CES Unveiled 2014 – first look at the diversity in CE
January 2014 – At CES Unveiled 2014, the diversity in CE was apparent with the rush to new product announcements on the eve of CES. A typically crowed event, that requires a lot of moving around to avoid the plethora of video cameras and tripods for the chance to be the first view of tech at this years CES show. Just like the CES show, the Unveiled event featured a mix of large and small companies presenting and the products included software, services, devices, computing devices, phones, wearables, cameras, gaming and accessories. (Images of the Unveiled event can be seen at https://mandetech.com/gallery/index.php/CES-Unveiled-2014
One of the annual lead exhibitors at Unveiled is Liquid Image. Once again, they are leading the industry in the in-goggle POV camera market and in-mask diving POV cameras. This year the models saw the addition of 4G capability to supplement the WiFi and card based storage options that were previously released.
Internet of Things backbone provider Arrayant was also returning to the event. They were introducing two new products that use their services – a retrofit kit from Chamberlin for bring smart control and automation to existing garage door openers, and announcing a new partner ship with the alarm and monitoring service/installation channel. They have partnered with several companies to provide their cloud based “smart interface” to apps that can be integrated with existing “non-connected” alarm and security services.
The Internet of Things was well represented with multiple vendors showing wearables. The devices were all very similar in size, display capability – most were color and under 2”, connectivity – BlueTooth 4.0 LE dominated, and needed an android phone or iPhone nearby as the connection hub and processing center for the device. The style was very 1970’s-1980’s retro square with plastic. vinyl straps. The fitness wearables were dominated with implementations of reference designs released in early 2013 by Invensense, ADI, TI, Bosch, ST for their sensor ICs. The commonality of the core chips and primarily Broadcom dominated connectivity solutions (BT4 & WiFi) leaves a number of devices that connect to and support smart phones from the same company.
Stern Pinball Star Trek Pro Playing field
On the more traditional CE side, Stern Pinball was showing their new Start Trek Deluxe pinball game. Designed to commemorate the new Star Trek film “Into Darkeness” the multi-flipper pinball game has new all-LED lighting, a first for Stern. , The game includes an animated battleship, three lightning fast ramps, three flippers, and resettable memory drop targets. The playfield design has seven multicolored LED paths that lead game play along easy-to-understand color-coded routes. There are six missions for casual players matched by 18 complex treks to immerse enthusiast players deeper in the game. The game is currently in production.
Rounding out the extent of the CE universe for the home, was the new connected appliances from Dacor. The new connected oven, double oven and range feature built in WiFi & Bluetooth and a heat resistant and cleanable color touch screen control. These can support additional recopies for food preparations, and have a large number of standard instructions built in. The units feature the option of a temperature probe, and a “true heat” convection system, which allows the remote operation of the units to provide predictable and consistent results on food that is set by temperature, weight, or time. The Dacor Discover IQ line has a glass touch panel & a 7″ LCD multi touch-screen for enhanced graphics display and simple navigation powered by Google’s intuitive Android™ OS that is elegantly designed to operate with a swipe of a finger. The control panel is supported on a smart device by Dacor’s Proprietary Discovery iQ™ Cooking Application which is easy to use and pre-programmed with a variety of cooking modes including Guided Cooking, Quick Start , My Modes – Allows the user to program and store custom cooking presets. and Dehydrate Mode. The ovens also feature Dacor’s GreenClean™ steam cleaning technology which cleans light built-up in the ovens in 30 minutes without the use of high heat or harsh chemicals.
Dacor Discovery IQ connected oven
