By: Fredwill Hernandez
Even though the CES [2020] does not officially start Tues. – Jan. 7, it’s evident the Consumer Technology Association [CTA], who owns and produces the CES, is very appreciative of the coverage reporters, industry analysts, tech gurus, and writers give the event, by hosting the CES Unveiled Las Vegas– an exclusive industry analyst or member of the press event held Sun. – Jan. 6, at the Mandalay Bay [Level 2] Shorelines [Ballroom].
Companies such as Labpano, Posqa, Pix [Backpacks], Ohsnap, Groove X, PantryOn and Shure among countless others, including the 2020 CES Innovation Award Honorees, were eager to give the press a preview of their “latest innovations” ranging from robotics, wireless and mobility, wearables, the Internet of Things, health and fitness, 4k Ultra HD, sensors, 3D printing, and automotive technology.
Among five things [I chose] to write about is [first] a company named [called] Ohsnap which has created the “world’s slimmest” [phone grip] marketed “as the phone grip that doesn’t suck,” with three things in mind: grip, mount, and prop. The unique phone grip is currently available for $29, and will be available for viewing at [CES’] Eureka Park booth number 53168.
“Dale Backus [our CEO] founded the company. We’re a phone grip less than 3mm’s thick, all you do is snap it on the center, then I pop it open for a one finger [phone] hold, it has many different features part of it, again a one finger hold — it ratchets up and down for movement, you can also pop it up for a [kick]stand if you’re by yourself watching a show, video, or movie. You can close it back up, and you can slide it off if you need wireless charging on your phone. Other phone grips don’t work well for this application: they’re too thick. Another cool thing is you can stick it on to any metal surface since [Ohsnap] is magnetic, it has magnets imbedded, it’s safe for the phone so you can do selfies or whatever,” eloquently explained Mark Anderson, VP Operations, Ohsnap. “We have a sticky [metal] plate that comes when you purchase Ohsnap grip. The sticky plate is essentially a piece of metal you can stick to any flat surface — I actually have one sticky plate in my shower, so I stick [the metal plate] to my tile and it magnetizes to my Ohsnap. You can [for example] stick it on your microwave or frig for when you’re cooking or things like that. It has a lot of different features, it’s extremely useful for any application or purpose like that.”
With the popularity of Blockchain, and Crypto, I ran into a cool company [Watch Skins] based out San Diego, California, who created the world’s first blockchain watch face marketplace.
“Watch Skins is debuting the first blockchain watch market place, also we are debuting the Crypto Watches [Brand]. The blockchain watch market place is were you can go buy, sell, and trade digital virtual collectibles on blockchain, so they’re scarce, they are unique, they are one of a kind – they are tradable, we have an auction feature where you can buy, sell, and trade from different brands from automotive to fashion to celebrities, musicians, music, DJ’s different things like that. We’re working on a lot of different types of technologies like concert technologies for watches and things like that. Ultimately we are targeting people who love the idea of having “exclusive and scarce” products, the people who want to have [and own] a one of a kind thing. We don’t have our own watch [per se] but our technology works with any smart watch, we just chose Apple watch [to show off or demonstrate our technology] because of its battery life,” explained Collin Knock, CEO, Watch Skins.
As I made my rounds I ran into a [cute] little robot that moves and reacts to you as you show it affection [or love], dubbed as the Lovot, created by [Japan’s] Groove X, with its creation Groove X believes it’s taking the first step towards the creation of a new sense of values in which technology itself facilitates emotional fulfillment and caring. In the kind of society that we have in mind, robots for a new age will be able to make people happy while enhancing their performance.
With the social media, streaming, and podcasting taking off and everyone eager to create their own original content, Labpano, [a Shenzhen, China based company] created a “unique and very impressive” Pilot One, a smart “8k 360° Camera” with a touchscreen and In-camera stitching, and standalone [8k@24 fps] live streaming, and it boast a “two-hour battery life.” It [also] comes with three unprecedented innovations in one camera: Swiftbird, a cloud based live streaming solution, PilotOpen Systems, allowing developers to build their own apps, and Pilot Tour, a realtime V-SLAM positioning solution for precisely-positioned virtual tours.
Another cool thing that caught my attention was the pix dubbed as the [world’s] first LED lights backpack.
“The pix [backpack] is the first customizable backpack, and the main thing is that you can control it using your app. The app is available for android and iOS devices and inside the app you can actually create your own drawings, images and animation and apply them to the backpack. The app also has the library of different arts that you can also use and you can use the pix backpack for fun, festivals, or for one to advertise as it makes you very [noticeable and] visible on the streets. The lights of the backpack work from any modern power bank that has a 2A output. The standard 10,000 mAh capacity is enough to power the Pix backpack 5-6 hours of nonstop usage,” eloquently expressed Margaret Rimek, CEO, pix.