CES 2019: The Best of ShowStoppers and the Show Floor

[MacRumors]

The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show is wrapping up, with Friday being the final day. For our last CES video, we visited ShowStoppers, the show floor, and a few vendor events to show MacRumors readers some of the coolest stuff that we saw this year.

Not all of what we have to share is entirely Apple related, but there are definitely some interesting, eye-catching technology products that give us an idea of where the tech sector is headed.

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Some of the best TV technology at the show came from LG, with the company debuting a 65-inch TV that rolls up. The rolling mechanism lets the TV, which is super thin, tuck away when it's not in use, and then be brought back up when you want to use it.

LG's actually going to release the rollable TV, called the OLED TV R, sometime in the spring, but expect it to be sensationally expensive. LG's booth was also something special, outfitted with a seemingly endless array of curved OLED displays.

Samsung was on hand showing off its upcoming Bixby speaker, a smart speaker that's designed to compete with the HomePod. The Bixby speaker features a teardrop shape along with three metal legs, with Samsung promising smart home features and immersive sound. The Bixby speaker is set to be released soon.

Simplehuman, a company that makes automated trash cans, debuted the Sensor Mirror Hi-Fi, which works as a mirror, a lamp, and a speaker, while Kohler was demoing a smart bathtub that won't overfill and super fancy $7000 toilet with a heated seat, LEDs, speakers, Alexa integration, and automatic flushing.

LaMetric showed off a very neat looking Nanoleaf Smart Panel competitor called "Sky" that features a mosaic-style design. In addition to displaying various colored designs, the panels can be customized with weather information, social network data, the time, and tons more.

Aura, a company that made a fitness tracker popular on Kickstarter, introduced an Apple Watch "Smart Strap" that's supposed to measure weight, water, fat, and muscle via electrodes built into the band. We didn't get to try it out for ourselves, but we're interested to see if this is actually going to be a viable product.

VR was big at CES and we saw a virtual batting cage, options for boxing, and tons of VR headsets, and there were no shortage of prototype cars, as usual, most with self-driving capabilities.

The neatest automotive-related product we saw was the Bell Nexus Air Taxi, a hybrid electric-propulsion aircraft that's going to be launched by Uber sometime in the mid-2020s. Uber hopes that this air taxi, which can carry four passengers a couple hundred miles on a single charge, will be the future of transportation.

To see more of what's being shown off at CES, make sure to check out our CES Unveiled video and our Pepcom video, along with our full CES 2019 hub.

Article Link: CES 2019: The Best of ShowStoppers and the Show Floor

 

[AngerDanger]

Some of the best TV technology at the show came from LG, with the company debuting a 65-inch TV that rolls up.

This and the "hovering" CarPlay display are both instances of language ambiguity getting me much more excited for something than is reasonable.

 

[Baymowe335]

As always, the key is implementing this technology in a practical and usable way.

 

[Sasparilla]

Seemed like lots of VR, but there were more of the AR things as well (down on the lower end of things, a step up above the Google Glass type baseline) with Vuzix Blades and Nreal glasses. Getting closer to usable things - my buddy was saying the Vusix Blades could watch sports on them... Probably not as good as watching on my iPhone, but progress is being made.

Apple, with their ability to drop custom silicon needs into every next generation of iOS CPU is in the perfect place when they decide to go after that market (since they can use the latest iPhone as the CPU for the glasses and then just sell the glasses to you). Only the Vuzix Blades didn't make you buy / carry along another smartphone to power them from the current AR group (beyond the very basic Google Glass type AR's).

 

[Tech198]

Wow.. That TV sliding motion doubling as a sound bar, and roll able OLED display..

I would bet people would just like to have that in their home.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

Missed in this roundup is the rollout of one of the first mobile ATSC 3.0 chips by One Media. What is that? It's Next Generation TV. The chip, if used by Apple, Samsung, or someone in phones later this year or next year, will enable live TV on any such phone, or even tablets, laptops, in automobiles, or of course HDTV sets. This is free (the TV service, not the chip), without using your mobile data, and even up to 4K. Next Generation TV already exists in South Korea, so while the U.S. mobile companies will fight it as well as the cable companies, it is coming.

And no, you do not need to attach a rooftop antenna to your smart phone nor use headphones as an antenna to watch live broadcast TV.

Edit: I should note that Samsung is already involved in this as well as in making the chips, so of course, unlike Apple, they will most likely be the first to market a cell phone that is also a broadcast TV receiver. I should also add, that if Apple were smart, they'd also be interested too as this is considered a groundbreaking thing for autonomous cars too as ATSC 3.0 is an IP based broadcast method, can send and receive data to/from cars within any TV market.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

I barely trust someone driving me around in two dimensions, let alone 3 dimensions. Add 4 massive mince meat machines on the side of it and you've got a recipe for disaster.

 

[SBlue1]

Toilet seat with Alexa support? Why?? Automated trashcans? LOL

 

[gsurf123]

I realize Samsung is committed to the name Bixby, but it was a very poor choice. It's as if someone working for the company was watching American Television and thought it was cool. Cortana is not much better. Both Bixby and Cortana are harsh sounding words. I'm indifferent on Siri though it is a softer sounding word and is not someones name.

 

[RecentlyConverted]

Wow.. That TV sliding motion doubling as a sound bar, and roll able OLED display..

I would bet people would just like to have that in their home.

Whilst it looks lovely, I wonder what happens if any grit gets in the roller mechanism? Screen scratches?

 

[FairlyKors]

Toilet seat with Alexa support? Why?? Automated trashcans? LOL

It’s happened. Amazon’s Alexa has finally migrated to the only place it actually belongs, the toilet.
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Whilst it looks lovely, I wonder what happens if any grit gets in the roller mechanism? Screen scratches?

When I picture the type of house/apartment these will be going into, the image simply doesn’t include children tracking dirt and hurling random objects around the room. Actually, I don’t picture children at all in the lofts, penthouses and master bedrooms where most of these will probably end up going to roost. lol

 

[Tech198]

It’s happened. Amazon’s Alexa has finally migrated to the only place it actually belongs, the toilet.

Can't be worse than the Japanese.

They have just about as much tech under the sun... If they havan't found a product with technology in, they'll make it happen..

 

[warp9]

That rolling TV reminds me of the first cd players in the early nineties. They had $1,000 worth of machined aluminum, wood trim, and smoked glass cabinets surrounding $50 worth of electronics.

Get rid of all the pomp and you might sell some of these, LG.

 

[FairlyKors]

Can't be worse than the Japanese.

They have just about as much tech under the sun... If they havan't found a product with technology in, they'll make it happen..

I really only meant that in a metaphorical sense, since my opinion of Amazon Alexa (and every other voice activated data vacuum) isn't very high.

But what's kind of funny with what you point out is that the Japanese really have perfected some kind of harmony between the toilet and technology. Or, if it's not perfect, they are constantly coming closer.

I could be wrong, but I don't see Japanese toilets advertising Amazon Alexa as a feature. (What's the point of Amazon Alexa in a toilet?) But the Japanese do incorporate technology related to the task at hand, like a bidet, blower (er, dryer), and a bunch of other fantastical niceties *related* to what happens when you use the toilet.

It"s a strange example to use, but it's a great example of the Wild West moment we're experiencing at the beginning of the information age. Companies are throwing anything and everything at the wall and consumers seem willing to try nearly everything. But when the problem has to be invented to justify the solution (i.e. whatever the marketing materials suggest for this urinal/Amazon Alexa) that's when I think we're not only off course but we're setting ourselves up for future problems.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

I give CES 2019 four yawns out of snooze for me.