CES 2017: Press Day, LaunchIt and Showstoppers

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Following are my choices for the most interesting finalists of the competition:  

• Akoustic Arts—This French startup is launching the A, a directional speaker. It’s like a traditional speaker, but it creates a very targeted sound. You must stand in front of the speaker to hear the sound. If you are off to the side, even slightly you cannot hear what is playing.
• FoldiMate—FoldiMate is a laundry folding machine. You place your items of clothing into the device and it removes most of the wrinkles and folds the item ready for placement in your dresser. You feed your clothes to the machine from the top, one by one. A couple of minutes later, you get a pile of folded clothes. The company’s original concept video from June 2016 got a lot of views. The company then managed to attract 7,000 pre-orders. FoldiMate plans to ship at the end of 2018.
• HoloLamp—HoloLamp is an augmented reality device. It uses an optical illusion to trick your mind into thinking that you’re looking at real 3D objects. The device looks like a small lamp/projector combo. It uses face tracking so that the object changes as you move your head. You really think you’re looking at a 3D object such as the chessboard from the original Star Wars.
• Kino-mo (my personal choice for #1)—Kino-mo is working on holograms. It’s a fan-shaped unit that spins to project a 3-D hologram of any object that floats and twists and turns in midair. I found this offering fascinating. 
• Nonda (the actual winner)—Nonda aims to make any car a connected car even if it is a 1956 Ford. Nonda CEO Nick Staubach stated that the clear majority of U.S. cars (over 75%) still don’t support Bluetooth. With more than a billion cars on the road, though, that’s still a big market.
• Revinax—Revinax plans to help people learn better through the help of what it calls “immersive tutorials.” The company’s CEO and co-founder, M. Ros, is a surgeon and his company has long been involved in using virtual reality to train doctors. The surgical workforce, the company argues, must expand greatly over the next few years, but in many countries, access to doctors who can teach is rare. Revinax uses 3D cameras to film surgeries and doctors can then use VR helmets to study another doctor’s technique. Given that these videos can easily play on most smartphones, the company’s tutorials are also easily available to virtually any surgeon.
• TwinswHeel—TwinswHeel was created by twin brothers from France. Benjamin is the automotive and aeronautic engineer, and Vincent is the automotive system engineer. TwinswHeel is an automotive vehicle for freight carriers. It looks like a small land-based droid with two wheels on each side. It can carry 88 Lbs. over five miles, which allows it to deliver all types of packages. Companies like Amazon are working on airborne delivery drones; a ground droid like this one could also be a useful solution. 

Showstoppers

One of the best opportunities to see new tech and devices is at Showstoppers. This event is a great opportunity for the press to see, try, and ask detailed questions on many interesting and amazing new devices. Just a few of the many interesting and more importantly, truly useful and fun devices include: 

• From invisible shield, a screen protector so tough that it prevented the usually fragile iPhone screen from breaking even when hit with a hammer
• Epson’s new video glasses for either VR or for drones
• For those of us from the late ‘50s, there was a classic pinball machine but made with up-to-date technology.
• From Ockel, a truly mini PC with 2 USB 3 ports, display port, HDMI, USB-C and Ethernet
• How about a new mouse? No big deal you might say, well if you are a gamer or just a fanatic geek there is the new Mad Catz RAT Pro with amazing high DPI
  and very fast tracking speeds, motion sensors and of course, RGB lighting 

Of course, there were hundreds of other interesting offerings at Showstoppers, some of which I will cover in additional columns over the next week. Next in queue are the latest developments in automotive from the huge advances in autonomous driving, what is literally just around the corner to the insane new audio rock concert in a car set ups. In addition, one of the most disruptive technologies, 3D printing for true electronic manufacturing, will be covered in the next one so stay tuned.

Editor's Note: To read the previous CES articles, please click the links below:

CES 2017: Preview and a Projection for the Future

CES Unveiled: Press Day and the NVIDIA Keynote

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