CES: Highlights from the 2022 CES Unveiled Pre-Show Event
ETC’s George Gerba visited the CES Unveiled show floor in Las Vegas Monday evening looking for companies and products that would be of interest to our members, illustrate emerging trends, or are simply unusual. Gerba discovered a range of compelling technologies across areas such as blockchain, non-fungible tokens, Li-Fi, wearables, large-scale video screens, the metaverse, remote work, cell signal boosters, health, batteries and more. Among the more interesting companies at CES Unveiled this year were Icecap, Oledcomm, Somalytics, VideowindoW, Toraru, SureCall, Biospectal, Prinker, Airxom and Nanotech Energy.
NFTs and digital currencies are one of three new categories at CES 2022 (food tech and space tech are the other two). Icecap uses the Ethereum ERC721 NFT (non-fungible token) standard to give diamonds their own digital tokens. The unique token represents the rights to a single diamond and enables that diamond to function as a tradeable asset. The pitch is that Icecap enable you to safely add diamonds to your investment portfolio via blockchain technology.
Oledcomm has developed networking technology, tablets and other products that communicate via Li-Fi (Light Fidelity). The company unveiled a Li-Fi tablet for home and home-office (above, shown for medical use). Its patented technology modulates invisible infrared spectrum at more than 10 million times per second to convert data into binary code in an optic equivalent of Morse code. Li-Fi has a latency 100 times less than Wi-Fi. The signal is robust, stable and cannot be intercepted outside of the room.
Somalytics has developed very sensitive carbon nanotube capacitive sensors that can detect human tissue up to 20cm away. Their sensors are small (<1mm diameter), low latency (<3ms), and fast (up to 1000hz). Use cases include eye tracking, touchless and contact HMI (human machine interaction), wearables and industrial.
VideowindoW transforms windows, including the entire glass curtain of a skyscraper, into a black and white video screen. Unlike tintable glass, VideowindoW divides glass into numerous small segments, comparable to pixels. Each pixel’s transparency ranges from fully transparent to nearly full black, and changes fast enough to display video content. Uses include glare control and shading, generative video patterns, entertainment and art, and branding and advertising (above).
Toraru would like its GENCHI app to be the Mechanical Turk of the metaverse. Already deployed in Japan, GENCHI is an on-demand remote work agent service in which “you can ask someone to do something, no matter where you are in the world.” It is an example of the rush to move existing ideas into the green field environment of the metaverse.
SureCall is a 5G signal booster system. The company claims 10X improvement of voice, text and data signal inside any home, office or vehicle. SureCall signal boosters work with all cell carriers and cellular generations, including 3G, 4G LTE and 5G LTE (below). An outside antenna captures the signal, the signal booster amplifies the signal’s strength and indoor antenna(s) send the improved signal to your phone. ETC thinks this type of tech will be installed in office buildings and will be useful for temporary installations supporting remote productions and operations.
Biospectal is making instant, ubiquitous and accurate remote blood pressure monitoring and management a reality. With the touch of a finger to a smartphone camera, anyone can transform their phone into a medical grade blood pressure monitoring solution, anytime, anywhere.
Prinker Korea Inc. demonstrated a printer that produces personalized temporary tattoos. Choose from a rich library of pre-made artwork or design your very own tattoo with the Prinker Design App. Get personalized temporary tattoos, commitment free, and without the pain. The tattoos last two to three days.
Airxom is a face mask that offers “total respiratory protection” from pollution, viruses and bacteria (above). The mask filters and destroys micro and nanoparticles (atmospheric pollution) and shines UV rays onto a catalyst to destroy viruses, bacteria and volatile organic compounds (including SARS-CoV-2).
Nanotech Energy announced customizable, non-flammable lithium-ion batteries that utilize monolayer graphene, which charge faster, hold a charge longer, and are safer than traditional lithium batteries. The use of monolayer graphene is a significant environmental advance. Nanotech Energy is a Los Angeles-based company founded in 2014 by Dr. Jack Kavanaugh and noted UCLA scientists Dr. Richard Kaner and Dr. Maher El-Kady.
See the original post here: https://www.etcentric.org/ces-highlights-from-the-2022-ces-unveiled-pre-show-event/
CES: Fittingbox Demonstrates Unexpectedly Useful AR App
Sometimes you see a product idea that is so obvious you wonder why no one created it sooner. French company Fittingbox has developed an augmented reality app and a 3D model database that lets you try on new frames for eyewear without taking off your old glasses, so you can actually see what you look like as you try them on. Diminished reality is a subset of augmented reality focused on removing, rather than adding, elements of what you see and hear. The Fittingbox app uses the selfie camera on a smartphone to scan the face of the customer. It then recognizes and removes the wearer’s glasses from the 3D modeled image.
Fittingbox has over 120,000 digital frames to try on in the world’s largest 3D frames and photo database. The customer selects frames to try on, and each frame is projected onto the selfie image. Accurate tracking and sizing are guaranteed for an enjoyable customer experience.
Simply open the app, point the selfie camera at your face, and raise and lower the screen to flip between different frames. Find one you like and Fittingbox is happy to sell it to you.
“Our mission has always been to develop more immersive solutions through technology,” said Fittingbox CEO and co-founder Benjamin Hakoun. “We have generated more than 95 million virtual try-ons in 2021.”
“Diminished reality could be applied in other ways, as well,” notes TechRadar. “Highlighting the person you’re meeting in a crowd via a big arrow overhead (and maybe their latest Tweet) is a common trope of augmented reality. Imagine instead if the rest of the crowd were turned down a bit — blurred out or removed altogether, to ensure you don’t miss your date.”
Fittingbox is demonstrating its product during CES this week in Eureka Park at the Venetian Resort, booth #60414.
See the full story here: https://www.etcentric.org/ces-fittingbox-demonstrates-unexpectedly-useful-ar-app/
Have a better 2022 with these tech resolutions
Get multifactor authentication already.
Rethink two-day shipping.
Take that next meeting over the phone.
Embrace the infinite inbox.
Be critical about the news.
Mute notifications.
Celebrate Digital Cleanup January.
Lastly, remember there’s a whole world outside of tech.
See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/31/1043032/2022-tech-resolutions/
Forget augmented reality, diminished reality is coming for your face (and your glasses)
A CES 2022 lesson: AR can remove things from the real world too, helping solve life's little problems.
Diminished Reality is an intriguing offshoot of augmented reality, being shown off at CES 2022 for the first time by a French "digital eyewear" company called Fittingbox. The company uses the tech not to layer new stuff over the existing world but to remove stuff from the real world -- in this case, to let you try on new eyewear without removing your existing glasses. ...
“To date we have generated more than 95 million virtual try-ons in 2021, and we produce the largest 3D frames and photo database in the world, accounting for around 120k digital frames.” ...
See the full story here: https://www.techradar.com/news/forget-augmented-reality-diminished-reality-is-coming-for-your-face-and-your-glasses
TCL joins the race to create AR smart glasses, challenging Meta and possibly Apple
A teaser video for TCL's smart glasses showed them being used to dial into video meetings, display turn-by-turn directions over your surroundings, take and share photos, use multiple virtual displays for work and even start your car. TCL's concept has no release date yet because it's a prototype, but the company hopes to show a working version around Mobile World Congress in February.
TCL's glasses include a binocular micro-LED color display that uses optical holographic waveguide technology to display information and images. ...
TCL's concept glasses have a touch panel along the right side for navigation, and they're powered by a Qualcomm 4100 processor. ...
See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/tcl-joins-the-race-to-create-ar-smart-glasses-challenging-meta-and-possibly-apple/
Voice AI Predictions for 2022 from 25 Industry Leaders
VIRTUAL BEINGS, METAVERSE, AND GPT-3
CHITHRA DURGAM, DDS AND FOUNDER, BLUE CHECK SKILL
2022 will see an increased use of voice with chatbots in the Metaverse, avatars using synthetic voices, synthetic voices increasingly reading audiobooks, and more interactive Alexa/Google Home technology platforms adding more discoverability to voice content. As optimistic as I am, there are still questions in regards to the Metaverse involving the long-term rights to the use of another’s voice, maintaining customer service as companies utilize more technology, and authenticating avatars to prevent fraud. With certainty, companies will be leveraging Conversation AI technology in spaces it hasn’t before to offer more continuity to their branding.
EDWARD SAATCHI, CO-FOUNDER, FABLE
The battle for the soul of the metaverse will commence – Web3 and Free and Open Source Software like Sandbox and Blender vs the centralized companies of Meta, Epic, Roblox, Adobe.
See the full story here: https://voicebot.ai/2022/01/01/voice-ai-predictions-for-2022-from-25-industry-leaders/
These are the 6 hottest crypto tokens you can use to buy real estate in the metaverse
1. Ether
Symbol: ETH
YTD Returns: 401%
Market Cap: $448 billion
2. Axie Infinity
Symbol: AXS
YTD Returns: 18,016%
Market Cap: $6.5 billion
3. Sandbox
Symbol: SAND
YTD Returns: 16,853%
Market Cap: $5.6 billion
4. Decentraland
Symbol: MANA
YTD Returns: 4,219%
Market Cap: $4.4 billion
5. Gala
Symbol: GALA
YTD Returns: 28,477%
Market Cap: $3.5 billion
6. Enjin Coin
Symbol: ENJ
YTD Returns: 1,971%
Market Cap: $2.5 billion
See the full story here: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/metaverse-crypto-popular-tokens-digital-land-real-estate-investing-tips-2021-12
