Highlights From Consumer Electronics Show

*The G6 is the latest flagship TV of LG Electronics. Photo: beck/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images *

**A Tale of Two TVs **

(Wall Street Journal) Television technology made progress at both the high and low ends at the Consumer Electronics Show. LG unveiled a new version of its OLED 4K TV, which consistently wins accolades for more accurately showing dark scenes than traditional LCD screens. This year’s top LG, called the G6, can make its pixels significantly brighter than last year’s model, meaning more lifelike images. It is also the first to support both Dolby Vision and HDR10, which refers to high-dynamic range video.

Exact pricing on this spare-no-expense set will come later in the year, but it is replacing a model that currently sells for $6,000 at retail. On the other end of the price spectrum, a standout came from up-and-coming Chinese maker Hisense. In April, the H8, a 55-inch 4K TV with some limited HDR content support will sell for $700.

—Geoff Fowler

Snowden in Vegas

Edward Snowden, at risk of arrest if he enters the U.S., appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show anyway—courtesy of a robot-like device called Beam that uses a technology called telepresence.

Edward Snowden appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show, courtesy of a robot-like device called Beam. Photo: Don Clark/The Wall Street Journal

The controversial former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower appeared virtually at the booth of Suitable Technologies Inc., maker of Beam, where he was interviewed by Peter Diamandis, founder of Xprize Foundation and executive of chairman of Silicon Valley’s Singularity University.

Mr. Snowden noted that the U.S. government canceled his passport when he went to Russia in 2013. “Yet here I am sitting here in Las Vegas at CES,” he said.

—Don Clark

Intel Looks to New Tech for Franchises

Chip giant Intel Corp.INTC-3.75% is investing heavily in developing technology for devices like drones, hoping to build new franchises beyond PC processors. It gave a glimpse Tuesday night at how far the technology has come.

*Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich displays a Yuneec’s Typhoon H drone that can follow a biker on a mock trail and take a video of the action.Photo:Ethan Miller/Getty Images *

CEO Brian Krzanich, in a speech last year, showed how high-end drones could use an Intel camera technology called RealSense to avoid obstacles without human assistance. This year, Mr. Krzanich demonstrated how a new consumer-targeted drone from Yuneec called Typhoon H could also follow a biker on a mock-up of a forest path, while taking video of the action. “Any other commercial drone out there would have crashed into a tree,” Mr. Krzanich said.

—Don Clark

LG Display Shows ‘Rollable’ Screens

LG Display Co.LPL-2.42%, which makes display panels for smartphone and TV makers, used CES to begin showing potential clients a prototype of a “rollable” display—an 18-inch film-like sheet of plastic substrate that can roll up like a newspaper.

While the prototype is still several years from commercialization, LG Display is hoping to spark ideas for how it can be used by device makers like Apple Inc.AAPL-4.22% Rollable displays are an intermediate step for panel makers like LG Display and crosstown rival Samsung Display Co., which eventually hope to make bendable displays.

—Jonathan Cheng

IBM’s Watson Helps Humanoid Robot

International Business Machines Corp.IBM-1.71%, pivoting back toward consumer applications, hopes to play a role providing data services in connection with gadgets like connected kitchen appliances and fitness monitors. But a star of its CES show was a robot.

Virginia Rometty, IBM’s CEO, and Kenichi Yoshida, vice president of business development for SoftBank Robotics, interact with Pepper the humanoid robot.Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News

Virginia Rometty, IBM’s CEO, hosted a demonstration of a robot called Pepper whose performance is enhanced with the company’s Watson data-analytics software. The robot was built by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.9984-0.97%

Pepper, billed as the world’s first robot capable of understanding human emotions, has been a hot item since becoming available to Japanese consumers in June 2015. It has a bit of an attitude, answering “bummer” to one question put to it Wednesday.

—Don Clark and Alexander Martin