LAS VEGAS — We had the mouse. Then we had the trackpad. Then we had the touchscreen. And now we’ve got the eye. OK, we always had the eye, but a company named Tobii has figured out a way to use your eyes as the navigation tool on computers.
Here at CES 2013 the company announced the Rex, a computer accessory about the length of a straw that attaches to any computer display. It then brings eye-tracking to that computer, allowing you to open a document by just looking at it or scroll down the page just by looking down. It’s pretty amazing stuff. After a short calibration process, look at a slide in a PowerPoint, press the spacebar as you are looking at it and it opens. Look at a location on Google Maps, use your mouse to zoom and it will zoom right in on that location — not somewhere to the east or west, which happens more often than not.
Tobii’s technology is groundbreaking, but not new. The company has been showing this functionality off for a while. In fact, ABC News took at look at the company last year at this very time.
But this time around the company has the Rex, the add-on it is selling to software developers so they can start to build software that works with the hardware. The Rex will cost $995, but Tobii says it will be available for consumers for a more digestible price before the end of the year. Then the goal for the company is to get it built directly into laptops or desktops. You know what that means? For now, we’ve still got the trackpad and the touchscreen.
Las Vegas lights up next week, not with its usual bright lights but with thousands and thousands of gadgets and electronic devices. The annual CES show is here, and while we have our doubts that this show will be as big as it has been in the years past, everyone from Samsung to Sony to Toshiba to thousands of gadget companies you have never heard of, will be packing the Las Vegas Convention Center with their new wares.
Every year a few trends emerge from the show that help set the tone for the rest of the year in tech. Think back to 2012 and you might remember hearing a lot about connected TVs, ultrabook laptops and Android and Windows 8 tablets.
So what's in store for CES 2013? Here are five of our expectations:
1. HD, HD, HD, HD TVs
HD televisions at CES? Shocker, we know! But get ready for HD times four. Expect to hear the term "ultra HD" over the next week. A lot. Ultra HD or 4K HDTVs have four times the resolution of current HD televisions. Yes, that means even higher resolution than the 1080p HDTV you bought this year or last.
Many companies are expected to release or show off their new Ultra HD TVs this year. Sony already has one, but it costs $25,000. Many of the others introduced are expected to be expensive, but we also expect some of the affordable TV makers to talk about their plans. We promise, we'll be all over this category… in regular definition.
2. Wearables and Other Gadgets That Pair With Your Phone
This year's CES is not expected to be all about smartphones. Many of the big smartphone makers -- HTC, Nokia, Samsung, etc. -- seem to be saving their biggest announcements for Mobile World Congress, a mobile trade show held in Barcelona at the end of February. But we do expect this year to be all about the hardware devices that work with your phone or tablet.
And we're not talking about speaker docks (though there will be a lot of those). Many wearable devices, like the FitBit or Jawbone Up, pair with your phone to tell you more about your fitness activity. There will be even more of those types coming at the show and Pebble, the maker of the popular smart watch, has even promised to show us a working version of the watch. We also expect many companies to talk about the connected home and how your phone can control everything from your light bulb to your doorbell.
3. Self-Driving and Smarter Cars
It might not be the New York or L.A. Auto Show, but the cars are driving in for CES. Toyota and Audi have announced that they plan to demonstrate their self-driving cars, and others like Ford are holding press conferences to talk more about their connected, in-dash technologies.
4. More Windows 8
So what's in store for tablets and computers, you ask? CES 2012 saw a number of new Android tablets and a lot of talk about Microsoft's Windows 8, which was then released in October. And while Microsoft isn't officially at the show this year, you can expect more Windows 8 tablets, laptops, and tablet / laptop hybrids.
While many of the major companies -- Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, Samsung, etc. -- released Windows 8 tablets and computers before the holidays, you might be surprised at what some were holding back. We're also holding out for some interesting tablet concepts from Intel, Nvidia and others.
5. Headphones from Every Celebrity You Know
As someone recently said to us, celebrity headphones are like the new celebrity perfume. CES always turns into a Hollywood hotspot with lots of celebrity appearances, talks and performances. But this year the celebrities are coming with their own products, and by products, we really mean headphones.
Dr. Dre kicked off the trend with Beats by Dre and now you have 50 Cent, Snooki, Tim Tebow, Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister (yes, Motorheadphones) and even more with their own branded headphones or lines of audio gear.
You could spend all your time at CES just covering the celebrities. We're not going to do that, but we promise to bring you the highlights.
