CES Unveiled: My Picks from the Pre-show

The future has descended on the Venetian in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). I was unable to pass up the chance to join a small handful of my fellow reporters (by which I mean thousands of bloggers) for CES unveiled, the official pre-conference press event on Sunday night. The preview offered a sampling of the thousands of new products, apps, and startups that will be launching here over the next few days. Everything on display in the ballroom last night was shiny, but not everything was of relevance to the average futurist. Of those products that most impressed me were the ones that epitomize the biggest technology trend of the next ten years, devices that make use of the data you provide, even when you don’t know you’re providing data:

The Nest Learning Thermostat

Nest won an innovator’s choice award for eco-design from CES. According to the award citation, it’s a thermostat that “learns your preferences, programs itself to keep you comfortable, and guides you to energy savings.”

The Escort live App

This item leads the category of invention-that-I’d-like-to-own-but-should-probably-be-illegal. The company makes GPS enabled radar and laser detectors, (of the sort used by speeding motorists who want to avoid police). The detectors themselves are very highly rated. But the new downloadable app feature brings a social dimension to the challenge of beating a ticket. When one driver’s detector picks up the signal of a nearby police cruiser, it can alert other drivers in the network.

Escort live didn’t invent this idea, truckers did. CB lingo evolved as a means to connect strangers so they could develop situational awareness through community engagement. The Escort live app and detector helps people do what they’re already doing a bit better.

The downside is obvious, it encourages speeding. But I like the way Escort live empowers consumers by connecting them to one another. Who knows, maybe one day Escort live users will develop their own on-the-road shorthand? I just hope they don’t text.

The Withings Internet Connected Baby Toddler Scale

French company Withings makes Bluetooth enabled scales so you can broadcast your weight loss or gain to your doctor, parents, high school girlfriend, etc. It’s one of those Internet-of-things gadgets that boarders on gratuitous. But the baby scale (which is the regular scale with a very carefully designed basket) has the potential to do a lot of good. Parents can access their child’s weight readings from any connected device. And an extra ounce or two of weight is very important especially for premature babies. Unlike the rest of us, newborns actually benefit from a lot of people obsessing about their weight, and new parents need all the help they can get.

Zomm Lifestyle Connect

My favorite product featured in the preview show was the Zomm Lifestyle Connect (pictured left). It’s a light, Bluetooth enabled fob that dialogues wirelessly and transfers data from (also enabled) heart monitors, glucose monitors, and other devices. In the event of signal disruption, the heart rate monitor calls a “personal safety concierge” who then calls the wearer, the wearer’s loved ones, doctors, etc. via the Lifestyle connect. Creator Henry Penix gave a great live demonstration. He strapped the heart monitor to a wristband and disconnected it to simulate a signal block. Suddenly a voice rose up from the Connect device (amplified through a speaker). It was a concierge calling from Tulsa inquiring about his health and offering to ring his family.*

The Lifestyle Connect also allows you to call your personal safety concierge by pressing a button. ZOMM PR rep Kiersten Moffatt calls this the device's "intended usage."**

A lot of the pre-press about the CES show this year has focused on the fact that Apple won’t be debuting any new products and even Microsoft won’t be attending next year. Big companies are finding the expo less valuable than they did in the past. But there are still a lot of small companies here doing great and innovative work, much of it far more relevant to the future.

(* Corrected 1/17/2012. The original post stated that the Lifestyle Connect, rather than the heart monitor, calls the personal safety concierge. The Connect actually enables the concierge to call back. The device in the picture on the right is the heart monitor).

(** Added 1/17/2012).