aNewDomain — One Corona Extra, a Kahlua, a Bloody Mary, a Blue Moon and several water chasers helped me sort the wheat from the chaff last night at Pepcom. Not only was I still standing, I spotted several standout devices. Along with wearable tech, many devices focused on immediate needs, ranging from extra or unlimited memory for phones to a robot that helps calm kids in hospitals and headphones that charge a device.
Extra Memory
Travelers often need extra storage, as do families with newborns and toddlers hoping to film or photograph that first giggle or burp. I frequently use Apple’s Airplay to send images to my iPad during a trip to free up phone memory for the next day’s adventure. The beauty and the curse of digital photography is that we can snap more images than ever before, which makes data storage an issue. At least three Exhibitors at Pepcom had devices to address this.
- SanDisk has developed solutions to help both iOS and Android users. The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0 is a high-speed USB 3.0 device with a retractable micro-USB connector. It is available now with capacities ranging from 16GB ($22.99) to 64GB ($64.99). The device for iPhone and iPad is the iXpang Flash Drive, which can automatically copy photos and videos from the iOS device’s camera library when connected. Best Buy sells the 32GB version for $79.99, and SanDisk.com sells the 16GB for $59.9 and the 64GB version for $119.99.
- Leefco also offers USB flash drive solutions for iOS and Android. Leef iBRIDGE has a capacity ranging from 16GB ($59.99) to 256GB ($399.99) and is available now. There is a similar device for Android called the Bridge 3.0 with capacities ranging from 16GB ($17.99) to 64GB ($51.99).
- Mylio says forget the flash drives — backup to your own devices. Mylio helps you create your own private photo-sharing network to swap, backup, organize and rate your photos. The free trial plan allows up to 1,000 photos across three devices. The three paid plans let you share between 50,000 photos (Basic: $50 annually) to 500,000 photos (Advanced: $250).
Photo Journaling
Polaroid has teamed with Blip to create Polaroid Blipfoto to do more than store photos. Polaroid Blipfoto wants to help you choose one iconic image that captures a day in your life, on a trip or a moment in the life of a newborn or a toddler. If you could record your life in a photo per day, what images would you choose? The membership fee is $40 annually, and Blipfoto has an Android app. Its iOS app should be released by the end of January.
Comfort From a Robot
MEDi is a robot created by RxRobots to make medical tests and procedures easier on children. The robot can describe having blood drawn or a procedure in a relatable way so children find hospitals less intimidating. (Stay tuned for a follow-up interview with Chief Scientific Officer and Founder, Tanya Beran, Ph.D.)
Headphones That Recharge You and Your Device
Phaz offers Bluetooth over-ear headphones with a built-in battery to recharge your phone. All so you can groove to music as your phone recharges. David Munzlinger of Phaz told me that about 10 percent of the battery powers the headphones amplifier and bass boost leaving 90 percent to recharge a phone.
My other discovery today? The Eco-Reco e-Scooter (that I’m testing during the show) can easily be operated when slightly inebriated. Not that I recommend drinking and scooting, because pedestrians seem truly oblivious to everything but traffic signals.
That’s my Pepcom experience at CES 2015. Stay tuned for more.
Live from CES 2015 and for aNewDomain, I’m Terry Gardner.
I like Blip. Thanks Terry.