CES roundup: Samsung and 4K TVs were the stars of 2015 - and Audi beat BMW in the battle of the smart cars
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Despite the plethora of weird and wonderful gadgets from the world's best startups, the most talked about brand of CES was tech giant Samsung.
It featured in more than double the number of tweets than any other brand, including Panasonic and Intel.
While the most talked about trend of this year's show was 4K TVs - with Sony, Samsung and LG all releasing models featuring the super high-resolution display technology.
Despite the plethora of weird and wonderful gadgets from the world's best startups, the most talked about brand of CES was Samsung. It featured in significantly more tweets than any other brand, including Panasonic and Intel. The most talked about trend of this year's show was 4K TVs
Hotwire's Insights and Analytics team analysed tweets posted using the hashtag #CES015.
Its findings revealed that one in three tweets mentioned Samsung.
And with 18,643 tweets in total, this was more than double the number of the second most talked-about brand, Panasonic.
Samsung announced a washing machine with a sink on the top called ActiveWash, a range of 4K and HD TVs that will run the Tizen operating system, and demonstrated its virtual reality headset at the show.
By comparison, Panasonic unveiled a concept in-flight entertainment system that features a seatback system that automatically recognises passengers as they board the aircraft.
It then shows movies they might like, or have pre-selected.
Panasonic also unveiled a range of 4K TVs.
4K, also known as 4K ultra HD TV, is the next stage in television picture quality.
A 4K ultra HD TV picture is 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, more than 8 million pixels in total, which is four times the number in 'normal' high-definition (1,920 x 1,080).
Intel unveiled a host of products, including a tiny wearable computer, called Curie, that is the size of a small button.
It also demonstrated the reversible Type-C USB cable on its stand, as well as dancing, spider-like robots called Hexapods that run on Intel processors.
And this saw a total of 7,444 tweets being posted mentioning the Californian tech giant.
In the battle of the car makers, Audi beat BMW with 3,966 mentions compared to 1,083 respectively.
Hotwire's Insights and Analytics team analysed tweets posted using the hashtag #CES015. It revealed that one in three tweets mentioned Samsung (its new range of household appliances pictured), and with 18,643 tweets in total, this was more than double the number of the second most talked-about brand, Panasonic
Samsung announced a washing machine with a sink on the top called ActiveWash, a range of 4K and HD TVs that will run the Tizen operating system, and demonstrated its virtual reality headset during the show
During the show, Audi announced that it had sent its self-driving A7, called Jack, on a 550-mile (885km) journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
The firm also teased its first smartwatch.
Audi board member Dr Ulrich Hackenberg used the watch to summon a self-driving car to the stage using an LG smartwatch.
The watch is said to have been built in partnership with LG and runs a version of Android Wear.
The German auto giant calls its self-driving technology Piloted Driving, and insisted the sensors and equipment demonstrated in the vehicle are 'production ready'.
In terms of trends, 4K TVs took the top spot with 15,912 tweets. This was ahead of wearables on 3,998 mentions. Sony's new KD-65X9000C 4K TV, announced at the show, will run Google's Android TV software and is just 0.2-inch thick. The firm boasted the TV set is slimmer than its smartphone
Werables at this year's CES ranged from smart dog collars (pictured left), to cycling helmets, new fitness trackers from the likes of Garmin and InBody (right), and even a belt that shames you into losing weight
As a result, the company claims it is on course to put driverless cars into commercial production as soon as next year.
BMW showed that its i3 electric car could find a parking space by itself and keep a driver from hitting obstacles.
The German car maker also demonstrated an M4 with laser headlights. These lights project beams as far as 650 yards (1,950ft) in front of the car.
LG also made the top 10 list - in seventh place - after it announced a range of household products, TVs, software and phones.
The LG Styler wardrobe, for example, is fitted with LG's Clothes Care System, designed to refresh clothes without water or detergents using its TrueSteam technology.
This consists of hot steam spray technology, which LG uses in washers and dryers, and is said to get rid of 99.9 per cent of the germs and bacteria.
And the South Korean firm also announced its next-generation curved phone, the LG G Flex 2, as well as expanded its 4K OLED TV range.
In terms of trends, behind 4K TVs in the top spot was wearables with 3,998 mentions on Twitter.
This ranged from dog collars, to smart cycling helmets, new fitness trackers from the likes of Garmin, and even a belt that shames you into losing weight.
This was a separate trend to smartwatches, which was in sixth place with 1,087 tweets.
The Internet of Things (IoT) was a popular trend during CES, and was mentioned 3,816 times during the week-long show in Las Vegas.
In the battle of the car makers, Audi beat BMW with 3,966 mentions compared to 1,083 respectively. During the show, Audi announced that it had sent its self-driving A7, called Jack, on a 550-mile (885km) journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas
BMW showed that its i3 electric car could find a parking space by itself and keep a driver from hitting obstacles. The German car maker also demonstrated an M4 with laser headlights (pictured). These lights project beams as far as 650 yards (1,950ft) in front of the car
IOT is the idea of connecting everyday objects to the web, such as fridges, washing machines and coffee makers.
LG also made the top 10 list - in seventh place - after it announced a host of products including the dual-washing machine (pictured)
For example, the Wi-Fi Coffee Machine by Smarter announced at the show can be triggered, via a smartphone, to not only make you a hot drink tailored to your individual taste, it can have it ready for you before you even wake up.
Once it has ground the beans and boiled the water to a precise temperature, it will send an alarm to the phone to rouse the user.
During the show, Samsung's chief executive Boo-Keun Yoon said that in five years, every single one of Samsung's products will be an IoT device.
Samsung then said the company's new smart-home Hub will work even when it's offline, and that it plans to invest $100 million in the development of IoT apps.
The AllSeen Alliance additionally announced it had developed a protocol that will make connecting devices together safer and more secure.
Chip maker Qualcomm has been working on a similar scheme, known as AllJoyn, that makes it easier to connect various web-enabled devices together on one network.
Qualcomm and Microsoft are among the tech firms that are supporting the AllSeen Alliance.
And following on from the Audi and BMW announcements, as well as demonstrations from Toyota, Renovo and Elio, the word 'car' was the fourth most talked-about trend of the show, with 2,552 tweets.
Hotwire's Alex Maclaverty said: 'As brands, vendors, media and increasingly tech-savvy consumers head to Vegas for inspiration around the hottest gadgets for 2015, social media continues to be the best way to follow the event.
'We're quite used to improvements in the television viewing experience, so, for me, the most exciting technologies are all about how the internet of things - particularly through wearables and the connected car - will revolutionise the way we run our lives.
'Perhaps 2015 will be the year we set ourselves to "automatic" mode.'
Put the internet to work for you.
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