It should be a step back into pre-Corona normality: After the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the most important tech fairs worldwide, last year, like so many other conferences, only took place digitally, it should feel a little prepandemic with a hybrid concept in 2022 convey.
But then came the Omikron variant. Many companies, including Google, Amazon and Mercedes-Benz, preferred to stick to virtual events instead of sending their employees to Las Vegas.
Now one can discuss whether it would not have been more responsible for the organizer Consumer Technology Association (CTA) to forego an on-site trade fair in view of the Omikron wave.
 |
| BMW will use Amazon Fire |
In a way, however, this form of meeting is likely to have been trend-setting: Hybrid events that combine digital keynotes with on-site experience will probably remain. Even after the pandemic.
And somehow that also fits in with CES: It always wants to convey an idea of the future. The new technologies that are presented there often find their way into our homes, into our way of working, into our lives.
Sure, some of the products presented at the fair do not manage to inspire the general public, some remain just prototypes and never become ready for the market. And yet every year the exhibitors give a little insight into the technology trends of the coming months and years. Which innovations with potential were presented this year?
Welcome to the Metaverse
If you formulate the claim, like the CES, to be the "global stage for innovation" and to want to present the most groundbreaking technologies every year, then in some years you have to put up with the accusation that the innovations are rather poor. Not every year an idea stands out that will change the lives of all of us. Some people may see it that way in 2022 as well.
 |
| Truth Social: Donald Trump's Internet Platform |
Nevertheless, there was a dominant theme at the fair: the metaverse. Ever since Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021, the tech world has been concerned with this concept of the Internet +, a digital parallel world that is still hardly imaginable today. The fact that the metaverse is often circumscribed in a flowery way is simply due to the fact that the applications for it are still missing.
With Horizon Worlds, Facebook has introduced a platform on which you can move around in virtual reality (VR) with an avatar, similar to Mesh from Microsoft . But it still looks more like well-known VR.
At the CES, some products were presented that are supposed to make virtual reality more tangible. With Pebble Feel, Panasonic subsidiary Shiftall would like to simulate heat and cold with a kind of air conditioning system that you strap around your body so that the virtual world feels more like the analog one.
 |
| A Virtual Reality Headset |
The company Owo is also working on a haptic gaming vest that users should be able to use to feel what is happening in a video game - if, for example, an opponent attacks.
Shiftall also wants to make the avatars look more realistic. Due to the metaverses from Microsoft and Facebook, you only glide with your upper body, there are no legs. Shiftall, on the other hand, presented a device with which one can track leg movements - with which one should also be able to simulate legs in the Metaverse.
But where there is hype, there is also a lot of nonsense : You couldn't take a step at CES without stumbling over the metaverse, writes the US technology magazine Techcrunch - and already fears a "metaverse of shit". One thing is clear: even if a lot has been said about the metaverse, it remains completely open after the CES what it will look like - or which of the products presented will turn out to be marketing nonsense.
Smart glasses make a comeback
When Google launched its smart glasses, Google Glass, in 2013, it seemed like the future. "Goodbye smartphones," wrote the Suddeutsche Zeitung at the time. But two years later, Google stopped selling. There are now new versions of smart glasses, but they are more aimed at companies.
 |
| The World's First Car To Open And Run On Mobile |
Are smart glasses coming back now? In any case, you could get that impression at CES. The Chinese company TCL showed a prototype of its XR glasses , with which you can dial into video conferences, take photos and even start your car.
With smart contact lenses from Mojo Vision you should be able to track your fitness. And Qualcomm and Microsoft want to jointly build chips for augmented reality glasses.
As early as 2021, Facebook and Rayban brought out smart glasses that can be used to take pictures and videos. Even Apple is said to have ambitions in this area. The extent to which smart glasses are becoming established could in turn be relevant for the metaverse (see above).
TVs a little bit better
One would think that everything has been said about television. For years they have been getting bigger, higher resolution, flatter. But somehow the manufacturers manage to come up with something new every year.
 |
| Samsung's M8 Monitor |
Samsung, for example, has now equipped its televisions with "EyeComfort mode", which is supposed to regulate the brightness automatically. In addition, thanks to the appropriate brackets, you should be able to turn them so that they are upright - then you could use them like a smartphone. LG tries size and handiness:
The company introduced a 97-inch OLED television, supposedly the largest of its kind to date, and a much smaller 42-inch OLED television. The latter is probably the smallest of its kind for a long time and is primarily intended to attract gamers. And Sony is the first major manufacturer to have a TV with QD OLED technology that promises 200 percent better color brightness than conventional LED LCB screens.
 |
| The James Webb Space Telescope |
Even if televisions are certainly not a new trend: The iterations now presented are likely to be the innovations of the CES that will move into people's living rooms and bedrooms fastest in the coming months and years.
Anyone who wants to examine the changes in the automotive industry can no longer just visit auto shows like the IAA: The CES is also an important indicator for the industry.
Essentially, the mobility issues of the past few years also determined CES 2022: Either the cars have alternative drives or they can move autonomously. In some cases, the models presented can even do both.
John Deere, for example, presented a tractor that drives autonomously and should already be ready for series production. The big advantage compared to self-driving cars: In fields, unlike on roads, there is less risk of collision with other road users.
 |
| iPhone 14 Will Have A Front Camera With An Elongated Hole |
General Motors is planning an electric pickup truck that will have a range of up to 400 miles. Of course, it can be argued that this is just another electrically powered model out of many. But of course, the more electrically powered cars come onto the market, especially in popular versions such as SUVs or pick-ups, the more likely they are to convince people to opt for a model with an alternative drive the next time they buy a car.
BMW, on the other hand, surprised with an electric SUV that changes color. As interesting as it looks, it is likely to remain a niche topic.
Granted, it is extremely unlikely that we will all be sitting at home with small robotic animals anytime soon. But they are often cute anyway. For example Amagami Ham Ham, a small robot dog or a small robot cat from Yukai Engineering:
He should be able to nibble on people's fingers. According to the manufacturer, this playful nibble should offer "indescribable comfort". Maybe they just wanted to get some attention at CES.
Do You Know What We Have Posted on
0 Comments