This year the annual Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas has gone virtual. Gone are the million square feet of display space, long cab lineups and energy draining days, not to mention running out of time to see the thousands of new technology booths.
In many ways, small industry players with tiny booths and budgets now have as much of a chance being noticed by working media as tech giants like Samsung, Sony and LG. No more navigating behemoth five story booths or looking for the next big thing in small one table displays in the farthest and darkest corners at CES. Everyone is a click away.
Here is sampling of what I “saw” at CES 2021 this year from big players and small startups:
Comact Rise Garden Kit is Alexa ready
The compact Rise Garden with Alexa let’s you grow four large plants like tomatoes or peppers, or a mix of up to twelve small plants including a new microgreens offering. The system includes an app to monitor water and light levels and notifies you when to fertilize. You can ask Alexa how your plants are doing and even get growing advice. Users can control the pumps and lights on their gardens and receive plant care and harvesting tips with voice commands through an Alexa device.
Mercedes-Benz MBUX Hyperscreen impresses
The 141 centimeter-long MBUX Hyperscreen incorporates three seamlessly merged displays loaded with AI to learn drivers and passengers habits. Apart from displaying driving controls it also makes personalized suggestions for numerous infotainment, comfort and vehicle functions. It also is aware of you trip surroundings providing information about interesting landmarks along the route, from individual buildings or points of interest to entire cities. It will be launched in the fully electric EQS luxury saloon.
CleanMotion auto door disinfectant
CleanMotion is in the front lines of the pandemic with a self-disinfecting door handle that automatically disinfects itself after each use. It kills bacteria and viruses with a proven efficiency of 99.9% in public facilities, offices, restaurants, shopping malls, public restrooms, and hospitals and works on most doors. #SwissTech
OrCam Read
The OrCam Read captures printed or screen type from headlines to pages and reads it back. It is geared for those with reading challenges such as dyslexia, as well as those with mild vision loss.
Samsung robotics for now and the future
This year, Samsung’s bots varied in size and function. The one you can actually buy later this year is the JetBot 90 AI Plus robot vacuum, a combination smart vacuum that also doubles as a security camera. The Bot Care personal assistant robot and Bot Handy robot that can clean up messes, load up your dishwasher and move things around a house are more futuristic showing off what is possible.
Drone Monitoring large indoor spaces
Tinamu Labs specializes in automated indoor monitoring of spacious infrastructures using cloud-connected drones. The flying, fully automated flexible sensors collect data, generating business insights in real-time. And they can work in hazardous environments.
Live 3D holograms
Live3D is a patented voxel-rendering engine and software that allows real-time capturing, editing and streaming of Live 3D Holograms of multiple people simultaneously. Live data manipulation, real-time VFX and dynamic scene rendering supports Telepresence, Remote Collaboration, Teleconferencing, Gaming, Telehealth, Online Education, Live Entertainment and more.
Remote water consumption band
My Elixa Water Band works with bottle or glass to constantly measure how much water seniors drink. It also incentivizes them to reach their daily water goal through a system of lights and sound. After a brief setup of the water container to personalize your senior’s needs and define their goal, the band measures the frequency of angle glass inclination and number of gulps. It works with the MyElixa app dashboard showing water intake throughout the day, even notifying you if something goes wrong, like a dropped or misplaced bottle of glass. Results can be shared with a physician. Studies show 75% of US adults suffer chronic dehydration.
Lumi keyboard dazzles your music with light
The Lumi Keyboard Keys helps you learn music through seeing as much as hearing when using the Lumi app with additional exercises and controls.
Mad Catz B.A.T. 6+ gaming mouse inspires.
The brand new Mad Catz B.A.T. 6+ gaming mouse. Incorporates a combination of a hypercar, spaceship, and batmobile in its design, inspiring aggressiveness and aesthetics in gaming. It features plenty of swappable parts, including backplates and side skirts and is designed to keep your hand cool during extended play sessions.
Vespera telescope looks as good as it works
Vespera claims to be the world’s most compact and easy-to-use space observation station, a perfect hybrid between a smart telescope and a camera designed to make astronomy accessible to everyone. It’s friendly, portable and shareable. This app-enabled new generation telescope is fully automated and combines precision optics, electronics and mechanics. It allows users to easily photograph the heavens like galaxies, nebulae and stars, then share their discoveries with their friends or fellow stargazers around planet earth!
BenjiLock By Hampton Sport Lock
This second generation BenjiLock features a stainless steel shackle, is smaller and lighter than the original and features a fingerprint reader that can store up to ten users. So, if you ever forget your code you can always have one of your other 9 friends you shared the lock with open it for you!