A few trends have us excited this year. We’ve not yet run out of ways to measure information about our bodies and health through wearable gadgets. TVs are getting the ability to fix their own darn picture settings, finally. And security and privacy are moving from afterthoughts to headline features and even their own products.
CES is also useful for tracking progress on long-promised but still nascent technologies, including self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and augmented-reality glasses. The TV industry, the single largest exhibitor at the show, is pushing ahead into its latest reason to get you to upgrade: 8K TVs, which have four times as many pixels as ultra-HD 4K TVs. (Can you even see all that sharpness? The companies say you should just scooch your couch closer.)
One trend we hope dies down: companies using fear to sell dubious security and health gadgets, and casually integrating surveillance into everyday things. Someday we’ll learn not everything gets better by putting it on the Internet, or by letting you command it by voice.
Our CES favorites are usually the products that make you go hmmmm. Seeing what problems we’re trying to solve with tech reveals as much about us as it does the state of the art. This year, we’ve seen the impact of climate change and social isolation.
Here are our finds for the best and weirdest products of CES 2020, which we’ll be updating throughout the week as we keep discovering more.
Vertical TV: Samsung Sero
People keep shooting video while holding their phones vertically. That works fine when you’re watching Instagram or TikTok on your phone, but it looks terrible on a horizontally oriented TV. No longer: Samsung’s latest TV rotates to switch between horizontal and vertical orientations. You sync the Sero TV to a Samsung Galaxy phone, and it automatically switches orientation to match what you’re watching. It’ll only work if it’s wall-mounted.
No price yet, available in the U.S. in early 2020
Smartwatch that detects sleep apnea: Withings ScanWatch
Add one more to the list of health concerns that smartwatches can detect: sleep apnea. Withings, a pioneer wearable maker, added to its new ScanWatch an SpO2 sensor that measures oxygen saturation levels and identifies when they’re too low — an indicator of the common sleep condition. (It does this by emitting and absorbing a light wave passing through blood vessels.) The ScanWatch tracks sleep length, depth and quality, and provides a nightly sleep score. It also does other now-common smartwatch things, including activity tracking, heart rate and detecting arrhythmia (AFib). Even better, its battery lasts 30 days.
$250, available in spring 2020 (pending FDA clearance)
Temporary tattoo printer: Prinker
Temporary tattoo technology hasn’t changed much in recent years. You can buy them, order custom designs online, or print your own on special paper at home. But a new device called the Prinker makes temporary tattoos mobile for spontaneous people who don’t want to commit to forever ink. The handheld printer can apply cosmetic-grade ink to the skin in black or color just by passing it quickly over the chosen body part once. Images are selected from a companion app, or you can add your own. It can only print graphics up to an inch wide, so a full tattoo sleeve would take a while, but the only limit on the length of a tattoo is the length of your body. While the final product doesn’t smudge or fade much, it does wash off easily with soap and water.
$269, available in mid-2020
Sex toys go high-tech: Lora DiCarlo’s Osé
It was the sex toy that launched a thousand articles when its CES innovation award was revoked last year. Now, after a little introspection and a lot of outside pressure, CES is allowing sex-tech products in the show. The Osé is back, a uniquely shaped robotic massager that doesn’t vibrate, along with two other similar products. The drama opened the door for more sex tech players, around a dozen by our count, that include everything from internet connected vibrators to fertility devices.
$290, available now
A self-balancing people mover: Segway-Ninebot’s S-Pod
The WALL-E comparisons for Segway-Ninebot’s new people-moving S-Pod are unavoidable, but the company says it was actually inspired by the pods in “Jurassic World.” A cross between a comfortable recliner, a scooter and a giant egg, the new mobility device is designed to move people around non-road locations like malls, airports and (dinosaur-free) theme parks. The self-balancing pod, which goes up to 24 mph, is controlled by a panel and knob system that can be removed from the pod for remote steering. It’s just one of many mobility options announced by transportation companies at CES, which is packed with remote-controlled scooters, electric dirt bikes, and real cars inching closer to full self-driving status.
No price yet, available late 2020
“Filmmaker mode” for TVs
Many modern televisions have settings that automatically boost colors and smooth out motion in ways that can make movies and shows look fake. Filmmakers including Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Patty Jenkins, Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan decided they’d had enough, so they got an industry coalition called the UHD Alliance to back a new “filmmaker mode” for TVs. The idea is that content will have the ability to push out a special signal indicating the TV should disable all post-processing — such as the motion-smoothing setting that makes films look like reality shows — and the TV will adjust its own settings accordingly. A number of big TV-makers have signed on so far, including Vizio, Panasonic, Samsung and LG.
Available on select 2020 model TVs
A sleep trainer: Hatch Restore
This bedside lamp and white noise machine in one promises to help you fall asleep and wake up with more ease. The Restore changes color and brightness to match your personal sleep routine — yellow for wind-down reading time, bright white for waking up — and pairs each stage with calming sounds or even recorded meditation routines. You find and set the right nightly sleep routine for yourself through its companion app. The gadget’s creators, who were also behind a children’s sound machine and night light called Rest, say the Restore’s sounds and colors are based in cognitive behavioral science that finds routines lead to better sleep.
No price yet, available in early 2020
Home privacy helper: Winston
We’re finally getting some help in protecting our privacy. This box that you install between your Wi-Fi router and modem takes evasive maneuvers to reduce the data footprint of all the devices in your house. More than just a virtual privacy network (or VPN), Winston scans the traffic coming and going from your house to block ads, filter tracking cookies, fight website “fingerprinting” and cloak your internet address. There’s an $8.25 monthly service fee, with the first year included with purchase.
$249, available now
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2020-01-06 12:00:00Z
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