CES stands for the consumer electronics show. It’s in reality – products across all industries are demonstrated. I used to think that most technology tends to scale from small to large. After CES 2023, I’m pretty much convinced that most new technology will stay small and become a piece in one of many massive cloud applications.
In 2017 there were many demonstrations on products that were demonstrated on circuit boards. You could see the potential of these products. Cheap Raspberry PI 3 ($35 computer on a small circuit board) board would change the world. Amazon released the Echo Show that year, which eclipsed the Google Home speaker released 2 months prior.
In 2019 almost all products had moved from being on circuit boards to cased products with more refined software. To use an example, the amount of products integrated into Amazon Echo (Alexa) voice recognition went exponential.
In 2020 most prototypes of technology inventions start their life on a Raspberry PI board, and Wynn Resorts has over 5000 Amazon Echo devices installed in Hotel rooms worldwide. They control TV’s, Curtains, Lights, and handle many of the functions that the front desk does.
In previous years, you would see vendors both small and large. In 2023 – COVID-19 had a serious impact to the electronics industry. Most small vendors who would normally demonstrate in previous years, did not attend this year.
There are shortages on a wide range of components. While impressive – many manufacturers were only demonstrating conceptual products. These products will not develop into actual products in the next 12 months. As an example Panasonic continues to make bold and impressive directions on sustainability. I’m glad to see large companies like this putting monies into pure research.
The products/trends listed below (In no particular order) are a bit closer to fruition.
https://www.lg.com/global/business/oled-signage/lg-55EW5F-A
LG keeps advancing OLED display technology. They keep expanding in size, and resolution. Many demonstrations of both Transparent OLED, and wireless transmission of video to these displays. LG is one of the few hardware makers, that has control of their own manufacturing. Most contract this out, and are at the mercy of others.
Hisense is one of these companies that 3 years ago….You could probably never heard of. They’re the largest manufacturer of TV in China and are growing here at a rapid pace.
Holographic (3d) displays have improved dramatically over the years. These work without requiring optics, and almost no motion effect like previous generations. They are targeted towards advertising spaces.
https://www.goalzero.com/collections/portable-power-stations
In 2012 Goal Zero created a portable, useable, Lithium Ion battery pack. In 2023 – the industry seems to think there is a high demand for having large amounts of battery power in the wilderness. These are recharged by a wide range of sources, (including Solar) and many can be stacked to power your house should your power drop. The amount of supply in my opinion will greatly exceed demand. Expect to see many little power cubes at your big box store soon.
The battery box technology is also spurring new types of Batteries. Zendure was demonstrated semi-solid state batteries. 2.5 times the power of Lithium Ion, charge faster, running cooler, with better life expectancy. These battery boxes scale, as I rarely see residential boxes outputting
Following the survivalist theme there were multiple vendors selling “Air to Water” solutions. (The technology is more efficient, but essentially it’s a dehumidifier with water purification)
https://fluentalk.com/products/fluentalk-t1-handheld-translator-device
https://vasco-electronics.com/
Language Translators now ship with complimentary cellular data service, and work considerably better. The power of the cloud with multiple translation engines is clearly in play here. They now have versions that contain earbuds.
https://emeet.com/products/emeet-meeting-capsule?variant=42014379409579
Years ago, we had Polycom and Tandberg. They created H323 video conferencing, and had one camera with one speaker. We slowly have morphed into additional intelligence with newer generation Poly and Logitech Units. The Emeet product takes cameras, and speakers to the next level. It’s largely assuming that people will use this in conjunction with your laptops, but it does create a cleaner, more entertaining experience.
https://us.switch-bot.com/ (Bluetooth)
https://www.kasasmart.com/us (Zigbee)
There is a showdown in the home automation market, between Zigbee/Zwave and Bluetooth. Despite using more electricity, people are starting to adopt Bluetooth control similar like the switchbot units above. It will be interesting to see what happens, but I suspect that someone in the end will build a user friend Zigbee controller that allows consumers to program soon.
https://shop.se.com/us/en/products/breaker-boxes.html
Schnieder electric has started to home based electrical panels that allow for remote control and monitoring. It’s something that the IT industry has been wishing for, should be shipping soon.
https://www.tomatocrew.io/products
If/When it will get government approval is the only question. Near Infrared Spectroscopy – The Ability to read blood sugar using light. This means that one day, diabetics could monitor their Blood sugar wearing nothing more than a specialized watch.
https://www.hmesquare.com/eng/solution/solution.php
Similar solution using lower sound frequencies.
https://www.theslimca.com/product-page/slimca-voice-recorder-black
A credit card sized voice recorder. Small, simple. Many hours of storage.