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Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the tech industry’s largest, most prestigious annual event wrapped up last week. Normally the last sentence would contain the words “in Las Vegas”. This year it took place at an ‘all digital venue’. Yet, the mood was positive, the speakers were enthusiastic and the participants, optimistic. Numerous new and improved technologies/gadgets/ways of doing things were presented. Here I would like to highlight some of them related to travel.
Right now, travel somehow became a controversial topic. Yet I am confident that this is a temporary phenomenon. I would like to begin by highlighting a Canadian company that assists with planning the most primary yet vital activity – hiking. It is named most appropriately – 10Adventures! They offer detailed routes for hiking and cycling in many countries including Canada and the United States. The info offered is highly detailed and user friendly.
Now, that we established an epidemiologically safe travel mode, let’s talk about cool gadgets presented at this year’s CES which we can take along! A company called Human Capable Inc. is offering ordinary-looking glasses which in fact doubles as a microcomputer with a built-in high-definition camera, microphone, and visual navigation.
These glasses are:
If you prefer cycling to walking and would like to stay safe and yet capture things around you, there is a new gadget for that! A company called Freevu has created a dual-camera biking helmet. It is a helmet with integrated cameras both in the front and back of a unit. It offers a wide 120-degree field of view. It uses your phone’s hardware for footage storage.
For motorcycling enthusiasts, there is an even more sophisticated new device on the market. Eyeride display can be mounted on most types of helmets. It goes on behind the visor and projects gps, speed and other useful data. This makes the ride safer since you do not have to look down and take your eyes off the road.
In fact, their research shows that the use of the Eyeride device can save critical 4.3 seconds of the reaction time.
Now that we talked of various recreational ways of spending time (hiking, cycling, motor biking), how about the one which comes with potential (and highly valuable) material rewards?!
A company called Treasure Hunters SA developed a virtual hunting game similar to the one most of us know well. The basic premise is to walk around a town and collect points. Yet in this game, a person would ‘hunt’ not for digital tokens but for valuable prizes including brand name electronics, luxury brand watches and yes vacation trips.
For now, the game is only available in Switzerland though there are already solid plans in place to launch it in North and South America.
Hopefully, this brief overview provided some fresh ideas on how various types of recreation can be enhanced by technology. Travel safely, travel often and have fun!
