CES 2020 : gadgets or innovations ?

The CES continues to wow us with the new tech products showcased in Las Vegas this year. We’re introducing some products on which you can debate whether they’ll find their place in your or many other people’s homes. Without further ado, here are more of the top picks we want to share with you.

Perso, L’Oreal’s skincare, foundation or a lipstick dispenser.

Skin is our largest organ we mustn’t take for granted. It’s certainly worthy taking care of as its semi permeable ability allows particular substances we use on a daily to enter not just our skin, but our bloodstream within a few minutes.

Perso sounds like a pinnacle of user-adapted-centered all-in-one beauty and cosmetic product set to launch in 2021. You can choose between an AI enforced automated skincare, foundation or a lipstick dispenser.

It analyzes your skin’s texture, moisture content, pores, wrinkles and other through the picture you take and upload to the Perso app. After that, it personalizes the product to fit your overall skin condition. The dispenser is completely in sync with your smartphone through Bluetooth and NFC technology and uses geo-location to locate and collect important information of the area about the weather, pollution, UV index and such. 

My main concern, as a potential user, is the functionality of the selfie skin analysis. Color wise, your skin looks completely different depending on whether you’re under a sunlight or an artificial light. It also depends on the strength of the sunlight that day and whether an artificial light is from a regular yellow light producing bulb or a white one. Humidity wise, there are specifically designed products that, when placed against the skin, measure its exact humidity. Unless you’re using that device and then inputting the percentage into the Perso app, the photo detection sounds pretty bogus. Another concern is formulation of the products and an extent to which one will be able to interfere with the ingredients. Lastly, I hope that it doesn’t end up being a restrictive overpriced printer cartridge scheme sprinkled with a bit of data harvesting.

Carebidet by Curaco, Inc.

If you’re by any chance enjoying your meal whilst reading this article, this paragraph is not for the delicate or sensitive ones. Carebidet, as the name suggests, is a bidet that works – automatically. It is meant to help dispose of the human excreta in those with specific, severe conditions and those who are in one way or another prevented from doing so in a usual way. If you defecate or urinate while wearing the device, it detects it with the use of the sensors and flushes, cleans and dries the area and user’s privates. Purification and disinfection built in system ensures optimal, infection-free usage. The device was originally designed with the intention to be eco-friendly and a healthy substitute for the paper diapers. Carebidet also has air filters and UV lamps meant to deodorize and disinfect the air and is monitorable and operable through the control panel. This product will quite probably find its place within the hospitals, senior and afflicted care institutions or homes of the elderly.

Opte™ Precision Skincare System

In the L’Oreal Perso section, I’ve talked about my doubts when it comes to selfie skin analysis. The next product does the skin assessment – the right way. Opté is a skin scanning device whose Generation 2 is 70% less expensive and has a 30% better performance, improved user interface and display, better connectivity and availability in the US and China. The product claims to immediately improve skins appearance and diminish hyperpigmentation and spots over time. Scanner uses a digital camera that captures 200 frames per second. Those frames are then analysed and stored. With an input for the algorithm, Opte prints droplets of Spot Optimising Serum via thermal inkjet printer onto the target areas until they perfectly match the surrounding skin tone. I am sure you’re sold on its skin scanning abilities, however my doubts, and maybe even yours, will go towards the effectiveness of the serum. I am therefore excitedly waiting for the first reviews.

Mateo Smart Mat

Nothing screams good morning better than a mat telling you how fat you are as you step on it after taking your shower. Jokes on the side, the idea seems neat considering this mat is washable. Great thing is that you can place your feet anywhere on the mat to get your weight and posture statistics. If you wish to have your body composition checkup however, you should place your feet on the logo. Another spec is the footprint recognition AI algorithm which identifies one user from another. Its shoe size checkup could be quite useful for new parents whose kids’ feet will go through changes as they grow. After putting my critical glasses on, the measuring-feet ability is the only difference between this mat and my scale. And I don’t have to wash my scale. Not sure if this will be on everyone’s to-buy list. Could be a nice touch at hotels though?

Pragrant, Electric Deodorant by Hanyang University.

Stick and spray deodorants are old news. Pragrant is an electrical deodorant equipped with bactericidal sterilization and odor purifying effect that uses active species applying bio-plasma and/or plasma medical technology. It is praised for its ease of use, lack of usage discomfort and no inconveniences such as stickiness, discoloration of the armpit area, wetting and others one might encounter when wearing clothes. Additionally, it detects the odor degree. The creators claim its set up is as easy as the device management itself.

SmartyPans By SmartyPans Inc.

The days in which you wondered whether you’re going to end up with serving a nice dinner or cause a fire hazard at your kitchen are numbered and impressing your significant other is no longer a hefty task. SmartyPans records and shares recipes, teaches you how to cook and computes nutrition as you cook. It’s the company’s first product – a smart cooking pan with weight and temperature sensors. The pan works with the corresponding app via bluetooth. Once launched, SmartyPans does the magic for you. For example, if you need to add an oil to the pan, SmartyPans app will show exactly how much you need to add – and how much you’re adding in real time. As you’re cooking, the app records the recipe which you can then share with your friends on the SmartyPans platform. The computed nutrition from the recipes can then be aligned with your personal fitness trackers as well.

CAREMITOU By NOVANDSAT

If you’re a cat owner – you’re in for a treat as we got a puuuuurrrrrfect product for you. This nifty litter box is designed to track your furball’s health and well-being and is supposed to be applicable both for cats and small dogs. The data that the litter box collects can be transferred to your vet ahead of a veterinary visit or on a, for example, weekly basis for the tracking purposes. Amongst other features, just like the Mateo rug distinguishes different housemates, the litter box does for the pets in the house. It is hard to tell whether society is ready to complicate a simple pet keeping because as of now, the self-cleaning litter boxes are grabbing all the attention. Perhaps a next step for the NOVANDSAT could be creating the same litter box with a self-cleaning feature.

4moms® mamaRoo sleep™ bassinet

Only the parents know the struggle of the sleepless nights they’ve endured trying to put their newborns to sleep. MamaRoo sleep™ bassinet seems to be a solution. It’s a smart sleep device that uses the motion technology already used for the 4moms mamaRoo® infant seat which has passed the test by helping to calming millions of babies and successfully putting them to sleep. The bassinet features five unique motions: car drive, wave, kangaroo, tree swing and a rock-a-bye. It also includes vibration, five speed options and four built-in white noises: rain, ocean, fan and shush). The device is operable via 4moms app available for the smart devices. Those who wish for their child to establish a bedtime routine will enjoy a timer option. MamaRoo sleep™ bassinet will ensure your baby and you get the sleep you all need.

Long term takeaway

It is hard to debate whether products mentioned are useful or not as opinions differ from person to person. It’s clear that some companies haven’t taken into account what the world is really in need of at the moment. Instead of being completely profit driven, it would be useful if they went through a filtering process of first asking themselves “How am I bettering the lives of the end user?” or “How am I minimizing the pressure put on the ecological infrastructure, flora and fauna?” because the recycling circles are still not optimized and fast enough to take on the useless innovations. This is why they need to start implementing what Emakina has been doing for years, and that is centering the new innovations around the end user and its long-term well-being.