Here at The Lead, we love technology and gadgets — after all, we're an online news outlet. Since we could not attend the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, we decided to do the show virtually. We brought back 10 award-winning items that may be useful to our readers here in the Texas Hill Country. Let's get started:
10. Colorsonic
L'Oreal
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OK, a lot of us are getting older — whether we like it or not — and L'Oreal produced a smart hair color product. According to CES, the lightweight, electronic handheld device automatically mixes nourishing hair color formula and, within minutes, is ready to dispense uniform color throughout the hair. Its ergonomic design is paired with a formula cartridge that contains 1 of 40 different shades of L'Oréal's hair color.
9 Babysense
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Babysense Cloud is the first smart baby and toddler mattress. It accurately senses infant micro-movements, sleep patterns and environmental conditions enabling parents to connect to their baby in an entirely new way.
8 MyShield
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For those worried about home security, this is for you. MyShield is the world's first 5G-enabled all-in-one security solution enabling intruder detection and intervention through a smoke shield and HD camera. That's right; it has a smoke shield. It provides a means to verify an intruder's presence and then immediately initiate several responses that force an intruder to leave or become disoriented. While most alarm systems afford intruders a window of time before security dispatch arrives, MyShield provides an immediate response thereby being more effective than traditional approaches. It's the next best thing until the Terminator models arrive.
7 LG PuriCare 360 Air Purifier Pet 2-Stage
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With cedar fever running rampant across the Hill Country, this product certainly would help alleviate some of those issues. The new PuriCare™ 360 Pet air purifier delivers clean air and deodorization in the home with a powerful performance that provides pet owners with optimal comfort. Utilizing advanced AI, the air purifier detects air pollution levels within a room and rotates to target contaminated areas. Its Pet Mode feature adds an extra boost to combat dust and stubborn strands of allergy-inducing fur and hair.
6 Monster Power Grid
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After the 2021 winter storm, we all realized the importance of emergency power and the remarkable new battery products. Take the Monster Power Grid on any outing to keep all your devices powered up. With a 60w USB C port with power delivery, the Monster Power Grid can charge the most powerful laptops. The built-in wireless charging pad on top can charge any Qi-enabled device. 2 x 300w AC outlets, 3 x USB A ports and a DC jack the Monster Power Grid can charge any device and run many small home appliances. With auto trickle, the Monster Power Grid can even charge a car battery.
5 ITRI's iPetWeaR
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Here's our pick for the next big thing in pet care, one we suspect Kerrville Pets Alive! will find interesting. ITRI's iPetWeaR is the world's first smart wearable device that uses contactless micro-physiological radar sensing technology for pet health monitoring. This sensor package continuously monitors pets' health parameters, including heart rate, respiration, and activity, to identify their health status via user-friendly operation. iPetWeaR can be easily integrated into a pet collar or mattress, providing alerts via a mobile app when an abnormality is detected. The product can also assist animal shelters or rescue organizations to keep track of abandoned or stray pets better.
4 SoundControl Hearing Aids
BOSE
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Hearing loss is a major issue as we age, and Kerr County's largest demographic is 65 and older. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved hearing aids that consumers can purchase directly, bypassing the hearing aid salespeople. Bose SoundControl Hearing Aids are the first FDA-cleared, direct-to-consumer hearing aid developed for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Bose SoundControl™ Hearing Aids feature a behind-the-ear, receiver-in-canal design and deliver natural, lifelike audio. Paired with the Bose Hear app, users can fit, program, and control a SoundControl Hearing Aid for clinically proven, audiologist-quality results — without a doctor visit, hearing test, or prescription. Using Bose CustomTune technology, a customer may make setting adjustments themselves, in real-time while in different environments.
3 The Magnetic Phone Mount
Belkin
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The Magnetic Phone Mount with Face Tracking utilizes face-tracking technology to follow the user's face while shooting multimedia content from any angle. This mount snaps securely onto the iPhone 12 with easy, one-handed placement. An accompanying app can detect a face shape within frame, follow the user's movements while recording, and links the content directly to social media channels.
2. At-home COVID-19 Test
Abbott
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The BinaxNOW COVID-19 Self Test can quickly detect when people are at risk of spreading COVID-19 in the comfort of their home. It’s the first portable test that delivers results in 15 minutes with no equipment and is authorized for over-the-counter, serial asymptomatic testing. As the most widely used and studied rapid COVID-19 test in the U.S., BinaxNOW has been used by communities, schools and employers to minimize spread. By making this test available in U.S. retailers, we’re making self-testing more available – enabling people to re-enter society by going to school, work or getting together with family or friends.
1. TIKI Brand® BiteFighter™ LED String Lights
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OK, sign us up right now. There's nothing better than enjoying pleasant Hill Country nights, but there's one problem — the skeeters. This aims to knock that problem out.
BONUS
Smart glasses
CES honored 10 companies for innovative eye glasses. Remember Google glass? Well, that's evolved, and wearables will continue to be a major part of personal technology in the years to come. Here's an example of some of the offerings:
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Levnovo: The ThinkReality A3 is a set of augmented reality glasses which unite high-resolution, high-field-of-view displays with a surprisingly light yet robust and versatile form factor. The A3 will accelerate productivity and improve lives by supplying interactive information, graphics, and video mapped into the physical space of the world around us.
