Tag Archives: CES2016

Digital Ski with AR Goggles at CES

March 8, 2016ces, Interview, Special Media, sport, videoces, CES2016, Interview, skiing, sport, tracker, videoAndrew

There are all kinds of fitness and sports trackers coming onto the market, from the generalists like Fitbit through to the specialists for single sports, like basketball or baseball. Digital Ski is in the latter category, bringing specialist sensors to both downhill and cross-country skiing. Dr Hermann Schindler of HS Innovations shows Jamie and Nick what’s possible with two sensors instead of one.

Unlike most sports trackers, Digital Ski uses two intercommunicating sensors, one for each ski. The dual sensor approach brings the benefit of better motion analysis as with only one tracker, it’s not always easy to see if a motion was cause or caused.

Impressively, the sensor information is reported in real-time to the skier’s (augmented reality) googles which can show the skis’ movements and forces while in motion. There’s a German language video here which shows it off to good effect. Of course, there’s an app too for post-race analysis.

For runners, there’s Run Rockets, which uses a similar dual sensor strategy to provide data while on the hoof, as it were.

Digital Ski isn’t available for purchase yet but those interested can register on the website.

Jamie Davis is the host of Health Tech Weekly at HTWeekly.com. He is a nurse, paramedic and health journalist.
Nick DiMeo is a video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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BeON Home Protection at CES

March 6, 2016ces, Home Automation, Interview, Special Media, videoces, CES2016, Interview, lighting, smart home, videoAndrew

Improved home security is one of the benefits often cited by proponents of the smart home, but setting up everything can be technically daunting and require a little DIY. The team at BeON have taken a different approach, developing home protection that can easily be installed without any geek or DIY credentials. Jamie and Nick learn more about this original thinking from Alexei Erchak, CEO of BeON.

The BeON Home system is a set of smart LED lightbulbs (or lamps) that screw in to replace existing lights. How are the bulbs smart? To start with, they learn the lighting patterns in the house so that when the building is unoccupied, the lights mimic the normal activity. Next, they learn the sound of the doorbell, so that when the doorbell rings, the lights will come on as if the householder is answering the door. Similarly, the BeON Home bulbs learn the sounding of smoke detectors and will automatically turn the lights on if a fire is detected in the building. Finally, the bulbs come with a backup battery which keep the lamps on even if the power fails.

All-in-all, it looks a pretty neat solution providing a deterrent to intruders and enhanced safety for the home-owner and family. The BeON Home is available now and a starter kit costs US$199.

Jamie Davis is the host of Health Tech Weekly at HTWeekly.com. He is a nurse, paramedic and health journalist.
Nick DiMeo is video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Fasetto Link Packs in the Features

March 5, 2016camera, ces, Hardware, Information, Interview, Special Media, storage, Streaming, videocamera, ces, CES2016, Interview, nas, storage, streaming, video, wirelessAndrew

Normally a wireless NAS unit wouldn’t merit a second look, with plenty of choice from big OEMs like Seagate to small crowd-funded efforts. But when this wireless NAS unit is the size of a matchbox, holds 2 TB and weighs 4oz, it’s definitely worth another viewing. Marlo and Nick examine this miniature marvel with Luke Malpass from Fasetto.

The Fasetto Link is a small waterproof cuboid just 48 mm by 23 mm, yet holds a 2 TB SSD along with 802.11ac wireless connectivity. Able to connect to 20 devices at the same time, it can stream to seven of them at once. It has a write speed of up to 1.5 Gb/s so it’s entirely feasible to have multiple wireless action cameras recording simultaneously to the Link. If that’s not enough, it uses Qi wireless charging to recharge in less than an hour.

Now this doesn’t come cheap – the 2 TB version US$1,449 but the price does fall with the capacity and a 256 GB version is only $349. The Link will be available in Q4 2016.

Marlo Anderson rounds up the latest technology news at The Tech Ranch and Nick DiMeo is a video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Gyenno Spoon Returns Dignity to Tremor Sufferers

February 29, 2016ces, health, Interview, medical, Special Media, videoces, CES2016, Health, Interview, Medical, videoAndrew

Hand tremors can be a very disabling condition for sufferers as the tremors affect the ability to feed oneself and simply, food won’t stay on the fork or spoon. For the afflicted, this either ends up in unremitting frustration or a considerable reliance on others. Fortunately, products are coming to the market which dampen and stabilise the cutlery (flatware) allowing those suffering from hand tremors to feed themselves with dignity. Jamie and Nick find out more about the new utensils from Kang Ren of Gyenno.

The Gyenno spoon is designed to work with a wide range of tremor conditions and the spoon uses built-in sensors and machine learning to control two independent motor systems for spoon stabilisation. In addition to keeping the spoon still, the sensors record data which can be passed to healthcare professionals to monitor the on-going condition.

The spoon is available from Amazon and is currently priced at US$312.

Jamie Davis is the host of Health Tech Weekly at HTWeekly.com. He is a nurse, paramedic and health journalist. Nick DiMeo is a video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Manage the Work-Life Balance with Concepter Soul

February 28, 2016ces, Interview, People, Social Media, Special Media, video, wearableces, CES2016, Interview, people, Social, video, wearableAndrew

If the work-life balance is something of a struggle and you find that you aren’t spending enough time nurturing your relationships, then the Concepter Soul might be for you. Nakia gets social with Tania Viezhys, Head of Communications.

Developed by the same team that created the iBlazer LED flash, the Concepter Soul measures the amount of time that you spend in close proximity to friends in the real world and gives you a summary of who you spent quality time with. Using Bluetooth, Soul combines a wearable, a key chain and an app to track who you are with during the day and reports on your top five “friends”. It may surprise you to see who takes the biggest chunk of your time.

The Concepter Soul will be available for US$29 when it comes out in early 2016.

Nakia Mann is a video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Eton Solar Powers for Good and Bad Days

February 28, 2016Bluetooth, ces, Gadgets, Interview, Speakers, Special Media, videobluetooth, ces, CES2016, emergency, Interview, power, speaker, USB, videoAndrew

Eton‘s motto is “Empowered by nature” and in this case, it’s powered by nature too, with a full range of solar powered gear. Scott gets charged up with Sharon Cook, Eton’s VP of Marketing.

First up is the Rukus Xtreme, a solar powered Bluetooth speaker with USB charging ports. Five hours of charging gets around eight hours of playing time and with an IPX-4 rating, the Xtreme won’t mind a few splashes either. Available for US$179 (MSRP $199).

Next is the the Xtreme’s baby brother, the Rugged Rukus, which is perfect for camping or hiking weighing just a pound. Retails for US$79 (MSRP $99), it charges and plays for similar times to the bigger Xtreme and has the same IPX-4 rating.

On standby for emergencies, Eton have the Scorpion II, a “rugged, portable multi-purpose digital radio, that charges smartphones with crank power back-up and weather alert”. Think of this as being the information equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife or Gerber Multitool. You need one of these in your emergency packs and at US$50 you’d be a fool not to get one.

Finally, FRX5 is the big brother of the Scorpion II, with all the emergency features you can think of from torches to emergency beacons, am/fm radio to NOAA weather alerts and SAME regional alerts. Powered by solar, crank, rechargeable batteries or three AAAs, you can charge via USB if you need to. Perfect for the home or car at US$100 (MSRP $129).

Note Eton is known as Soulra in some countries.

Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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Smart Cooking in the Kitchen with SmartyPans

February 28, 2016Bluetooth, ces, health, Interview, Special Media, videoces, CES2016, cooking, Interview, kitchen, videoAndrew

Tracking nutritional information when cooking from a recipe can be difficult as it’s not as easy as looking at the back of the packet to find out how many calories are in 100g. Aside from adding up the constituent values, the cooking process can alter the composition too. If this is a familiar problem, then the Smartpans smart skillet might be the solution. Scott finds out more from Prachi Baxi, CEO and founder of Smartypans.

The solution comprises of two parts, the smart skillet and the complementary app, which communicates with the pan via Bluetooth. The clever bit is that the pan includes temperature and weight sensors, simplifying the cooking process as weights can be measured on the fly; the chef enters the food, such as chicken, into the app as it’s being added to the pan. The pan measures the weight of chicken being added, passes that to the app which then calculates calories and other nutritional information, adding that to the total for the meal.

The cooking processes can follow two different paths. The app can guide the inexperienced pot-stirrer through the recipe, directing what and when, but for the seasoned chef, the app can follow along and help out only as necessary.

With an expected retail price of US$299, the Smartypan is currently on pre-order for $209. The interview references an Indigogo campaign but that doesn’t seem to have started at time of writing.

Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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