By Vikram Bala ‘20, News Editor

We often see growth in technology as the production of new iPhones, or maybe even laptops with higher thread count (faster) CPU’s. However, in order to truly see the advances and new marvels of the technological world there is only one solution. CES (formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show) is one of the largest tech trade shows in the world. The latest show, CES 2019, took place from January 8th to 11th. Each year brings more excitement and amazement among consumers usually due to innovations in driverless cars, VR equipment, PC hardware or fake meat that is meant to trick you (don’t worry, there will be an explanation). With that said, here are the four “coolest” things unveiled at CES 2019.

Impossible Burger 2.0

When informed of the possibility that there was a vegetarian burger that could replace his tasty beef patty, Colin Murphy ‘20 told me, “Nothing can ever replicate the taste of animal meat… nothing.” Contrary to Colin’s viewpoint, many critics at CES explained that they couldn’t distinguish the “impossible burger” (the name of the vegetarian mock-beef patty) from an actual beef patty. Such claims were supported by a test at the burger joint Shake Shack, where customers were not able to tell that their burger had a vegetarian mock-beef patty in it. Takeaways? If you love the taste of meat but don’t want to eat it, this may be the solution for you.

Rollable TV

OLED (organic LED) is becoming increasingly popular, especially with the iPhone X and many other gadgets in the hands of consumers featuring OLED displays (allowing for true “black” among other features). LG has been a major player in the OLED TV and 4k TV Market for a few years now, and they manage to keep making groundbreaking products. LG’s wallpaper TV (so-called because it is as thin as wallpaper) turned many heads in past years, but the rollup TV has to be the most exciting product yet. The LG Signature OLED TV R (rollable) was first shown to the public at CES 2019. The product has a base into which the TV rolls up; the base also functions as a speaker. However, as is typical with many CES retail products, it often takes some time before they are sold on the consumer markets (maybe even more than a year). In addition, there’s sure to be a hefty price tag with this one.

Holoride x Audi x Disney

Holoride claims to be a product that can turn cars into virtual theme parks, thereby making a boring car ride more enjoyable. The product works by creating a virtual reality “movie,” and connecting it to the car ride. For example, if the car speeds up, the dragon, spaceship, or bird that you are riding in the virtual world will speed up too. Other features include turning, acceleration/deceleration, and also simulated  imagery and road maps that reflect the real world. At CES, Audi and Disney joined together to create a VR game for Holoride called Marvel’s Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run, which was received well among the select people who got to experience the product.

Alexa in Your Car

The title seems to explain it pretty well: Amazon Alexa could be coming to your car in the future. Alexa has long competed with Siri, Google, and Cortana, and this development may establish it as the superior voice assistant. In addition to using voice to perform normal functions, such as playing music, controlling the temperature, and locking doors, Alexa (along with Qualcomm’s help) brings features such as vibrating seats in order to wake a passenger up (activated by voice command). Eighteen car manufacturers have signed deals with Qualcomm for their technology, meaning that Alexa (which Qualcomm has integrated into their platform for cars) could be in your future car.

Many of these devices are a long way from being in your hands, but that doesn’t mean you won’t experience some of their benefits in the near future. With technological advances in the creation of one device, many other companies will be able to make devices that utilize similar technology. Holoride may not ever be in your car, however the contributions it has made to VR technology may affect you in the future, whether it be from VR games or even movies?! Stay on the lookout, because you never know when one of these technologies might end up in your car, or maybe your dinner plate.