NEW YORK – From the face scanner that will check in some attendees to the cameras-everywhere array of digital products, the CES gadget show is all-in on surveillance technology -- whether it calls it that or not. Nestled in the "smart home" and "smart city" showrooms at the sprawling Las Vegas consumer tech conference are devices that see, hear and track the people they encounter. Some of them also analyze their looks and behavior. The technology on display includes eyelid-tracking car dashboard cameras to prevent distracted driving and "rapid DNA" kits for identifying a person from a cheek swab sample. All these talking speakers, doorbell cameras and fitness trackers come with the promise of making life easier or more fun, but they're also potentially powerful spying tools.

Beyond streaming, expect to see artificial intelligence-infused home appliances, security cameras and cars, new gadgets that show what faster 5G cellular service can offer and, as always, the newest in robots and souped-up TVs. Speakers this week include Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, and Hyunsuk Kim, Samsung's head of consumer electronics. As technology increasingly infuses our lives, more traditional companies are showing up for the Las Vegas event. CES has hosted previous attempts to set out a road map for TV. At the 2015 show, satellite TV company Dish announced a cheaper, cable-like package of TV channels delivered over the internet and intended for cord-cutters .

LAS VEGAS - Once confined to the realms of science fiction, translation devices that whisper discreetly into your ear during a conversation are finally coming of age thanks to leaps in AI and cloud computing. An array of companies at the Consumer Electronics Show are promoting increasingly sophisticated devices that allow people speaking different languages to converse with the help of handheld devices or wireless earpieces. Waverly Lab's Pilot headphones translate 15 languages and are priced from $180 and $250. If each person in a conversation is wearing a Pilot, they can speak directly to one another using their own language. During a brief demonstration in Las Vegas, words from an AFP journalist speaking French were interpreted for the ears of English-speaking Andrew Ochoa, boss of Waverly Labs.

And John Deere has hauled in self-driving tractors and a 20-ton combine harvester aided by artificial intelligence. The combine has cameras with computer-vision technology to track the quality of grain coming into the machine so that its kernel-separating settings can be adjusted automatically. Farmers can monitor it remotely using a smartphone app.

The CES 2019 gadget show is revving up in Las Vegas, bringing the latest in consumer technology from all around the world. So far this year, the show floor appears less dominated by TVs and is leaning more toward the overall smart home, with everything from high-tech beauty devices to smart showers and aroma systems. A slew of adorable home robots were also on display, with many geared toward introducing children to STEM concepts early on. Codi an AI enabled toy robot from Pillar Learning is seen at CES Unveiled 2019 at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday January 6, 2019 Much like last year, sales in smart devices are expected to grow in 2019; so far, the Consumer Technology Association predicts nearly 37 million Amazon Echoes, Google Homes and other smart speakers will be sold this year in the U.S.. This marks a 5 percent increase from a year ago.

The head of Intel aims to steer the company toward new business in self-driving cars, virtual reality and other cutting-edge technologies. Though first it may have to pull out of a skid caused by a serious security flaw in its processor chips, which undergird many of the world's smartphones and personal computers. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich opened his keynote talk Monday at the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas by addressing the hard-to-fix flaws disclosed by security researchers last week. He says there have been no known attempts to exploit the flaws, which affect processors built by Intel and other chipmakers. He says Intel aims to fix the problem in the coming week for 90 percent of its processors built in the last 5 years, and the rest of those processors by the end of the month.

Cuddly robots just do not want to work for their corporate masters at the CES gadget show this year. Earlier in the day, LG's voice-activated counter-top bot CLOi experienced an early-morning hearing problem on stage. Then Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai experienced his own lack of robot love. Sony announced in November that it was reincarnating its Aibo pet dog. On Monday, Hirai braved the CES stage with what was supposed to be a working model, explaining that the dog-bot would soon become a member of the family -- at least for those lucky enough to order one.

HTC is upgrading its headsets for exploring virtual worlds. HTC says the new Vive Pro has better resolution and audio and weighs less than its existing VR model. The Taiwanese company hasn't yet revealed cost or shipping dates. The Vive competes with Facebook's Oculus among high-end systems. They require powerful personal computers to run and haven't been as widely used as cheaper headsets that use smartphones, including Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream.

Automotive supplier Bosch wants to help guide drivers to vacant parking spots in more than a dozen U.S. cities this year. The German company says it's been testing its "community-based parking" initiative in Stuttgart and other German cities and will launch it later this year in as many as 20 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Miami and Boston. The company says it will be working with automakers on the initiative but didn't say which ones. As cars drive by, they will automatically recognize and measure gaps between parked cars and transmit that data to a digital map. The company has been pushing a number of smart-city projects, including internet-connected sensors to monitor pollution, allergens and flooding.

Toyota says it's developing self-driving mini-buses that can serve as bite-sized stores. These vehicles will drive themselves to places where potential buyers can try on clothes or shoes or pick through flea market items. They can also give employees fully functional office space on their commute. The project, unveiled at the CES gadget show Monday, is still in the conceptual stage. A concept vehicle is still being developed and will be tested in the 2020s.