Every year we identify the top 5 tech product trends we observed at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), the biggest tradeshow in the world. 

It overtakes Las Vegas from the Convention Center to the Sands Convention Center, to many hotel suites throughout the city.

With over 4,500 exhibitors, 180,000 attendees, and 2.9 million net square feet of exhibit space, you know it’s a BIG show. 

Companies from all over the world come to show off their latest tech products, many of which are still being developed.

And best of all?  Everywhere you look there’s tech, tech, and more tech!  I love it!

Many tech product trends are gleaned from this tradeshow.  The ones we focus on relate to families and how things are changing. 

We know you don’t have time to research and evaluate every product that would make family life easier, so we do it for you. 

We are constantly scouting for technology that makes family life easier…from babies to grandparents and everyone in between. 

Here are the trends we noticed occurring over and over again as we walked the busy floors of CES this year…

5 Top Tech Product Trends

1. Autonomous Cars

source: CTA

Last year at CES 2018 we posted a video showing Toyota’s vision of autonomous shopping and utility “cars” that you summon to your office or home.  Take a look, it’s really fascinating. 

This year, autonomous cars were all the rage, in fact, they took over the entire North Hall of the Convention Center, which used to share space with phone accessories exhibitors.

But here’s the thing, the focus wasn’t on the self-driving Tesla’s, Ford Explorers, Audi 8’s, Volvo XC60’s, and other versions of “self-driving” cars that are available today. 

Instead, many companies showcased traveling lounges and stores, similar to the video Toyota showed off at CES last year.

Autonomous cars are going to be a big deal for both businesses and consumers.  Consider the idea that you no longer need to own a car, but can call one up when you need it, just like you do with Lyft or Uber. 

Yes, the price for this luxury may result in a high per use cost, but no worries about purchasing or leasing a car, paying for gas, maintaining it, and storing it.  

Many of the “cars” displayed at CES looked more like lounges than they did cars.  They are meant for relaxation or for meetings more than they are meant for driving.  In fact, many didn’t feature a steering wheel.

With the promise of 5G, signals for connected cities are more instantaneous which means vehicles can respond in split seconds to information transmitted from receptors receiving information further up the road.

This split second information will make autonomous driving more reliable.  Are we there yet?  No, we have a ways to go, but we are getting closer than ever before. 

Artificial intelligence will pave the way for cars to self-learn as they drive.

DigiTrends did a good job of showing the various autonomous cars displayed at CES.

2. Voice Assistants

Source: CTA

Voice Assistants are going into everything from wearables to devices to cars.  Voice command is growing rapidly as a result of voice assistants. 

Alexa now has nearly 60,000 skills and is incorporated on over 20,000 devices.

Google Assistant is in over 10,000 products.  Google Assistant has a lot of commands/skills, but not nearly the amount of Alexa.  But it is growing fast. 

The Google Assistant had a large presence at CES. 

Google built a Google “home” in the parking lot, showcasing many of the products that utilize Google Assistant. 

There were also a number of human “Google Assistants,” dressed in white with a Google Assistant beanie on hand to tout the technology and answer questions. 

The house even had a mini roller coaster in it, if you’re willing to wait in the 60-minute line.

In addition, Google also had quite the presence throughout the showroom floor.  As a part of their marketing genius, they stationed Google Assistants at each of the exhibitor booths exhibiting products with Google Assistant. 

Exhibitors got extra help on the showroom floor and attendees received more valuable information on what the Google Assistant could do, straight from Google.

I saw that Roku followed suit this year with their Roku employees at TV manufacturers booths.

Voice Assistants have a lot of promise, but consumers are still unsure how their use can justify the cost. 

Once consumers understand how to use them, they will begin using them more fully.  Not sure how you would use a voice assistant?  Here are some ideas.

3.  Health Assist

Source: Lumen

One of the areas I look forward the most at CES each year is digital health.  I am always amazed at the innovation and forethought companies bring to the table.

In the past, I’ve marveled at the GoBe2, which is a wearable that automatically tracks calories for you…that’s right, no more food logs!  They are coming out with a smaller version with more precise sensors soon, as announced at CES this year.

You may have heard that the latest Apple watch, along with an app, allows wearers to take an electrocardiogram (ECG) right from their wrist.

An ECG can capture heart rhythm at rest and during possible track heart issues such as a rapid or skipped heartbeat, providing essential data to help doctors identify problems.

This Apple Watch feature has already saved lives.

At CES, I saw a number of new wearables with ECG.  It’s only a matter of time before this possibly life-saving measurement is a standard feature on smartwatches.  Just another reason why people are wearing watches again.

The Lumen is a device that you breathe into to detect how your body is using fats or carbs for fuel.  In essence, it can see how your food, activity, and sleep affect your metabolism.  It gives you daily personalized meal plans to help you lose and get fit.

Another “breathable” gadget is the FoodMarble.  It’s the world’s first personal digestive tracker.  Are you having digestive issues?  Breathe into the FoodMarble device to see how well you digest certain foods. 

FoodMarble can detect issues based on the hydrogen generated during fermentation that occurs during digestion. It helps you decipher foods your digestive track has trouble with.

In the fertility arena, Tempdrop is giving couples more information to help with family planning.   Tempdrop makes temperature tracking (as a sign of ovulation) easier through automatic tracking with their wearable.

P&G’s Opte device scans, detects, and corrects hyperpigmentation on your skin.  It helps to cover up and eventually reduce things like moles, scars, and age spots.  I tried it out at the show and it lessened the look of a freckle on my arm in just one treatment.

Interestingly enough, the Opte actually uses a 120 thermal inkjet to deposit 1,000 Optimizing Serum picoliter droplets on the hyperpigmentation you’d like to reduce. 

It’s unseen to the eye, but the serum immediately begins to reduce the color of your mole, age spots, etc.

For those of you suffering from sinuses, the ClearUP looks like a life-saver.  It provides sinus pain relief through gentle microcurrent therapy. 

Simply place the non-invasive device along the upper cheek area and glide it along the side of your nose to along your eyebrow, completing a 180-degree arc, stopping for 7-second intervals as the device indicates.

ClearUp has shown to provide pain relief to 74% of users in a controlled study.  With 40-60 million Americans suffering from allergic rhinitis as a result of seasonal mold spores, various pollens, pet dander, dust mites, smoke, perfumes, cleaning products, and more, this device can give suffers relief in as little as 5 minutes.

Aerbetic is a non-invasive diabetes alert device that detects exhaled gases which can be indicative of high or low blood sugar. 

Using artificial intelligence and user data, the device can fine tune to each individual wearer, alerting caregivers when certain thresholds are surpassed.  A great device for women concerned with their diabetic children, husband, or aging parents.

Along the same lines, is Veta, the first smart case and app for EpiPen.  I don’t have children with severe food allergies, but I have friends who have these concerns.  I can’t imagine living with the fear of your child having a reaction away from you and you have no idea.

The Veta is a case that holds your child’s EpiPen.  Once it’s opened, you (and your designated support circle) are immediately alerted. 

The Veta includes a number of helpful features such as helping you find it if it gets misplaced, keeping track of its battery life, and the expiration date of the EpiPen.

Another caretake assist technology is the Dfree, a wearable that predicts when a person needs to go to the bathroom. 

It’s perfect for seniors and people with disabilities who suffer from the loss of bladder control (incontinence).  Using ultrasound, it continuously monitors the wearer’s bladder as it expands and contracts.

Notifications are sent to the caregiver to help prevent accidents while maintaining the wearer’s dignity.

We’ve all heard of the opioid epidemic, over 42,000 Americans die each year due to overdose.  Many of these people were using prescribed narcotics.  Quell 2.0 provides a safer path to assist with pain. 

Using patented neurotechnology, it uses nerve stimulation to send neural pulses to the brain, triggering a natural pain relief response in the central nervous system. 

The Quell 2.0 wearable is placed just below the knee and assists with pain no matter where the pain is in the body.  In a published study, 81% of users reported improvement with their chronic pain.  

The Consumer Tech Association (CTA) forecasts that all wearables will see a 9 percent sales increase. Smartwatches, in particular, will show a 26 percent growth in sales.  Much of this growth will be fueled by health assisted technology.

4. Augmented Reality

Source: WAYRAY

There’s a lot of talk surrounding Virtual Reality.  You’ve seen the goggles and hear how it’s used in games.  But its lesser-known cousin, Augmented Reality is less understood.

Augmented Reality is a type of technology that superimposes images generated from a computer onto a view of the real world. 

 

The Pokemon Go app is a perfect example of this where Pokemon characters are superimposed on our real world view, through the screen on your phone.

Pokemon players can see, capture, and battle other Pokemon characters and players in real-time in close proximity to their phone and Pokemon game.

According to Needham &Company senior analyst Laura Martin, as published in The Las Vegas Review Journal, games like Pokemon Go and other AR products are projected to rise from $10 billion in revenue worldwide now to about $133 billion in just 2 years.  Virtual reality will only rise to $75 billion in this time.

Although Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality can work hand-in-hand, they can certainly stand alone, as in the case of Pokemon Go.

Augmented Reality has been used in some games for kids for at least 4-5 years and this will continue. At the show, we saw a great toy for younger robot creators where they could follow instructions to build fun robots called PaiBots. 

PaiBots can be maneuvered to move things around and complete mini tasks. 

The beauty is that kids can look through their tablet or phone and see an Augmented Reality city that their new robot interacts with.  It’s a great STEAM activity for kids.

There are popular home decorating AR apps available now to help you see how a color of paint looks on your actual walls or how a piece of furniture looks in your living room.

Companies are developing AR (and VR) applications for sports, historical monuments, museums, and travel.  

AR is perfect for education as well.  It’s being used to teach kids about the Solar System, learn about historical events in time, and gives kids the ability to see objects in 3D.

Augmented Reality is likely to be big with cars as well.  A company known as WAYRAY has found a way to turn a car’s front window into a holographic AR infotainment system across the windshield…no glasses needed. 

As your car drives through a city, the AR windshield can warn you of obstacles up ahead as well as overlay interesting information like how far away you are from certain buildings or the names of restaurants as you come upon them.

5. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Source: CTA

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere and used in technology that uses the Internet of Things (IoT), or, in other words, gadgets connected to the Internet. 

AI empowers predictive technology, enhanced robotics, data analytics, speech recognition, security, biometrics, manufacturing, today’s cars, and yes, even voice assistant technology.

But just what is AI? 

Artificial intelligence (AI), also called machine intelligence, is learning, interpretation, and execution of intelligence by machines as opposed to that from animals or humans. 

In essence, machines or gadgets with AI can carry out specific tasks without explicitly being programmed on how to do them.

Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, and Apple’s Siri use AI to recognize voices, who and what is in a photo, and translate spoken languages. 

In the future, Voice Assistants will likely predict your needs and serve up actions or suggestions before you have even thought about it.

We’ve seen AI in the case of roaming vacuums, like the Roomba, where it maps out your home and knows where to vacuum and where to stay away from.  It also knows to go back to its base to charge itself.

Autonomous cars are self-learning as well and will continue to “make decisions” based on information fed to them through 5G signals from other sources along the road.

Machines…cars…gadgets will learn to read faces and emotions so products can be attuned to people’s behaviors.

AI is being used with cosmetics as well.  I sat down with Neutrogena for a demonstration of their new Neutrogena MaskiD, which is a personalized 3D printed sheet mask, unique to the wearer.

The MaskiD is the result of hyper-personalized skincare tech, powered by AI to give each woman a custom-printed hydrogel mask to help with her face skincare needs.  Some women have dry skin in some areas of her face but oily skin on other areas.

Using the Neutrogena app, the user takes a picture of her face and fills out a brief survey.  Upon purchasing, a new Neutrogena MaskiD is 3D printed, formed from a translucent, flexible layer that is applied uniquely to the contour of her face. 

The hydrogel mask, created from cellulose sourced from locust beans and red seaweed and comes prepared with the unique combination of Neutrogena’s clinically-tested skincare options, based on the unique needs of a woman’s forehead, eye orbital, nose, cheeks, chin, and nasolabial folds.

As the weather changes, she can order new MaskiD’s to help her with different changes in her skin.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on in the pervasive field of technology.  There are so many amazing innovations going on.  Not everything I talked about is available today.  Some of the products are still being fine-tuned and will be available later this year.

Of course, we still have a ways to go with autonomous driving, but with 5G looming, there is more possibility than ever before. 

If you have a health issue or general problem, check out WellConnectedMom.com or Google, there’s likely a technology or gadget to help you.

With over 20,000 new gadgets introduced each year at CES, you’re likely not to hear about most of them.

Stay tuned for our Top 5 Gadgets for Moms from CES this year (some of which were mentioned in this article).  See our tracked tech product trends from previous years…2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.