I love watching the daily coverage of CES every year, and although I look forward to the smart home gadgets, the latest and most amazing appliances, and the life-like televisions, my favourite part of the show is the coverage of the wildest, craziest, or just really surprising gadgets to come out.
A lot of these devices fill a need you never even knew you had, and quite a few of them make you sit up and take notice instantly, because you can’t believe something that cool/unique/crazy has been created and is just waiting for you to bring it home.
There are still a few days of CES 2016 and I can’t wait to read about what Erin and Ted see on the floor of the show, but from an followers perspective, here’s what I think is weird, wild, and wonderful this year at CES.
Never worry about food labels again
The first thing I thought when I saw a feature on the Diet Sensor was, “Didn’t McCoy have one of these on Star Trek?” He might have been able to scan a lot of different things (in an entirely fictional way of course), but the Diet Sensor will only scan your food. That’s pretty amazing in itself.
The Diet Sensor is a molecular sensor that scans your food to measure your daily intake, recommend what you should eat, and pick up on anything in the food that you might have an issue with. It works with an app that tracks everything, and it can also connect with the small Scio infrared scanner and Bluetooth scale. If you put your plate on the scale, it measures everything on the plate including fat, calories, protein, and carbs. Incredibly, if you eat while your plate is on the scale, it will measure your intake in real time as the food enters your mouth.
Skip the Self-driving car and head straight to the skies
One of the biggest trends this year is the self-driving car, but if you want to skip that trend completely and one-up everyone you know, check out the EHang 184. It’s an autonomous passenger drone that looks like a helicopter, travels up to 100km/hr, and folds up neatly to sit in a parking spot when you aren’t in it. It also has a fail-safe system, so if one part of the engine fails, you can still land safely.
I’m going to have a hard time explaining to my boys why they can’t have one these. Check out the launch video for EHang at CES 2016:
Sensorwake
There’s nothing that wakes me up faster than freshly brewed coffee. I know that sounds like something out of a 1980’s Folger’s commercial, but it’s absolutely true that different types of scent can wake you up, give you energy, or lull you to sleep at night.
That’s where the Sensorwake comes in. It’s an olfactory alarm clock that releases different scents like ocean, coffee, chocolate, or peppermint to wake you up. This is one gadget I’d love to try out.
The Keurig for cocktails
Pod-based coffee machines have been huge for years, and a Keurig for baby formula has been around for a few years too. Now you can kick off your next party with another Keurig of sorts: debuting at CES 2016 is the Keurig for cocktails. The Bartisian lets you pop in a capsule, set for strength, and it brews up one of a hundred different types of cocktail.
There’s also an espresso machine for wine. D-Vine gives you wine at the perfect temperature and aeration, and you just pour a bottle of wine into the machine and it will make sure it’s the exact temperature it should be served at. It’s only available in France right now, but it should be coming to the US and Canada in 2016.
Facetime has gone to the dogs
I have two dogs, and I know if I’m gone for more than an hour there’s a sense of anxiety in the air. I’ve watched them on my Withings camera and they howl at the windows, pace, and bark at every sound. My camera has two-way talk so I can chat with them, but PetChatz promises to go one further: it lets you call your dogs while you’re out with a special ringtone, and if the pet wants to call you, you can teach them to press a button to give you a shout.
PetChatz will also dispense treats at your command and can release your pet’s favourite soothing scent to calm any anxiety they may be experiencing. I don’t know about you, but I’d really love to be somewhere and have my dog give me a call. Knowing my dogs, they’d be calling a lot.
A baby soother with Bluetooth
I remember what it was like to crawl around on the floor in the middle of the night searching for a soother for a baby who won’t go back to sleep. I’d have them stashed in drawers, under my pillow, and pretty much everywhere I’d look to find them, and I always said to my husband that it would be nice if there was a GPS for soothers because they were always missing in action when I really needed one. Now there is.
The Pacif-I Bluetooth dummy does more than just help you locate your smart soother. It keeps track of your child’s temperature if he or she is ill, and it has a proximity sensor so you’ll get an alert if your child has it in his or her mouth and they wander out of range. If I had a baby, I’d be signing up for this one right now.
Cinch up your waistline and keep track of your fitness
A belt that lets itself out after you’ve had a big meal? Yes, there is such a device, and it’s called Belty. This gadget will be your waistline’s best friend.
It’s a stylish belt you wear and it tightens or loosens according to your activity level, after you’ve eaten, or after you’ve exercised. It has both an accelerometer and a gyroscope, just like fitness trackers, and it works with an app to send you reminders to be more active. There are even ‘Belty good vibes’ to tell you when it’s time for a power nap so you can recharge your energy levels.
It’s hard not to get hooked on the coverage coming out of CES 2016, and these new devices are just a few of the weird and interesting products you’ll be seeing on the shelves by the end of the year. Keep following Plug in for all of the CES 2016 coverage.
