Best of CES: Virtually the same

 

CES came and went with new gadgets, laptops, and even masks announced and launched at CES 2021. However, due to the current circumstances, CES 2021 was completely virtual, the public had to rely on press releases, videos shared by companies, and articles made by tech blogs such as this one. There was just so much news that I couldn't make individual posts for each product that intrigued me, instead I'm going to highlight some of the better ones. Let's get started with one of the weirder products from an unconventional company, Razer.  

 

Razer Project Hazel  

Razer is best known for its gaming mice, gaming mousepads, and gaming laptops. This makes Razer's project hazel a very pleasant surprise, hazel is Razer's concept take on an N95 mask. Although it doesn't have official certification Razer claims it has disk ventilators on each side of the mask to filter incoming pathogens and other bacteria, when exhaling it also filters out the CO2 being exhaled. Hopefully, this means that pathogens won't be spread through the respirator but until further testing this continue to be a concept. The disks are rechargeable, and the concept includes a case to charge them, once the disks become too contaminated Razer has said that possibly a mobile app for the mask would alert you before it's too late. The ventilation disks are still undergoing testing, but the idea has some merit and I honestly like the idea, however this is a mask and in the age of Covid-19 we can never be too careful.  

 

 

The Mask itself is made of a glossy transparent plastic that allows for a strong seal and a transparent design, this lets others see your mouth when you talk. Of course, in Razer fashion RGB lighting is also included, with rings around the center with varying colors. It also has a sensor to turn on the RGB when its dark to illuminate your mouth, neat. The disks also have "VoiceAmp" technology that throws your voice via speakers in the masks, this cancels out the muffling from most masks. This is something completely unexpected and most likely would have never been created if it were not for the global situation, we're in right now. It's one of the more unique and potentially useful products announced at CES this year and I wish it would have been under different circumstances. Here's a gallery of images below:

Image Credit: Razer 

Image Credit: Razer

Image Credit: Razer

Samsung Bot Handy 

CES has always been known for weird, whacky, and sometimes useful robots that wander the show floor to show off their new tricks and features. 

 

 Time Stamp for bot handy: 18:33

The Bot Handy is a Robot Samsung demonstrated that acts like butler to do the dishes, pour drinks, set the table, and even pick up objects such as clothes off the floor. It uses its AI and cameras to accomplish this, this concept is a continuation of Samsung robotics focus on helping people complete tasks. Here's a quote from The Verge: 

The bot is meant to be “an extension of you in the kitchen, living room, and anywhere else you may need an extra hand in your home,” Sebastian Seung, president of Samsung Research, said during Samsung’s CES press conference today. - The Verge

 

The actual hardware takes the form of glossy white robot that frankly looks like a portable antenna bolted to a Roomba. It has pixelated eyes and an arm on the left side of the robot with two fingers and a camera on the arm. The design of the robot doesn't exactly matter since it's a concept but the idea of having a robot butler is intriguing and seeing the practical progression and application of AI inside the bot handy helps to see how far technology has gone. 

 

Image Credit: Samsung 

I wish I could have said more but Samsung didn't exactly divulge much and due to the virtual nature of the show there were no real hands-on made this year. Bot handy might come in handy in some future time but for now it'll have to remain in concept land along with almost every other robot ever displayed on the show floor.  

Sony AirPeak 

Drones have been less of a trend in 2020 and even less so in 2021 but drones are still being used industrially, especially in the film industry. At CES 2021 Sony released the AirPeak, a Drone made to shoot video and photos with Sony's alpha line of mirrorless cameras. Drone photography and videography make for unique shots that just cannot be made traditionally so for the creative world this announcement is prompt.  

Image Credit: Sony

Image Credit: Sony

Sony is entering an area with competition from the likes of DJI and others who have had mounts for Sony cameras for years, not much is known so I'm not sure what competitive edge Sony brings to the market but I'm sure there's something unique about this drone. The design is a standard quadcopter with two poles that stick out from the sides, not sure what that's about but it might be to help microphone placement. It should launch in Spring 2021 and hopefully we'll see more from it then but for now here's some videos: 

Best, BenTechCoder

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