CES 2016: Press Day, Showstoppers and LaunchIt Event

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Proteus VR Labs Ltd

VirZOOM Inc.
Pedal your way through exciting virtual reality games with VirZOOM. VirZOOM harnesses the emotional impact of virtual reality to create a fun exercise bike experience. The shocker is that our xbike-as-controller combined with the invention of specialized motion controls together solve VR locomotion discomfort. Be the horse in the race, the tank in battle, the surfer catching a wave, all powered by you.

CleverPet Inc.
CleverPet constructively and automatically interacts with pets when they would otherwise have nothing to do. A dog with a job is a happy dog, and their technology enriches pets' lives by having them play for their food. In the process, pet owners feel better about leaving their family members alone at home, and through the CleverPet platform pet owners develop a radically improved relationship to the animals they share their lives with. Per CleverPet, pet owners leave their dogs lonely and sad for tens of billions of hours each year, and feel so guilty about it they spend $40/day to bring their dogs to "doggy daycare." CleverPet can provide pets with the daily mental and physical stimulation they crave. This one was my favorite. CleverPet was the winner of the 2016 ShowStoppers Launchit event.

On Wednesday evening, ShowStoppers held a premiere press-only event highlighting many new products. There were some new drones, including one powered by fuel cells. One of the biggest limitations of drones is their limited flight time due to available battery power. Using fuel cells to power a drone can increase the flying time from under 20 minutes to well over an hour. Overall, drones seem to have improved significantly with longer range, more lift capability, easier control and more built in camera s and mounts. The key drone topic, however, is not the drones themselves but the trend to legislate their use. I’ll have more on drones, their use, and what legislative limits are expected in an upcoming column as we interview some of the key manufacturers and suppliers.

In other news, the good old computer has recently had a makeover. I just acquired an amazing Microsoft SurfaceBook, which deserves its own column. However, Hewlett Packard was showing a number of new computers and demonstrating that the good ol PC is indeed lighter, thinner, and more powerful, with a higher-res screen and SSD storage. Lenovo was also showing a number of very new-looking PCs. As far as peripherals go, you would not think that the pedestrian keyboard would get any attention, but have you used one with the new mechanical keys such as those supplied by Cherry? Cherry keys are used in a number of high-end keyboards and they now offer one under their own brand name. If you have not tried one, do so; you will be delighted with the accuracy, feel and speed of a precision unit using the legendary Cherry Red keys.

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