Last week marked my fifth time in Las Vegas to check out the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), deemed by fellow tech geeks as the greatest show on earth. Full of futuristic concepts, innovative products, and technology, the four-day show drew more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 start-ups. And although the 2024 show did not disappoint, it clearly took the next step in its evolution from product to experience focused.
Don’t get me wrong, there were some amazing new products. Personally, I seem to be drawn to the gimmicky ones; amongst my favorites were Kohler’s PureWash E930 bidet seat. This voice-controlled bidet seat transforms your existing toilet into a much smarter one, by adding various spray modes, a heated seat, adjustable water temperature and pressure, app connectivity and voice control, to help clean and dry your bottom.
Source: 10minds Co.
I have already ordered the Motion Pillow for my wife for Valentine’s Day. And NO, it is not her that does the snoring, I do the snoring, which means she has the interrupted sleep. This AI-powered, snore-silencing, smart pillow recognizes the difference between snoring and other noise and when it detects snoring it inflates and deflates to move your head to a position that opens your airway and stops the snoring. The next morning you can see all of the data on your sleep patterns and even listen to a recording of your restful night.
Rise Gardens was showing its smart indoor hydroponic gardens, which somehow I missed at last year’s show. It is simple but so practical, and can allow anyone to have an inside herb or vegetable garden all year round. With its AI-driven system, the Rise Roma can manage an ecosystem for growing a variety of fruiting plants indoors, from tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers to even dwarf trees, by automatically controlling the light and water.
Ultraleap was demonstrating a real innovation in no-wearable haptics with the new Leap Motion Controller: Technology that follows your movements and translates them into actions with no need for controllers, gloves, wearables, or screens.
One of the coolest things on the floor was the X1 AI Interpreter Hub by Timekettle. While Timekettle has been making real-time translation devices with earbuds and handhelds for a while now, those have been limited to translating one language with one person at a time. This latest innovation is a multi-language simultaneous interpretation system, supporting both online and offline business meetings.
For real gadget lovers, I suggest checking out Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro for iPhone. Tired of making sure you’re in your own shot while recording video? Just pair it with your camera and its 360-degree rotation, which also tilts 90 degrees, will always keep you framed in the shot as it follows you around the room.
For the second year in a row, Ballie, Samsung’s bowling ball-sized robot, took the show by storm. Billed as a household companion, Ballie is a roving personal assistant, turning on and off appliances, lights, music… even answering your phone calls. The smart home companion has a build in projector, and can baby sit your pet by following it around and sending you video updates when you are out.
On the mind-blowing scale, Sharpe’s AI Olfactory Sensor was an 11 out of 10. Although well beyond my ability to explain this type of technology it visualizes aroma, and by imitating the sense of smell of living things can evaluate those smells. The potential uses seem endless but for a start it can be used for quality control in food and chemical manufacturing.
When it comes to the theme of connections, which is gaining prominence at the show, I was really interested in the idea of app aggregation. One example is Samsung’s partnership with Kia, Hyundai and Genesis using Samsung SmartThings as a platform for monitoring and interacting with your vehicle using your phone. Your security, lights, appliances, TV’s and now your cars – all controlled in one app on one device. Connected home becomes connected world.