It’s the beginning of the new year, which means that CES 2016 is underway.
The world’s innovators have gathered in Las Vegas once again for the premiere technology expo.
At this year’s CES, 3,600 presenters are exhibiting gadgets, software, services and innovations that they believe will take off in a big way in 2016.
Like every CES, there will be a mix of amazing, intriguing and downright ridiculous technology.
Here, you can check out the highlights — and low-lights — as CNNMoney catalogs CES 2016.
Super-fast Internet is coming over your phone line
Today, you have a choice between cable broadband Internet, which is expensive, or DSL Internet over your phone line, which is slow.
But soon, a new technology will be coming to your home that will offer Google Fiber-like speeds right over your phone line. It’s called G.Fast, and Israeli chipmaker Sckipio is showing off the powerful technology at CES this year.
In a demonstration for CNNMoney, Sckipio showed off download speeds of nearly 750 megabits per second traveling over a standard phone line. That’s 50 times faster than the broadband that you probably have coming into your home right now.
The promise of G.Fast is to offer an alternative to your broadband company. The technology will give your telephone provider the ability to offer even faster speeds than cable — and they won’t have to dig up holes in your yard to do it.
Sckipio says the G.Fast technology will debut in the United States later this year.
AT&T Mobility CEO: ‘Not just about offering the cheapest service’
In a dig at T-Mobile, AT&T Mobility CEO Glenn Lurie told CNNMoney that being the best wireless carrier is about more than having the lowest price.
“From the time you get up to time you go to bed, you’ll get an integrated experience with AT&T,” Lurie said. “Your videos will work seamlessly with your phone, car or at work. All these inanimate objects around you will start to take care of you.”
AT&T is investing heavily in building up its Internet of Things offerings by partnering with the governments of Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas to make their infrastructure wireless. One day, Lurie says AT&T will let people in those cities know where traffic congestion is happening, where the nearest parking spaces are, when there is an emergency, and even whether their water is safe to drink.
With AT&T powering DirecTV, wireless connections in cars and millions of smartphones, the company is developing massive scale that it says separates it from the competition.
“It’s not just about offering the cheapest service,” Lurie said. “The others we’re competing with are single-play players.”