Living January 13, 2015

Back To The Future: 2015 Home Technology Trends

This past weekend in Las Vegas, NV the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) tradeshow took place. Your inner geek is going to freak out when you see some of the things that were shown.

Life Improvement: Wearable technology is all the rage right now and there was no shortage of evidence of this at the tradeshow. In fact, there were over 500 different wearable products being displayed on the floor. There were a lot of overlapping products, but there were also a ton that decided to go a more niche route. An example of this is a children’s wristband that is a tracker and activity monitor all in one. You can set boundaries, so if your child leaves the playground you’ll get notified right away.

Connected Home: Look out for a water-usage sensor, an alarm notifier, a Wi-Fi garage door opener, and even sensors for detecting when windows are opened. Word on the street is there is also a built-in system of sensors that collectively analyze your utility usage.

 

 

For the Kitchen: In the near future, your kitchen surfaces will be able to tell which ingredients in your fridge are about to spoil and then it will tell you what to make for dinner. Crazy, right? Apparently kitchen surfaces will be touchscreens that integrate video conferencing, texts, and alerts from social media feeds. In the future, you can put your pot anywhere on the surface and it will detect it and begin heating it up. It will also be able to detect the ingredients you have and recommend recipes. Lets say the recipe you want to try calls for ingredients you don’t have, it will update your shopping list so you won’t forget it next time you go to the store.

3D Printing: In the 3D printing world you can now print yourself a lounger chair. Who knew life was going to get so easy? You can also create table accessories to 3D print at home for parties, family dinners, or just for fun.

Laundry Lifesaver: Many laundry rooms don’t have a sink, which can be an unnecessary nuisance. There’s now a washing machine with built in sink: for washing delicates or doing any pre-treatment to those wine-stained clothes of yours.  It also has its own water jet, which can be poured into the machine to drain when you’re finished. 

Garden Lovers: There are going to be plant pots that have Bluetooth and can tell when your plants are thirsty and water them for you. How does that work? The pot will have sensors that read the level of fertilization, temperature, and the level of moisture in the soil and notify you when your plant needs water.

For the Kids: To all those parents out there with youngsters, this bed will undoubtedly mean more sleep for you. The bed can tell you when your kid gets up at night and it can adjust the mattress to their sleeping needs. It also has a built-in, under-the-bed nightlight, which is basically a built-in monster detector. Your kid will sleep at ease with this new technology, which means you hopefully will too.