Gallery: Smart Forks, Tiny Trackers and the Biggest Damn Tablet You've Ever Seen
01ces-day-one
[<noscript><img width="200px;"style="margin-bottom:10px;" src="http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images\_blogs/gadgetlab/2013/01/live-at-ces-leftnav.jpg" /></noscript>](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013-liveblog/)2. [<noscript><img style="width:60px; height:60px;float:left;margin-right:10px;" src="http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images\_blogs/gadgetlab/2013/01/ces-leftnav-thumb-liveblog.jpg" /></noscript>](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013-liveblog/)[Follow Wired’s Live Coverage of CES](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013-liveblog/) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013-liveblog/) 3. [<noscript><img style="width:60px; height:60px;float:left;margin-right:10px;" src="http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images\_blogs/gadgetlab/2013/01/ces-leftnav-thumb-landingpg.jpg" /></noscript>](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013/)[Read More Features From CES](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013/) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/ces-2013/) LAS VEGAS — Wearable fitness data dongles. Audio oddities. Remote-controlled toys. Forks that electronically measure how much you eat. The showcase on the first night of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is reserved for the wackier, left-field items. The bigger stuff — televisions, laptops, home theater systems — don't get trotted out until later, on Monday or Tuesday. But Sunday night's unveilings at the Mandalay Bay hotel here gave us plenty to gawk at, some of it obscenely cool, some of it silly and whimsical. Here are nine items that stoked our interest. *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
02vuzix-smart-glasses
Vuzix Smart Glasses ------------------- Step aside, Google Glass. Vuzix is moving to the head of the line with "[Smart Glasses](http://www.vuzix.com/consumer/products_m100.html)," a hands-free heads-up display that puts the info on your smartphone right before your eyes. Or one eye, at least. Because, you know, looking down is such a hassle. "People are always looking at their cellphone screen," Mike Hallet, director of sales, told Wired. "This is allowing the user to have access to the information on their cellphone in front of one eye, so the other eye is free to see the real world." Hallet says the hands-free display is perfect for "information snacking" — that is, getting social media information like texts and tweets while augmenting the real world with things like maps. There are loads of [heads-up displays](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/6-glasses-with-integrated-displays-that-you-can-buy-today/) on the market, but Vuzix's take on the gadget sets itself apart with a small profile, light weight and (maybe, potentially) smartphone integration. And of course, it's not a pair of frames, like [Google Glass](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/augmented-reality-experts-say-google-glasses-face-serious-hurdles/). "\[Google Glass\] has a see-through display; this is a non-see-through display," Hallet explained. Hardware-wise, these babies have a camera up front, plus gyros and accelerometers for all those augmented-reality applications. They're Android-only for now (sorry, iOS), and work over Wi-Fi. The battery should be good for eight hours, and a micro SD slot gives you up to 8GB of storage. The display resolution is the equivalent of a 4-inch WVGA cellphone screen, and can be worn on either the right or left eye. Vuzix's Smart Glasses should be available this summer for less than $500, and you can get 'em in any color, as long as it's black or white. — *Christina Bonnington* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
033ms-84-inch-tablet
3M's 84-inch Tablet ------------------- CES is a show of incremental updates. Evolution rather than revolution. And this year, 3M (the company you likely know for Post-Its, packing tape and reflective materials) is showing off an 84-inch touch display, itself an iteration of its 46-inch touch display concept the company brought to CES last year. The 46-incher (called the C46) made its way into production, selling for $6,500 per unit — mostly to schools, museums and businesses, who are using them in conference rooms and on showroom floors. Sometime this year, the 84-inch concept will go into production as well, said Scott Hagermosser, the head of marketing in 3M's touch technology division. The massive touchscreen can be hung on a wall like a TV, or it can sit on legs as a table. It sports a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels (yup, that's technically a 4K display), and connects to a computer via HDMI. Here at CES on Sunday night, the concept was presented in "table" mode and was shown running a Windows 7 app built by Gesture Works for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. *— Nathan Olivarez-Giles* *Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
Termite NASCAR! Termite racing using trail pheromones. Alas, no tiny cars.04wemo-light-switch
WeMo Light Switch ----------------- Belkin's WeMo line — an array of smart electrical conduits that let you turn the appliances plugged into them on and off using an app on your smartphone or tablet — welcomes another product to the family. This time, the company has given us a light switch. The [WeMo Light Switch](http://www.belkin.com/us/wemo) takes a bit more actual home-improvement know-how to install, since it replaces an existing light switch in your home. But it doesn't just control the light switch it's tied to electrically. The Wi-Fi-enabled switch can control an entire bank of lights already attached to WeMo devices in your home. The switch will be available in August for $50. Belkin also announced that Android support will be coming to the WeMo line with a beta launching in February 2013 with the Samsung Galaxy SIII and other leading devices support landing first. *— Roberto Baldwin* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
05soul-electronics-party-in-a-box
Soul Electronics Party in a Box ------------------------------- If you're so bold as to call your product the [Party in a Box](http://store.soulelectronics.com/soul-electronics-party-in-a-box-p910-hi-definition-pro-speaker-system.html), there'd better be a party surrounding it, dammit. And it ought not cost an arm and a leg and a leg. This boom box for your iPad is pretty epic, but it comes a price ($1,000) that puts the kibosh on the festivities. The box has eight — count 'em, *eight* — speakers in its sound system, including a pair of 6-inch subwoofers for a little boom boom. Of course there's an antiquated 30-pin connector, and the Party in a Box also has Bluetooth audio support and a mini-jack in for all other devices. An LCD display lets you control the box. Power comes from the nearest wall outlet or rechargeable batteries (not included). If you're feeling like lugging this 25-pound beast around, there's a handy handle and side-mounted pins so you can slap a guitar strap on it and cruise around town rocking the old-school VU meters. That's a lot of party, but the $1,000 price is pretty hard to boogie down to. But if you're full of cash and love analog meters as much as you love heavy iPad docks, the Party in a Box is available now. — *Roberto Baldwin* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
06hapifork
Hapifork -------- This is the [Hapifork](http://www.hapilabs.com/products-hapifork.asp). It's a "smart fork" that tracks each bite of food you eat, monitoring how long it takes you to complete a meal, the number of bites you take per minute, and the intervals between each bite. It uploads all that data to an app via a USB connection in the base of the fork. It comes with a coaching program and, like everything else fitness-related, a social game. (Apparently there's a rule about this; if you have a health-related product, you have to gamify it.) The idea is that the Hapifork will encourage you to eat at a slower, more deliberate pace, and parent company Hapilabs says it has studies showing this helps people lose weight. In a nutshell, the idea is that most people are satisfied after about 20 minutes of continuous eating, and if you can get them to eat less during that time frame, they'll lose weight. Eating too fast? The fork will vibrate to tell you to slow down. The company's president told me he can envision a time when the fork is capable of sensing how much you eat by weighing each bite to help count calories. Yeah, it's weird and wacky and bulky, but it's a really cool idea and you can envision it doing so much more down the road. I'm pretty excited to test this out later this year. *— Mat Honan* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
07parrot-flower-power
Parrot Flower Power ------------------- Do you love plants as much as you love tech? Do you think everything should be "smart"? Then Parrot has just the thing for you — Flower Power. This little gizmo, cutely shaped like a branch, works with an app to track your plant's nutritional intake, temperature, sunlight intake, water level and fertilizer needs. In other words, it can tell you when your philodendron is thirsty. The great thing about the app is it knows what specific species and varieties of plans need. It won't freak out and tell you that your cactus needs water after a couple of days like it would with your primroses. We love finding small, unexpected gadgets like this at CES, and we can count on Parrot to keep us entertained. The company prides itself on coming up with unique devices — remember [that cool drone](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/01/video-parrot-quadricopter/)? How about [those cool headphones](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/reviews/2012/07/parrot-zik/)? And it's always fun to see a company experimenting with playful gadgets. Unfortunately, Flower Power is but a prototype. There's no word on when it might ship or what it might cost. And we're hoping Parrot doesn't realize we snuck away with it. — *Alexandra Chang* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
08liquid-image-ego-mini-helmet-cam
Liquid Image Ego Mini Helmet Cam -------------------------------- Helmet cams are cool if you're doing amazing awesome super-duper stuff. But they make you look like a tool with an electronic parasite attached to your head. To solve the "What the hell is that thing on your helmet?" blues, [Liquid Image](http://www.liquidimageco.com/) has a new camera that hides inside your helmet's face mask. The Wi-Fi-enabled Ego Mini camera is half the size of the company's regular Ego camera, and according to Liquid Image, it's the tiniest full-HD sports camera on the market. (Plus, for what it's worth, putting a camera inside the helmet cuts down on wind drag and reduces the chances of a bug smashing into the lens.) The camera streams footage to Android and iOS devices, so you can use your phone as a viewfinder to make sure your camera is positioned correctly. The 1080p camera will be available in August 2013 and will cost you $200. Now all you have to do is hop on your motorcycle and capture some footage more exciting than lane-splitting or flipping off drivers that pull out in front of you. *— Roberto Baldwin* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
More images from out new place just placed 100 meters from HAB. A place for dreams and suborbital rockets. Image: Reda.dk09withins-smart-activity-monitor
Withins Smart Activity Monitor ------------------------------ One thing we're seeing at CES this year is a deluge of connected personal sensors specifically designed to track your activity — counting your steps, measuring your calorie burn rate, and so on. The first one of these we encountered is also probably going to be one of the better ones to come out of the show: the [Withings Smart Activity Tracker](http://www.withings.com/en/activitytracker/keepmeinformed). Slip it in your pocket and carry it around with you all day, and it will track your movements and level of activity. Stay sedentary too long, and it will send an alert to your phone (iOS or Android) to tell you to get up and move your junk around the room. At night, slip it in an armband and it records the quality and duration of your sleep. Most interestingly, if you hold your thumb up against it, it will track your heart rate. You can use that in all sorts of situations, but it's really meant to capture your resting heart rate — a huge indicator of your overall fitness level, especially as it changes. Withings' little chip has a bright, clear, touch-sensitive display that shows your step count, the number of stairs you've climbed, the distance you've traveled and calories burned. It sends data to your phone automatically via Bluetooth, and has a two-week battery life. Pricing and availability haven't been announced yet. *— Mat Honan* *Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
10lenovo-ideacentre-horizon
Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon ------------------------- Windows 8 is helping push hybrids in a big way. And by big, we mean *big* — like 27 inches big. Lenovo rolled into town with a mega-tablet that it's calling the first "table PC." Because, you know, everyone wants one of those. Actually, it's called the IdeaCentre Horizon, and it's an all-in-one computer with a touchscreen. Much like Sony's Tap 20, Lenovo's touchscreen giant can lie flat for tablet-like interaction. Really big tablet-like interaction. It's just 7 inches bigger than the Tap 20, but apparently that is enough to have it designated a "table top." Maybe a coffee table? The IdeaCentre Horizon runs on the latest Intel Core i7 processor, has 8GB of memory, 1TB of storage and supports 10-point multi-touch interactions. Despite its gargantuan surface area, it's supermodel thin at just an inch thick. Lenovo is targeting the device for multi-person use cases, like multiplayer games or collaborative work and education tools. Gaming? Sign us up. To enhance the gaming experience, Lenovo is throwing in some accessories like e-dice, a joystick and a striker. The company has also partnered with Ubisoft to create customized games for the giant touchscreen. The device is expected to ship in early summer 2013 and cost $1,700. This is but the first of many table PCs coming from Lenovo, and perhaps the smallest. The company will be showing off a prototype of an even bigger 39-inch widescreen device codenamed "Gamma" this week. — *Alexandra Chang* *Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
