Pepcom’s “Digital Experience just had their show late last month at San Francisco’s Metreon City View, where a wide array of technology companies exhibited their latest innovative consumer products to the members of the press. The demo showcase was a much more intimate affair compared to previous shows. The usual categories ranging from computers, connected home, and personal health were there, as were some unusual products like mine detectors, hacking games and digital license plates.
As a journalist who eagerly looks forward to this event every year, but at the same time is beset with miserable seasonal allergies, it can be quite challenging to have enough energy for me to even get to the venue. Around this time, I have a sniffling, runny nose along with a cough that I can’t ever seem to get rid of. Unfortunately, this year was my worse bout with allergies ever and wasn’t even sure if I was suffering from just allergies, a cold, or a combination of the two. To top it off, I had a sinus infection, as well.
Luckily I stumbled upon the Tivic Health booth where they were demonstrating their bioelectronic device called the “ClearUp Sinus Pain Relief”. Since I was still suffering from allergies and a sinus infection, I couldn’t think of a better candidate than myself to try it out. Using non-evasive microcurrent waveforms, the procedure just took five minutes of gliding the product around the nose, top of my cheek and above the eyes, the product vibrates certain treatment points on my face.
After the treatment nearly a month later, it seems my allergies were minor and nearly non-existent. I’ve never breathed freely in the month of May and June in over a decade. It’s been a big relief for me, since I usually am coughing in the middle of the night for several weeks at a time and not getting any sleep. Perhaps it was a combination of the antibiotics and the treatment, but I can swear this gizmo seemed to work pretty well for me, even by trying it once. I really may just want to buy one of these for my well being, as it just got its launch on Indiegogo this month.
In terms of latest and greatest in innovation in the Entertainment arena, one of the best products for movies, music and gaming comes from a company mainly known for gaming; HyperX. They developed an amazing gaming 3D 7.1 surround headset, powered by Audeze 100mm Planar Magnetic Drivers, that can rival audiophile headsets. Not only do you get the best in gaming effects, but the best in movie sound effects, as well as a pure live sound in music that tracks your head, using Waves Technology, in a 360 degree environment. This is an item that brings out the best in sound effects for anything you listen to. I couldn’t take the headset off as I was impressed with the technology of this gadget. This headset will be released in Q3.
Kingston Technology added a new product in their microSD line with another innovative product that will tailor to the needs of security cameras, including home surveillance and dash cams. The Kingston MicroSD High Endurance series (32GB, 64GB, 128GB) will stand through the most extreme conditions as it can continuously record 20,000 hours of 1080p video on a 128GB card on security cameras and dash cams. That’s about 2 years and 3 months of non-stop recording. No need to worry about the housing of the card, as it will protect no matter how cold or hot the temperature becomes or no matter how blistery or wet it becomes.
We all heard of Miracle-Gro plant food that we feed our plants with. Now they have come out with an innovative hydroponic growing system called the Miracle-Gro Twelve Indoor Growing System., which was also designed to be stackable, if more plants are needed. This would be useful for people who have a need for herbs all year around, such as basil and mint or vegetables, such as lettuce and kale. Now no need to worry about whether or not the herbs are in season ever again. No watering systems are needed; just electricity and some space indoors. Via Bluetooth, you can control watering, feeding and the lights from your smartphone’s app. Notifications may warn you when you are low in water or if the water pump is stalled. Seems like anyone can now be a Tom Thumb if they have a smart-phone, but don’t forget to give it some Miracle-Gro nutrient food.
There is a new resurgence in searching for precious metals these days. Like the 49’ers in California back in the 1800’s searching for gold, today’s technology has improved with the combination of a smartphone app as it can detect what metals are underneath the surface ground. Miners and adventurers alike are now buying metal detectors in droves, making Minelab the global leader in metal detection technology in Gold mining.
Offering two different metal detectors, the “Go Find” series, which makes an affordable and fun activity for the entire family, just like how mushroom hunting can be, and the “Equinox” series, for the die hard user with a multitude of options who knows exactly what type of metal they are searching for. Designed more for the archaeologist or mine squad experts.
The Reviver Company has come out with an industry first: a digital licence plate. They have been working very closely with state regulatory agencies in collaboration with the DMV. They have been fully approved by California and Arizona with Texas and Florida not far behind as they have already passed legislation with more states to follow.
Of course, the real question is do we really need a connected licence plate? It may sound funny, but it is simply an advancement of the “smart-car-connected car” going full fledge into the smart cities infrastructure world that we will be all apart of .
It will help benefit consumers, businesses and state agencies —from automated vehicle renewals, to parking and tolling, to safety and security. Since the plates are essentially built-in hardware that is capable of updating via software, it will make it much more fun for the registered vehicle user to be able to customize their plates and adding their personal messaging, such as “I’d rather be running…for president”.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind having one saying, “I’d rather be at Pepcom”.
San Francisco, MWCA – Bright Blue Innovation’s coverage of Mobile World Congress Americas 2017. This episode features an interview with Ulf Ewaldsson, SVP & Head of Business Area Digital Services of Ericsson, overview of 5G technology from Verizon and others exhibitors in mobile community such as: ZUP, Chirp, Comhear, Kingston Technology, Royole, Lenovo, Mediatech, Bodyquardz, Lifepack and RapidX. MWCA took place in September in San Francisco gathering 21 thousand attendees from 120 countries worldwide and 1,000 exhibitors.
Pepcom, October – On Thursday, October 27 Pepcom hosted its Holiday Spectacular press only event at Metreon City View in San Francisco. Over 50 companies were showing the season’s hottest new products and services. Last week Holiday Gift Guide produced by Roadway Media www.roadway.media was on the air on Comcast channel 27 and AT&T Uverse channel 99. Now is available at:
Pepcom event, June 2016 – There is nothing not to like about Pepcom’s press only events. They are always well organized and have so many innovative products to see. The event happened on the evening of Thursday, May 19th, at the Metreon in San Francisco and focused on mobile products. 21 companies showcased their automotive, mobile and lifestyle innovations at the venue.
Here are take some of the products that I was most excited about:
Moshi, a designer of fashion bags, presented the Helios Lite and Helios backpacks that can carry laptops up to 13”(Helios Lite) and 15” (Helios). Made from ultra-lightweight and durable materials with water-repellent coating that protects in different weather conditions. All Moshi bags are very practical with enough pockets to put your valuables and accessories such as pens, chargers, smartphones and cables, as well as being fashionable for a generation of professionals that lead a busy and demanding lifestyle.
Looking over their other products at the Moshi’s table, I found another nice surprise that was on display. They presented the Avanti; Moshi’s flagship on-ear headphones. This stylish product has good sound and featured a nice ergonomic design. The curved stainless steel headband with soft adjustable ear cups made of soft leatherette lets us solely enjoy the music, which is being isolated from noise and with minimal pressure on the ears. Avanti headphones features high-efficiency 40 mm drivers with high dynamic range.
At the Kingston booth, along with their flagship products, the company division HyperX showcased their latest gaming headset; the HyperX Cloud Revolver, which is now shipping on Amazon, Best Buy and Newegg. The HyperX Cloud Revolver is made with a steel frame suspension design, memory foam and premium leatherette ear cups and headband. It is compatible with PC, console and mobile devices. Their latest version continues to bring high performance products from Kingston Technology using the Cloud.
Escort Inc. and Cobra Electronics, held by Cedar Electronics, showcased an array of dash cams: DriveHD Dash Cams and Drive HD CDR895D, which provide help capture against unexpected accidents on the road. The newest addition, CDR 895D is a dual channel dash cam that simultaneously captures the road ahead and road behind in HD video, offering front view resolution of full 1080P HD and rear view of 720P HD. The CDR 895D will be in Q2 with a MSRP of $229.95.
As we live in the mobile era we can’t forget that every device needs to be charged.
Ventev at its booth offered an array of charging hubs and power solutions. Along with new USB charging hub rq600, there were desktop charging hub s500, USB charging hub 400, global charging hub 300 and wall charging hub 200. On the portable power site, Ventev showcased power cells 10000+, 6000+, 6000c, 6000 and power dash r900. The company is also well known as a producer of cables that are strong, tangle-resistant and optimized.
At the end of my list, I would like to mention TripIt, a mobile application that allow you stress-free travel. The program allows to create a master itinerary for your trips and store your travel plans along with maps and directions in one place. It’s a great addition to your busy lives.
Kingston just expanded its HyperX headset line with the new Cloud Mav Edition, Freestyle Series. The limited edition over the head and over ear headphones are designed for the serious gamers. The headphones are used in serious eSports competition including Intel Extreme Masters, Brazil Game Show, China Joy, DreamHack, gamescom and PAX, where is highly appreciated by them. This apprecaiation is not just because of the performance but also their jazzy look, which is a loving baby of the cooperation between Kingston Company and the artists.
The headphones feature a large memory foam ear cushions surrounding the high-fidelity 53mm drivers, a closed cup design and detachable microphone. The two set of ear cushions (leatherette and velour) provide excellent sound isolation, so background noises in the game and sound effects can be clearly heard. One of the challenges with gaming headphones versus general listening headphones is the how the sound is separated to insure that voices come out clearly over the background. HyperX headset uses a separate detachable microphone to insure high quality communications in multiplayer games. The microphone uses a 6.5 mm diameter electret condenser capsule that is configured in a Cardioid pattern to minimize environmental noise pickup.
The headphones and microphone system is a wired design that is compatible with PCs, notebooks, tablets, mobile phones, airplane adapters and PS4 consoles though a standard 3.5mm mini stereo jack connector. The wired design works well for multiple people playing in one area as well as eliminating noise and false sounds that may come from other electronic devices. Most wireless headset systems pickup sounds from cell phones, tablets, laptops and other devices when connected to consoles and gaming computers. The high quality connection cable and the memory foam ear cushions give a very clean and isolated experience allows for deep immersion in the gaming environment.
The headphones are available from most retail channels for holiday season and comes with two-year warranty.
