CES 2018: The Unicorn Files

The Unicorn Files
CES 2018 Top 10 Toys & Trends
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8
L A S V E G A S

DigitasLBi’s CES 2018 Top 10 Toys + Trends
Snippets and Snapshots from This Year’s Show
CES 2018 marked the 51st anniversary of the world’s largest consumer technology conference,
featuring a daunting 3,900 exhibiting companies stretched over 2.75 million square feet of
exhibit space. Over 180,000 people attended, from over 150 countries.
As your agency partner, we bring you the Top 10 Toys and Trends at CES 2018 — our annual
take on what rose above the rest and a mix of the CES stuff that wow'd, woo'd and is worthy of
watching. The competition was fierce this year, so we’re bringing you an extra dose of toys —
10 “runners up” along with our top 10.
Here’s to more innovation and exploration in 2018.

The Unicorn Files
CES 2018: TOP TRENDS

The Unicorn Files.
1. Re-Thinking Big TV
Bigger and better TVs have been a staple at CES. Consumption of TV content,
however, has fragmented, with people often preferring the convenience of their
phone or tablet (which is with them) to arranging themselves in front of a big screen
even when one is available. Add to that the “partner factor” in finding space for a 70-
inch screen, and it can feel like big TVs are under pressure to stay broadly relevant.
Some of the displays at CES point to a renaissance of large TVs. New technologies
allow big screens to disappear when not in use, or to change shape and have other
functions. Modular displays promise, one day, to include build-your-own screens that
can be any size or shape. MirraViz’s quirky retroreflector screen allows multiple
people to use one screen at the same time, each seeing a different image. It may be a
slow burn, but we seem to be seeing the start of a new wave of large, ambient display
surfaces that will be a better fit into our homes than today’s black rectangle.
TCL’s “Frame TV” had people leaning in closely to check
whether they were really looking at a screen or just an art
print. The TV cleverly matches the ambient light to
create a remarkable illusion of a painting.
LG’s rollable OLED
TV concept could go
from a 65-inch
screen to a 21:9
cinematic screen to
an unobtrusive box
at the flick of a
switch. It could also
show a narrow strip
of display for
notifications.
MirraViz’s retro-
reflector screens
allow several people
to use one large
screen at the same
time, with each
person seeing a
different image.
Korean display
maker Lumens
showed an
impressive 139-inch
4K screen made
from 1,020 LED tiles
with a pitch of
0.8mm.
•Credit:TheVerge

The Unicorn Files.
2. Unattended Retail
In physical retail, the checkout is rarely the best part of the experience. After the
pleasure of finally making your choice it inevitably feels like an administrative task;
not fun. Self-service checkouts may reduce costs for the retailer and, if there are
enough of them, reduce the length of lines, but off-loading the task of checking out
onto the shopper is rarely greeted with enthusiasm.
Just before CES last year, Amazon announced its Amazon Go store in Seattle, where
registered shoppers simply walk in, pick up whatever they want and leave — all the
charging is handled by automatic observation of what they do in the store. At CES
this year, several companies brought similar ideas, all trying to find new spaces in
which to do physical retail and, at the same time, remove shop staff from the
equation. Except for Suning in China, they were all at pilot stage; expect to see them
more widespread in 2018.
AIPoly won an innovation award for its machine-vision-
powered retail technology that allows customers simply
to pick up what they want from shelves and be
automatically charged in the background.
Chinese commercial
giant Suning opened
its first automated
consumer
electronics store in
Nanjing in August
2017, and has
already opened four
more in other cities,
including Shanghai
and Beijing.
Cerevo’s mobile,
cashless vending
box creates a mini
autonomous store
anywhere you set it
up. One of the
maker's suggested
use cases is for
Airbnb hosts to use
them to provide
amenities for guests
to buy.
Robomart plans a
fleet of autonomous
stores. Customers
use an app to
choose what they
need; the
appropriate store
drives to them; they
go outside and
choose what they
want from it.

The Unicorn Files.
3. Voice Control Everywhere
There was a big battle for dominance between Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant,
with Samsung standing by its own Bixby assistant. Google was reportedly the largest
buyer of outdoor media in Las Vegas during the show, and inside provided many
exhibitors with “Hey Google” branded soundproofed booths to allow visitors to try
out voice interactions more reliably.
The reason for this battle, though, is that voice is becoming a de facto component of
almost every device. Headline news included the launch of Google’s Smart Display
platform, which follows in the footsteps of the Amazon’s Alexa Show, by adding a
screen to Google Assistant powered smart speakers. Hardware will be available from
JBL, Lenovo, LG, and Sony later this year. Also notable was Samsung’s announcement
that Bixby would be integrated into its complete 2018 smart TV product range, as
well as the latest iteration of its Family Hub fridge models.
Ovie’s Smarterware connected food storage system aims
to reduce food waste by reminding you about the things
that are sitting in your fridge. It’s a product that assumes
the existence of ambient voice in order to work.
As part of its Google
Assistant offensive,
Google provided
many exhibitors with
these soundproofed
booths to allow
visitors to try out
voice interactions
more reliably.
Samsung’s Bixby was
strongly in evidence,
too, as the centerpiece
of several smoothly
integrated displays. Its
“Project Ambience”
dongle and module
allows many kinds of
devices to be
retrofitted with “smart”
features.
In a sure sign of the
Amazon Alexa
ecosystem going
mainstream, iHome
was showing off
alarm clocks and
speakers with slots
and docks for Echo
Dots.

The Unicorn Files.
4. Front-of-House Robots
If Robots were big last year at CES, they were huge this year. Drones (air, sea, and
land), industrial robots large and small, cargo transporters, and emotional
companions all featured.
The strongest category was front-of-house robots, designed to be present in public
spaces, greet guests, provide information, and help out. This is not a surprise: over the
course of 2017 we’ve seen pilots in hospitality and retail in many countries, notably
Softbank’s Pepper robot.
The variety of robot types at CES reflects the early stages of this market. However, it
is already showing signs of maturing, with several companies exhibiting software and
hardware platforms for robot makers to use, cutting development time and providing
standard applications for common use cases out of the box. Expect to see many more
of these in the wild in the coming year, with ever greater refinement.
There were tons of different front-of-house robot at CES.
If not in use already, almost all are expected this year .
(These are the Mynt Sdeno, Slamtec ZEUS platform, Amy
M1 and EventBots Maava)
LG was notable in
showing concepts
built on a common
platform for
autonomous robots.
There were robots
with large displays
for notification and
robots with cargo
and luggage
carrying capacity.
Hancom is one of
several companies
offering off-the-shelf
software platforms
for robot makers.
These are not limited
to (eg,) locomotion
or basic command
recognition. They
also offer specialized
applications for
hotels, restaurants,
and retail.
Most of the robots
have screens to help
them communicate,
and many of those
are touch screens.
The public seems to
prefer the touch
screen interaction
when it’s available.

The Unicorn Files.
5. AR for the Masses
In October 2014, Google released Cardboard, a $25 viewer — cheap enough to give
away — that in a few months changed virtual reality (VR) from something experienced
by very few people to something most people had tried. It also had the effect of
fixing in most people’s minds what VR was — a solitary experience, maybe something
that made you sick; fun for a few minutes but not somewhere to spend quality time —
and the industry has been trying to correct that impression ever since.
2017 was a big year for augmented reality (AR) with ARKit and ARCore from Apple
and Google respectively. Thanks to products like Aryzon’s cardboard AR viewer, 2018
will likely be a re-run of 2014 for head-mounted AR: by the end of the year most
people’s impression of it will be formed by phone-powered experiences, not by the
likes of HoloLens or Magic Leap. Aryzon’s cardboard AR viewer mixes phone display with
the outside world. At $35 it’s the cheapest way to
experience head-mounted AR.
Exchimp, which has
a self-contained VR
headset currently
available for pre-
order, showed a
prototype phone-
powered AR
headset.
Like Aryzon’s viewer,
the Mira Prism uses
your smartphone to
power an AR
experience. Its more
robust design, with a
higher viewing angle,
explains the $99
price tag.
VR headset maker
ANTVR showed an
early prototype
“time-division see-
through” headset
which promises
greater ability to cut
out the external
world when
required.

The Unicorn Files.
6. Payment in Person
Over the last three years or so we have become used to the idea that we can pay for
things with our phones. In a mobile-centric world, where you are never separated
from your phone, this makes sense. The rise of ambient interaction — particularly
voice — is pushing us rapidly past that world.
CES showcased several technologies for making payments more easily. As with all
new payment methods, there is opportunity in the data and in understanding how
changing the method of payment impacts customer behavior.
Tappy has a very small NFC module that can be inserted
into existing watches, jewelry, or other accessories to
make them work like an EMV contactless payment card.
Ant Financial, an
affiliate of Chinese
e-commerce giant
Alibaba, offers the
ability to pay by
flashing a smile at
your phone or a
camera on a kiosk. The
system was piloted in
KFC, in which Alibaba
has a stake in China.
Though not the first
card to replace
multiple cards
(Curve does this, for
example), Dynamics
card is the first to
display the currently
selected card at all
times using an e-ink
display.
BioWatch’s module
fits into the clasp of
a regular watch
strap and verifies
the identity of the
wearer by
recognizing the
unique pattern of
veins in the wrist.
Credit: Alibaba Group

The Unicorn Files.
7. Product Personalization
From water to perfume to cosmetics to nails, there were examples to show a
continued demand towards making just what you need just when you need it — and
preferably at home.
We think this is a taster of a groundswell of distributed manufacturing, other aspects
of which were also in evidence at CES in the form of flexible manufacturing robots.
And while not everyone will want machines in their homes to make things, the same
technologies will undoubtedly be deployed to deliver personalized products on
demand to many customers at or below the cost of mass-produced products today.
No brand — not even a pure service brand — can afford to ignore the change in
customer expectations that this will bring.
Romy showed its personalized cosmetics maker, which
uses three small capsules of your choice to make a single
dose of product each time you need it. They estimate
$180/month for typical use, reflecting the premium
nature of the product.
B2B Cosmetics’
award-winning
machine combines
two or three organic
components of your
choice with water to
produce 30ml
batches of
personalized skin
care product.
LifeFuels enhances the
mundane water bottle
with plug-in “pods”
that contain your
choice of additives
(including fruit flavors,
vitamins and salts) to
create your own
personalized
beverage.
The Nota Nota
machine uses
cartridges of different
fragrance
components to allow
you to compose your
own perfume blend
on your smartphone
and generate 5ml of
personalized scent at
a time.

The Unicorn Files.
8. Continuous Health Monitoring
Wearables improve our ability to capture data about health, but we don’t always wear
them, creating inconsistencies and gaps in data. Improvements in sensor
technology — notably sensors woven into textiles or printed in a single operation with
their circuitry and batteries (like Blue Spark’s TempTraq) — are closing those gaps.
For people at risk of an incident such as a heart attack, continuous monitoring allows
them to live life to the fullest, confident that they will get early enough warning of a
problem to take action to prevent it. It also introduces the idea of continuous
automated treatment, which has the potential to reduce side effects and overall cost
by using just the right dosage of a drug and never forgetting to use it.
Diabeloop’s founder Marc Julien has created an algorithm
to connect a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin
pump, providing automatic management of insulin
levels — effectively creating a replacement pancreas for
the patient.
BoneTag is
embedded inside
joint prostheses to
provide continuous
monitoring of wear
and infection. It is
battery free,
capturing power by
radio from the
reader for the
device.
Myant’s SKIIN smart
textiles allow
garments to contain
various kinds of
sensors for continuous
monitoring. The
company was also
showing its first
wireless power
solution, using
Energous.
@Health’s cardiac
shirt uses sensors
clipped into clothing
to provide continuous
ECG, allowing people
to return to normal
exercise. The next
version of the sensor
(left) is a thin printed
mesh instead of rigid
enclosure.

The Unicorn Files.
9. Super Senses
As the amount of computing power that fits into an easily wearable device increases,
there are more opportunities to tune into how your senses are stimulated by the
world outside, either to work around faults or to add new capabilities.
Sophisticated hearing aids that carefully match the wearer’s requirements are not
new. Devices that do the same thing for eyesight are starting to become feasible,
sometimes modulating the image seen through the eyes to make it richer, sometimes
using other channels such as sound and even touch.
The same kind of technology is now becoming available for everyone. Nura’s
Nuraphone headphones, for example, measure the acoustic properties of your ears by
sending ultra-short sound pulses into them, then tune their output to provide owners
magical improvement in clarity. Expect to see further ways in which normal human
performance is routinely enhanced.
Samsung’s Relumino provides various ways to modify
the visual scene to work around an individual’s
limitations. For example, it may relocate part of the visual
field or adjust image contrast.
The Mymanu Clik+
earbuds enhance the
wearer by providing
real-time language
translation. They
were shown last year
at CES as a concept
and have evolved
over the following 12
months into a near-
ready product.
OrCam’s MyEye 2
lets users with
impaired vision read
text by pointing at it,
and has an internal
database of
700,000 products
that it can recognize
visually and
announce.
Orosound’s Tilde
earphones not only
provide active noise
cancellation, they also
clearly transmit
speech—minus
background noise—
from within a 60º cone
in front of the wearer,
helping focus.

The Unicorn Files.
10. Wireless Power
We’re not referring to the wireless charging pad on which you put your phone (which
simply makes life slightly more convenient by removing a cable). Instead, the ability
to power devices over many feet wirelessly. Life-changing (personally) — imagine
going back in time thirty years to when "charging" was not a thing — and also for the
digital world, as so many tiny sensors and actuators can run forever without needing
to be wired in.
Available consumer products are still thin on the ground — expect to see a trickle
throughout the year — but notable demos included Ossia’s AA Cota “forever”
battery (retrofit into existing devices and never change the battery again) and
Myant’s SKIIN smart underwear (always charged wearables and smart clothes).
Wi-Charge transmits power to devices anywhere in a
room from a ceiling-mounted transmitter using infra-red
light, avoiding the health concerns associated with
microwave radio frequency transmission.
Ossia demonstrates
its Cota radio
frequency wireless
power with a AA
battery that is kept
permanently charged.
Ossia’s app lets you
see what devices
want power in a room
and control supply to
them individually.
Powercast’s RF
technology
(powering the LEDs
in the T-shirt here)
converts at up to
80% efficiency and
can reach up to 80
feet with a
directional antenna.
Airfuel Alliance is an
industry body
promoting wireless
power standards. It
was formed in 2015
through the merger
of two earlier bodies.
Credit: Ossia

The Unicorn Files
CES 2018: TOP TOYS

The Unicorn Files.
1. Modular TV: The Wall by Samsung
Two years ago, in a quiet corner of its booth, Samsung showed off
high-resolution display tiles. One screen was able to switch from a
near square shape to 2.35:1 widescreen by rearranging its two tiles.
On one wall, Samsung had built up an amazing 170-inch screen using
an array of such tiles. This year, the modular TV is back. Still a
concept, but now front and center of Samsung’s “The Future of
Display” area, “The Wall” is a 146-inch screen made up of self-
emissive “micro LED” tiles. The ultimate promise is a screen that can
be made any size and shape, and repaired easily.
Runner-up: LG shows the
first domestic application
for its rollable display
technology: a 65-inch
OLED screen that rolls
away electrically into a
compact box.
Haier bought a full range of smart home appliances to CES, tied
together by its U+ platform. The stand out was the RFID (radio
frequency identification) reader-equipped washing machine that can
identify suitably tagged clothes. At the beginning of a cycle it does a
ten-second dry tumble to make sure it can “see” all the tags and will
alert the owner if an errant item of clothing is in the drum. It also
keeps track of how many times each item of clothing has been
washed. Coupled with an RFID-reading wardrobe the U+ platform is
therefore able to tell you where your favorite Hawaiian shirt has
disappeared to. Interestingly, this is a China-only product.
GE Appliances Family Hub
combines a 27-inch
touchscreen tablet with
an exhaust hood. It can be
used to display cooking
instructions, control other
smart appliances, make
video calls, and take
pictures of whatever is
cooking on the range
below.
2. Getting Smarter: RFID Washing Machine
by Haier
Credit:cnet.com

The Unicorn Files.
3. Talking + Driving: Speak with Amazon Alexa
by Garmin
Garmin’s $150 Speak brings the Alexa voice assistant to the car, with
the addition of turn-by-turn directions, which are both spoken and
displayed on the 1.5” OLED display. With the Alexa integration, users
can ask for news briefings, weather forecasts, traffic updates, and
sports results, and remotely access smart appliances in your house,
like lights, locks, and thermostats.
Runner-up: Anker’s mobile
division Roav showed off
the $49 Viva, which plugs
into a car’s 12-volt
cigarette lighter outlet,
and provides a stripped
down version of Alexa.
Whirlpool last year acquired Yummly, the recipe search tool, and has
now integrated it into its product range. Customers can snap what’s
in their fridge—Yummly uses image recognition technology to
identify multiple food items simultaneously—it then makes recipe
recommendations based on available ingredients and user
preferences, presents food preparation instructions, and can
automatically communicate with connected Whirlpool ovens and
microwaves to set the correct mode, pre-heating temperature, and
cooking time for the food that is being prepared.
Runner-up: Caveasy. This
50-bottle wine rack will
run you $523. Its sensors
ensure your wine is kept
in the right environment.
Your wine inventory can
be kept on your phone.
LEDs can point out a
particular bottle to help
you find it.
4. Food + Wine: Yummly by Whirlpool

The Unicorn Files.
5. Flex Phones: Axon Dual-Screen Phone by ZTE
ZTE’s dual screen Axon, available now for $725, offers an intriguing
variant on the standard monolithic glass slab smartphone form
factor. Its two screens, which fold around a 180º hinge, and can be
used either as one large display, as two independent displays, or in a
presentation-friendly mirroring mode. It’s perhaps a little clunky, but
it’s a forerunner of what may be possible when mass-market flexible
displays arrive in the next few years.
Runner-up: Planet
Computing’s Gemini is the
classic Psion QWERTY
keyboard clamshell form
factor reborn. A niche
device, but with a strong
sense of nostalgia for
early PDA adopters.
Remember Google Glass? Vuzix’s Blade smart glasses feel like what
Glass should have been. There is a bright, colorful head-up display
neatly integrated into one of the slim arms. A touch pad on the side
supports multi-fingered gestures to control its functions as a
Bluetooth headset, media player, and eight megapixel camera. Voice
control with Alexa integration completes the package. At its launch
price of $1,000 it will likely mostly be seen in professional
applications, like Google Glass today. Vuzix is aiming for $500 for
the next version.
Runner-up: Chinese AI
company Rokid showed
an early version of its
smart glasses. They could
recognize the wearer’s
hand gestures and show
people’s names using on-
board face recognition.
6. Smarty-Pants Glasses: Blade by Vuzix

The Unicorn Files.
7. Robots that Teach: Luka by Ling Technologies
Ling Technologies’ Luka is an owl-themed robot designed to read
books to children and encourage them to develop reading skills of
their own. An on-board camera allows it to recognize and read the
relevant page of any of the 50,000 picture books in its database,
while its expressive eyes appear to read along and present an
emotional response. Luka goes on sale in the US in March for $149.
Runner-up: My Special
Aflac Duck is a robotic toy
designed to help children
with cancer cope with
their treatments by
encouraging them to
express emotions and
familiarize themselves
with their treatment.
OrCam’s MyEye, now in its second iteration, is a portable, artificial
vision device that allows the visually impaired to understand text
and identify objects. Through a glasses-mounted camera and
speaker it is able to read out text from any surface, recognize
branded products via computer vision, and identify people via facial
recognition. It gives independence and improved quality of life for
people who are blind, visually impaired, or have dyslexia, aphasia, or
other conditions.
Runner-up: Cocoon Cam
is a video-based baby
monitor, which is also able
passively to collect a
baby’s vital signs. It uses
computer vision to detect
subtle motion cues, which
are then presented as a
real-time breathing graph.
8. Helping Eyes: OrCam MyEye 2 by OrCam

The Unicorn Files.
9. Keeping it Cool: Lifeinabox by Lifeina
CEO of iHealth Uwe Diegel happened upon the idea for Lifeinabox
when a relative came to stay. The airline had frozen his insulin. With
parts on hand, he made the first prototype: a small fridge with a
rechargeable battery. He found such a demand for it that he quit
iHealth and started a company to capitalize on his invention. The
product today stores a month of typical drug needs, safely and
discreetly, and uses Bluetooth to remind users to take their
medication. It will be followed by smaller versions, including a pen-
sized version for a single dose.
Runner-up: Siren Care’s
diabetes sock identifies
inflammation that can lead
to open sores early
enough to take action, by
looking for temperature
changes with sensors
woven into the fabric.
Uruguyan team Calinfer ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to
make a 45th-anniversary homage to the seminal Atari Pong video
game, in the form of an electromechanical contraption that
reproduces the game with physical bats and a ball that all moves
using magnets below the table. Chinese arcade machine maker UNIS
teamed up with Calinfer to produce the game at scale, and brought
it to CES for its first public showing. The Pong table will be available
in Q1 for $2799.
Runner-up: Black Box’s
resistance trainer uses
virtual reality to heighten
users’ sense of danger,
pushing them to work
harder and making a 30-
minute workout feel like
10 minutes.
10. Gaming it Up: Atari Pong Table by UNIS/Calinfer
Credit:BlackBoxVR

The Unicorn Files.
2018 CES Editorial Snapshots
Tony Bailey
Three Trends from CES that
will Power Marketing in 2018
Agency POVs on the not-to-be-missed trends and wows at CES 2018, as published
in HuffPost and featured on Insights, our agency publishing desk.
Adam Buhler
CES 2018: Every Single Object in
Your Life is Connected. Now What?
Whitney Jones
How To Avoid
Data Overload
Julie Blanche
CES 2018:
Five Steps for Retailers
Kristen Miller
How Mobile is Changing
Experience and Interface Design
Robert Guay
The CarOS of the Future and What
CES 2018 Has to Say About It
Lorenzo Wood
Actionable Steps for
Brands Post-CES
Keith Soljacich
AR & VR Go For Scale, Power,
and Possibility at CES 2018

CES 2018: The Unicorn Files

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