self-driving cars — TVs, drones, and self-driving cars invade Las Vegas — It's that time again: the holidays are over, a fresh year is on the calendar, and it's time for the annual gadget bacchanalia …

More: Associated Press, PE Hub Blog, and eMarketer and Newsroom Posts. Thanks:@ravichandrans25. See also Mediagazer

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