Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a new wave of amazing generation of TV’s have been washed ashore in Las Vegas at the CES 2020 (Consumer Electronics Show) from the biggest global TV manufacturers. Despite the fact that the majority of consumers still don’t own a 4K UHD-TV set, TV manufacturers rolled out their 8K TV’s at CES 2020. LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony, and even TLC had their 8K sets featured prominently on display at their booths and press conferences.
Improvements in TV display technology over the past several years have been rapidly accelerating as fast as never before. It was only five years ago when 4K UHD-TV’s first became available to consumers. After being accustomed to watching standard HDTV’s over the years and that fact that there was hardly any 4K content to play or stream, the mass majority of the public was reluctant to adopt to it initially.
Now more than a third of all households who own a HDTV have a 4K HDTV with the number expected to jump to 50% this year. Initially thought of as a niche market, 4K UHD-TV’s have finally been embraced by the mainstream and is expected soon to be the new future-proof TV standard.
Walking through the floors at CES, it doesn’t take much of a genius to realize that the next generation of TV’s that only used to be only envisioned in futuristic science fiction movies are just stunning, gorgeous, and jaw-dropping technical marvels to gaze at.
What’s truly amazing is that the manufacturers all use different display technology ranging from MicroLED, Mini-LED, QLED, and OLED. With the latest breakthroughs in display technology demonstrated at CES 2020, the TV’s of the future were what dreams are made of that were made into reality.
However, dreams like this don’t come cheap, but if you have at least a spare $60,000 to a few hundred thousand dollars to spend, here is your dream come true.
LG ELECTRONICS – ROLLIN’ ROLLIN’ ROLLIN
Two years ago at CES, LG Electronics, the pioneer of OLED-TV introduced a prototype of the OLED W, (The “W” stands for “Wallpaper”). It was truly an amazing and ground breaking revolutionary technology that was able to keep the pure picture quality of OLED technology with the darkest blacks and brightest whites within its micro thin bezel frame just 2.57mm thick.
LG Electronics expanded their OLED R line, which was briefly introduced last year at CES 2019. (The “R” stands for “Rollable”). Think of these as a portable “UHD-TV in a box” in which the screen rolls up from a long rectangular cabinet that also serves as it’s own soundbar. When in use, the display rolls up through motorization and rolls back down when not in use. It’s like an all-in one projector and screen all rolled into one.
This year, they have created yet another revolutionary product which may even disrupt the need for movie projectors and movie screens in the future, just like how digital cameras eliminated the need for film cameras.
The latest version of the new LG OLED R line prototypes were shown, which is the exact reversal of the first model. Rather than being put on a flat surface, like a table, the cabinet/soundbar could be mounted upside down from the top of the ceiling like a mounted movie screen. If you want to watch, with a press of a button, the screen will roll down from the ceiling and roll back up when you are done. Even with this compact feature, you still get the best OLED quality with absolutely no loss in picture quality.
Luckily for consumers, they should be available this year. However, the price isn’t going to be cheap. Rumors are that the TV will be starting at $60,000.00.
Samsung shows off it’s 292″ inch “Wall-TV” at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. Thanks to modular technology, you can make it as big as you want. Size does not matter. Photo by Marcus Siu.
THE 292″ WALL TV BY SAMSUNG
For those who want to buy a TV and make it a permanent fixture in their living space, you can buy “The Wall” TV by Samsung. Available in sizes from 75 inches up to 292 inches, it’s the biggest TV display you can buy today, and the only set on the market to offer. There are two versions of the wall; one at 146″ and the other at 292″.
Samsung’s microLED technology, which uses super-fine LEDs instead of OLED or traditional LED delivers many of the benefits you’ll find in OLED, including perfect blacks and eye-popping colors, but the set also boasts 1,600 nits of brightness, which is brighter than today’s OLED sets. More importantly, unlike OLED, MicroLED promises zero burn-in issues.
ALL N ALL IT’S JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL...
The 146-inch size might seem random, but it’s actually just tall enough to be able to cover most home walls from the floor to the ceiling. Because The Wall is made up of borderless tiles, the modular design allows additional tiles to be added, making this even-bigger version of The Wall possible. Of course, if you live in a castle, you can double or triple that measurement, or just make it custom made. Size does not matter…if you have a deep wallet.
Just like Lego blocks can be built on each other, Samsung has the capability of building it’s displays on top of each other without any bezels showing. No borders or boundaries; just pure continuous gorgeous displays. Looking up close, I did not see any irregularities and the image looked seamless. In fact, it can blend into your living space, such as a white wall display that looks like a white wall when not in use.
When not in use, even though it wasn’t designed to turn off, “The Wall”, can blend in as part of your living space. You can make it part of the wall or you can change it into artwork or even a masterpiece painting by a world renowned painter, such as Renoir. The main point is that it doesn’t look like one massive giant TV that is showing up as an eyesore that domesticated wives are accustomed to with home theater type husbands. The wife will be much happier for it.
However, Samsung hasn’t put a price tag on this, but considering the 98″ Class Q900 QLED Smart 8K UHD TV is tagged at $59,999.99, you will probably need to take out a second mortage on your home for the 292″ model, if you have to own one.
SONY
Always thought of as the pioneering innovator of TV’s, Sony Electronics had surprised everyone at this years CES press conference by literally changing gears and announcing they are going into the electric car business by introducing their Vision S electric car prototype.
Surprisingly there was hardly any news concerning the TV side of Sony’s business except that they would be selling smaller sized OLED TV’s as little as 48″, which there is a definite need for in the marketplace. This is good news for consumers as OLED prices have come down to earth in price, thanks to the mass adoption demand for them, as well as the growing competition with LG and other brands from China who have announced they are selling in the US in the new year. Vizio plans to come out with their first OLED TV, as well as an OLED line from Phillips, Konka and Skyworth.
In the meantime at their booth, Sony displayed their latest flagship X1 Master Series, featuring the 8K Sony 98″ X1 which has already been selling at retailers listing for a mere $70,000.00. They also had the smaller 85″ line on display which retails at a more reasonable $13,000.00.
Obviously, very few of us can afford this new technology right now, but the real point here is that we have reached this point in technology and that it’s here with us to stay.
Who knows?
One day when they figure out how to mass produce these MicroLED TV’s, we all may be able to afford a Wall-TV in our home without having to take out a second mortgage.
A long-time problem is
how to sharing a memory instantly with your friends, family or even save a
moment to treasure for yourself. In the
past, it required camera and film, then digital cameras with memory cards. All of that presented complexity and lacked
convenience. Now those priceless moments
can be safely and easily shared – not just on social media for the world to
see, but right into someone’s home or their desk at work. The solution is beyond what can be provided
by social media, that’s why I was excited to try the Aura Digital Frame.
The system is very easy to use. First I loaded the app on my phone – and it works with BOTH Apple and Android phones. Then I followed the easy to understand guide on the screen, and paired the photo frame to the app. This now allowed me to simply select and photo on my phone, and seamlessly and instantly copy it using a wireless connection to the photo frame. I invited my husband to the app so he could send photos to the frame and I get a notification in the app when a new photo been added. I’m able to update the photos whenever and from where ever I want.
The most notable feature
of the Aura frame is the build quality and the finish on the frame. It has a
very unique and modern design and very light in weight. It has two touch bars
that blend into the side so you can swipe through photos quickly if you want
show a series of photos such from an event or vacation, if you decide.
You’re able to create a network of social sharing that’s on display between you and your loved ones. Having everyone connected to the app with one simple click of a button, new content can be shared to your frame. The connected features also allows for sending photos to in-laws, grandma, and family members at work are just as easy as sending to my own photo frame. I just select the other frame as the location, like choosing another person to call from the contacts in your phone. It was that easy to do, and setup – no learning required, and nothing to remember.
In the past, digital
frames had a fixed space for photos, so you had to choose what to delete to add
new photos. Since I have thousands of
photos on my phone, now I never have to worry about space because the Aura
frame offers unlimited space.
You have to check out the Aura Digital Photo Frame if you enjoy sharing your life in pictures. All these features of the Aura Digital Frame along with the app, come at a very reasonable price and make for a great investment for your home and the home of your loved ones.
After months of teasing about their foldable phone in conjunction with last year’s MCW (Mobile Congress World) show in March, Samsung unveiled their new revolutionary “Infinity Flex” at their keynote address in San Francisco the following November at the Samsung Developer’s Conference – SDC2018.
Continuously accomplishing evolutionary improvements year after year and creating new industry standards with each smartphone release, Samsung have simply outdid themselves by re-imagining the design of the smartphone of tomorrow, thinking way outside the box of that could only have been imagined in science fiction movies.
“We’ve been living in a world where the size of your screen can only be as large as the device itself,” remarked Justin Denizen, Samsung’s SVP of Mobile Product Marketing at the Opening Keynote at SDC2018 in San Francisco.
“The Infinity Flex Display is the foundation for the smartphone of tomorrow…Infinity Flex represents the biggest leap forward in mobile display technology in the last decade…together with one UI, it lays the foundation for a new platform.”
After announcing that the “Infinity Flex” would be in production in April 2019, there were some initial production hiccups after the company had sent devices to various outlets for review. Many reviewers were reporting that their phones were breaking down in just a few days, but one of the main reasons was that some reviewers peeled off the screen protector thinking it was supposed to be removed, when it actually was one of the innovative layered components that protected the device that should not have been removed.
Even with a warning on the instructions not to peel the layer off, many reviewers did not read the literature in the box. However, since reviewers are a microcosm of consumers, Samsung needed to redesign and extended the layer so it would make it a permanent part of the phone.
In regards to the other issues, Samsung made additional quality improvements and refined the design further nearly six months later, addressing those initial issues that have disappeared.
BEFORE PHOTO: The Samsung Galaxy Flex is a smartphone. Photo by Marcus Siu.
Pioneering innovation in mobile display technology has been a main force why Samsung has been the favorite among Android smartphone users over the years as they continue to make things even better than you would think would be impossible to improve on for the consumer. Ten years ago, Samsung introduced Super AMOLED smartphones in 2010 and continued to improve the technology today to Quad HD Super AMOLED, used in the bezel-less Galaxy Edge. Now that they are in the Infinity Flex age, they continue advancing and have created a new form factor of foldable smartphones.
AFTER PHOTO: The Samsung Galaxy Flex is a tablet. Photo by Marcus Siu.
The Infinity Flex Display, and the phone itself has a tablet-sized screen that can be folded up to fit into a pocket. When folded, the view-able screen measures 4.6 inches. When unfolded, the device has a 7.3-inch display, about the size of a tablet screen.
It’s difficult to fathom how this could be entirely possible given the physical and its dimensional characteristics. How is this possible to bend and fold a smart-phone as though it was a leather wallet that you can put in your back pocket?
Samsung basically re-imagined the way smartphones are made . They substituted the protective cover glass and replacing it with a composite polymer that is flexible and tough yet durable. They also came up with a unique adhesive that improves the elasticity of the component layers (cover window (PI), shock-absorbent film, ultra thin polarizer, flexible layer and backplane). Finally, they invented a new polarizer, reducing the thickness by 45%. All these factors would reduce the thickness of the phone in order for it to be folded and unfolded repeatedly hundreds of thousands of times, creating a new form factor, opening a new dimension with the Infinity Display technology.
As a side note, the Opening Keynote at SDC2019 also teased a new unnamed concept design of that of a traditional flip phone, much like those styles of Nokia and Motorola used in the early days of cell phones. The “clam-shell” foldable phone allows the device to fold width wise instead of lengthwise.
With the creation of the Samsung Fold phone, there will be endless possibilities to this newly created form factor which will continuously flourish and develop into a new era.
After purchasing a brand new TV or laptop, how many consumers
out there do you think actually go through the trouble to calibrate and
fine-tune the colors of their display to get the finest picture possible?
Probably not many.
The majority of users don’t even think about adjusting the
display settings on their monitors or laptops, and just leave the factory
default settings alone. It never crosses their minds that they
actually need to adjust and balance the settings if they want a better picture
with better contrast or crisper and brighter colors. The fact is, most of
the companies simply do not calibrate their displays they package.
THX, known for the certification of movie auditoriums, as
well as home theaters, car audio systems, and gaming consoles has just recently
branched out to include personal mobile devices. The latest lineup
of THX certified EVOO devices were on display at the Pepcom show in San
Francisco, which come pre-calibrated and tuned by THX engineers, who spend
countless hours, guaranteeing the consumer get the best in sound and picture
possible right out of the box.
This is a big win for the consumer.
However, the really impressive news is that the EVOO gaming
laptops will feature multi-dimensional sound utilizing “spatial audio”, where
the sound not only surrounds you not only from the front, rear and sides, but
also above and below you…basically a 360 degree field. You can experience
this through the built-in speakers from the laptop or just using
headphones. If you are a gamer or movie watcher, you cannot get
better than this for a total immersive experience from any other mobile
device. If you prefer, you can always set it down to “stereo”.
The THX slogan of “the audience is listening” now can probably come out with a more updated slogan” “the audience is immersing”…
“We are pleased to help bring to market these exceptional new EVOO devices. With the EVOO Gaming laptops, gamers experience spherical multidimensional audio, putting them at the center of the action in video games, movies, streaming video, and music,” said Jason Fiber, senior vice president and general manager, mobile products, THX Ltd. ”Adding to this, our THX engineers worked diligently to calibrate the displays so the devices will offer a quality viewing experience with brighter, clearer colors and vibrant, focused contrast.”
EVOO Gaming Laptops – THX Spatial Audio and Tuned by THX: EVOO, a private-label electronics brand today announced three new Intel-powered EVOO Gaming laptops optimized for dedicated and new gamers. The EVOO gamer will have the option of enjoying THX stereo as well as THX Spatial Audio to experience three-dimensional audio immersion. This means the player may become fully immersed in an authentic game experience that transports them into the computer game environment with true-to-life acoustics that allows them to accurately locate enemies, avoid dangers, and detect threats with the precision and pin-point accuracy of advanced audio positioning. THX Spatial Audio may also help reduce ear and brain fatigue by moving sounds perceptibly farther away from the player in order to encourage mental sharpness enabling longer playtime. Recognizing that great content needs exceptional graphics, the EVOO Gaming laptops also feature displays Tuned by THX, resulting in a compelling and accurate viewing experience. THX engineers spend countless hours testing, tuning and adjusting a myriad of display parameters in order to provide exceptional, crisp display color and images for the best possible video experience from the time it is taken out of the box.
These three performance-series EVOO Gaming laptops, expected to be available in early November, include:
a 17.3-inch full HD screen with an Intel i7 9th gen processor, 16GB/1TB and Nvidia RTX 2060 ($1599 MSRP),
a 15.6-inch full HD screen Intel i7 9th gen processor, 16GB/512GB, and Nvidia GTX 1660ti ($1299 MSRP), and
a 15.6-inch full HD screen with an Intel i7 9th gen processor, 16GB/256GB, and Nvidia GTX 1650 ($1199 MSRP).
September 2019 – The marketplace has a number of products to
address the portable marketplace. The
battery powered world of mobility is the dominant technology of the business
environment and people’s personal life.
This means in addition to the cell phones, tablets, laptops and gaming
devices people are carrying extra batteries.
The challenge to get these products to work the whole day, and
especially the high power devices.
To enter the solution space for these issues is computer
peripheral and lifestyle manufacturer Mobile Edge. In addition to the standard pocket sized Li
external batteries, they have their premier Core Power Portable 27000 mAh
Laptop Charger. The unit, with high
power 2.4A USB2, a fully compliant USB3 & USB-C and a 110V 85W standard 3
prong outlet.
This compact unit allows for not only phones and tablets,
but also laptops and chrome books. These
devices do not typically make it through a full day. This small ( Dimensions:
189 x 122 x 30mm , Weight: 720g ) power
brick can operate a standard gaming laptop for several hours to allow any
student or avid gamer to complete a competition without performance hits on the
computer as it switches from line cord to battery.
Most of the power bricks in this class are too big to be
carried around in a backpack and are difficult to use. This has a simple on-off switch for the power
outlet and will work with either 2 prong polarized plugs and 3 prong plugs so
just about any convertible device or laptop can plug in.
The unit charges in just a few hours overnight, and fits in
a dedicated pocket in the Mobile Edge Core Gaming backpacks, and they include
the internal USB cable to keep devices charged while not in use.
August 2019 – The MWC LA Conference is once again bringing
the latest technology and information on 5G, connected cars and everything
wireless to the US. The MWC LA
conference is the North Amercian centered show of the industry leading cellular
MWC Barcelona conference in
February.
The Conference in LA shows off the new technologies for the
ever ongoing advanced in cell phone and the associated wireless
connectivity. While the big title may be
5G, it also means connected cars, new experiences for entertainment and gaming,
and security for all these connections..
For Entertainment, the long awaited higher performance for
mobile games is on the way. This will
allow the cell phone and table platforms to have similar gaming graphics as
console games offered just a short while back.
It also means that PC and console games can enjoy new wireless
controllers and connectivity bringing a new gaming experience.
The 5G technology is also supposed to be the last piece of
the puzzle to allow Virtual Reality to become the mainstream viewing
environment for all gaming and content.
It has been hypothesized by several VR makers that while their sales
targets have been behind for over a decade, with 5G deployment their sales will
beat all expectations and replace TVs and cell phones as the primary screens in
peoples lives. This are pretty big shoes
for 5G to fill.
The conference will also cover entertainment content which
is about streaming media in a cellular and wireless environment. These discussions pertain not only to being
able to enjoy your favorite movie and live sports with a better quality of
experience, but also for being able to
participate in high quality video conferences and intranet based video message
delivery.
The conference has keynotes from many leaders including FCC
Chairman Ajit Pai, Executives from Verizon, Intel, US Cellular, Ericsson, Nokia
and Open Table.
The 3 day event is returning to the LA Convention Center
October 22-24, 2019.
As soon as the Expo floor was opened at the Convention Center on Day One at this year’s 2019 AWE conference in Santa Clara, much of the crowd gathered in the congested nreal booth at the main entrance of the hall. With great anticipation, hoards were checking out the various AR demos on display, as well as queuing up in long lines getting ready to ask questions regarding the release of the upcoming SDK developer kit.
Six nreal glasses were on display surrounding the booth and demonstrated non-stop and around the clock with impressive mixed reality and even trailers of movies, such as the latest installment of “Mission Impossible”. There were longer demos that required longer wait times, but it was truly worth it, as the demos showcased an impressive demo reel of 3D AR experiences.
nreal, not to be confused with the elite graphics game engine, “Unreal”, though like “Unreal”, this company seems to put its priority on delivering high quality and immersive visuals in the Mixed Reality landscape that are quite “eye popping”, as well.
Indeed, nreal is one of the newest and exciting consumer product companies to emerge recently. They were this year’s recipient at CES 2019 for “Best Startup” company by Engadget, and have been actively developing ready-to-wear mixed reality devices since 2017. In addition to attending the CES show in Las Vegas early this year, they also made an appearance at the GDC (Games Developer’s Conference) in San Francisco in March.
At the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara last Thursday, they announced that they will be shipping the nreal Light Consumer Kit ($1199), which sports a 1080p resolution, 52-degree field of view smart glasses and a 3DoF controller and computing unit. In addition they will also be shipping the smart glasses without the controller and computing unit for $499, which can also be used in conjunction with any smartphone using the Snapdragon 855.
To achieve its relatively low price, the nreal Light Consumer Kit requires consumers to use Android devices that are powered by the Snapdragon 855 chip by Qualcomm, who nreal is also partnering with. Phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S10 series, Sony Xperia 1, LG G8, and the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT all contain the 855 processor and are fully compatible with the nreal Light.
Weighing at a light three ounces, these comfortable MR glasses sport an industry-leading wide-screen vivid display with a stunning 1080p HD resolution, bypassing the visual quality of the Microsoft’s Hololens and MagicLeap. Combined with its SLAM-based environment-understanding AI algorithms, nreal offers a truly immersive MR experience for their flagship product.
“We’re excited to finally make nreal Light available to consumers, which at just $499 has dramatically lowered the barrier to adoption and introduces a new category for mixed reality devices that are finally within the reach of an average consumer,” said Chi Xu, CEO and founder of nreal, in a statement.
The cost makes this truly affordable for this type of technology.
Based in Beijing, this company just seemed to just come out of nowhere and has a good chance to become a major player in the wearable A/R smart glasses market industry in the coming years. Looking forward to seeing how they advance the industry.
Finding hidden
treasures could be a profitable hobby. However, you need a metal detector to
help with the search. There are certain features a metal detector needs in
order for it to be considered best in class.
When you unwrap the
consumer grade Minelab Go Find 66 you
wouldn’t believe how light it is! Easy to carry, use, and it’s so compact and
light you can take it in your carry on. Minelab
Go Find 66 is equipped with accessories including earbuds, digging tool,
smartphone holder and a carry bag.
A unit that has both
large coils (so it doesn’t miss anything on a sweep) and small coils (to help
pinpoint an exact location) is ideal. Having a metal detector that can not only
differentiate between materials but can block the signal of junk metals will
make your hunt far more enjoyable. A volume control, a headphone jack, and a
sensitivity control, are all desirable options that pairs with your phone.
When it comes to informational displays
and other features, big differences exist among the metal detectors on today’s
market. When considering a purchase, look for these special features. Granted,
some of them may not appeal to you, but it’s nice to know what you’re buying
into.
Headphones/headphone
jack
Metal detecting is a somewhat noisy
hobby. If you’d rather keep your business to yourself, the Minelab Go Find 66
has this and includes headphones with purchase.
LCD
screen
The Minelab
Go Find 66 is designed with a Treasure View LEDs, which light up
and change colour to help you identify
what you’ve found before you dig. Green lights indicate non-iron objects like
coins or jewelry, while red lights indicate iron objects such as nails or keys
which makes searching more efficient.
Ground
Balancing
This feature gives you the ability to
“tune out” interference from natural metals in the soil (like iron).
Waterproofing
The Minelab
Go Find 66 is designed with large 10 inch waterproof coils making searching
on the beach or submerged in water easy and stress free. This allows you to
search
If you’re going treasure hunting, you need a machine that’s comfortable for you to use over the long haul. All these features of the Minelab Go Find 66 along with the price point of $250.00 makes for a great investment.
Just
few more days until the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world’s
premiere trade show for computer and video games, that is being held at the LA
Convention Center. E3 will be taking place from Tuesday, June 11 till Thursday,
June 13. Before the doors open for the show let get a glimpse at the state of
the industry.
Based
on the past 3 years of support from the hardware platforms and the software
development tools – the E3 community has now returned to immersive and engaging
story for their games. The capabilities of the new video cards and computers,
including mobile devices, has brought a freedom to developers to be
creative again rather than focusing on “will the game play on the
platform”.
Games
industry is the fastest growing sector of the modern entertainment industry and
is part of modern culture. Today game enthusiasts expect a richer, fuller and
more involving game experience. Under such demanding clientele, more dynamic
and multidirectional developments of games have been created, and the pallets
of emotions both in the game and experienced by the player, have been greatly
increased. Production studios strive for authenticity and put meticulous
attention to detail, bringing players into a new level of realism, which may
include 3D technology that changes flat images to three-dimensional images and
cinematic quality photo-realistic events. Today’s game has a story line,
utilizes state of the art visual graphics and utilizes new, advanced form of
interaction with the player. In addition there is also increased proliferation
of artists in the games industry, who get to express themselves creatively and
individually. The impact of the games on mass culture is unquestionable and its
value is growing at a dynamic pace.
New adventure, horror, search, RPG, and on-line games are being shown from both indie and established developers. While only a couple major titles have big releases planned, the number of new stories and game concepts is the largest in the past several years.
These titles are also NOT just focusing on VR, they are treating that as just another platform to support and making the games for multi-platform experiences (VR and standard) in many cases. Accessories for controlling the game, walking around and being fully physically immersed in the game, new sensors, games from major publishers and companies as well new experiences from independent developers.
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”.
The first
decade of the 21st century was known for introducing smartphones to the masses,
as well as introducing the first smart TV. Ten years later starting in 2010,
the world became socially connected thanks to companies such as Facebook,
Twitter and Netflix. We are now rapidly approaching a new period of consumer
technology called the Data Age.
This “Data
Age” comes to life under the shadow of the tremendous flow of data security and
privacy concerns becoming the number one issue across the entire globe.
Different countries are dealing with these complex issues with different
solutions and with The European Union for example, implemented strict rules and
regulations, last year, called GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
China, on other hand, has no government organized privacy and security
regulations.
Both
companies and individuals are at risk.
“With computing processing power increasing dramatically, even passwords
that are 14 to 20 characters long will be readily crackable and largely
ineffective for protecting high-value, high-risk assets and transactions by
2020”- warns Forrester, an American market research company that provides
advice on existing and potential impact of technology to its clients and the
public.
As risky as
this as can be, the world must stay
connected because only this connectivity allows us to live in smart cities, in
intelligent houses, drive connected cars and very soon be driven by autonomous
vehicles.
This next
generation of data connectivity will require wireless technology from 5G that
can connect devices with the next generation fast speeds. Those in the race to
bring the technology to marketplace and get a foot int the door for the
business that goes with it include China Telecom, KDDI in Japan, SK telecom in
South Korea, through Verizon and AT&T in the USA, Shaw and Rogers in
Canada, to Ericsson all over Europe:
Vodafone and BT in United Kingdom, Deutsche Telecom in Germany, Orange
in France and Telefonica in Spain. As 5G becomes a crucial component of
technology development, the entire world needs to adapt to it.
In the last
few years, home security cameras, thermostats, and connected lighting equipment
have become more common in homes and sales continue to increase. Just imagine
how the IoT (Internet of Things) environment is going to explode with the
rollout of 5G.
For example,
for smart home development into existing homes, consumers usually don’t buy all
those devices from the same platforms or at the same time. This brings the
challenge of how the consumer can connect all these different products, brands
and platforms together as well as the devices that haven’t even been invented
yet. The idea of a practical smart home is like bringing together different
instruments to create a symphony orchestra that need to play in unison. Following connectivity, the Smart Home’s
Next Trend will be Interoperability and Intelligence.
It is
difficult to imagine the smart home without some type of digital assistance
activated by voice and equipped with Artificial Intelligence. Three truths
about voice/AI assistant are: 1.) Digital assistance is going into everything:
devices, appliances and cars 2.) Support for digital assistance has become
table stakes: services, brands, commerce 3.) Voice is quickly becoming the
“go-to” interface – it allows you to keep doing what you are doing as well as
have the digital assistant do something that normally requires your hands.
For example,
Amazon Alexa has nearly 60,000 skills and 20,000+ compatible devices. The way
how we interact with digital assistance shown the study done by Consumer
Technology Association (CTA) in August 2018. US online adult study shows how
people make a use of Amazon Alexa(in%): Ask questions – 63, Check the weather – 58, Listen
to music/radio/podcasts – 50, Set a timer or alarm – 45, Call someone – 32, Check
the news/sports – 30, Send a message to someone – 25, Search for
recipes/cooking information – 23, Check personal calendar – 22.
We also
beginning to understand the limits of automation. AI intelligence and
automation are really transform the way we access data, we use data. AI is
helping us to understand the data. The
first generation of voice control required people to learn “command words” and
“special phrases”. With AI in the
system, it can now understand conversation and what actions to do next. For example, without AI and data analysis you
would say “Alexa, turn up the thermostat by 2 degrees” now you can say “Alexa,
I am cold”. The system will recognize
who “I” is and the context for the word “cold” based on what location you were
talking from and the system can respond “would you like me to turn up the
thermostat by 2 degrees”.
This
direction of connectivity, interoperability, high speed data and analytics as
well as “personalized models” is what is driving the next generation of Smart
Home. The “personalized models” are the
core of the privacy concerns. It means
the computer has to both know that it is you, and more importantly know
everything about you – what you eat, where you shop, what temperature you like
the house, what shows you watch and what music you listen to, who you visit and
talk to, what your schedule is, what your interests are, To be able to be helpful, the computer has to
know how to help. By knowing how to help
you be more comfortable, it means that all of that data has to be stored
someplace, and hopefully used only for your benefit. Governments, companies, and technology are
all working together, finally, to try and insure the next decade is a
beneficial Data Age to make your life better.
