Las Vegas – Judging by a preview event at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, one big gadget trend this year will be sensors that track almost everything in your daily life.
There are sensors to track your home, your security systems, your pets, your plants, your weight and, in the case of a new “smart fork,” even how fast you eat.
CES, the world’s biggest electronics trade show, officially opens its doors Tuesday and runs through Friday. But at Sunday’s preview event here, select companies offered the first real peek at what kinds of products we’re likely to see the most over the week.
1. HAPIfork: The smart fork that slows you down
Eating too fast, and not chewing long enough leads to poor digestion and poor weight control.
The HAPIfork is an electronic fork that monitors your eating habits. The HAPIfork gives you precise information about your eating schedule. The HAPIfork alerts you with the help of indicator lights when you are eating too fast.
Every time you bring food from your plate to your mouth
with your fork, this action is called:
a “fork serving”.
The HAPIfork also measures:
• How long it took to eat your meal.
• The amount of “fork servings” taken per minute.
• Intervals between “fork servings”.
This information is then uploaded via USB or Bluetooth to your Online Dashboard to track your progress.
The HAPIfork also comes with the HAPILABS app plus a coaching program to help you eat better and change your eating behavior.
2. Trakdot: Track your lost luggage anywhere
Los Angeles – January 7, 2013 – According to the SITA, nearly 26 million bags go missing each year from airports around the world. Air travelers concerned about their valuables now have a simple, affordable luggage tracking solution from Trakdot™. The Trakdot Luggage™ tracker fits into a checked bag and reports city location in real time to any mobile, Apple, Android, or SMS capable devices. For the first time, Trakdot Luggage gives airline passengers unprecedented control at a wallet-friendly price, allowing them to keep track of checked-in luggage anywhere mobile phones work.
Trakdot Luggage is built for travel convenience, with a palm-sized tracker that is ultra-light and fits easily into any size bag. The luggage locator system delivers city-specific information on the whereabouts of checked baggage in real time. Even if the Trakdot protected bag does not reach the desired destination, passengers will still have the reassurance of knowing which city their luggage is in.
Once the device is registered on the Trakdot website and placed inside a checked bag, it will deliver location information directly to the user’s mobile phone or SMS device via text or email. Alternatively, travelers can track their luggage on Trakdot.com or use the free Trakdot Luggage app. An additional app alerts passengers as their baggage approaches on the carousel, making it easier than ever for them to find their bag.
“A recent passenger survey from the International Air Transport Association showed that 81% of travelers are interested in tracking their bags in real time,” explains CEO Harry Steck. “Trakdot Luggage empowers travelers to do just that, with a revolutionary product that is inexpensive as well as simple and convenient to use.”
3. Vuzix M100 smart glasses: Intelligent Hands-Free Display for Smartphones
Just as smartphones forever changed the telephone, the Vuzix smart glasses M100 redefines our interface to the ever-expanding digital world.
Vuzix smart glasses M100 is the world’s first enhanced “Hands Free” smartphone display and communications system for on-the-go data access from your Smartphone and the Internet. Running applications under the Android operating system; text, video, email, mapping, audio and all we have come to expect from smartphones is available through this wireless personal information display system. Vuzix smart glasses offer a wearable visual connection to the Cloud, through your smartphone or other compatible smart device, wherever you go.
The Vuzix smart glasses M100 includes an integrated head tracker and GPS for spacial and positional awareness and an integrated camera enables video recording and still image capture. Combined with smartphone applications and linked to the Cloud, first-person Augmented Reality will now finally be available.
4. Lenevo Coffee Table: Lenovo sets table with hybrid PC
Lenovo’s latest PC attempts to move computing from the desk to the coffee table.
During the International Consumer Electronics Show, the personal computer maker unveiled the IdeaCentre Horizon, a device with 27-inch screen that functions both as a standard desktop and a huge tablet.
The Horizon features a multi-touch screen that allows multiple users to input commands simultaneously. Users can place the device flatly on any surface as a tablet, or prop the computer up with a smart hinge, and use a mouse and keyboard in a traditional format.
The device will run on the Windows 8 operating system, and features hard drives with up to 1 terabyte of storage and an Intel Core processor. If a 27-inch tablet seems ridiculous, Lenovo is also demonstrating a 39-inch wide-screen version at CES.
“Horizon makes personal computing interpersonal computing with shared, collaborative experiences among several people,” says Peter Hortensius, president of Lenovo’s Product Group, in a statement.
The PC will boast an app store with more than 5,000 apps, many of which will include multi-touch games tailored to Horizon, Lenovo says.
The Horizon launches this summer, starting at $1,699.
5. Lexus Self Driving Car:
Lexus’ self-driving LS uses a host of high-tech sensors and software to cut the driver out of the equation, putting it in direct competition with Google.
ces-cars
After teasing its first self-driving car earlier today, Lexus marked its first-ever appearance at CES by wheeling out the decked-out LS to the public at a press event. The LS – or safety research vehicle as Lexus refers to it – packs a small arsenal’s worth of tech, including GPS, stereo cameras, radar and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) laser tracking. The LS has been making its rounds on Toyota’s test tracks and is currently capable of measuring the trajectory of vehicle on the road, telling the difference between a red and green light, and actively scanning its surroundings in order to detection potential dangers on the road.
Here is a full list of the Lexus advanced research vehicle on display.
• A 360-degree LIDAR laser on the roof of the vehicle detects objects around the car up to about 70 meters.
• Three high definition color cameras detect objects about 150 meters away, including traffic light detection using the front camera and approaching vehicles using the side cameras.
• Radars on the front and sides of the vehicle measure the location and speed of objects to create a comprehensive field of vision at intersections.
• A distance measurement indicator located on a rear wheel measures travel distance and speed of the vehicle.
• An inertial measurements unit on the roof measures acceleration and angle changes to determine vehicle behavior.
• GPS antennas on the roof estimate angle and orientation even before the vehicle is in motion.
Speaking at Lexus’ press conference, Toyota group vice and general manager of the Lexus Division Mark Templin, described the company’s enduring commitment to automated vehicle safety technologies before going on to lay out the five phases of operation that drive the company’s strategy, which it refers to as Integrated Safety Management Concept.
