Privacy was a hidden and under-the-radar topic at this week’s CES gadget show in Las Vegas. Startups now provide volunteer information on how they protect your data and protect your privacy when you use their heart rate monitor or Cadley robot.
Roybi, an alien-looking robot that teaches children language and other skills, has a camera with facial recognition that can remember children and guess whether the child was excited or sad after a lesson. Roybi says it uses that information to change its text.
But the $ 199 robot also comes with a sticker, so parents can block the camera if they want.
“We want to make sure people like it,” said Elnaz Sarraf, CEO and founder, who said parents questioned the lens. “When it comes to kids, people are more sensitive.”
Caregiver Smart Solutions, which has created products for caregivers to track the elderly from a distance, has decided to remove the cameras, declaring them too intrusive. The company has opted for smaller sensors that monitor the opening and closing of doors.
Two years after technology companies faced growing privacy concerns, the message seems to be setting: the way you use customer information can no longer be ignored.
Friday was the final day of the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas, a forum for companies to unveil their products and services for next year.
Other highlights this week include:
A screen that is all about you
Airport screens are a nuisance of flight numbers, times and gates. Delta wants to change that.
The airline will soon begin screening an airport that will only show you personalized flight information.
Turn: About 100 people will be able to view and view their own information at the same time on the same screen. No special glasses needed, just for the naked eye.
This is a technology that can change the way airplanes get on their planes, starting with airport security. It is hoped that similar screens will fill the airport halls, indicating where people will be able to walk or stop to eat.
Startups are teaming up with MissApplied Sciences for Delta Technology. Misappropriated CEO Albert Ng said ordinary TVs send the same color light everywhere. He controls the screens of his company, which colors are emitted by different people. The cameras above determine where each person is standing and send the right combination of light in that direction.
Delta will test the screen at Detroit airport later this year. The company says the screens will not be used for targeted advertising.
The technology could now be too expensive to expand at each airport, said Frank Gillette, a technology analyst at Forrester. But he said the Delta plan could add more customers to the airline to make the airport experience easier for passengers.
Humanoid chatbot
Meet your new artificial friend named Neon.
In the weeks leading up to CES, Samsung has teased Neon as the next big thing in artificial intelligence. What is being shown is basically a humanoid chatbot with AI.
Neon is an independent company backed by Samsung’s Advanced Research Lab.
Ask Neon a question and it will answer. Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa will not know all the answers as expected. In that sense, it is intended to be human – with some knowledge and ability to learn.
The vision is a future where neons are so human that people start communicating with them just like any other person.
Neon CEO Pranab Mistry says it will allow people to have a real human connection to the machine instead of shouting “stop” and “open”.
But that’s a way of some time. Neon is still in the early stages of development.
Oops
Things don’t always go as planned.
Samsung’s new Sero TV may pivot between horizontal and vertical orientation, but it was a challenge to get it on stage at the company’s CES event earlier this week.
Scott Cohen, product training manager, was unable to connect his smartphone to the TV set and eventually chose to continue the stage show regardless.
“Since we can’t put it into practice, I will explain what we can do,” he said. “We’re not sure if the Wi-Fi with everyone here is doing it.”
Samsung later blamed the incredible Wi-Fi that prevented the smartphone from connecting.
The Sero – meaning “vertical” in Korean, is intended to allow viewers to view social media, YouTube and personal videos in their true adaptation, without the black bar on the side. When watching vertical video, for example, the TV physically rotates in that position.