CES: When the mother-in-law’s at the door

CES: When the mother-in-law’s at the door

Las Vegas, January 3, 2020

This year again, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 in Las Vegas will entice the more than 175,000 visitors to make extraordinary investments. However, this will only succeed if visitors are not put off by the more than 4,500 exhibitors, who will be on a site the size of 50 football pitches, and discover the exciting, latest achievements of modern technology alongside the usual things like technology for cars, health and wellness, smart homes and retail. CES will take place from 7 to 10 January.

Whether small start-ups or large technology companies from dozens of countries, they all want to get a bigger piece of the over $1 trillion global consumer electronics market. Will they succeed? Here is a small selection:

As a result of improved AI, digital speech assistants are becoming increasingly intelligent to an extent that they can hardly be distinguished from their role models – people.

Soccer fans will also get their money’s worth: There are supposed to be devices that can sound happy when the favorite soccer team has won and depressed when the mother-in-law is at the door. Background: until now, no programmer had succeeded in equipping a device with „emotional intelligence“. This could be a first success.

I’m sure you’ll find „intelligent glasses“ and in-ear hearing aids interesting.“ The South Korean technology giant LG is already ahead of its competitors in TV manufacturing – it presents the latest ultra-high definition standard – also known as 8K. However, the device comes decidedly too early because there is a lack of content for this format.

After last year’s failure of Samsung’s foldable smartphones, this year several competitors will compete with this innovation.

A controversial topic is certainly the completely self-driving vehicle. The providers are well aware that the majority have decided against autonomous driving. But constant dripping wears the stone. If the market is turning, there is not enough time for newcomers. So a trade fair like CES is the best opportunity to make a name for yourself as a supplier just in case.

Even Futures Technology, a company from China, could benefit from this, as it claims to be launching „the first interactive windshield with mixed reality“ that provides drivers with real-time information about the status, performance and environment of a vehicle.

Of course, 5G technology and artificial intelligence will also play a role in the context of autonomous vehicles. The Californian Xperi is introducing an in-cabin system that uses iris recognition, facial recognition and other biometric data to unlock vehicles and detect driver fatigue. Amazon is stepping up its efforts in the automotive sector with a booth that showcases its cloud computing division, AWS, which is focused on „intelligent, personalized products and services. The new Fisker Ocean electric car is expected to be another challenge for market leader Tesla. More modest is the German company Bosch. The Stuttgart-based company wants to establish itself in this segment with intelligent glasses that will help drivers to navigate with foresight.

In the smart home segment, more and more devices will connect to digital assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant or their competitors. These include intelligent screen command centers, intelligent mirrors and kitchen appliances.

Wearables were the big hit last year. They scan the human body ever more intensively in search of improved health and connectivity. Another emerging category is „Hearables“, such as advanced earphones, translators and hearing aids with AI Boost.

Devices worn in the ear are among the fastest growing wearables and have captured 47 percent of the segment in the second quarter of 2019, according to market research firm IDC.

The textile computer company Myant shows smart clothing – starting with attached underwear – with sensors that monitor the wearer’s heart and respiratory rate, temperature, movement, posture and sleep.

A link for orientation:

https://www.ces.tech/Logistics/Dates-and-Hours.aspx