LG has revealed a consumer version of its roll-up TV set at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. The Signature OLED TV R is built on a concept unveiled last year, in which the screen retracts into a base when not in use so it is less obtrusive. LG plans to sell the device in the US before the end of 2019, but has yet to reveal the month or price. Experts say the technology is unlikely to become a mass-market proposition for many years to come. "It's a 4K set rather than 8K, so you could argue there's a compromise there - but otherwise this is a very high-end design that is going to be very costly," commented Jack Wetherill from the consultancy Futuresource.

LG is hopping on the home-brewing bandwagon. At CES on Monday morning, the firm unveiled its first beer-making appliance, which will let users brew their own IPAs, pale ales, and malt beverages'with little more than the push of a button.' LG also kicked off its CES presence by revealing its 2019 TVs, including a jaw-dropping new 8K model and its highly-anticipated rollable OLED TV. And, the firm teased its ambitious plans to launch 5G connectivity in its devices before 2020, with its first 5G phone set to be unveiled at LG's Las Vegas keynote Monday night. Onstage in Las Vegas, LG and Qualcomm promised 5G will soon be hitting devices, claiming firms who aim for a 2020 rollout of the technology are'definitely going to be too late.'

It's standing room only in a swirly-carpeted room at the conference centre attached to the Mandalay Bay hotel – yes, that one – in Las Vegas. "CES 2017 brought the whoa," appears on screen, followed by a sequence of fast-cut shots of robots, drones and VR headsets. So get ready for more whoa than ever before." If this year's Consumer Electronics Show is anything to go by, it's less "whoa, that's awesome" and more "whoa there, do we really need this?" The annual tech trade show seems less about real innovation breakthroughs solving unmet needs and more about incrementally improved nice-to-haves for the 1%. The technology industry does not appear to have learned from all of the soul-searching it did last year in the wake of the demise of companies like Juicero, which made a $400 internet-connected juice-maker that attracted $120m in funding. The company folded six months after Bloomberg showed that its pre-portioned fruit and veg packets could be squeezed just as effectively by hand.

A robot that is supposed to deliver "innovative convenience" repeatedly malfunctioned during an on-stage demonstration at the CES 2018 technology show. LG's AI-powered bot ignored multiple requests from the presenter, drawing nervous laughter from some members of the audience. It responded with total silence when LG's vice president of US marketing, David VanderWaal, asked it a series of questions it was clearly supposed to be capable of answering. "Today I'm going to demonstrate how LG AI is making people's lives easier and better, both in the home and outside," said Mr VanderWaal, before introducing a robot that is powered by a voice assistant called CLOi. The robot subsequently greeted him and successfully answered a question about Mr VanderWaal's schedule.

LAS VEGAS – The smartphones and other small machines that used to dominate the annual Consumer Electronics Show have been overshadowed in recent years by bigger mobile devices: namely, automobiles. Major automakers like Toyota, Kia, Hyundai and Ford have a noticeable presence at this week's tech showcase in Las Vegas, though most save more practical announcements about new cars, trucks and SUVs for the upcoming Detroit auto show. CES has been a chance for carmakers and suppliers of automotive parts and software to display their wilder and far-out ideas. A Chinese company, Byton, has unveiled an attention-grabbing concept electric SUV with futuristic features. Nvidia announced it's teaming up to help Uber develop self-driving taxis.

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.