Tech with Taylor is back! And just in time — CES 2013, the largest consumer electronics show in the world, ended on Jan. 11.
This year’s show had more crazy gadgets than ever, but these were the standouts.
1. 4K Televisions
High-def TV’s aren’t high-def enough if Sony, Samsung and virtually every other TV manufacturer is to be believed.
To imagine what a 4K resolution TV looks like, imagine Apple’s “Retina display” iPad screen, but 60 inches across. It’s got four times the pixels packed into the display as a standard 1080p one. And combining a 4K, ultra-sharp resolution with OLED (organic light-emitting diode) colors makes one of the prettiest displays in the world.
They’re gorgeous, expensive and coming soon.
Sharp’s 60-inch monster, the ICC Purios, is hitting shelves in Summer 2013 and is rumored to cost a meager $31,000.
That’s right — this TV costs the same as this car. Start saving.
2. Pebble
Pebble, responsible for the most successful Kickstarter campaign ever, finally announced it would be shipping its smartphone-compatible Pebble Watch to initial backers.
The watch wirelessly communicates with a smartphone, pushing alarms and notifications straight to your wrist, in addition to controlling music.
But the most interesting feature is the e-paper display. Like an e-reader, Pebble Watch uses a low-power monochrome screen as its face. That means almost no glare from sunlight and awesome seven-hour battery life.
The watch costs $150 and ships in “early 2013.”
3. Tactus
What’s Tactus, you ask? Oh, it’s just a shape-shifting touch screen.
The biggest complaint about touchscreen phones has always been the lack of tactile keyboards, but Tactus’ magic, transforming screen aims to change that.
It uses fluid stored in reservoirs throughout the phone and sends that liquid to certain areas of the screen when prompted by a tap.
A brilliant idea, but it’ll be interesting if it catches on. After all, the world moved on from physical keyboards long ago.
4. Autonomous Cars
Self-driving cars aren’t science fiction anymore — they’re here. Google’s driven them around California for years and the idea is getting so popular, the government is preemptively discussing legislation for their use.
Audi’s chief engineer of electronics Ricky Huidi said legislation would be the biggest hindrance to automated cars becoming the norm. He said the United States’ harsh transportation regulation made legalizing blinking LED turn signals a tedious process.
One misconception about autonomous cars is that human interaction will be nonexistent. Not so, according to Lexus VP Mark Templin, discussing the company’s advanced active safety research vehicle, or AASRV.
“We must combine the judgement of humans with the precision of machines,” he said. “And that takes time.”
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There’s simply too many things announced that came from CES, so I’ll save that for a later article. Make sure to check back Thursday for the latest and greatest in tech.
