Christmas shopping, holidays, CES 2014. That's how we're splitting up the next three months as we prepare for a whirlwind of feasting, wrapping paper and the hottest tech on the planet.
With an eye on those crazy days in January, we're readying ourselves for a glut of phones, tablets, laptops, gaming tech, TVs, wearables, refrigerators and whatever other home appliances companies can stick a computer into.
From January 7 to January 10, CES 2014 will invade the Las Vegas Convention Center per usual, and we're gearing up to see everything from "must have" to "please, get that away from me." There are the usual Day One keynotes and press events on January 6, plus several pre-show going-ons on January 5 that we'll be covering, too.
Below you'll find the latest inklings of what we expect from the upcoming show. We'll regularly refresh this page, so check back during the coming months for all the latest about the most high-profile tech show of the year.
Samsung to show new Galaxy phones?
Samsung hardly misses the chance to shine a spotlight on itself, and its presence at CES 2013 was no different. We saw Youm, its flexible display tech prototype, more TVs than need be listed here and former President Bill Clinton. So yes, Samsung left an impression.
For 2014, we're zeroing in on two bits of consumer tech in particular: the Galaxy Round and Galaxy S5.
Reports suggest that with slowing sales of the Galaxy S4, Samsung has decided to push the Galaxy S5's release date up to a possible launch during CES 2014. With a potential 64-bit chip, new 16MP camera and all-metal body, consumers may forgive the oddly timed announcement and clamor for the new Android machine anyway.
As for the Galaxy Round, even though it's reportedly a prototype at this point, Samsung should have plenty to say on its ability to create bendy devices. We may hear about a full Round roll out, and possible more on Samsung's foldable phone-to-tablet and fold-in-two handset.
With LG nipping at its heals with the G Flex, Samsung's turn at CES should show us more on the flexible display front.
As for the rest of the tech, Sammy will likely unveil its latest and greatest television sets (Vegas turns into TV town during every CES), cameras, home appliances and laptops, but reports aren't yet firm for these categories just yet.
Holler at AMD's Kaveri APU, desktops and more
AMD revealed during its November APU13 Developer Summit that it has big plans in store for CES, specifically around its next-gen Kaveri APU.
The chipmaker said the HSA-featuring A-Series APU will have its "big coming out party" at the Vegas shindig, and we suspect AMD is planning plenty for its pre-show tech day.
Kaveri promises more compute power, namely by shifting more workload to the GPU. Running up to four Steamroller x86 CPU cores and up to eight Graphics Core Next GPU cores, Kaveri is AMD's biggest push yet into the heterogeneous system architecture space.
With the first Kaveri desktops launching January 14, we expect AMD and its OEMs to out a number of devices at the Vegas show.
What's more, the company has also unveiled the Beema and Mullins APUs. Designed for fanless tablets, 2-in-1 and notebooks, the APUs promise double the performance per watt than their predecessors. AMD said both chips will be on hand at CES 2014, so look for more on their performance (and how they stack up to competitors like Intel's Bay Trail), then.
Microsoft's bigger presence, but not triumphant return
"Microsoft is back at CES!" or so was the flavor of many headlines in early October. Turns out the company isn't making the spectacular CES splash it was made out to be, as it quickly downplayed its plans for the 2014 show to The Verge.
That's not to say Microsoft won't be out in force in LV, as the company confirmed it will have "a substantial set of rooms for meetings with our partners." It's in these rooms we expect OEMs and press alike to learn more about the adoption of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 RT, sales of Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, what's the score with Nokia and much more.
During CES 2013, Microsoft showed off a pre-production Surface Pro, and we'd be hard pressed to think it won't have a new piece of tablet, smartphone and/or phablet to generate some pre-release buzz.
Let's not rule out Microsoft hosting a press event or two, even though it's staying off the main keynote circuit.
Sony speaks to next-gen gadgets
Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai is slated to deliver a keynote address as part of the Tech Titans keynote series, "where CEOs from the most powerful companies in technology present their vision for revolutions in products, services and networks."
Sony will be coming off a holiday season high where it saw the release of the PS4, and with a few high-powered phones rumored for release in November, look for Hirai to drop sales figures and talk about Sony's role in pushing hardware innovation forward.
More to that point, the company is reportedly working on a virtual reality headset modeled in the vein of the Oculus Rift. According to Eurogamer, Sony's targeting a 2014 release for its VR dream.
A keynote where he's supposed to talk about his "vision for revolutions in products, services and networks?" Sounds like CES 2014 is a plausible place for next-gen PS4 accessory to rear its head.
Yahoo's rock star heading to Vegas
Marissa Mayer is another notable name, and so far the only woman, who will be joining Sony's Hirai and Intel's Brian Krzanich for a Tech Titan keynote.
It's likely she'll expand on her previous talks about Yahoo's mobile user growth, and imminent changes to Yahoo in general.
With all the new rollouts the company has already issued - like the new logo and email interface - we might even hear about a brand new project.
Time for LG to flex, go pixel-crazy
LG's CES 2014 press conference is on the docket for 8 a.m. PST/4 p.m. GMT/ on Monday, January 6 (3 a.m. Tuesday, January 7 in Australia). The company's CES 2013 keynote focused heavily on home appliances and TVs with a few general statements about the company's smartphone plans. We don't expect LG to deviate too far from this script, but there's one smartphone topic to keep an eye out for.
As we mentioned before, the company has announced its G Flex phone, a handset that actually bends when pressure is applied (and doesn't break, that's key). Look for a little chest-thumping on that front, especially as it didn't make much of it last year while Samsung wowed us with Youm. This time, the opportunity shouldn't be missed.
And much as we like the thought of sentient dishwashers, we'll be paying attention to what LG has to say on its CES bread-and-butter - TVs. Curved OLEDs were all the rage last year, so look for more of these, plus a possible 8K prototype. It'd be nice if we saw a price drop on the 4K TV front, but we won't hold our breath that LG or any other manufacturer is ready to do that just yet.
Steam Machines to become more than vapor
After much teasing throughout the years, Valve finally unveiled its concept for the console, called Steam Machines. After giving us previews of the Steam controller and Steam OS, Valve showed the first Steam Machine prototype on November 4.
Valve is sending the machine (with varying specs) out to 300 lucky beta testers this year, and word is CES 2014 will be the console's (make that consoles) biggest coming out party yet. The Seattle Times has word that various Steam Machines will be on display at the tech show, meaning we're in for not just one but several hands ons with these PC gaming wunderkinds.
It's looking more and more likely that we'll see Steam Machines in Vegas - in fact, we'll probably see a flood of different prototypes.
iBuyPower has already shown off its own versions of the boxes, which we're betting will make an appearance on the Vegas show floor.
Wearables and fitness tech ahoy
If the thought of computers and exercise seems like an oxymoron, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, fitness tech will see a much bigger presence during CES, with the Digital Fitness Area being expanded by 30% to include more space for new tech.
Though fitness bands like the Fitbit Force and Nike Fuelband are already familiar faces, we'll probably see more bands and other types of wearable tech battle it out for our attention.
Speaking of wearable tech, the Pebble made a splash at CES 2013 where its release was finally announced - cut to fall 2013 and a wave of others like the Sony Smartwatch 2, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Qualcomm Toq have joined the fancy watch scene. With rumors of the Google watch and Apple's iWatch hot on their heels, we definitely expect to see more smartwatches pop up during the show.
Seems like CES 2014 read our minds: There will definitely be an explosion of smartwatches on the Vegas showfloor in the form of a "WristRevolution" where everything from app-based programs to music players, health monitors and more will be shown off.
A few confirmed watch exhibitors will be Burg Limited, COOKOO, Dennco Brands, Kronoz LLC, MetaWatch, Neptune and Qualcomm Toq.
Beyond the wrist, high fashion - or just fashion in the form wearable tech - will also make waves. Karen Chupka, senior vice president of CES, said to look out for "... jackets that adjust based on outside temperatures to solar-charging handbags and more, innovations in wearable technology are shaping the [tech] industry" at the 2014 show.
Perhaps we'll see and try out functional and fashionable tech that we won't be too embarrassed to wear (looking at you, Google Glass).
Epson, best known for its printers, has revealed that it will be announcing "several new innovations in the wearable tech space," with a press conference planned for January 6 at 4 p.m. PST. The company already has some eyewear offerings, so we're intrigued what these new innovations could be. Our money is on another headset, especially one that's not as niche as its current products.
Intel on tablets, Haswell and Windows 8.1
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is on tap to deliver an opening keynote at 6:30 p.m. on January 6. With LG at 8 a.m. and Audi's Rupert Stadler at 8:30 p.m., it's going to be a long day.
But! Back to Intel. We expect the Krzanich and the Intel floor team to focus heavily on Haswell, Ultrabooks housing the battery-saving, power-boosting processor, and Windows 8.1 tablets bandying Bay Trail. In short, Intel should have quite a few new tablets as well as Ultrabooks, all centered around its own innards and Microsoft's latest OS.
The 3D printing explosion
It's not a tech expo without a 3D printing demo going on somewhere (see: IDF 2013), but CES 2014 is taking it to a whole new level with a larger-than-ever area dedicated to the machines that let you print your own bowls and vases.
According to CNET, Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronic Association, said on October 1 that the 3D printing tech zone is sold out for exhibitors. The area is meant to complement others dedicated to motion tech, robotics and more.
Bre Pettis, CEO and co-founder of MakerBot, will deliver a keynote address during the Leaders in Technology Dinner. Shapiro says we can expect, "... his [Pettis'] vision for how 3D printing will transform entrepreneurship, business and consumer opportunities in the year ahead."
Will we see the tech expand beyond printing do-dads, guns and heart valves? We hope to find out in Vegas.
Did we mention there will be TVs?
If there's one thing you can always count on seeing at CES, it's the beastly TVs that get bigger - and better - every year.
Ultra HD 4K TVs will be back on hand to look at (or look up at) during CES 2014. A quick refresher: Ultra HD aims to deliver four times the resolution of today's full High-Definition TVs, with more than eight million pixels of resolution. And because one-upmanish is always to be expected, 8K resolutions are sure to give the lights on the Strip a run for their money.
We expect the bigwigs - Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Sharp - plus smaller guys like Hisense to return in full form to show off bigger, better and brighter Ultra HD TVs.
We've already received an invitation to one TV maker's press conference on January 6, though we're sure Hisense will also discuss its foray into new devices, namely tablets.
For the audiophiles
Headphones are getting better every year, including fancy celebrity endorsed ones that will set you back quite a bit.
But we're sure there are bound to be cheaper headphones - and quite a lot of them - in Vegas.
In fact, we already know Soul by Ludacris will be on hand to demo athletic headphones "fit for professional athletes and active lifestyles," and might show up with a star or two.
Monster will also show off its headphones along with speaker docks and mobile accessories.