If last year CES, the largest technology fair in the world held in Las Vegas, was still in a pandemic mood, with everyone in masks, empty spaces and few participating companies, the 2023 edition, which ends this Sunday (8 ), it was the other way around.
In this edition fewer masks, crowded stands, the presence of the main big tech companies and press releases that indicate what our life will be like in the near future: from devices for analyzing homemade pee, to standardization to facilitate the integration of connected household objects the car that can change color.
Despite the easing of the pandemic, it was common to see notices recommending the use of a mask, social distancing, and asking people not to enter the fair if they felt unwell. There was also the distribution of rapid covid tests at the entrance to closed events.
Below is a summary of the major highlights from CES 2023 that we saw last week.
1. Having a connected home will be easier
Walking through the pavilions of CES, there was the constant presence of a symbol resembling an asterisk.
This is Matter, a smart home communication protocol that was created in 2019 and is now starting to appear in different products.
Giants like Google, Apple, Amazon, among others, are part of the alliance that created the initiative.
The protocol was designed to make the objects of the smart home communicate with each other.
The time has come to have this kind of standardization. The industry hopes that by facilitating communication, people will gradually be persuaded to buy electronic devices and integrate them into their homes.
2. Pee analysis and wellness gadgets
Health is a recurring theme at the annual fair. This year, technologies that promise to carry out a daily analysis of people’s pee have attracted attention, with the aim of providing health advice.
They are sensors installed in the toilet that send a detailed analysis of the users’ acidity, sodium and vitamins.
This appears to be a new level for health analytics, as well as smart watches and bracelets that recommend exercise and measure heart rate.
In the wellness field, Ergomotion presented ErgoSportive, an intelligent bed. Perhaps one of its main functions is the anti-snoring mode. When it detects noise, it adjusts the elevation of the mattress so that the snoring person stops.
In addition to sleeping better and waking up more energetic, especially after more intense activity, the sensors also provide health advice, which can be used for habit change and even in medical follow-up.
3. Auto color changing
BMW prototype car that can change color
Image: playback
BMW did it again at CES. Last year the German brand presented a car that could change color, this year it went further, as the model allows up to 32 shades.
Called the iVision Dee, the vehicle is a midsize concept sedan. The secret to color change is e-ink (electronic ink) technology, similar to that used in digital books, such as the Kindle.
The ability to change the color of a vehicle is awesome and I hope everyone does it in the near future.
4. “Feeling” the metaverse attracts but does not impress
One of the points of the metaverse is trying to reproduce human experience in a virtual terrain. I have observed several companies showing solutions that involve the use of accessories to feel interactions in the virtual world.
Although the booths weren’t huge, the companies with these solutions were the ones with the longest queues: the constant cleaning of the equipment also contributed to the delay.
The visitor wears gloves and a haptic vest from bHaptics, which simulate interaction in the metaverse
Image: Guilherme Tagiaroli/Tilt
bHaptics, for example, exhibited a vest and glove that allow you to feel a hug or hold something in the virtual environment. I was able to try on a vest and the feel is almost like a massage chair like you find in a mall.
On the part of haptic gloves, talking to those who have tried them, the impression is that the sensation of touching someone’s hands or the sensation of holding something is still weak.
Despite people’s curiosity, technology still has to evolve and shows that we are far from futuristic scenarios where the virtual experience resembles the real one.
5. Vision for those with little and voice for those without
Corporations are clearly looking at technology to improve the lives of older adults, whether out of empathy or self-interest; people are living longer, so solutions to problems for this audience are increasingly present at the fair.
Samsung has announced Relumino Mode, a mode featured in the brand’s new TVs that boosts brightness and contrast to help people who are visually impaired or visually impaired. It doesn’t work miracles, but it already helps those with some kind of visual impairment to have a more comfortable experience when watching television.
light mode
Image: Guilherme Tagiaroli/Tilt
Another great initiative is Acapela Group’s My-own-voice, a synthesizer that creates a “digital voice” for people who are on the verge of becoming voiceless due to health conditions such as muscular dystrophies, cerebral palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Meanwhile, Labrador has developed an assistant robot that can pick up a tray of medicine, for example, and send it directly to a person.
The Labrador robot is a prototype designed to help people with limited mobility
Image: Guilherme Tagiaroli/Tilt
It’s a prototype, but it’s encouraging to know that this type of solution is being developed to assist people with limited mobility.
6. Tough match in television technologies
LG Oled Evo TV 2023
Image: Guilherme Tagiaroli
2023 is going to be a big year for those who love expensive and high-end TVs. Samsung has announced that it will launch for the first time in Brazil a series of OLED models, technology in which the pixels light up.
It is curious, since LG has been producing this type of screen since 2013, which is considered by critics to be of the best quality. One of its differentials is that in dark scenes the pixels are turned off, giving greater contrast to the images.
Anyone who wants a top-of-the-line OLED TV in 2023 in the Brazilian market will need to do extensive research and be able to check who has the best equipment with this technology.
*The reporter traveled at the invitation of Samsung
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