If you want to be more creative, get around creative people. If you want to spark innovation, immerse yourself in the latest technologies. If you want to envision the future, tune in to voices shaping tomorrow.
This week, I’m attending the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, dunked in innovation, creativity and the future. I am enjoying the opportunity to experience the latest technologies. I’m always amazed at the benefits from attending this conference, including the opportunity to meet with content creators, technologists, thought leaders, and technology executives. The range of people I was able to see this year ranged from librarians to publishers to university researchers.
There are literally thousands of new things to see, so my brief overview will be a random selection. With so many interests and things to share, I set a timer to write this post. When it rings, I will stop. And I will try to feature a few things you may not see in the mainstream media. Here we go:
SLEEP:
For those of us with chronic insomnia or sleep problems, there are a number of new apps and devices to help. One that intrigues me is Beddit. Beddit doesn’t require you to wear a device at night (which for me makes my sleep even worse). Instead, you place a sensor under your bed sheet, and it connects wirelessly to your device. It tracks sleep quality, heart rate, breathing, snoring and bedroom noise. It then provides personal coaching to improve your sleep.
HYGIENE:
In the “everything seems to be connected” category, Kolibree introduces the world’s first connected toothbrush. You can watch your brushing habits progress.
If you wear glasses, look out for a car wash for your glasses. At $1, it had the “theatre factor” and drew a crowd. My glasses were clean, dry and sanitized in no time. Look for these showing up in high-traffic areas or near the beach where everyone wears glasses.
Walking by Panasonic to see the new 4K Toughpad, I noticed a range of beauty products. At CES, you find what you are not looking for and what you don’t expect.
SECURITY:
Who can possibly remember all of the passwords required in today’s digital age? Now myIDkey uses biometric technology to authenticate your identity and display your information when you need it. All safely protected with military grade encryption.
Ever worry when the lights go out in a power outage? Worry no more with a light that senses the power is out and stays on.
And to keep your home secure, Okidokeys allows you to unlock doors with any mobile phone or a smart wristband. Most of us are never out of reach of our mobile phone, making lost keys a thing of the past.
FITNESS AND MEDICAL:
Are you forgetful? Have an aging parent? The Smart Pill Box from imedipac solves these problems. It even allows alerts to family and relatives.
Numerous new fitness applications are on display everywhere. Improve your golf or tennis game with a biometric analysis of your swing. The new devices go far beyond measuring how many steps you take in a day and now monitor blood pressure, blood sugar, calculating carb intake, maximizing your fitness performance, and even detecting concussions. Perhaps you want to wear a camera to take your coach into the action.
A new Teddy Bear tracks your kids vital signs, keeping nervous parents a bit more relaxed.
All of the wearable fitness devices shouldn’t leave Fido out. FitBark is out with a solution for your pet. No longer do we let sleeping dogs lie.
ENTERTAINMENT AND GAMING:
A few years ago, 3D televisions were the rage at CES. I recall telling the enthusiastic demonstrators that I didn’t want to wear the glasses and doubted most people would. This time the curved display was everywhere. And the picture quality was perfect. Samsung not only touts a curved screen, but it is bendable as well. Perhaps watching a football game will get even more interesting when you can run up to the screen and take out your frustration this way. Ultra HD, 4K HDTVs, UHD OLED, up to 105 inch screens all designed to make last year obsolete.
Cameras are appearing everywhere. Lifelogger introduces a camera to capture your life. It is a personal video camera with live streaming. The idea is to capture your entire life— instead of blogging, this is “lifelogging.” If not your entire life, then perhaps a vacation. (Sorry, I’m bored enough seeing your vacation photos. Now you want me to sit for a week and watch it all?!) There are obviously many useful applications for this technology, including the ability to record lectures and capture moments you would normally miss without a camera.
Other cameras are appearing in camera helmets or even on fishing rods.
Photographers seem to be in heaven studying the latest offerings, lenses, and techniques.
Gaming is a massive industry, and I can’t begin to cover the new developments. A few that I found fun included Sony’s wearable camera. It was an immersive experience that transported me from the showroom floor to a race track.
Another video game like experience was the real life racing like this from Panasonic:
HOME:
The connected home is here. When you forget to turn on the washing machine or dishwasher, 
text your appliance. Keep tabs on home while at work. New vacuums, refrigerators, dishwashers, and washers & dryers all are full of connections and new technologies to amaze.
CARS:
There are so many developments. Toyota introduced a prototype of a fuel cell electric vehicle. BMW introduces the i3, an electric vehicle. Chrysler demoed its Uconnect system with a range of applications from calling 911 to reading and sending texts.
How about driverless cars? All are now on the immediate horizon.
Smaller vehicles to motorcycles all feature surprises.
EDUCATION:
Educational robots help. One company, Barobo, created robots to make algebra come alive. Remember plotting intersecting lines on graph paper? Now you can see the robots in action make it all real. This is especially helpful for those students who learn kinesthetically.
Art comes alive when technology and 
the paintbrush collide in new apps like this one from Nomadbrush.
AUDIO:
I’m running out of time, so I cannot even begin to discuss the developments in audio. A librarian I met said something that sticks with me: “Just hearing the sound made me realize that nothing is ever done. You think you have heard the best sound, the best speakers, and then it all changes.” That is how good the new audio is.
The timer is about to buzz, so I am quitting here. Check out the many news stories on CES to see more. I think you will agree that the range of developments is stunning. And I haven’t even shared any of my notes from the various meetings, panel discussions, and keynote speakers.
Note to self: On the way home from the chaos at CES, I need to spend time with Tao Wellness, a calming relaxation device to create harmony and balance.
