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CES 2017 preview: What to expect from the world’s most important electronics show

Welcome to a special CES 2017 preview edition of DT Daily. We’re here to get you up to speed on some of the biggest tech you can expect to see coming out of Las Vegas next Wednesday through Sunday. In a nutshell, the show will be dominated by a few key acronyms/buzzwords: 4K, AI, VR, 5G and Hi-Res Audio.

Yeah, you’ve seen the High-Res Audio banner waved before, but the Digital Entertainment Group – that’s all the major record labels and most major electronics manufacturers all in cahoots – has huge plans for this year’s CES, with a big symposium, a booth with non-stop demonstrations, and a host of forums moderated by DT’s own audiophile, Mike Mettler. Expect digital music to change in a big way in 2017.

Alexa, Alexa, Alexa!

You can also expect to hear about Alexa over and over and over. Sure Google Home is in there fighting it out, but Amazon’s Alexa platform will be integrated into all kinds of products. You’ll be voice-activating your toilet in no time, believe us. And it’s the stuff you can’t imagine voice-controlling  that will really surprise you.

VR and AR make big plays in new ways

Virtual Reality and Augmented reality had their first big year at CES 2016, so you can expect to hear a lot about how VR can make everything better. Some of us are excited, some of us a little skeptical. Who will be able to convert the naysayers? That’s what we’re going to find out. Expect lots of video footage people looking funny in VR getups of all sorts. Yup, this is the look of the future people.

5G already?

Forget 4G, 5G is where cell networks are going, and we believe we’re going to see some of the first fully fleshed out 5G devices make an appearance at this year’s big show. Much will be saved to Mobile World Congress in February, but we’ll at least get a taste at CES, and it should set the mobile world abuzz.

Not just more 4K UHD TV

Finally, you didn’t think we’d get out of here without talking TV did you? For all the other gadgets on the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center, nothing dominates headlines like new TV tech, and trust me when we tell you we will be seeing some amazing new technologies at play.

We’ve seen it, and this will not be just another 4K year. We’re talking about real innovation and progress for displays that will trickle down to your computer monitors and phones down the road. Be excited. We know we are.

That’s it for our DT Daily CES preview. Stick with us as Digital Trends takes its biggest army of reporters yet to cover every corner of the show, bringing you the coolest and most meaningful tech innovations to be found. We’ll see ya there, and Happy New Year!

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