If you’ve never heard of the Consumer Electronic Show it is not your fault. What started off as a small organization allowing industry professionals a chance to get the first look at what’s new in the market, has turned into the it show of new products. As the first place to debut products as wide-ranging and groundbreaking as the Video recorder, the Xbox, HDTV’s, and Blu-ray technology (to name a few), tech-heads everywhere consider it a ‘can’t miss’ event.
The 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (also known as CES), which took place in January, is the largest show of its kind in history, covering over 2.2 million net square feet of exhibit space and featuring more than 3,600 exhibitors, including a record number of startups. This year over 170,000 industry professionals, including more than 45,000 from outside the U.S., convened at the only event of its kind to engage in the hands-on experience of interacting with the next generation of technology. Here are the best of the best of this year’s new products:
AmpStrip
The latest in the recent wearable tracking fitness device craze, AmpStrip’s Band-Aid-like sticker still manages to be groundbreaking. The product sits on your chest and monitors your heart rate, steps and other vitals as you go about your day. Basically, it offers most of the benefits of advanced wearable health trackers without getting in the way. It’s also waterproof, so it is ideal for running a grueling triathlon. Pegged to be in production by summer.
The Dash by Bragi
These wireless headphones have built-in fitness tracking and functions to mimic a personal trainer. They also serve as a standalone media player, double as a hands-free device and contain a heart-rate monitor. Oh, and they have intuitive touch-based controls. That’s a lot of tech for a pair of ear buds. What more do you need?
Mercedes F 015 Luxury in Motion Concept
The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion concept is as outrageous and ridiculous in form as a concept can be, but it’s also something the company believes is a possibility by 2030. Its vision sees the car as a salon, a lounge you drift from destination to destination in like an extension of your home. The seating rotates and the passengers can face one another, like at home in the living room or on a train. The six interior displays and door panel’s support both touch and gesture control to access all the car’s connected features and even take control from the autonomous system. It may seem like a long shot now, but this is the future of automobiles.
The Sling TV
Endlessly frustrated with the state of television and the lack of choices you have about where and how you get to experience it? Of course you do, along with everyone else – and Sling TV is the first non-traditional alternative that looks like it could really work. Not only does it bring an interest-grabbing slate of content right off the bat (ESPN), but also the entire interface and system brings TV into the Internet era. Even the price is on target, starting at USD 20 with no contracts in sight. Internet TV hasn’t supplanted the cable hegemony yet, but this is the first significant strike – and it’s a good one!
Energous Watt up
This company offers a new wireless power solution that can charge wearables, phones and the hundreds of sensors that will one day litter your home. It’s early days for the tech, but it’s already close to a retail launch – Energous believes its partners will have the first wave of devices on shelves by the end of the year.
Dell Venue Tablet
Dell isn’t exactly known for putting out the sleekest, most exciting hardware, but its Venue 8 7000 tablet packs plenty of star power… even if the name is a bit of a clunker. There’s a quad-core Intel Atom processor with 2GB of RAM thrumming away inside, but the real attention grabber is its so-called Infinity Display, also known as an almost bezel-less 8.4-inch OLED screen running at 2,560 x 1,600. With a waistline that measures only 6mm, Dell’s tab is also – for now – the thinnest in the world.
LG Artslim TV
So how could LG improve on last year’s OLEDs and their impressive picture quality? Show an impressive pace of price drops, crank up the resolution and give us a flatter option – and that’s just what it did. Despite a strong showing of quantum dot-loaded LCDs, this “Art Slim” OLED packing webOS 2.0 is the one we most want on our wall. Before I get to excited though…now I need to know how much it costs…
Belty
What exactly is a belty you ask? A motorized belt buckle that tightens and loosens itself. If you’ve eaten a little too much for lunch, for example, it’ll slacken slightly to make you more comfortable until you’ve had a chance to digest – then tighten back up before your pants become a the wardrobe malfunction that previously was waiting to happen. It also has activity-tracking capabilities, with the added bonus of being able to monitor changes in waist circumference.
AirDog Drone
As far as drones go, the aim of this one is simple: to follow you and be your aerial cameraman. Let’s be honest – that’s all we really want a drone for isn’t it – more selfies? It supports Sony and GoPro cameras, follows you wherever you go, folds down to a backpack-friendly size and comes with custom “modes” for different sports. It may be designed to follow, but when it comes to action sports video, it leads.
CES happens every year in January in Las Vegas, NV. The inaugural CES Asia takes place in Shanghai in May. For more gadgets and videos visit their website: www.cesweb.org.
