CES 2017 press day 2: How to watch Samsung, Sony and more, live

Today's the day. The cream of the world's tech industry has gathered in Las Vegas to bet big on their newest, coolest -- and weirdest -- new products at CES 2017. Today, Wednesday, is press day, which means we have a packed schedule of press conferences and announcements to look forward to.

Here's what's happening in Vegas today that definitely won't stay in Vegas. And if you couldn't make it to Sin City you can still get lucky by following the announcements live.

LG (8am PT / 11am ET) The Korean manufacturer was one of the first to take flight this year with a floating speaker. It's also floating the idea of various smart home appliances, smartphones with styluses, 4K monitors and wireless headphones. Bonus: robots! Watch it live.

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LG's floating speaker hovers as if by magic.

Photo by HJK

Samsung has 5 million Gear VR headsets in the real world

Samsung announced today at CES 2017 that it's shipped more than 5 million Gear VR headsets to consumers globally.

The virtual reality Gear headset is a joint venture between the South Korean tech company and Oculus, the Facebook-owned VR pioneer. Unlike the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, Samsung's VR headset doesn't have its own internal projectors. Instead, like the Google Daydream, there's a cradle for your phone and it uses that screen.

 

Samsung takes wraps off $150 million fund for early startups

Are you building the next big thing in virtual reality, artificial intelligence or the internet of things? If so, you probably would be interested in the $150 million fund announced Wednesday by Samsung Next, formerly known as the Samsung Global Innovation Center.

The latest fund targets pre-seed (typically used to build a core team and initial prototypes) to series B investments, David Eun, president and founder of Samsung Next, said in a statement from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Samsung's venture arm on Wednesday also announced its rebranded name and new website.

 

Walmart's Jet buys ShoeBuy in push versus Amazon's Zappos

Jet.com, the Amazon rival owned by retailing giant Walmart, bought online footwear retailer ShoeBuy for $70 million, the company said Thursday.

The move underscores Walmart's continued push against Amazon, owner of online shoe store Zappos. The biggest retailer in the world, Walmart made online expansion its priority last year, taking over Jet for $3.3 billion and setting up a plan to invest billions more into e-commerce while cutting down new store openings.

​After Uber brouhaha, CA looks to tighten self-driving car law

Uber flouted California law and rolled out its self-driving cars to passengers in San Francisco last month, without a permit from the state. Now, some local legislators are taking measures, in the name of safety, to ensure no company does that again.

Assembly member Phil Tang introduced a state bill on Thursday that would give the California Department of Motor Vehicles more ways to go after companies that illegally operate autonomous vehicles.