Tag Archives: CES

News

Tech Insight : What Was New at CES?

In this tech insight, we take a look at a selection of the latest B2B and B2C tech products and gadgets on show at the recent CES® tech trade show.

Examples

The more business-focused devices, hardware and software on show included:

Laptops And Other Devices

As you may expect, many new laptops and other devices were unveiled at CES®. These included new EliteBook 605 Series PCs (aimed at hybrid workers), and Lenovo’s new ThinkPad Z Series laptops (134 and 16) aimed at the business market.

New Routers For Small Offices/Remote Working

Netgear’s new tri-band Orbi Pro SXK50 mesh router is designed to give rapid Wi-Fi speeds for small offices and remote working, and offers 5.4 Gbps, has Wi-Fi 6, and can manage up to 75 concurrent devices with a coverage area of 12,500 square feet.

TP-Link ‘s new Wi-Fi 6E router has antennas that rotate automatically to give the best signal based on the location of the user’s devices and can deliver total speeds of over 10 Gbps.

New Webcams

Examples of new webcams previewed at CES® include Jabra’s PanaCast 20 4K HDR video business-focused webcam which uses AI to ensure that the user is always perfectly in frame with the right lighting levels. Also, the Anker Video Bar comes with its own adjustable lighting, as well as a built-in mic and speaker array making it ideal for video conferencing.

New Monitors

Dell’s new UltraSharp U3223QZ business monitors include a new 4K webcam built-in, two echo-cancelling mics, two 14W speakers, IPS Black panel technology, and are certified for collaboration software Microsoft Teams. This clearly positions them as products aimed at improving remote/hybrid working.

Docking Station For Multiple Monitors

Plugable’s new docking station can support three 4K monitors at once, has three 4K HDMI ports and three 4K DisplayPort ports, plus the docking station lets users mix and match monitors with different connectivity standards.

Blackberry Security Software

Blackberry showcased the fact it has shifted from being a smartphone company, through a range of partnerships, to supplying the BlackBerry Jarvis software composition analysis tool. Its job is to help embedded software developers whose products are used by the US Federal Government to spot any potential security issues.

Some of the many ‘gadgets’ on show at CES® included:

Immersive “Virtual Ride” OLED Fitness Bike From LG

LG’s “virtual ride” immersive fitness bike sits the user on an exercise bike in front of three, large, arched, 55-inch OLED panels which bend vertically over the user. The high-quality visuals e.g., riding along a forest path give the user the feeling of cycling through a real environment. The panels are an alternative to a VR headset, but the user would need somewhere with plenty of space to set up this particular product.

Smart Dog Collar

French company Invoxia’s ‘Smart Dog Collar’ claims to be the “first biometric health collar for dog”. The collar monitors a dog’s vitals, activity, and location 24/7. It has already won 2 CES® Innovation Awards and allows the owner to track their dog’s heart and respiratory rate, check their activity levels and eating habits, and uses a radar, a buzzer, and GPS to track a dog and/or locate the dog if it’s lost or stolen.

Samsung C-Lab’s Zamstar Digital Guitar

The Zamstar guitar from Samsung C-Lab uses LEDs on the fretboard to show finger positions and an accompanying app to help users to learn their favourite riffs and songs.

Health Tracking Lightbulb

The smart, health-monitoring light bulb from Sengled uses radar sensors to track the heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs of people in the home. If several Smart Health Monitoring Light bulbs are used in the home, for example, they can connect via Bluetooth to create a health-monitoring map of the occupants of a house.

Finger-Nibbling Animal Robots

Japanese company Yukai’s cute, cuddly animal robots use different algorithm-driven nibbling patterns such as “Tasting Ham”, “Massaging Ham”, and “Suction Ham” to give the user the feeling that a baby or pet is nibbling their fingers when they put their fingers in the robot’s mouth.

The Lili Lamp For People With Dyslexia

Lili’s lamp, which the company says is “based on French scientific discoveries” emits flashes of light, almost invisible to the naked eye, which are designed to make the perception of writing more precise for the majority of people with dyslexia, and help their reading to become smoother, faster, and less tiring.

iPhone-Finding, Eco-Friendly Backpack

The Cypress Hero Backpack with ‘Find My’ technology built-in is an eco-friendly backpack that allows the user to ping their iPhone if they’ve lost it and set up geofencing alerts which sound an alarm if the backpack is moved out of a certain area.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The effects of the pandemic on working have clearly affected the types of new products (and their marketing) being released with many companies focusing on their usefulness for remote and hybrid working. Also, as expected, the continued growth of the IoT with a variety of smart gadgets, many of which have a health focus, and the inclusion of AI technology were very much in evidence. This reflects how important the IoT and AI have become in our business and home life and what a big market there is now for health-related wearables. Although some big companies were not ‘in-person’ at CES®, it was still able to reveal how tech companies can innovate and use multiple technologies to create new products, enhance existing ones, and help businesses and consumers to meet needs in new and interesting ways. The hope is, of course, that Covid will not prevent in-person attendance at the next show although the tech industry is probably the best prepared to go virtual if needed.

News

Tech News : Fewer and Less At CES

It has been reported that the rapid spread of Omicron has led to more tech companies cancelling in-person appearances at January’s CES® technology industry trade show.

CES®

CES® is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association which is due to take place in Las Vegas 5 – 8 January. Due to Covid, last year’s CES® was held as a virtual event instead.

Some Big Names To Attend Virtually Instead

Although the in-person event is to ahead with around 2200 companies having in-person representatives present, some very high-profile tech companies have pulled-out of sending representatives in favour of attending virtually instead. The rapid rise in Covid (Omicron) cases is the given reason for in-person being swapped for virtual attendance.

Companies that have announced that they will not be sending in-person representatives to CES® so far include Amazon, Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft, and, also just announced, chip maker AMD and PC manufacturer MSI. It has also been reported that Smartphone company OnePlus has cancelled an in-person event that was due to be held in Las Vegas on the same dates as CES®. It should be noted, however, that despite some big companies pulling out of in-person representation, 60 new exhibitors had been added in recent days.

Omicron

In the US (at the time of reporting), the country has just recorded a record-breaking seven-day average of Covid cases which has exceeded 267,000. The highly infectious Omicron variant now accounts for 59 per cent of new infections in the US, a massive jump up from 23 per cent just a week earlier. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the big technology companies are not willing to take the risk.

Rules For Attendees

Attendees to the show must be fully vaccinated, wear masks and have tested themselves for Covid within the 24-hour period prior to entering one of the exhibition venues. There will, of course, also be social-distancing measures in place at CES®.

Covid Has Changed Big Tech Events

Covid has changed how big tech events have been held over the last two years.  For example, London Tech Week Connects back in June 2020 and CES® in January 2021 were held as fully virtual events, whereas London Tech Week in September 2021 was held as a hybrid of virtual and in-person events.

Value of Virtual

Although January’s CES® is going ahead as a physical, in-person event, those tech shows that have been held virtually in recent times have highlighted some of the advantages of virtual. For example, with most people now used to using platforms such as Zoom, attendances at virtual events are high. Also, virtual attendees find that they can network with more people and not needing to be physically present offers convenience, less hassle, less expense (e.g., no long flights or quarantines and uncertainty or hotel bookings required). Virtual events can also mean that some much higher profile speakers may be available.

Not Great For The Hospitality Industry

Unfortunately, fewer in-person appearances from big companies and attendees perhaps changing their minds as Covid cases rise rapidly is bad news, not just for the event organisers and workers (e.g., for productions crews) but also for hotels and surrounding businesses.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Event organisers can, of course, hold entire tech events virtually, or as a hybrid of virtual and in-person, but with the event already booked and organised, costs incurred and a lot at stake, high profile companies opting out of in-person attendance is likely to be a blow for CES® organisers. It could lead to others pulling out and may discourage attendance at the show. There is also the uncertainty now of the effects of a rapidly spreading variant on attendance and what pressure this may put on the organisers, and how it could affect the success of the show. It may be expected in the post-pandemic world that big events will have at least some virtual elements to them but cancellations for in-person attendees is bad for hotels and other bricks and mortar businesses that would normally benefit. Some businesses pulling out of in-person attendance, however, may benefit other exhibitors who may now be able to get a place at the show, possibly at favourable rates.