CES 2018 — The Highlight Collection
Up to speed with Tech
By Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT
Last week, CES went down in Las Vegas. It’s one of the largest conferences of the world, and for 50 years it has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies . Again CES provided a global stage for next-generation innovations. It’s really hard to make a choice from all the amazing products and solutions that have been shown, but here’s a small curated collection of some top highlights:
The thinnest Laptop ever
If I wasn’t totally into Apple, I’d surely want an Acer Swift 7. The ultra portable notebook is the thinnest laptop in the world, and with a weight of only 1150gr it makes commuting and travelling much lighter. It’s literally flat as a ball pen:
The smart debit- and credit card with a cellphone antenna inside
Dynamics Inc. and Sprint announced a reprogrammable debit- and credit card. This card can be (re-)programmed on the fly via mobile networks.
The cellphone antenna in the card let’s it communicate directly with the bank, so in fact the bank knows where you are. This can come in handy for things like getting a card replaced, sending special offers directly to the card, downloading a new card’s security information, or locking an account in the case of an emergency.
The card is the same size and shape as a normal credit card, but it has almost 200 internal parts including a cellphone chip and antenna, a battery and organic recharging chip for self-charging, a programmable magnetic strip, EMV chip, and contactless chip. Card profiles can be downloaded onto the card, and the card’s magnetic strip, EMV, and contactless chip can be programmed with the new data. The card has a 65,000-pixel display and UI, so a user can switch between different cards and screens.
Byton’s Concept Electric Car
This Electric car opens with face recognition and has no side mirrors anymore. It uses cameras instead. The most special thing about it, is that it’s modular, so you could for example upgrade the motor.
Byton’s presentation of their new concept electric car was focused on our most precious commodity: time. Built as a smart device, the Byton concept is an electric car focused on connectivity and autonomous mobility; In fact it’s more a digital space than a car. The passengers will be able to optimise the use of their time during the journey:
Preventing skin cancer: L’Oréal’s wearable UV sensor
This is a great innovation when it comes to our health. L’Oréal has teamed up with designer Yves Béhar to create a wearable 9x9 mm UV sensor, which you simply stick onto your nail to track sun exposure. The sensor comes with replaceable adhesives, so you can re-wear it, although you can snap it onto other items, like a watch or sunglasses.
The UV Sense will determine how long you’ve been outside, and once synced with your app, provides a score that says whether you’re spending too much time in the sun. The amount of sun everyone can handle varies, so it’ll ask you some initial questions about your skin tone to set a baseline. Of course, the app also recommends products based off your skin score. It’ll suggest its own products along with more general advice.
Influencers might love Ace Eyewear
Acton, best know for their electric skateboards, came up with Ace Eyewear. These sunglasses record video like Snapchat’s Spectacles, but can post straight to Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. You can do a lot with it. Post photos, videos , Wide angel images (180 angle) and even a continuous 40mts HD video livestream.
Must-have travel mugs
There are two smart travel mugs, and I can’t choose which one I need to have.
The Ember Travel Mug for ideal drinking temperature is now available at Starbucks in the US and Canada. The company is expending now to bring the product to Europe:
Or rather this one, called „the Swiss Army knife of heated travel mugs“ by Engadget.
Cauldryn Coffee is showing off its modular coffee cup that promises to revolutionise the way we carry around beverages. At its heart, is the coffee mug itself, which comes with a heating element in its base and a plug for an external battery.
The whopping battery is capable of keeping a beverage hot for up to 10 hours at a time or charging your smartphone a couple of times. But when you’ve got a battery of that size, there are plenty of other things that you can do with it, like attach a blender attachment to grind your coffee beans or make smoothies.
From Dutch grounds: Recording missed moments on video
Amsterdam based Roader came up with the Time Machine Camera. This camera, which you just wear around your neck, is buffering all day. Imagine you see something you’d like to keep, it simply goes back 10 seconds in time and records what you wanted to see.
Phantom: The first remote controlled car
This is an innovation which looks weird to me. Phantom Auto presented a self-driving car, which can be remote-controlled. What’s the point then? It has been demonstrated during CES, with the car being in Las Vegas, but the driver was in California. So that’s definitely special, although I think I could also just drive myself then? See for yourself what you think of this:
The very smart bike helmet
This is the helmet you want to wear when cycling: The Coros Omni smart cycling helmet is high-tech sports gear designed to help riders get the most enjoyment, freedom, and awareness out of their ride while enhancing safety and performance. It features bone-conduction audio technology, automatic tail lights, and even a crash sensor which sends a message to your emergency contact with map pin, telling that the helmet has been compromised. Sounds like a smart investment to me:
So cute and no poop
Is has been a hit beginning of the century and now made its comeback: Sony’s robot-dog aibo. aibo can form an emotional bond with members of the household while providing them with love, affection, and the joy of nurturing and raising a companion.
As it interacts with people over time, aibo’s behaviour slowly changes and adapts in response to its unique environment. It eventually becomes able to respond to its owners’ affection in kind, and when it feels loved, it will display even more love and affection in return, nurturing a bond that only deepens as time goes on.
These perpetual changes are brought about through Sony’s unique AI technology, which allows aibo to interface with the cloud. aibo’s AI learns from interactions with its owners and develops a unique personality over time. Further, with its owners’ permission, aibo can collect data from these interactions, then connect to the cloud and access the knowledge accumulated from interactions between different owners and their aibo to become even more clever.
I can’t help it but I’m still more into this one:
When the bell rings…
This is 1 of he top 5 connected home products in US and UK, brought to you by Ring. You can see and talk to whoever is at your door from wherever you are in the world. So imagine you are in a traffic jam and the courier is in front of your door… you can just tell him where to leave that package — and more:
Already my favourite: AfterShokz Trekz Air.
The Trekz Air are a pair of wireless headphones that wrap around the back of your neck and AfterShokz, their manufacturer, are keen to stress that the technology has come on a lot, and now doesn’t mean sacrificing bass:
Time to cuddle up and get entertained
Samsung has debuted a 146-inch TV at CES that the company calls The Wall, which sports modular MicroLED technology.
That means the size of the TV can actually change to fit your room better by removing or adding pieces. Samsung says the adaptability is possible through MicroLED, which are smaller than LEDs and self-sufficient as a light source.
Great prototype: The LG 65-inch OLED TV rolls up like a giant newspaper
LG Display’s demo showed a couple of neat uses of the tech: with the press of a button, the TV would sink down just enough to shift its aspect ratio from 16:9 to the cinematic 21:9, meaning you can enjoy your ultra-wide movies without the need for any black bars at all. With another press of the remote control, the panel sinks even deeper into its base box, leaving only a wide strip at the top that can be used to show smart home information, music controls, or whatever other ambient updates you want to see.
There’s no price or availability to speak of here, because this is still only a prototype looking for a TV brand to pick it up and try to sell it as a retail product. But it’s a very, very special prototype.
CES Innovation Awards
As many fairs and congresses, also CES is featuring an innovation award.
Here are the highlights of this year’s winners:
So there are lot of great innovations to watch out for. This tastes like more. CES 2019, here I come.
