CES 2015: New technology transforms our virtual reality

With a new year having just begun and the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas until Friday (January 9), it’s a good time to look at how our lives are being changed by the technology that surrounds us.

Computers and smartphones

A plethora of computers is being showcased at CES. On January 5, Asus announced the Transformer Book Chi series. These tablet and detachable-keyboard combinations rival Apple’s MacBook Air in design and performance. Meanwhile, HP is revamping its line of desktop computers with a design-conscious form factor that’s more ecofriendly.

CES is also hosting announcements of new mobile devices. LG is staying the course with the curved design of the G Flex 2 smartphone, which has a self-healing case. Panasonic announced that its slick camera that’s also a phone, the Lumix CM1, will be released in the U.S. (but not necessarily in Canada) this summer.

Wearable tech

There are lots of wearables on display at CES, including the Narrative Clip 2, a stamp-sized camera that delivers images through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a cycling jacket with embedded LEDs from Visijax. Epson debuted its Pulsense fitness wearables, a band and a watch, which monitor heart rates and sleep patterns. There are even wearables for pets, including the Motorola Scout 5000 collar from Binatone, which has a GPS tracker, a camera, and a speaker so you can talk to your dog from far away. But the wearable segment seems weirdly subdued in Vegas. That might be because of what’s on the horizon: the Apple Watch, expected this spring.

Virtual reality

Last year, virtual reality became a big deal. Facebook acquired Oculus VR for US$2 billion, and Sony started promoting its Project Morpheus for PlayStation. There will be more movement in VR in 2015. Oculus VR is in Las Vegas with its latest headset. And Samsung is showing off the Gear VR headset; it was revealed in September and developed in partnership with Oculus, which works with the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone.

Other tech manufacturers are at CES with VR offerings, including Archos, with a set of glasses that work with many different smartphones and for only US$30—a fraction of the cost of other headsets. (The Oculus Development Kit 2 is US$350, and the Gear VR is US$200.) Ontario’s Sulon Technologies is developing the Cortex headset, which doesn’t need another device connected to it. The Cortex scans the external environment and uses that information to drive VR experiences.

Then there’s the Magic Box interactive holographic display from H+Technology. The Vancouver company specializes in “intuitive, immersive, interactive” entertainment, and says the Magic Box converts 2-D content into 3-D holographic experiences. H+ has developed and installed a Magic Room, a play space where children can interact with digital characters, at Ronald McDonald House B.C.

Smart homes

This year will see further developments in the way our homes are connected to the Internet and controllable by us from our smartphones. (There’s a reason Google bought Nest, which makes connected thermostats and smoke detectors, for more than US$3 billion in 2014.) Dyson will be shipping a new vacuum called the 360 Eye Robot, and Okidokeys is one of many manufacturers coming out with keyless door-locking systems for homes that are controlled by smartphones or radio-frequency identification tags.

Appearing at CES are SkyBell, which pairs a doorbell with hardware that lets you view video of and remotely chat with anyone who’s at your door, and Noke, which has a Bluetooth-enabled padlock. Sengled has a line of unique LED light bulbs that do double duty. One has a camera, mike, and speaker embedded for home surveillance; a second has a Wi-Fi repeater to extend a home wireless network; and a third has a small, wireless JBL speaker built in.

Also in Vegas, Belkin announced more partners that will be releasing products for the WeMo home automation system. Osram Sylvania and TCP are making LED bulbs, and Holmes will be releasing WeMo-enabled air purifiers, heaters, and humidifiers. Belkin also introduced a line of WeMo sensors that can be used for home security and surveillance.

For its part, Samsung is making a play to be the provider of connected technology in your home. But while I expected the company to announce that its line of fridges, washers, and dryers would be controlled by Galaxy smartphones, the innovation the company chose to highlight was a washer with a built-in sink for easy pretreating of clothes. LG, meanwhile, revealed a washer with an additional, smaller washer built in, so you can wash two separate loads at the same time.

Televisions

While 4K televisions were celebrated last year, 2015 will be the year they become practical. Virtually all new screens announced at CES support the ultra-high-definition resolution, which is double that of high-definition. Samsung is giving its top-line screens, which are brighter and more colourful, the “SUHD” moniker. All of the OLED screens announced by LG during a press briefing on January 5 are 4K (a prototype 8K screen is on display at the company’s CES booth), and Sharp is pricing its 4K LED sets aggressively, with an entry-level model at only US$750.

What separates the various brands is the operating system that powers the “smart” features of the television. Panasonic has partnered with Mozilla to use Firefox OS, while LG (WebOS 2.0) and Samsung (Tizen) are using proprietary operating systems. LG’s platform supports streaming of 4K video and boasts a “Netflix Recommended TV” stamp of approval from the streaming-video distributor.

What I’m not convinced of? That curved TVs, still being pushed by LG and Samsung, are more than a fad.