There are a lot of new devices that are being unwrapped at the largest consumer electronics show at Las Vegas this year and on the first day of this lofty show, we did write on some of the important highlights of the day. This article elaborates on some of the other important devices that made their mark at the CES 2015 which actually goes beyond the smartphone and tablets world. As consumers are growing crazy for electronic devices to manage their busy schedules, this CES 2015 threw wonderful insights into what new stuff is coming up for building smart homes, around car technology and the internet of things concept.
Let’s get into the intricate details that got shared at the CES 2015.
Smart home coolest products take centerstage
At the International CES 2015, there were a rich display of smart home products which could make the households increasingly digital. Smart home technology did get a huge focus at the CES this year.
One of the new devices that got unlocked was the August smart lock becoming connected to your WiFi network through the August Connect which allows the user to lock or unlock it from anywhere you can get online.
Yet another interesting feature comes from Keen, which has unwrapped the Keen Home Smart Vent which is a floor vent which opens and closes based on what room it’s in, the users habits, and the time of the day. For example, when nobody is present in a room, it could automatically shut the vent in that room while the heat is on to conserve energy.
Speaker maker iHome has jumped into the smart home scene with the SmartPlug which allows the user to control just about any “dumb” device with Siri. With apps like iOS and Android the SmartPlug can connect directly with the Wi-fi. iHome has recently announced its partnership with Apple (AAPL, Financial) as a launch partner when Apple gets its Home-Kit smart home platform rolling.
Blackberry (BBRY, Financial) is not a company which happens to be the top of mind recall when we are thinking on smart homes, but the company is trying to play around in the internet of things space. In the CES, Blackberry unveiled its plans to push the Blackberry IoT platform. It’s declared that by combining technology from its QNX platform which powers systems in cars to its secure network, it would manage the growing web of connected devices. Blackberry also said that its BBM messaging service would support Android wear devices early this year. Recently the company shared that the number of monthly users on BBM stood at 90 million, with 70% using the service on a regular basis. As it has added at least 140 registrations from iPhone and Android users such a combination of BBM with Android Wear could serve as an accomplishment for the company enlarge.
New concepts announced in car technology
BMW (BAMXY, Financial) has been riding fast at the CES 2015, with the concept of using lasers to make the car lights much smarter. BMW’s M4 Concept Iconic lights are headlights that could dynamically change patterns depending on the situation. It can create a dark area in the headlight so that the oncoming traffic is not blinded; it can even throw a spotlight on pedestrians, or obstacles that the driver needs to be attentive to for safe driving.
Harman International (HAR, Financial) showed off an idea of creating audio zones in the car, with the independent sound zones (ISZ) technology which would work like climate zones, isolating the audio for each seat, so that rear-passengers could watch a movie, while the driver at the front seat could listen to music with minimum bleed-over from the rear section. During this CES, Harman showed this technology working on a Lexus GS sedan. ISZ seems to be a promising technology for future luxury cars with the digital signal processing technology allowing the system to focus particular audio channels on each seat. A Harman spokesperson even shared that this feature could be available for the 2019 model year cars as it would take time to develop on this technology.
Mercedes Benz (DDAIF, Financial) unveiled the self-driving capsule like car which is 17 feet long and 5 feet tall, and which keeps passengers connected to the outside world. Highlighting its vision for autonomous driving, the German automaker unveiled the F105 Luxury in Motion, an electric concept car that drives itself and which could ultimately become a mobile living space.
Concluding thoughts
At the CES 2015, there are several ideas pouring out, and we have taken a few of them when we wrote on this show. There have been a lot of amazing and stunning booths that got featured at the CES 2015 and these were a few highlights on the products that were launched for the tech-savvy clan. So, one thing is clear, the world is changing fast and we are slowly moving to a completely digital world where gadgets would be the trend of the day.
