CES 2015 was the largest electronics show ever presented, it’s hard to describe the amount of innovation and technology available. Here are a few of the interesting things we saw:
1) Wearables played a huge role at the show, a large part of the floor was dedicated to fitness and mood monitoring devices. Connected to the internet they enable the owner to keep track of all sort of data regarding their level of fitness and amount of calories needed or spent, but now you can have a watch that also tells you when you are stressed; obviously, when necessary you will receive a vibrating alert
2) A most amazing example is the “Dash” from bragi.com: a completely wireless in-ear device that provides all sort of tracking and monitoring, can play music with or without a connection to your smartphone and will obviously work as a Bluetooth headphone and microphone when you need it to, it’s waterproof and engineered to stay in your ears in every situation, a truly amazing piece of technology, available for preorder at $299
3) Rollkers: these battery-powered wheeled soles slip onto your shoes, and they’re designed to get you where you’re going at over 10 km/h faster. They’re different from those other skates because they’re designed to kick in with your regular walking motion—a similar feeling to a moving walkway with no training or hospital visits required. Due in late 2015 price to be announced
4) You probably have heard of or seen a GoPro camera in action, it has set the standard for the first-person recording of active sports; at CES 2015 we had our own home-grown response showcasing their product a smaller HD camera that clips on your glasses to record whatever is happening to you. A young company with young enthusiastic South African entrepreneurs, more info on gecocam.com
5) Of course integration of technology and car manufacturing was a large part of the show, the amount of innovation is enormous but just to give you an idea Audi sent one of their cars from California to the CES show in Nevada about 700 km away, what is so amazing about it? Well, the car actually drove itself there, no pilot inside!
6) BMW say they are one or two years away from selling self-parking cars with dashboards controlled by hand gestures. In a demonstration on the top floor of a garage, a driver stepped out of his car and said “go park yourself” into his smartwatch, then looked on as the car quietly rolled itself into an open space. Another tap on his watch brought the car back.
7) XYZPrinting Food Printer: A 3-D printer that can print cookies! 3D printing has been growing steadily and has multiple applications, food won’t be the last one. With this printer, you can input designs via USB, or select one from XYZPrinting’s catalogue on its 5-inch touchscreen. They can be up to 200x150x150 mm in size and may need to be baked afterwards (unless you want to eat raw cookie dough).
8) Smart homes were featuring prominently with all sorts of accessories: a very interesting one is SNAP. An Indoor/Outdoor LED PAR lamp with integrated 720p HD IP Camera, microphone, and speaker. Supports cloud recording/playback, voice and motion activation, facial/activity recognition for home security, automation, and commercial applications. Screws in like a normal light bulb, connects to your wireless network and you are set!
9) What would this list be without one of the most coveted TV? The new Samsung’s 105-inch UN105S9B is the World’s first and largest bendable SUHD TV (Smart Ultra HD). With a 21:9 aspect ratio, true-to-life colour expression and high contrast, this groundbreaking model sets a new bar for the cinematic viewing experience at home.
10) Finally we know Johannesburg folks love their gardens and one thing essential in a garden is a proper irrigation system. At CES we saw a very smart one: smartdroplet.com, their tag line is “Cloud power on the end of a garden hose”. Now, this might sound like an unnecessary expense to you but it would actually pay for itself by saving up to 90% of your sprinkler water consumption by combining the latest technologies in robotics, cloud computing and connected devices. It sets up in minutes via your smartphone or tablet once connected to the water supply and will precisely direct the exact amount of water needed, at the right time of day up to a 9 mt distance.
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