This year, the Tech Podcasts Network brought the live show back to its previous format. With that came the return of the TPN Picks. This year, TPN gave six awards to companies that the team interviewed, either on the show floor or on the live show. Each on-air show (PLUGHITZ Live Presents, Geek News Central, The Tech Ranch, The Gadget Professor, and Talking Sound) had an award to present to their favorite product or service from the show. In addition, the whole team had an award to present on behalf of the network as our overall Top Pick for CES 2020. Here we present all of the winning companies.
Wonder Painter (TPN Top Pick)
Imagine a story about two kids going on an adventure – it’s a fairly standard kids book concept. However, using Wonder Painter’s technology, that story can feature you and your best friend as the kids going on said adventure. During the story, the two of you need a horse to get across a large field. Simply draw your own horse and the drawing comes to life as your transportation. This is nearly every kid’s dream scenario and it is now a possibility.
Lumen (PLUGHITZ Live Presents)
Lumen is a breath analyzer, but with a different purpose from what you may be thinking. Rather than being used to analyze whether or not you are drunk, Lumen is used to determine information about your metabolism. The company claims that with a single breath they can give you information about the effectiveness of exercise and more. They do this by determining whether you are currently burning carbs or fat based on a CO2 sensor and flow meter.
Drinkworks by Keurig (Geek News Central)
Last year, Keurig announced a new product with a similar goal to their standard coffee maker – Drinkmaker from Drinkworks. Rather than focusing on coffee, like the standard Keurig devices do, Drinkmaker is a pod-based bartender. The Pods that you purchase won’t come with coffee grounds, but will instead come with all of the ingredients to make an alcoholic drink. The variety of drinks available is already impressive, with everything from a Cosmopolitan and White Russian to Peach Sangria available on their website.
Voiceitt (The Tech Ranch)
Voiceitt is designed specifically to understand and respond to non-standard and dysarthric speech. This is accomplished through a mobile application, which is currently in a closed beta phase. It allows for face-to-face, real-time communication with friends, family, and people around you. This can bring an aspect of everyday life for most that was previously unavailable, helping to build stronger and more meaningful connections.
MicroVision (The Gadget Professor)
MicroVision has developed the Interactive Projection Engine – a very small hardware array that allows developers to produce devices with touch-enabled projection. The demo device we got to see allowed for nearly any standard video input and computing output to connect to a device. We saw the projector connected to a phone with impressive touch recognition capabilities. But, the possibilities are endless, especially when connected to a computer. Even in our portable broadcast studio, this projector would make traveling easier, because it would eliminate the need for monitors.
URGONight (Talking Sound)
URGONight is a training device for your brain that helps you learn to get into the right state to sleep. Rather than the common scenario of wearing a device while you sleep, which can negatively affect your sleep, URGONight is worn during the day. Even better, it is worn for only a few minutes per day. It does this using an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor combined with brain exercises on the connected app. The device is based on existing technology that was previously only available to those who took the time and expense to go to a sleep clinic.