My Highlights of CES 2022

I have always enjoyed kicking off the new year with a trip to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to meet with customers and partners and to see the latest innovation and trends that are shaping the future of technology. Although I wasn't able to attend in person this year, I kept a close eye on all of the announcements, reading many news stories and watching videos to experience the new products that were revealed. It will never beat walking the huge exhibition spaces and seeing the products live, but it has been inspiring to see companies of all sizes continuing to take bold steps to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

As well as the latest Windows 11 devices from our OEM partners that were announced (you can read about these in Nicole Dezen’s blog post), there were a number of other products that stood out for me this year. Here are some of my favorites. ?

One of the first categories I look forward to at CES is automotive tech, and this year didn’t disappoint. There were many autonomous vehicle concepts and announcements of car manufacturers expanding their fleets of fully electric vehicles, but BMW stole the show with a demo of their color-changing paint technology that really had me wondering how awesome it would be to change the color of my car with just the press of a button.

BMW’s solution uses E Ink, and although the initial concept is only available in white, black, and grey, I'm excited to see where this technology goes. One of the great aspects of this is that the benefits are not just aesthetic. White vehicles reflect more sunlight, so the cabin can be kept cooler without the need to use energy within the vehicle. Then, when the weather gets cooler, you could switch the color to a darker tone to absorb warmth from the sun. This is important innovation for electric vehicles where battery-life can be saved by not needing to use the heating or cooling system. One of my first thoughts was that people could forget what color they changed their car to and would be walking around parking lots looking for their vehicle, but BMW even thought of that. With this technology you can make your whole car flash to make it easy to find!

Another of my favorite categories I look for at CES is TV and display technology. It’s great to see manufacturers like Panasonic adding specific features to their new range of OLED TVs for gamers including a Game Control Board which is an overlay displaying all of the relevant game settings in one place, so you never have to leave your game to access them.

Samsung’s Odyssey Ark 55-inch 4K curved monitor is an incredible design, and the fact that it can be used in both landscape and portrait modes means it is a great option for both gamers and for productivity applications giving you the real estate of three monitors in one. Although I think many of us may need to buy a larger desk to accommodate it in our office.

Samsung also introduced a new TV remote that is an iteration of a product they released last year that charged using solar power. Their improved Eco Remote for 2022 may look like any other remote, but it can actually stay charged using radio waves from your router that it converts into energy. I find this technology fascinating, and although it only currently works on low-power devices, the potential of harnessing energy from other products to wirelessly charge devices like phones, tablets, or laptops could be an exciting development in the future.

On my last trip to CES I saw a lot of innovation in robotics, especially how robots can be used as assistants with many of the scenarios designed for industries like manufacturing, travel, and hospitality. However, a startup called Labrador Systems have taken a more simplistic, yet incredibly effective approach by focusing on the customer, and have created robots named Retriever and Caddie designed to help people with disabilities or mobility issues. I highly recommend watching the video below that shows how these robots can have such a positive impact on people and help them live more independently, and I love seeing how technology when implemented thoughtfully, can really enrich people’s lives.

Those were just a few of my highlights from CES, and I hope to be able to attend in person next year. I look forward to seeing all of the new innovations that will continue to shape our future in 2023 and beyond.