Gadgetory

hello and welcome to day three of CES 2018 coming to you live from the scene on stage at the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center this is the final day of our live coverage of this gadget bonanza and now that the end is near I find it comforting to be huddled next to my colleagues Roger Shane and Ben Fox Ruben we're kicking things off this Thursday with another super-sized edition of our news wrap-up podcast the 359 so guys thank you for coming back and how did everyone survived the blackout yeah it was definitely one of the more surreal moments to see yes any CES is right we need all eyes what happened was it what time was it Roger that all the like lights in the central hall like at 11:15 I run along 50th the lights shut off an interesting way I had just started taking a tour of folks through central hall get kicked out and basically I ended up standing outside central hall and talking for an hour about what it would have been like if you'd walked into central hall check out cool 5g no I can't show you 5g it's all in there but just imagine it was North Hall North Hall got power back well they got power back but still there were some issues I put North Hall and I mean central hall for those who don't know this is where all the big yep got Intel Sony Samsung and as you go through the booths all you can see is like the glowing of their smartphone screens and if you were you were in and so we had some reporters who were in it and we had Claire we had Brian Brian Brian Tong and we were just kind of streaming to like discuss what was going on inside I was like right outside talking to folks people were just waiting from my perspective there just waiting outside there's a massive amount of people trying to go out you couldn't get back in and their page waiting outside for some people it was their last day so they wanted to you know see the big show they didn't mind waiting in the temperature was it nice it was like train it felt hot wort like it could've been like a barbecue out there it was like 70 degrees for once it was you know the day before I wouldn't be surprised if people started to think the CES was cursed over the fact that it was it was like a monsoon the day before right so we were trying to get around yeah yeah they closed down their entire outdoor booth which yesterday was absolutely mopped there were tons of people there but the day before on Tuesday they had to shut it down completely so apparently hadn't rained in Vegas in more than a hundred days and we were lucky enough to fly in when it did which they're saying cause yeah definitely related the water buildup and I think sparked a blowout yeah I don't know I don't I don't know how electricity works but the irony of it this is the biggest texture of the world in the world in the year and electricity the basic technology fails on us shows how easily our society can crumble and is fragile so I feel like that's a great opportunity to talk about the giant robot overlords that are coming for us oh good oh yeah okay unlike most years I think there are more robots this year not just smartphone assistance but like large humanoid walking robots and I got to play around with one there's one by UB Tech the ub tech is a company that makes a lot of robots but this is their first walking bipedal robot that can take on stairs a video of my time with it with the demo now it's still in the prototype phase they want to get this out in 2019 but this is a companion for the home it can avoid obstacles and go down stairs they see the home companion Rosie of the future as Nene legs because you have to get around the house but it doesn't have arms yeah that's the first thing that's how does it grab or help anything they were like you know what the arms they're gonna come in like two years but they felt that they they felt that they could sell this next year because of how much you can do now for the scanning side so kind like a walking security guard or walking Alexa they want to have it either have Alexa or their own version of Alexa put it inside and and all these sensors and of course voice commands you know being able to talk to you being able to what keep watch on things like they were talking about having to be a nanny I'm like huh that's okay alright a nanny but it also can play soccer house yeah it could be a security guard but like if I if I broke into something I saw this robot okay if we can get back to that yeah so it's speaking it fast not so fast so it can follow an object but I went too fast this is too fast for the ball and watch so they can play games with kids but you know we're still kind of in that you know beginning stage you take a dance I would venture that this thing is what several thousand dollars it leaves that's the problem is really the price point is crazy for the style these companies they're like we're not going to tell you the price but you can start to understand that this is gonna be like a car this is a major investment we also saw you know Sophia the walking robot I wouldn't say this is some that you put in your home it was more like an example of how creepy here's the videos first I've seen their I know if that is an upgrade of my arm has been out there this is like forever they call it skin and they think it could be working a working robot but yeah another example of her first step so I guess we're getting that walking point but then if you want arms if arms are more important we saw one called the Aeolus and this one was kind of like a Rosie the robot of sorts that can roll them around pick up objects here and roogie bark got to take a look at it and it is what I like about it it's also a vacuum oh so it's not just rolling around it's cleaning your house and picking up things and it does the same stuff as that first one from the Walker from UB Tech and that it kind of be that that security guard for the house like using its facial recognition using its sensors to see when something's amiss and report back to you or kind of be that remote camera and they did put Alexa in this one so the other one wanted to this one already has it I think Alexa's gonna have legs and arms next yeah I have to say broadly speaking I don't like any of these I think they're like you know that LG robot we had on yesterday we're like a countertop robot that's like a little more out of the way you could put her in the corner whatever if you if you need to it's but these are like in your face robot so a lot of these small ones are like companionship that you can talk to and be your like you know talking Alexa but now they're like oh can we have helpers in the house or someone who can roam the house for security so yeah that I don't think it's not for everyone I have to say I do like the idea of the the vacuum robot that's it I think that's how our world is gonna collapse the robots gonna take over one clean house at a time there is another giant robot that I think is more practical it kind of is like the in-between and what you're talking about on the counter and the you know maybe not so creepy walking around one it's called the keikar robot we have video of this one - it's like a smart home century but also has a projector built into it so you could watch The Simpsons and watch movies and tell it with voice commands you know keikar play netflix stranger things on the ceiling or keep your plate in my bedroom and it's mapping out your house with all these sensors and a lot of them are they're actually able to map out where they are based on their you know torso sensors or head sensors wherever you got them and it's basically like a roaming entertainment system I guess you can say with a little bit of screener and the price on this one is about the same as that Sony AIBO dog it's 1790 so 1070 robot dog yeah yeah I bow is about if it came to the official price yet behind it's almost two thousand dollars yes it is coming cheap if they want a wiggle and have cuteness Roger I need a race I'm sorry to tell you I need that sorry I tell you that robots not in your near future man all right well on that note I'm sorry bad and we come back more cool Texas State stay with us folks hey folks welcome back to the 359 coming to you live from CES 2018 in Las Vegas the lights are on this time we've survived what could be one of the strangest moments in history for the show but it being the final countdown it looks like Ben that you have brought on the perfect gadget for this occasion we're joined with la casa mockers with the wander watch so yeah tell us a little about this yeah thank you for having me with one watch we get kids off the couch and back outdoors again you know when you look at toys you see that all in their toys nowadays are interactive with lights and sounds for kids it's for kids definitely yeah it's between 6 and 10 11 before they get a mobile phone so it's younger and younger but they get it because they need a communication function for their parents with their parents so we actually are kids which can do everything that a normal kids watch nowadays does but the best thing I think is that it's really fun for kids most kids watches are just a necessity but not really fun for kids and we believe that play is the best motivator to be active and to go outdoors have fun running around and just you know enjoy your time out yeah so Ellie I met you at Eureka Park yesterday and you were showing me some of the things that this watch does where it's basically just these little tools that kids can use for imaginative play however they want so why don't we walk through some of the like for instance there's like a sword noise that you can yeah yeah yes what we tried to do and in the meantime I start the sunset a game console on it yeah it's like a game console exactly you know what we thought is well we have to keep the good stuff of out of play but we have to put in the interactive fun of games so we came out with some sounds up upside down yeah so imagine you're a police officer you're catching thieves and you put on the sirens so those are like sound effects and stuff yeah exactly but you found a stick you pretend you're nice and you hear the stored sense its motion active it's hard to hear but it's basically like a little ching ching ching of like a sigh exactly exactly it's noise in here but outdoors you still will hear that tell us a bit about this too this is this is part of it it connects with it through bluetooth right exactly it connects with Bluetooth toys and for instance we have this magic beacon and you can pretend it's a treasure you know one hides it and the other tries to find it like a hide and seek game it's hot it's a hot or cold game you know so and children desire little games to find it is it is it just a Bluetooth it's a Bluetooth connection yeah yeah it's like you can play hot and cold with it let's try to do do you want to try to do this Bureau connection - I thought this was kind of fun yeah it can connect to bluetooth toys so it it's just a while to connect so and that's just an example how it works so it connects if we just a little patience it's a we just launched in October and in the Netherlands where we're based we are now in 250 shops so basically it works just by moving your arm so we want activity so you move your arm back in the left I was testing this out backstage and I was just like Ellie you do it I'm gonna have it fall completely back oh God nice catch thank you so well okay we're showing some cool games with it but if I'm a parent and I want to give it's my kid I want to be able to have it be useful for me to like so is it have a location and safety features like that so yeah definitely sure we have for you we have a parent's app and you can see where your child is on the map you can communicate with your child and of course we target young children so they cannot all right and wait at that age so we have three chat functionalities so basically you can just very old-fashioned type a text you can record your voice message so that's really easy for every child and parent and you can make a doodle so for instance maybe I can show it from my phone and send a doodle to my kid or is it the kid gets in a doodle mom both ways yes even to each other so and what we found out is kids are creative so they make their own secret language to each other so we think it's a functionality and necessity but children see the fun part again so is it like phone numbers or just like user accounts like like how how would i is it have like phone capabilities I mean how is this data prepaid SIM card included it's prepaid because parents don't like subscriptions for assault children yeah it's it's included so and it works already in more than hundred countries can you actually talk and do it no you cannot unit you cannot call with the watch and why is that it's because we tested that a lot with children and this generation children just chance they don't like calling you know that's our generation that's old nobody I'm sorry we found out we were surprised in the beginning and now it's totally there and another important reason is that security and safety is really important with data and from kids and what we see in Europe that in some countries this this kind of voice messaging is already forbidden yeah yeah so kids watches were cut off the shelf even so we don't have that problem so we have a really secure connection you were telling me also what it like where this concept originated from in the first place so taking a step back here you have three kids right and this is it this was a big impetus for why you wanted to do this in the first place exactly yeah I see it from my own kids and they're so glued to the screens and it was somehow frustrating me and you know I'm not against Queens you know there is a lot of fun into it but the excessive use of it it's it really frustrated me so I thought well I have to do something about it that's why we invented one to watch it's a project I started off together with my husband so it's really a family project in the beginning basically the guinea pigs for this project yeah definitely you know kids are really honest and giving you feedback on what I think about it and I can tell you your own kids are even more critical in testing what worked what didn't what were things did you find that worked really well and really badly like what were some of those in the beginning we thought well we have to come up with a nice game there is a story in full if there's a princess or whatever and then what I explained is no you know once we started testing and it just you know it's either watch and I want to play with it immediately so they only need to click twice a three time and they can start playing and I don't want to run through a whole story and we only provide the building blocks and so because out of play you know it's unstructured play so you have to use your own creativity and fantasy to design your game together with your friends that's important and we want to keep that part you know you learn so much of it it's your first communication skills you learn to have your risk assessing skills you know all that kind of stuff that's what you learn outdoors that's important I think you hit on something here that a lot of people are going to be talking about I want to see more of I know we've been seeing in the news people talking about their worries about what's happening to children and and their addiction to screens I know I know it's doing something on my brain always being tied on so we're all kind of in talking about this more even and an Apple executive was talking about the other day so so thank you for bringing this by I'm interested to see where this goes so thank you Ellie for coming by with this is the wander watch right okay no more fancy isn't a Dutch pavilion incense oh very cool very cool well that's gonna wrap it for us you can find the 359 on iTunes SoundCloud Google Play and of course cnet.com for the 359 podcast I'm Bridget Carey