CES 2023 has happened.
From Jan5-8 possibly the most influential tech event of the year took place, and it did not disappoint. Withings was one of many companies to showcase their new and innovative designs. And, as always, alongside the exciting new tech, there were quite a few white elephants in the room. One of the main talking points this year was sustainability. Companies were striving to be more sustainable, reducing emissions, responsibly recycling and using sustainable features and materials.
As if to show the world it is backpost-Pandemic, the event took place in Las Vegas and featured many weird and wonderful exhibitions, detailed below. There were also some impressive keynote speakers from Dr. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, Oliver Zipse, Chairman of BMW, and CEOof John Deere John May.
The most extra booths of CES 2023
Despite the call for sustainability, there were still countless gargantuan screens and strobe lights from the likes of LG and Samsung in true Las Vegas style.
The US Postal Service had a nine metres display screen that invited viewers to play a Pac-Man-style game delivery post as a sales tool. Right next door, shipping company Rollo had a similar design on display, with a caption saying ‘stop going to the Post Office.’ Some corporate animosity is always welcome at CES.
Sony and BMW both brought out new, sci-fi looking car prototypes. Nikon had a massive Tron-style motorcycle you could get on and pretend you were racing through the mean streets, complete with a video in the background. The reason why they had this was not explained, or found. In a similarly bizarre fashion, Copilot, the consulting company, all arrived dressed as Maverick and stood around a vast mock-up cockpit.
In a bizarre attempt to normalise the Metaverse, Caliverse brought an army of VR headsets for everyone to put on and enjoy, giving the impression of a large, tech zombie army. Hypervsn produced a reasonably impressive hologram.
The winner for the most ridiculous product (and booth) goes to ‘Nose Metal’ , a pillow (with metal rods inside)that allegedly turns your head while you sleep to stop you snoring. The employees were all dressed as 80s metal heads. The stuff of nightmares.
Health Tech at CES
There were some great products on show at CES, particularly in the health tech industry. There was a particular focus on personalised technology that helps the user in a bespoke manner, such as wearables, AI software and other applications and tools. Nuheara produced HP Hearing PRO, a self-fitting hearing aid, which can be bought in the US without a prescription. Noise cancelling and working the same as a bluetooth earbud, the HP Hearing Aid will make the lives of hearing impaired people significantly easier.
Bongiovi showcased a remote stethoscope solution that can help populations with a lack of resources. Omron Healthcare launched its HeartGuide, a wearable blood pressure monitor. All exciting and sure to change the tech healthcare game for the better. Joel Goldsmith, Senior Director of the Digital Platform at Abbott Diabetes Care, commented positively on the ‘growing presence’ at CES of health and wellness prominence.
Withings: Winner at CES?
Famous for its wearables tech, Withings announced just before CES this year a new product: the Urine scan, or U-Scan (a more polite name for the product). This device, only 9 cm in diameter, sits inside your home toilet bowl, and can provide instant snapshots of the body’s balance by monitoring and detecting different biomarkers found in the urine.
The U-Scan is not just for people with kidney failure or similar ailments. It can also show menstrual cycle predictions and shows an individual’s ovulation windows. It can also give advice on the most nutritious diet for the user, based on pH and vitamin levels, and other factors. Even more impressive, the results are quickly delivered to your smartphone, with accompanying analysis and recommendations for you based on the results. This is the first product of its kind, and is expected to radically improve the lives of many who are currently in need of monitoring their bodily functions.
Described as ‘a miniaturised health lab’, the device can monitor several different people at once due to a Stream ID feature, and the device itself is cleaned as the toilet flushes. The cartridges need to be changed only once every three months, and the reader is rechargeable. The U-Scan will launch in Europe at €499 for the reader and the first cartridge. As of yet the device has not passed FDA testing, so is not available in the States.
