Would you use these eight gadgets?
- BMW iX Flow
- Zen for meditation
- Virtual Ride fitness bike
- Lumini PM smart mirror
- Ainenne for sleeping babies
- Petnow for your dog’s nose print
- a smart door for your house
- HomeChef 7-in-1 compact oven
They were all on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year after the influential tech show returned to Las Vegas after a COVID-19 hiatus.
This is the second of our two-part series looking at some of the items on offer.
BMW iX Flow
Can’t decide what colour your car should be?
No problem. BMW now offers a car where you can change the colour as often as you like.
The BMW iX Flow replaces traditional exterior paint with E-Ink technology. The E-Ink on the BMW’s iX prototype uses microcapsules with negatively-charged white pigments and positively-charged black ones. The pigment microcapsules are no thicker than a coat of traditional paint.
At the push of a button, you can cycle through any shade between brilliant white and deep black. Alternatively, you can run animated patterns continually across the exterior.
The BMW iX Flow will become essential to those few who need to co-ordinate their car colour with their outfit.
Be wowed by the iX Flow here because you can’t buy it yet.
Zen for meditation
Are you struggling to find an engaging device to encourage your meditation?
French company Morphée announced Zen, an on-the-go device for quick stress-relieving breaks. Its smooth pebble shape fits comfortably in the palm of your hand.
Just plug your headphones into Zen to start one of 72 two-minute meditation sessions. Zen offers six themes: dynamic relaxation, deep relaxation, immersive journeys, nature sounds, relaxing music and Chrono Zen. Morphée commissioned music just for Zen.
Supposedly, the meditation apps on my smartphone aren’t good enough. So I’m supposed to schlepp around a dedicated device?
Buy Zen here.
Virtual Ride fitness bike
Can’t go outside for a bike ride due to COVID-19, rain, low temperature, or dangerous, crazy traffic?
Worry not.
LG’s new Virtual Ride places three vertical 55-inch OLED displays in front of a stationary exercise bike to immerse riders visually in their workouts. The display will also show your exercise performance statistics. The built-in Cinematic Sound OLED (CSO) technology contributes to the immersive feeling.
If you’re already bored with the increasingly sophisticated and engaging exercise bikes with more modest screens, you have lots of space, and money is no object, then the Virtual Ride is for you.
You can buy the Virtual Ride here soon.
Lumini PM smart mirror
Do your facial blemishes sometimes look like Mount Everest to you?
The Lumini PM from Lululab can help remedy the situation. It functions as your personal skin assistant. The smart mirror analyzes your face for various attributes. The accompanying mobile application uses LuluLab’s artificial intelligence (AI) beauty technology to recommend cosmetics, skin-care solutions, and health-care products based on your personal data.
It’s difficult to believe that the Lumini PM is any better than a reasonably experienced adviser at your favourite cosmetics store.
Buy Lumini PM here.
Ainenne for sleeping babies
Do you become anxious too quickly when your baby cries a little before falling asleep?
Ainenne is the world’s first baby-friendly bedside lamp with sleep training capabilities. It was developed by analyzing thousands of baby crying patterns and related parenting data. Its algorithm interprets the crying pattern of babies to deduce a baby’s feelings based on how they’re crying.
By keeping a record of sleep and crying patterns of your baby, ainenne grasps your baby’s sleeping pattern and can provide recommendations you can see on the accompanying app.
The built-in LED lamp increases in intensity to achieve a pleasant awakening for your baby.
Billions of babies have successfully fallen asleep in a dark room and some gentle rocking, sometimes with soothing singing. Do we need to overcomplicate this process?
Buy ainenne here.
Petnow for your dog’s nose print
Are you panicked by the thought of losing your dog?
The Petnow app uses your dog’s nose print to identify them if they get lost. This approach is much cheaper and faster than using implanted microchips.
You start by using the camera to photograph your dog’s nose. The app then uses AI to analyze the unique wrinkles in the dog’s nose. These remain unchanged over time, much like our fingerprints.
The nose print can resolve the problem if someone else claims your dog is theirs. If you register your dog, someone who has found your dog can reconnect with you to return your dog.
This technology sounds like overkill. Everyone can recognize their dog and distinguish it from similar dogs of the same breed.
Buy Petnow here.
A smart door for your house
Does your home automation system need a smarter door with many integrated features?
Masonite’s M-Pwr Smart Door consists of a Ring Video doorbell, a Yale Home smart lock, motion-sensing LED welcome lighting and emergency battery backup. It’s powered by your home, not multiple disposable batteries you have to change at various intervals. There’s a related app to control the devices and check their status.
What happens if one of those components fails? Who do you call? Do you need a door that may be smarter than you are?
Buy M-Pwr Smart Door here.
HomeChef 7-in-1 compact oven
Is your kitchen missing some of the latest gadgets?
The Panasonic HomeChef 7-in-1 Compact Oven can seemingly do it all. Here’s the list of its cooking capabilities:
- convection bake
- steam
- air fry
- steam convection
- slow cook
- ferment
- sanitize
It incorporates an 800-ml water tank and a boiler to support this versatility. The 7-in-1 Compact Oven features 18 preset meal options from a single four-button control system.
Calling this oven compact is a stretch given its spacious 20-litre capacity. This gadget could save a lot of kitchen space if you remove other appliances from your kitchen. I wonder how many owners will do that?
The HomeChef 7-in-1 Compact Oven may be the ultimate gift for the foodie who has almost everything. For everyone else, it’s over-the-top too much.
Buy the HomeChef 7-in-1 Compact Oven here.
Yogi Schulz has over 40 years of information technology experience in various industries. Yogi works extensively in the petroleum industry. He manages projects that arise from changes in business requirements, the need to leverage technology opportunities, and mergers. His specialties include IT strategy, web strategy and project management.
Yogi is a Troy Media Thought Leader. For interview requests, click here.
The opinions expressed by our columnists and contributors are theirs alone and do not inherently or expressly reflect the views of our publication.
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