Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show.
The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in last year’s attendance because of the pandemic.
Exhibitors range from big names including Sony and LG to tiny startups. You might see the next big thing or something that will never make it past the prototype stage.
Photo: Reuters
On Tuesday night, the show kicked off with media previews from just some of the 3,000 companies signed up to attend. CES officially opens Thursday.
Here are some highlights:
POKEMON, BUT MAKE IT BIRDS
Photo: AFP
Bird Buddy showed off a smart bird feeder that takes snapshots of feathered friends as they fly in to eat some treats. The startup says its AI technology can recognize more than 1,000 species of birds, allowing users to share through a mobile app what kind of birds they’re feeding.
“We try to kind of gamify the collection so it’s a really fun game that you can play — almost like a real life Pokemon Go with real animals and wildlife in your backyard,” said Kyle Buzzard, the company’s co-founder and chief hardware officer.
The product has already sparked some interest from consumers who want to show the world what birds are coming into their backyards.
Photo: AP
The company, which began as a Kickstarter project in 2020, says it started shipping its bird feeders in September and has already sold all 100,000 in its inventory. The price for the basic feeder is US$199.
ELECTRIC SKATES
Journalists had fun zipping around the exhibit hall on remote-controlled, electric inline skates from French startup AtmosGear.
Photo: AP
The battery lasts for 32 kilometers, said founder Mohamed Soliman, who hopes people will see them as a viable way to commute, like electric bikes or scooters.
“My goal is for everyone to go skating again because it’s so much fun, every time you see people skating you see them with a big smile,” Soliman said.
A waist bag holds the battery and cables connected to the skates. They also can be used as regular skates when they need to be charged or skaters simply want to travel under their own power.
The US$500 skates are available for pre-order. The company has taken orders for 150 pairs so far and is aiming for 200 orders to start production.
DIGITAL TEMPORARY TATTOOS
A handheld device displayed by South Korean company Prinker allows you to quickly and easily apply temporary tattoos.
The device uses cosmetic-grade ink with a library of thousands of designs or the option to make your own with the company’s app. After picking a tattoo, you just wave the device over wherever you want it applied. The tattoos are waterproof but wash off with soap.
The flagship model is US$279 and a smaller model is US$229. Ink cartridges good for 1,000 tattoos are US$119.
HELPING FIND YOUR WAY
Japan-based Loovic has created a device designed to solve the challenges of those who have difficulty navigating while they walk.
The device worn around the neck employs sounds and vibrations to guide users to destinations, enabling them to look at what’s around rather than focusing on a phone’s map app.
Loovic co-founder and CEO Toru Yamanaka said he was inspired to create the device for his son, who has a cognitive impairment making it difficult for him to navigate.
The prototype device is not yet available to the public.
A FITNESS TRACKER FOR YOUR DOG
If you wonder what your dog is doing while you’re not home, French startup Invoxia has a product for you. The company’s smart dog collar monitors your pet’s activity and sleep, sending the data to your phone.
The latest version unveiled at CES, which has a GPS tracker, includes more advanced heart health monitoring.
The collar is US$149 in the US while a monthly US$8.25 subscription to the app monitors the data and shares it with your veterinarian.
METAVERSE FOR KIDS
The creators of Roybi, an educational AI robot that helps children learn about STEM topics and new languages, are venturing into the metaverse.
The RoybiVerse is expected to offer stations where K-12 and higher education students can learn about a wide range of educational topics.
Users walking around the RoybiVerse will be able to visit an area where they’ll learn about dinosaurs or walk over to the virtual library where they can pick a book and read it.
The RoybiVerse, which is expected to launch in the summer, will be available in virtual reality headsets and on a website. No robot needed.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50