Everything you need to know from CES so far
CES is still two days away, but there's already plenty to see in Las Vegas. Here's what we've seen so far.
BB-8 has a new accessory -- the Force Band by Sphero lets you control the droid using hand gestures.
Though most Consumer Electronic Show attendees are still arriving in Las Vegas and the city's Convention Center remains a construction zone, CES Unveiled kicked off tonight to show us a taste of what the giant tech show has in store.
Some of the exhibitors at the preview event may not even have a booth on the show floor, but they come to a ballroom at the Mandalay Bay Hotel to show off everything from a smell alarm clock to an airbag vest. Here's a tour of the best of CES Unveiled and a look at what mattered today. And be sure to check out CNET's full coverage of CES 2016.
CES Unveiled
I'll get this one out of the way first. If you hate the jangling of an alarm clock in the morning, why not try waking up to your favorite scent? Sensorwake is an alarm clock that first uses scents to get you out of bed (or at least just wake you up). For 3 minutes it will diffuse such scents as coffee, mint and money (that last one's a bit much).
The Sensorwake wakes you up with smells.
Everybody's favorite new droid, BB-8, has a new accessory. Now you can control with him with a wearable band called the Force Band. Resembling a digital watch (without the screen), it's packed with sensors that allow you to control BB-8's movements through Bluetooth. Saving the galaxy is up to you.
With the goal of preventing distracted driving, the Smartwheel is a steering wheel cover that delivers real-time alerts when you have one hand off the wheel for too long or have no hands on the wheel at all. And to guard against texting while driving, it also alerts you if it detects your hands are too close together (supposedly, that suggests you might be holding a phone).
Healbe is back with a new wearable called the GoBe 1.2. Like the Gobe 1.0 we saw last year at CES, the 1.2 promises to automatically count calories (among other things), a claim that remains, well, controversial.
If you're like me and you can't ski without falling down repeatedly, check out a product called the Smart Ski Airbag Vest. If you're wearing it while swooshing down the slopes and happen to take a tumble, it's supposed to inflate in 100 milliseconds to form a protective airbag.
Get the feel of a movie with Immersit.
Surround sound and 4K video are fun and all, but what about a chair that vibrates and moves in sync with the movie you're watching or the video game you're playing? That's just what Immersit promises and in doing so, makes you feel like a part of the action on screen. And according to our own Sarah Mitroff, it works.
To fly Parrot's new Disco Drone all you need to do is shake it to start the propeller and throw it in the air. That sounds like a lot of fun, but be aware this drone can only move forward and can't hover it one place.
Phones
LG showed off two new phones, the K10 and the K7. Like most LG phones these days, both put their power and volume keys on the rear side, but they add softly rounded corners and their displays curve downward into their edges.
The K10 is the more bullish model of the two with a 5.3-inch display and a 13-megapixel camera. The K7, meanwhile, is optimised for selfies with a feature called Gesture Control. To take a vanity shot, hold your hand in front of the camera, and close it into a fist to start a timer.
The LG K10 has a 13-megapixel camera.
Smart home
Sleep Number has a new mattress called the it. Yes, that's really it's name and it's supposed to be lowercase. Anyway, after you determine your sleep number it uses sensors to track your heart rate, breathing patterns and movements. It (or should I say it?) then sends that information to an app to suggest changes for better sleep.
Speaking of, ahem, interesting product names, Big Ass Fans debuted a new Haiku L Series that just as striking as the company's original product. At $450, it's also half the price of the original, but you will have to buy a $125 wall-unit accessory if you want the SenseMe technology. If that's not quite your taste in ceiling fans, Hunter introduced two new fans, the Symphony and the Signal, both of which you can control with Apple's HomeKit.