CES 2020 Innovations – The good, the bad and the I don’t know what

Another year under our belt at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. 2020 has turned out to be a pretty interesting year for the show with some cool trends emerging. Here are some of the gadgets that caught my attention.

If you walk around the hall, like every year, you see humongous TVs everywhere. This year, those TVs are mostly OLEDs and 8K TVs. How could we be selling 8K TVs already if we don’t even have enough content in 4K you ask? The answer: upscaling. Basically, the manufacturers install sophisticated software for pixel and color mapping that converts a video shot in HD, 4K or any other format to look like 8K. Of course, it’s not the same as native 8K but we can fake it for some time while the 8K pipeline of content gets filled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZU0moUjElo

Samsung Q950 8K TV

The Samsung Q950 is an innovative masterpiece of simple and beautiful design. When you look at it from the front, you can’t even notice the very thin bezel, which makes the picture look like it’s coming from a window but even brighter. This infinity effect, as they call it, is pretty stunning.

When it comes to picture quality, Samsung is using artificial intelligence to upscale the picture to 8K and it’s also usingmachine learning to achieve this objective. This is not your Mama’s TV. Other algorithms are also being used, onecalled Adaptive Picture and AI ScaleNet make the picture quality even better byoptimizing the TV to the unique qualities of your space.

When it comes to sound, it delivers impressive audio performance with a virtual 5.1 channel surround sound system and brings advanced features to make the sounds come to life.

Last but not least, Samsung is launching their own Healthand Wellness program with celebrity coaches to keep you in shape. So, let meget this straight, the skinny TV wants you to be skinny too. I see the connection.

The PowerEgg X Drone

Drones are also coming to their senses. I remember the firstdrones at CES that were pretty clumsy, but we still thought they were thecoolest. We’ve come a long way in just a few years and now we are finallygetting the cool features in the drones for a price that’s worth it.

This drone is an all-in-one camera that transforms into adrone. Let me explain. The egg itself is a smart camera. The camera ismechanically stabilized to have a nice and steady shot and it shoots 4K videoat 60 frames per second. It’s pretty cool but that’s not all, the PowerEgg X alsouses artificial intelligence to track the subject automatically so if your kidis at a sporting event, you can set it and forget it and live the moment, thecamera will do the work for you.

The killer feature is also that the drone itself can bemounted into a provided waterproof enclosure with landing pontoons so you canfly it and land it in the water which is super cool.

The HiMirror Slide

Mirror Mirror on the wall… This smart mirror plugs into thewall but to give you a whole bunch of cool features. For starters, it has acamera that analyzes your skin to measure all kinds of things such as fine lines,spots or wrinkles. With that information, it gives you personalized tips on howto improve the condition of your skin but that’s not all. It also includesmusic streaming, social media, news, weather and even the Amazon Alexa smartassistant.

Way too many features packed into this mirror - that’s goingto take a little getting used to after using a dumb mirror for so many years.

Mercedes Vision AVTR Concept

When it comes to a vivid vision of the future, DirectorJames Cameron, has no match. That’s why Mercedes partnered with him to createthis mega cool concept. I don’t even know where to begin. For starters, it’svisually stunning and according to Mercedes, it provides an outlook of thefuture interaction between man and machine. That’s a pretty bold statement but,when you look at this thing closely, you can see what they mean.

The interior is full of screens, sans any semblance of asteering wheel and it has the coolest management interface where you extendyour hand and different icons are projected onto it. Once you decide what youwant to do, you close your hand confirming your selection and the vehicle hasits command. You have to see it, to believe it.

This car is also a model for sustainability since Mercedesis promising to recycle plastics from the ocean to build its interior. Is thisthe future of ultra-luxury mobility? Not sure but would love it if it came anywhereclose.

Breathe Easy AO Air

Another gadget that caught my eye was the AO Air, a wearablesmart air purifier. Launching at the show, this super cool gadget monitors theair quality in real-time around you and makes sure you are breathing purifiedair. Eventually, it will incorporate health features such as the ability tomonitor your breathing but if they get it right for now, they definitely have acool product in their hands.

I also saw a cool temporary tattoo printer from a company cleverly called Prinker. You can choose a design or create your own and just swipe it over your skin and it’s ready to go like magic.

The gadget that stole the show, of course, was the toiletpaper Rollbot from Charmin. Imagine you are in the toilet and suddenly find outthat you ran out of toilet paper. Emergency! You summon your smart Rollbot andit brings you a fresh roll from wherever it was parked. Crisis averted! Mayeven save a few marriages…

Needless to say, there are always more cool gadgets than youhave time to check out, but this is a good start. With over 175,000 attendeesfrom more than 160 countries and over 4,500 companies exhibiting, it’simpossible to see them all but we can only bring comfy sneaks and continue totry.