TechTheDay

It’s January once more, the month of CES or the Consumer Electronics Show, an annual global event in Las Vegas devoted to staging innovative electronic products and technologies. There have been insinuations earlier that there appears to be an innovation lull recently although it can be argued that it may not really be the case considering that the technologies that were presented only as concepts before are just starting to materialize this year. It does not seem right to count the past years’ concept technologies as the past years’ innovations when they are only starting to become viable this year. That aside, the following are some of the most interesting tech products and concepts featured in this year’s CES.

1. Ili

Logbar, the creator of the smart ring featured on this blog earlier, introduced a truly interesting and impressive device on CES this year. It’s called “Ili,” a wearable translator.  What it does is act like a portable voice translator that immediately produces vocal translations after you say a sentence or two. The promo video released by Logbar for the product may not work to everyone’s tastes but it showcases how impressive this little device is. Unfortunately, Ili only works for three languages at the moment (English, Japanese, and Chinese), but it does so with a great level of accuracy.

2. Samsung’s Modular Display

Samsung is definitely one of the best names in displays and they did not fail to offer something great this year with their modular display concept technology. On CES 2016, they featured a setup that allows multiple squarish screens to slide in and form a larger display. It is not yet ready for the mass market but the idea is without a doubt worth pursuing.

3. Segway Advanced Personal Robot

The segway may have been one of the most notable tech flops in recent decades but this has not prevented the company behind it from pursuing new ventures. This year, the company introduced its personal robot segway. It is designed to be a personal assistant as well as a mode of transportation. The idea sounds ridiculous especially when you consider how much of a failure the segway had been but it’s not really that bad trying to create a personal robot that can double as a personal transporter.

4. DietSensor SCiO Food Scanner

With DietSensor SCiO food scanner, you don’t have to be a chemist or nutritionist to know the chemical composition of the food you intend to eat. This little device can scan your food or drinks and analyze if it’s something that should be eaten based on the dietary conditions you set for yourself. It was one of the recipients of the Best in Innovation award in CES 2016.

5. LG’s Rollable Display

The Galaxy S6 Edge, definitely, is not the only application of bendable or rollable displays that are supposed to be versatile. Samsung is not the only maker of flexible displays. At CES 2016, LG introduced its 18-inch flexible OLED display that can actually be rolled like a newspaper. It can handle bending by up to 30 mm without sustaining any damage. This may sound overly fancy and impractical and LG may have not shown an actual useful application yet, but consider this: with this kind of display technology, we may soon have TVs that are easier to transport and set up. The displays can just be rolled into a tube and the internal components engineered into a tube that will be attachable/detachable to/from the rollable display. This would make transporting even 100” TVs a lot easier and less expensive.

6. Chevy Bolt

Electric cars may no longer sound interesting given the prominence of more advanced ideas like driverless cars. However, the Chevy Bolt proves interesting enough not because of any new technology but its price. It is set to become available for just around $30,000. It’s not the flashiest modern car around, looking more like a modern hatchback and offering fewer bells and whistles, but it comes with a 10.2-inch dashboard touchscreen display and a number of other modern car features.

7. Parrot Disco

Drones are nothing new but Parrot Disco takes on a refreshing approach to designing and using one. Looking more like a kite, Parrot Disco is a drone that comes with a pair of wings so it can just be thrown up in the air to gain the momentum for flight. It can stay on the air for around 45 minutes and can fly at a speed of up to 50 miles per hour. It comes with a 1080p camera.

8. Ehang Passenger Drone

Another interesting drone featured at CES 2016 was the Ehang 184 AAV. Yes, it’s a drone meant to carry a passenger around. This one-seater drone was conceptualized a couple of years ago and is designed for short to medium distance air travel. The drone features an automatic flight system that is supposed to take a passenger to their destination by simply specifying the intended destination through the touchscreen interface on the drone. The passenger will not be driving the drone.

9. HTC Vive

Virtual Reality systems are set to create some major buzz this year with the pioneers expected to release their products to the market and HTC joining the fray through the HTC Vive. HTC’s virtual reality system distinguishes itself with its “room-scale” and “free-roaming” features. These features allow a user to feel like exploring a real world by not being stationary. The user gets to move or walk around to move in the VR world shown on the display.

10. Here Active Listening Earbuds

Wearables were flooding the CES floors but there was one that stood out as it offered something different. This was the Here Active Listening earbuds by Doppler Labs. It’s a wearable that focuses on the auditory senses. It’s not a standalone product (it needs to be partnered with a smartphone) but it can perform a number of practical functions including noise canceling and the amplification of specific sounds.

11. Ricoh Theta S

The Ricoh Theta S is a spherical imaging camera. This means that it can capture images with a 360° field of view. The resulting image is not an ordinary 2D picture but something that can be scrolled across all directions to examine details traditional cameras are unable to see. This ability of Ricoh Theta S is something smartphone makers may want to consider integrating in their devices.

12.  Sengled Voice

Sengled Voice is a LED bulb that supports voice-based interaction. Aside from being a light source, it has a microphone and a speaker. The microphone can be used to detect problems in a house like breaking glass or a baby crying.

13. Deeper Fishfinder

Deeper Fishfinder is a sonar device that is paired with a smartphone to be used in freshwater or saltwater fishing. Amateur and professional fishers alike can use this device to locate fish and obtain information about water temperature, bottom contour, and depth.

14. Ecoisme

A gadget created for those who want to examine and monitor the power consumption of all devices in a house or building, Ecoisme can recognize individual devices that use power based on their unique signature within the building’s power grid. It also offers tips on reducing power consumption.

15. Fisher Price Think & Learn Code-A-Pillar

This toy-looking gadget is actually meant to be a toy but it does more than amuse kids or toddlers. It is a device designed to teach children about the foundations of coding. Fisher Price Think & Learn Code-A-Pillar is purported to promote thinking, sequencing, and problem solving skills.

16. Portal Router

No, this isn’t just any other router. Portal Router promises to offer a breakthrough in WiFi technology by being able to make use of 250% more of the 5GHz spectrum (compared to standard routers) and scan the surroundings for interference to automatically retune and ensure optimal wireless speeds.

Do you agree with this list or do you have other products in mind you would like to be added to this list? Do you think some of the items on this list should not be included? Don’t hesitate to drop us a comment below.