{"id":5453,"date":"2017-01-06T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/?p=5453"},"modified":"2017-01-10T12:21:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T02:21:57","slug":"stories-ces-virgin-digital-experience-showcase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/features\/stories-ces-virgin-digital-experience-showcase\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories from a CES Virgin: Digital Experience showcase"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first CES that I (or anyone from Reckoner) has ever attended. The show, as I\u2019m sure you know, is ridiculously large and instead of even beginning to remotely try and cover it all I\u2019ve decided to write a series of shorter pieces based around what it\u2019s like attending the show for the first time. I\u2019m calling the series \u201dStories from a CES Virgin<\/a>\u201d<\/em> and you can find all of them here<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Digital Experience (or Pepcom as pretty much everyone calls it) is another showcase, very similar to yesterday\u2019s CES Unveiled but at a different location and with better food.<\/p>\n

From sources who\u2019ll remain unnamed I have it on good authority that as the show progresses and these showcases continue the food and beverage offerings get better whilst the quality of the product may decrease somewhat proportionally.<\/p>\n

\"img_7602\"<\/p>\n

The Digital Experience definitely didn\u2019t hold back in the catering department, cupcakes and ice cream stations in addition to the nibbles and bar service were all top notch. Meanwhile product wise I think they faired pretty well too.<\/p>\n

There was some double-uppers, brands who\u2019ve so far appeared at all the events I\u2019ve attended like LG and Belkin, but then there were quite a range of new ones and this showcase felt much more consumer centric and larger.<\/p>\n

In fact there was such a mass of wireless signals at the event my own insulin pump couldn\u2019t communicate with my continuous glucose monitor less than a few centimetres away from each other!<\/p>\n

Some quick highlights:<\/p>\n

Navdy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Navdy\"<\/p>\n

A Head-Up Display (HUD) for your car the Navdy sits atop your dashboard behind your steering wheel and provides always-visible access to directions, phone calls and your music. It\u2019s really impressive to see in person, the problem is just how expensive it is! US$799 is no throw away gadget purchase price point.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.navdy.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

AXIS Gear:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"img_1664-v2-980x651\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been after a cheaper solution to home blind\/curtain automation than replacing every blind completely forever it seems. AXIS looks to finally be that device. Simply to install and works by physically pulling on your chain driven blinds. It\u2019s powered via a solar recharging battery pack that sits in your window meaning it\u2019s doesn\u2019t require a power outlet and there\u2019s no issue with voltage or adaptors. Available in the coming months and integrated with SmartThings this is the droid you\u2019ve been looking for – curtain wise.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/hellowaxis.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Airbar:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"img_7608\"<\/p>\n

I have to admit when I first saw this doing the PR rounds a few days before CES I was like \u201cwhat the fuck for?\u201d Happy to say I was wrong and kind of want one now! This super thin bar magnetically sits at the base of your laptop\u2019s screen and instantly converts it into a touch screen. At the show they\u2019re unveiling their MacBook Air 13.3\u201d version and Mac software. Sadly at this stage there\u2019s no version for the larger 15\u201d MacBook Pros nor the newest version with USB-C but they\u2019re in the pipeline. Another thing to love, the price! Starting from US$69.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/air.bar<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Portal Wi-Fi Router:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"portal<\/p>\n

Do you live in an apartment block that has a million Wi-Fi networks listed around you? Do your transfer speeds suck ass and continually drop out? Then you probably should take a look at the Portal Wi-Fi router. It uses previously reserved frequencies used by doppler radio instead of the now over saturated 2.4GHz & 5GHz spectrums.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty incredible hearing how they go through the certification process, having to jump off the frequency in under 20ms if a doppler signal is found to be in use and then not revisit it for 30 minutes. That said they have access to four \u201cfast lanes\u201d of frequency so there\u2019s always one to switch to. The results speak for themselves, even in a signal saturated hall like the one the showcase was in the Portal smashed a NightHawk, Eeero and conventional generic router. Upload hitting 90Mb\/s whilst the other\u2019s barely broke 2Mb\/s<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for us Australians it\u2019s going to be a little while longer before it\u2019s officially certified for use here. Currently the Portal is only OK\u2019d to operate in the USA, Canada and Japan. APAC is currently in the works so definitely keep an eye out!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/portalwifi.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the first CES that I (or anyone from Reckoner) has ever attended. The show, as I\u2019m…\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":5454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[590,1314,1313],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"reckoner_social_message":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}