Samsung shows business customers how to be high tech

The Korean electronics giant operates a showroom in New Jersey to demonstrate technology it has for hotels, financial firms, retailers, and other businesses.

Samsung's North American headquarters in Ridgefield Park, NJ, has an executive briefing center to show potential customers what they can do with Samsung electronics.Shara Tibken/CNET

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ -- Samsung's pretty sure it knows just what business customers need, and it's happy to show them.

The Korean electronics giant last year opened an "Executive Briefing Center" on the sixth floor of its North American headquarters in Ridgefield Park, NJ. The facility is used to show potential customers the sort of Samsung technology they can use to update their businesses. That includes everything from monitors that connect with tablets and smartphones to special screens that overlay displays to make them touch-compatible.

Samsung's briefing center doesn't just show the different technologies, but actually has them displayed in the sort of environment where they'd be used -- schools, medical centers, financial offices, hotels, and retailers. Visitors, which number in the hundreds each month, can use the vignettes to brainstorm, but they can't buy such solutions straight off the shelf.

Check out CNET's slideshow for your own personal tour:

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Samsung's slick 24-inch touch screen all-in-one

If you're looking for a traditional tower desktop at CES 2014, you're not going to find many, outside of a handful of business boxes and the occasional custom gaming rig. What you will find for desktops, however, is a bunch of what we call all-in-one desktops, which combine a display, stand, and internal components into a single monolithic unit.

Samsung's entry is the Ativ One 7 (2014 Edition). That name doesn't give you much of a hint as to the system's specs, most importantly that it's a 24-inch touch screen system.

The look is a bit different from other Ativ PCs, with a white, rounded-edge design Samsung says is inspired by the popular Galaxy line of products (I'm not sure why they don't just call it the Galaxy PC or something). Like most current all-in-one systems, the chassis has an HDMI input, which allows you to use the 1080p display as a standalone screen for external sources, such as a cable box or game console, and the screen has an anti-reflective coating in addition to a very wide viewing angle.

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung has enabled a few recent systems, including this one, to interact seamlessly with other Samsung ecosystem devices, including phones and tablets. Using the Samsung Link software, the One 7 can be a cloud hub, streaming local content to other Samsung devices, and BT Music Play 2.0 allows you to use the speakers for music, even when the computer is powered off.

Internally, no surprises. Current-gen Intel Core i3/i5 processors, integrated Intel graphics, and a combo hard drive with a 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD.

We don't currently have a release date or price for the Ativ One 7, but will offer an update when that's available.

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Google unveils Android Wear, its modified OS for wearables

Google is partnering up with HTC, LG, Samsung, and others for the first phase of its Android Wear wearables push: smartwatches.

Google is dipping its toes into the wearables world with Android Wear.

In a blog post on Tuesday, the Internet titan unwrapped the details of a modified version of its mobile Android operating system. The OS will be heavily based on its Google Now voice-recognition technology, and it's designed to be applied to wearables, with the initial push being smartwatches.

Google also introduced LG, Asus, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung as hardware partners to utilize Android Wear, and Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, MediaTek, and Qualcomm as chip partners. The Fossil Group will bring Android Wear-powered watches later this year.

CNET previously reported that Google would release the details of its smartwatch-centric OS in March. The report also noted LG and Google would unveil a smartwatch at the Google I/O developer conference, and a person briefed on the matter confirmed that LG would indeed be the first partner to have its smartwatch go on sale.

Google's entry marks an attempt to provide a little stability and order in the wild, wild wearables world. Samsung and Sony have already created their own Android-based smartwatches (although Samsung has recently switched to Tizen), and Google is looking to set up a foundation with a more consistent experience, just as it has attempted to do over the last few iterations of Android in smartphones.

Google also wants Android Wear to serve as a link between you and other devices, including your television or computer.

Hopefully, Google's input will help with the aesthetic appeal of smartwatches. While wearables is considered a "hot" area, sales have been anything but. Samsung's originalGalaxy Gear and Sony's SmartWatch remain niche products, and they are seen as too bulky and cumbersome to be considered fashionable. Other complaints include weak battery life and the lack of certain functions.

Still, there are a number of startups that have sprung up in hopes of meeting this new demand for fashionable technology. Pebble, for instance, has grown from virtually nothing to making headlines at a big conference such as the Consumer Electronics Show.

Google has opened up a section on wearables, and developers can download a developer preview to create app notifications for watches through Android Wear. The company teased more developer resources and APIs to come.

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