LAS VEGAS — Welcome to CES 2024. This multi-day trade event put on by the Consumer Technology Association is expected to bring some 130,000 attendees and more than 4,000 exhibitors to Las Vegas. The latest advances and gadgets across personal tech, transportation, health care, sustainability and more will be on display, with burgeoning uses of artificial intelligence almost everywhere you look.
The Associated Press will keep a running report of everything we find interesting from the floor of CES, from the latest announcements to most quirky smart gadgets.
GYROGLOVE WORKS TO HELP THOSE WITH HAND TREMORS
Roberta Wilson-Garrett used to be a morning person who would leap out of bed at dawn. Until, that is, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease six years ago.
Now her hands twist and tremor, making the morning, when her medicine is wearing off, especially difficult. It takes hours for her to get ready for the day. All her coffee mugs have lids on them now.
Boston-based GyroGear, a medical tech startup, debuted a hand-stabilizing glove at CES 2024 that it hopes will help people like Wilson-Garrett regain control of their lives.
“It makes life normal for me again. The things that you take for granted, I don’t take for granted anymore,” Wilson-Garrett told AP on the show floor as her right hand shook. "It gives me back a piece of my old life when I have the glove on."
When Wilson-Garrett slipped on the black glove, her right hand relaxed, and she was able to hold a pen and write her name.
The GyroGlove is now available for $5,899.
ADVANCING AI WITH FORTUNE TELLING
Can generative AI tell your future? A fortune teller showcased by South Korean manufacturing and IT services giant SK Group at CES this week gives us a glimpse.
SK’s AI Fortune Teller, which is powered by high-bandwidth memory technology, claims that it can tell users’ their fortune by reading their emotions. The machine snaps a photo of your face and, naturally, asks you to select a card from an on-screen deck. Within moments, the AI analyzes facial characteristics and produces an Tarot card-like print with a short, future-looking message or piece of advice.
This AI fortune teller isn’t available to consumers outside of CES, but it’s featured in the Las Vegas show to help display SK’s latest tech and sustainability advances. Other attractions advertised at the “SK Wonderland” interactive exhibit include a fully-electric dancing car and train that’s capable of being powered by hydrogen energy
HYUNDAI'S NEW FLYING TAXI CONCEPT LANDS AT CES
A new flying taxi concept, dubbed the S-A2 by Hyundai, made its debut at CES 2024.
The South Korean vehicle manufacturer envisions the electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle as a commuter solution for urban areas with heavy traffic.
Hyundai claims the vehicle will be able to cruise at 120 mph (190 kph) at a 1,500-foot (460-meter) altitude while operating as quietly as a dishwasher.
The S-A2 builds on Hyundai's S-A1 concept, which made its debut at CES in 2020. Company officials say they are working to get the vehicle ready to meet flight standards set by nations around the world.
A ‘NO SMOKE’ INDOOR SMOKER
GE Appliances is looking to change the way you smoke food with its new $1,000 indoor smoker.
About the size of a toaster oven or microwave, the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker can fit a full brisket cut in half, 40 chicken wings or three racks of ribs. It still uses wood pellets to achieve a smokey flavor, but its technology traps the smoke inside, making it “perfect for people who live in urban environments,” like high-rise apartments, said Whitney Welch, a spokesperson for GE Appliances.
GAMING ACCESSIBILITY FOR INCLUSION
A focus on accessibility in the gaming industry is on the rise. Just this October, Sony launched the Access controller for Playstation.
To talk about the wins so far and the road ahead, CES 2024 featured a panel of four players for “The Evolution of Accessible Gaming."
For Paul Amadeus Lane, an accessibility consultant and broadcaster who moderated the panel, gaming is a lifelong passion, but when he got in a car accident that left him unable to use his fingers, he first thought his gaming days were over.
“It was like I lost a good friend. But then that good friend got reunited when I found out about all these accessibility features,” Lane said during the panel.
Mark Barlet, founder of AbleGamers, said people with disabilities are 56% more likely to be socially isolated, and combatting that is what drives his organization. Further, he says it’s smart business.
“Twenty percent of the population has some sort of disability and you start looking at game companies competing for eyeballs — all of a sudden, talking about, ‘Hey, would you like to sell more games?’ becomes a really powerful conversation.”
When asked what advice they’d give to game developers, panelists Liz Schmidlin, user research lead at PlayStation, and Michele Zorrilla, senior user experience researcher at Insomniac Games, echoed a similar statement: Start working accessibility conversations in early on in the design process.
Barlet added, “Good accessibility is good design.”
YOUR OWN PERSONAL ROBOTIC MASSEUSE
Artificial intelligence has been seen powering smart home hubs, cars, TVs, medical devices and even fingernail printers at CES 2024. Now it's giving massages.
Created by French company Capsix Robotics, iYU uses artificial intelligence to perform a real-time body scan and recommend the best kind of experience for the user. A robotic arm then performs a variety of massage techniques.
WANT A PHYSICAL KEYBOARD FOR YOUR iPHONE?
It’s a new product but the functionality might ring familiar — Clicks Technologies’ iPhone keyboard is making a splash at CES 2024.
According to co-founder Johnathan Young, the smartphone accessory is aimed at three core audiences: iPhone users with dexterity or accessibility issues, the younger generation looking to stand out, and people who miss their previous smartphone keyboards.
Prices range from $139 to $159.
GETTING YOUR VOICE BACK
Dutch startup Whispp aims to use AI to help millions of people suffering from vocal impairments speak again in their natural voices.
While many current technologies focus on speech-to-text or text-to-speech, Whispp is using audio-to-audio-based AI, resulting in almost real-time speech conversion.
Users can recreate their distinct voice by providing recordings of their current or past voice, adding a personalized touch to their own communication.
At CES 2024, Whispp launched an AI-powered assistive speech and phone-calling app.
MARTHA STEWART, TECHNOLOGIST
On Tuesday, businesswoman and media personality Martha Stewart took to the kitchen stage at the Samsung CES booth to craft her “Martha-tini” and smashed potatoes using the company's SmartThings technology.
As a bonus, the famed cooking, entertaining and homemaking celebrity revealed how she first got hooked on the tech culture scene.
“Well, I got my first computer in 1982. An IBM. I still have it. ... and all my friends and I would sit up all night long trying to figure out what the computer could do for us.”