CES 2015 - Sensors and Sensibility - Internet Everywhere, Everyware, and Everywear

This excuse for a blog is starting its Season XI, at its own pace - about a post a month, far from the twice-a-week-routine of its heyday.

And as usual, the new year resonates with echoes from Vegas glitz and the CES.

So far, nothing disruptive, only recurrent stuff looming on a less distant horizon. No brain implants, mind you - Apple won't release iSingularity before a while, but driverless cars (Audi A7, BMW i3...), pervasive sensors, drones, cameras, and virtual reality, and an internet that keeps going everywhere, everyware, and everywear.

Samsung promises IoT on all its devices by 2017, and Tizen on its TVs as early as next month. But still no TTM for Tizen on smartphones.

Intel showed its RealSense 3D sensors, and smaller players their latest face-recognition-enabled cameras, ideal for a family, household, or small community/company: ArcSoft's Simplicam can deal with up to 10 regulars, and Netatmo's Welcome (TTM Q2 2015) can extend its reach through "Welcome Tags". Look how the Simplicam exsudes bigbrotherian power, where welcome plays on a rather 'air freshener' mode (netatmo again on the glam side of the force - remember last year's JUNE? - see "CES 2014: Beep Beep Goes Bling Bling"):

Welcome by netatmo

Simplicam by ArcSoft

Interesting to see how marketers try to give different flavors to similar enablers or functionalities. Camera-wise, for instance, the Narrative Clip 2 proposes a GoAm answer to GoPro - or is it dull vs bull? If this clipable, mini camera can also record everything as you go, it is marketed like a simple diary for ordinary people. Low expectations as a new driver for innovation, I like that.

And yes, we've got the unavoidable collection or more-or-less-pseudo-healthy wearables. At least, from the outlook, Withings's Activite Pop won't appear too obsolete next year, because it pretty much look like a normal watch:



NeuroMetrix's Quell aims at actual medical cure: this Bluetooth wrap-on sends neuro-signals to relieve pain.

But the winner of Day 1 remains Emiota's Belty, a Bluetooth belt that adjusts to your eating record. A must for anyone willing to cope with European austerity measures.

emiota's Belty - austerity rules!

mot-bile 2015

CES 2014: Beep Beep Goes Bling Bling

Very disappointing first day at CES 2014: the long awaited (see "Rise of the Nork Zombies") "Frankenstein Android" and "Headtop iBrain" didn't show up so far.

Following last year's trends*, wearable gizmos keep popping-up, and the screen war between LG and Samsung didn't abate. Now TV giants are not only flexing their muscles, but their screens as well. And if we've already seen "bend it like Koreans" on handsets, with a 85 inch TV, that's quite something:



OK, not as flexible as to wrap you up like a piece of bulgogi in a sesame leaf, but that's a good start. 

Nothing distruptive in DreamWorks' DreamTab (not flexible, but for kids who like to move it move it), just another example of how classic smart devices have become commodities:

Same trend for previously new communicating devices and internet everywhere gizmos**.

Smartwear-wise, more show off stuff from Vegas:

Vuzic V720 video headphones

Razer Nabu: not a wedding ring, but a smartwatch that does ring

LG Lifeband Touch: earn it, burn calories

.. and the Killer Melanomapp of the Year Award goes to the Netatmo JUNE, the ultimate bling-bling UV tracker:



I can't wait for the Geiger or Yellow Dust versions, to track exhausts from my North Korean and Chinese neighbors...

Again***, expect more line-blurring between fashion and smartwear from those who look for ways of escaping the commodity market curse.


mot-bile 2014


* see "I see through you: City of Sin, Screens, and Smartpagers" (January 2013)
** except maybe the Kolibree Bluetooth Toothbrush (bluetoothbrush?)
*** see "Apple's Ready to Ware v. Fast-Fashion" (July 2013)