Judging by what is on display at CES Unveiled, the gadgets of the future are designed to help you live a healthier life, and to more closely connect homes with the people living in them.
The 2014 International CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, gets underway this week.
It's traditionally known as an event that previews the next wave of electronics we can expect to see in stores and online.
This year, the press preview show was awash with gadgets that you can wear and gizmos that improve what's going on in your home.
Move over, temperature dial. You've now been replaced by an Android interface.
Appliance-maker Dacor showed off a new stove that features an Android-powered touchscreen, which controls the oven.
Rather than expose an iPad to the perils of cooking, the appliance lets you control it remotely (preheat from the office before you get home) and pull up recipes to follow along while right in the kitchen.
"We're trying to accommodate the way people are cooking, not change it," says Dacor's Michael West.
It doesn't come cheap. The 48-inch model costs a cool $12,000, and will be available this summer.
While Honeywell is showing off a voice-activated Internet-connected thermostat, Allure Energy is featuring a thermostat that connects with the phones of you and your family to determine when it should start warming up or cooling down a home based on the location of residents.
For example, as you leave work and get closer to home, it'll warm up. If the kids come home from school early, it'll adjust the temperature accordingly.
Allure's vice-president Jim Mills says smart scheduling in motion sensors found in other thermostats can't compare to a system like this, since it can adapt based on when people are home -- or getting near it.
Time to get fit
While most wearable fitness devices (many of which are watches) require you to sync them with a phone or tablet before determining how (in)active you are, Wellograph's main selling feature is that it can figure this all out on its own.
"Here it is, right there," says creator Nick Warnock. "There's no need to plug it in."
The watch instantly shows basic infographics that reveal your level of physical activity at any point throughout the day, and how much activity you still need to squeeze in to stay -- as the computer determines -- "healthy."
The relatively stylish watch features a sapphire steel aluminum construction that appears to withstand a fair amount of abuse from a sharp metal blade.
Available in April, the Wellograph is, however, on the pricey side at $320.
As well, Canadians will soon be able to buy a special activewear hat that can flag sports-related brain injuries as soon as they happen.
Reebok's $150 CheckLight hat features a slim sensor band that slips inside, meaning an athlete can wear it under a helmet.
It measures both rotational and impact forces, setting off a small yellow light for moderate hits or a red light for severe blows.
The goal is to visibly show athletes, teammates, trainers and parents whether a hit to the head needs medical attention. Over time, it can even count the number of head injuries sustained by the wearer.
Paul Litchfield, vice-president of Reebok's Advanced Concepts Group, says a Canadian launch will happen "super soon," though no exact date was revealed.
Source:bnn.ca
