Judging from the general trend of product release, future technology will further improve the quality of life.

Shenzhen Translation Bureau is its compilation team, focusing on technology, business, workplace, life and other fields, focusing on introducing new foreign technologies, new perspectives and new trends.

Editor’s note: At the 2020 International Consumer Electronics Show, there are many novel products. Interested partners can also see live videos on various video websites, although there are many The product is just a gimmick, and it is not feasible at all, but for the products released in general, the general trend is to make life better and better in the future. This article is translated from the original article entitled “CES 2020 Showed Us the Path to a Better Future” in Medium

There are many pioneering experimental products at CES (International Consumer Electronics Show). Although some products have exaggerated publicity, these products often cannot achieve mass production and cannot enter the public’s vision. Moreover, some innovations brought by this exhibition may also lead to new problems, such as security issues such as information leakage.

But the truth is that sometimes technology does make our lives better, which is why we are always attracted to technology. Here are some trends I observed at the Electronics Fair, and I can responsibly say that these trends are likely to have a positive and far-reaching impact in 2020.

5G can keep you away from your home network

There are a lot of ambiguous marketing around 5G technology and a lot of questioning voices. For example, some operators, such as AT & T, have begun to call slightly improved 4G networks “5G,” which is not the case. For example, 5G will probably not give you a download speed of 25g per second, although some field tests have technically proven this. However, under the right circumstances, 5G networks are indeed promising. Launching a faster home Internet is an expensive affair, requiring cable companies to physically upgrade the lines to each home. Customers living in rural areas, for example, may not be able to experience 5G Internet as quickly as possible.

5G has long promised to change this situation, so their primary goal is to provide faster speeds for mobile devices. Early 5G tests have shown speeds close to gigabits-the speeds Google promises. But because the project required fiber optics, and it was very troublesome to install and popularize, the project ended in failure. The 5G network introduced later was “disappointing” compared to Gigabit, but its speed can still reach 250MbThe range around ps is already much faster than the current 4G. But if your mobile phone uses the Internet to access the Internet faster than Wi-Fi at home, someone will start to wonder why you still need to install the Internet at home?

Tech companies are preparing to answer this question in 2020. Today, mobile phones are one of the few devices that directly connect to mobile phone networks for data transmission, and most other devices, such as laptops, tablets, and smart home devices, are connected to Wi-Fi for Internet access. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, that’s starting to change. Lenovo released the first 5G-connected laptop, Verizon promised to launch 20 5G-enabled devices in 2020, Netgear hyped up 5G hotspots, and Razer Demonstrated the concept of an absolutely advanced router that can provide gamers with mobile 5G hotspots. This router has 4 Ethernet ports, which is essentially a networked device that you can throw in your bag and take it out anytime, anywhere to share 5G hotspots.

The technologies shown at CES 2020 will define our future life

All these new devices are part of the solution to the 5G challenge. They are not the only components, and building network technology for 5G is still an extremely difficult challenge. A large number of new microcell base stations need to be built in cities around the world, because most of the wireless spectrum used by 5G does not penetrate densely. building. In the next few years, airlines will have to tackle this challenge, and not everyone will benefit immediately. However, once the 5G network is properly implemented and supported, it will immediately surpass the 4G network, bringing huge benefits to us and society.

Personalization technology is looking for a new audience

Everyone at CES sells things. As a journalist, part of my job is not to be distracted by marketing and various recommendations. But I can’t help but be attracted to a company called BrainCo, which specializes in making robotic prosthetics for amputees. Robotic prosthetics will be about $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 cheaper than other similar products. Today, the price of prosthetics on the market is as high as $ 60,000. In addition to being much cheaper, this type of prosthesis can use brain waves to intuitively sense that users want to use What it does.

At a small press conference in BrainCo, a Chinese user explained through translation that he was unable to hold hands with others.Hand or playing table tennis story, but this prosthetic device helped him do these things. This is a moment of real humanity.

The technologies shown at CES 2020 will define our future life

BrainCo is not the only company with a personalised product. For example, personal mobile device maker “Whill” showed an automatic wheelchair that can take instructions from the user and automatically move to where the user needs it. Wearable device maker OrCam showed products that can help those with dyslexia, such as those with dyslexia or vision impairment, to turn written text into language.

Most of these companies are not new. But at the Consumer Electronics Show in the past few years, new products brought by big companies like Google have dominated the report and attracted more attention, such as the new smart display in 2018 or the smart TV in 2015. New products from big tech companies this year are relatively bland, Google just released some new voice commands, and other big companies like Amazon and Facebook spend most of their time defending their privacy on. This has given the new company more room to grow in a highly competitive market.

CES is an opportunity for manufacturers, large and small, who can open up a world for themselves in open markets and find customers or investors. Because big companies such as Amazon and Google have focused their energy on the intelligence of home products, this also virtually provides a huge opportunity for personalized custom companies to make them less crowded. Promote yourself on stage.

Sex technology is gaining the legitimacy it desperately needs

At the 2019 International Consumer Electronics Show, sex toy startup Lora DiCarlo won an award from the Consumer Technology Association. The association subsequently revoked the award almost immediately, claiming that the award was not in any award category, and said the toys “should not be accepted as an innovation award program.” The association reissued the award after strong public protest. Later, the Consumer Technology Association announced that it would allow sex technology startups to compete for the award during a one-year trial period.

has arrived2020 is the trial year, and many sex technology companies have shown new products, including the magic wand and vibrator brought by OhMiBod, and the smart vibrator brought by MysteryVibe. Of course, There are products from the returning “Lora DiCarlo” company. These companies showcase their products next to companies that sell smart doorbells, battery packs and sleep aids.

The technologies shown at CES 2020 will define our future life

This is undoubtedly a positive development, although it should have been. Historically, the development of sex toys cannot guarantee transparency and quality assurance. Because everyone is ashamed to discuss publicly, no one can discuss those unqualified and unsafe products, and they can still be popular. Allowing sex toys to win awards, like any other technology, can guarantee the quality and safety of the product to a certain extent, and ensure that the products purchased by customers are trustworthy.

For example, when mystery yvibe showed me the men’s wearable vibrator “Tenuto”, I could discuss this product as frankly and openly as other devices. I didn’t get everyone’s attention when I did this. Tech electronics journalists like me can be seen everywhere at CES, and until this year, sex products have only been as popular at conferences as other categories of products. I hope that this year’s awards for sex products will help more technology industries to discuss the possibility of sex equipment in the future.

The company is at least aware of privacy pressures

For those who are uncomfortable with devices that monitor, track, and analyze all your information, CES doesn’t provide much comfort. This year, as usual, countless new “smart” surveillance devices have emerged, from drones that monitor the yard to devices that track what you do in the bathroom. Although there is no good solution, for privacy and security, more and more companies are already at least considering privacy issues in their devices.

For example, I talked to Lockly, a smart lock manufacturer who sells a combination smart lock and video doorbell device. For months, people have been reporting that the competitor’s video doorbell is poorly secure, and it would be reckless for such a startup to have plans to protect user data. I asked the company if it would allow users to choose two-factor authentication to verify their accounts, because two-factor authentication canDegree of resistance to hackers. Company personnel told me that this two-factor certification is mandatory in their products. The company also offers the option to store videos in the cloud, but by default, their cameras store videos on a local SD card, making them less likely to be accessed by hackers.

The technologies shown at CES 2020 will define our future life

Google has one of the most compelling examples designed to make users feel like their privacy is protected. At this year’s CES, it announced the new Voice Assistant Privacy Center feature. Once the new feature is launched, if the voice assistant starts playing music, users can choose whether to save their preferences or keep the voice assistant from saving their own audio data, which only requires the user to set privacy settings on the phone. However, some new private voice commands are not a panacea on the voice assistant that keeps audio data all the time.

However, this is an improvement over the past few years. For example, in 2015, “personalization” touted by Google was one of the hot trends this year. Today, without answering questions about how to store, protect, and delete user data, companies may not be able to use personalization based on user data as a selling point. Google obviously wants data, but the issue of user privacy remains, and it’s clearer than ever.

Does this mean that the privacy issue has been resolved and we no longer need to worry about it? of course not. But it does show that from the big tech giants to smaller startups, they are all under increasing pressure to answer privacy and security questions before, not after, terrible things.

Translator: Xiao Zhuo