The interesting thing about #CES2016 is how some of the major breaking news items didn’t particularly fall into the most popular trends at this year’s show. We’ve waxed on about turntables, 3 million ISO cameras and global streaming services. But the real buzz centered on the five categories listed below.
1. Wearable Tech
It would be too easy to over simplify this category as being a “fitness trend” at CES. However, the bigger picture actually involves wearable technology that wasn’t limited to fitness alone. Yes, a lot of fitness trackers were represented, but major companies like Intel rolled out motion/health/adrenaline sensitive modules, Samsung now has a belt that can monitor your waistline, there were all sorts of watches and wristbands enabling you to control anything from a camera to setting up navigation for your car. L’Oreal announced a UV detecting patch and even Fossil is throwing their hats (or watches? Jewelry?) into the ring.
2. Drones
Any tech head worth his or her salt must’ve been living under a rock – no, let’s make that living in an underground bunker covered by a whole pile of rocks with no means of escape – if they hadn’t heard of all the drone products bidding for attention at this year’s event. DJI had their latest Phantom, there was a throwable drone, a paper airplane drone, Intel showed off their own drone and there was even a godforsaken rideable drone. And then there was Glyph, a company that combined another CES trend with this one: Virtual Reality. It’s a headset that allows you to experience flying as if you were actually in the drone.
3. Virtual Reality
Photo credit: Samsung
It stands to reason VR would become one of the more popular trends at CES. Only last year had the technology become more affordable and in some cases even free (thank you Google). All you needed was a smart phone, an app and a wearable frame to hold said smart phone. You can thank Oculus pioneer Palmer Luckey for that. Utilizing capabilities already existing in mobile phones, Luckey created his first VR device only five years ago. We’ve certainly come a long way from the science fiction fantasies of “Strange Days” and “The Lawnmower Man.” And it seems fitting that the Oculus Rift is finally available for pre-order. That wasn’t the only news breaking from the CES trenches. HTC, Intel by way of Daqri, Zeiss and startups you haven’t heard of yet are getting into the immersive, 360-degree experience game. Don’t even get us started on VR’s kindred spirit augmented reality since there was plenty to see (or rather experience) on that end as well.
4. Cars
This seemed to make a bigger splash than in previous years. The automotive industry was out in full force ballyhooing the new electrically powered this and the ultimate-in-wireless-connectivity that. But it’s not too surprising considering that technology – and alternative fuel sources – have finally caught up to such a degree as to be affordable and accessible. We already have smart phones and now smart homes. So why not smart cars? Even GM had the opportunity to ballyhoo the Chevrolet Bolt, a car run on electricity. In fact, a lot of manufacturers kind of, sort of put electric car pioneer Tesla to shame at CES as they barely made their presence felt. But, yeah, GM, independent developers showcasing digital dashboards, even Aston Martin had something to bring.
5. Smart Home Gadgets
Photo credit: Samsung
Apparently, 2016 at CES was the year of Smart Home gadgets. LG, who have really stepped up their A-game with their rollable OLED and ultra thin, high dynamic range TVs, unleashed their Signature fridge to an unsuspecting public. Samsung showed off their Family Hub fridge with a built-in 1080p display. Whereas a company called Smarter was not quite as ambitious when it unveiled its Fridge Cam. And there’s Amazon who plan to take over your entire household with their Alexa virtual assistant device and then many examples of behavioral pattern technologies doubling as security for your home. And the neat-oh thing about all of this? Everything will be fully integrated. You can order groceries through Amazon’s Echo as Alexa forwards those requirements to the computer in your Family Hub fridge. The Jetsons never had it so good.
